Hands On With the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
by Joshua Ho on August 13, 2015 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Galaxy
- Mobile
- Galaxy Note 5
Software
Continuing along the software train of thought, TouchWiz on the edge variant sees new edge features, namely the ability to adjust the position of the edge drawer swipe, the ability to use the edge drawer in applications, and the addition of an app drawer to the edge drawer. I’m not really sure if these features are enough to move the edge display from a mostly cosmetic change to a functional one, but the edge app drawer presents at least the possibility of additional functionality.
On both devices, I also noticed that the iconography has changed from the Galaxy S6. The change isn’t really radical here, but it is enough to be noticeable in comparison to previous iterations. The software remains relatively similar to the Galaxy S6 in UI performance, which probably isn’t a surprise given the shared SoC, display resolution, and UI/frameworks.
SideSync has also been updated significantly for the Note 5 and the edge variant, with the ability to automatically reconnect on a shared network instead of manually connecting to the phone with the SideSync client after every disconnect, drag and drop wireless file transfer, and phone call/text messaging over the SideSync client. As far as I can tell, these could be worthwhile features but without testing it’s hard to say if it will make a big difference in user experience.
Another interesting software feature that Samsung demonstrated for audio was UHQA, or Ultra High Quality Audio. I normally don't bother to talk about these features because it's pretty easy for them to end up as gimmicks, but this feature is effectively designed to try and reduce the effects of lossy compression when high frequencies have been cut off. As seen in the photo above, when UHQA was off the sample music topped out at around 8-10 KHz, while with UHQA on we see harmonics extending up to 20 KHz. Subjectively, it did seem that this interpolated version was much closer to a lossless music file, but my ears aren't particularly astute in that regard.
Both devices will also support live YouTube broadcasting as a camera mode, which seems potentially useful, especially with 1080p60 broadcasting quality but for some reason the units that I saw were limited to 240p, which may be due to the nonfinal state of the software.
Samsung Pay
With the Galaxy S6, I mentioned that there were magnetic secure transmission (MST) capabilities which would allow for the phone to allow for contactless payment even on legacy payment terminals that only allow magstripe cards, but I didn’t feel that it was worth mentioning as a real reason to get the phone as Samsung Pay was announced with the Galaxy S6 but without any demonstration or support soon after launch. With the Galaxy Note 5 and the edge variant, this changes. Samsung is hoping to begin user trials of Samsung Pay with NFC and MST contactless payment in the US this month, with a US launch in September. According to Samsung, feedback from user trials in South Korea was overwhelmingly positive, with only a small number of legacy terminals that needed software updates to support MST transactions.
From the demo that I saw, Samsung Pay is actually quite promising as it didn’t seem particularly sensitive to orientation as long as the back of the phone was reasonably close to the magstripe reader on the terminal. Activation is relatively simple, and is accomplished by simply swiping on the display when the screen is off and tapping the card you want to use, then authenticating with Pin or fingerprint. This isn’t as fast or simple as some competing solutions, but given the constraints of MST it makes sense. It’s worth noting though that in October magstripe cards will see a liability shift that is likely to drive NFC/EMV adoption much more strongly in the US, although Samsung predicts that the shift will still take a year or two in which MST will still have significant utility. It’s also worth noting that any device with a tripped Knox flag will be unable to use Samsung Pay.
Accessories
A number of accessories were also on display which were at least somewhat interesting. In addition to fast wired charging, Samsung seems to have developed a fast wireless charger, although it isn’t clear what the power output is compared to the previous standard wireless charger.
There were also external batteries with fast charging at what appears to be 9V and 1.67A, so this is probably supports QC 2.0.
There were various cases on display, but the only one worth really focusing on as far as I can tell is the keyboard case for the edge variant, which effectively makes it possible to turn the phone into a sort of throwback to Palm Treos, as the color and general design of the case really does give it a retro feel. Outside of design, typing with it was a fun experience but I didn’t really feel any faster than I did with an on-screen keyboard. I suspect that this will have a significant niche audience for those that are still clinging to phones like the Droid 4, but mainstream appeal would be relatively limited for this kind of accessory.
Wrapping things up, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ will be available in the US on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular. The Note 5 will be available in Black Sapphire and White Pearl, and the Galaxy S6 edge+ will be available in Black Sapphire and Gold Platinum.
Consumers will also be able to start trying out the Galaxy Note 5 and S6 edge+ on August 14th in various carrier outlets and electronics retailers, with preorders starting today at 3PM EST, with availability starting on August 21st. On Sprint, the Galaxy Note 5 will start at 249.99 USD on contract, and the Galaxy S6 edge+ will start at 349.99 USD on contract. On T-Mobile, the Note 5 will start at 25 USD/month through September 30, and the Galaxy S6 edge+ will start at 28.5 USD/month.
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tenoutoften - Tuesday, August 18, 2015 - link
They don't make sense to you because you're a narrow minded idiot who is incapable of listening to another persons point of view. Quite a few other people have chipped in now thankfully who completely understand what I wrote, it is English after all, perhaps you want to have a look at their comments and hurl them some abuse as well, although I'm starting to think you may have difficulty with reading, fortunately most of the curse words are 1 syllable so you should be ok.Skinnedy - Friday, August 14, 2015 - link
As a train commuter... a lot. I watch movie a day or 2 TV episodes in and out of the city. I like to drop 3 or 4 movies at a time on my card so I have a choice. I listen to music in my car based on categorized folders with the shuffle feature. I'm pretty honest with myself and I use double digit GB per day on my card. Could I work around that? Sure, but I'd rather not have to.I do some work in sports where I can swap the card from my camera into my phone to publish something live much faster than if I transfer it to a computer first.
So yeah, the micro SD card is kind of a big deal to me.
sonny73n - Saturday, August 15, 2015 - link
Do you think we care about how you use your phone, where you watch your video or how you manage your collections? You can get a dumb phone and call it a day but I want a smart phone with an SD card slot so I can swap/share my files without having to delete then copy&paste from my PC. I watch movies and access files from my NAS at home sometimes but I guess you don't know there're speed limits to these network file transfer protocols. What about when you're out of your wifi range, cloud you say? Most of us aren't comfortable storing our personal files in some cloud server and not all of us can afford unlimited data plan or big cloud storage.I've been in IT myself since 2000 and I've never seen anyone in IT field that has thinking like yours. When a company hires you to fix/maintain or administer their network etc., you don't reorganize/change their whole system and everything on it to your liking or lecture them how to tidy their things.
So what if we like to have a phone with an SD card slot and carry all our files/collections in a bunch of tiny SD cards. So what if we like to have the freedom to access our files whenever and wherever we want, as long as our phones battery allows us to do so. That's our choice. We don't need someone like you to tell us how to run our things. Get a life!
tenoutoften - Saturday, August 15, 2015 - link
As an IT professional, you don't dictate, but you do make decisions on how the network runs and recommend things that make the network run smoother which can help save the customer money, data management is part of this. Companies expect you to give them advice, if you didn't do that, you wouldn't be a very good engineer.You're not really in IT though are you kid? "You can get a dumb phone but I want a smart phone" - You must be, what, 13, 14?
Everyone is entitled to an opinion though, even kids, even if you are just hopping on the bandwagon with other people, its only when you get older that you realise that you don't have to have an opinion the same as other people because its safer, you can make a decision for yourself. You'll be there soon kiddo.
sonny73n - Saturday, August 15, 2015 - link
"If you really have 128 odd GB of video and music on your phone, you need a lesson in learning to tidy shit up, not a bigger memory card."You called this advice? You sound very hateful and it makes you look like you're dictating others with your twisted logic. Anyway, there's no point for us debating or arguing with an illogical ahole like you. So what if we like something you don't. Deal with it!
tenoutoften - Sunday, August 16, 2015 - link
The logics fine, I explained myself pretty clearly, it just doesn't tie in with what you think. So what if I think carrying around 128GB of music is pointless, it's not going to stop people doing it, I'm merely suggesting it's not a necessity.In all honesty though, it doesn't look like Samsung give a shit about people who want to carry around 128GB of music either, which would suggest that according to Samsungs market research, people like you are a small fish in a big ocean - It doesn't phase me in the slightest, you're the one getting so butt hurt about it!
nascentian - Monday, August 17, 2015 - link
Faze, not phase, you idiot.Ryan1981 - Monday, August 17, 2015 - link
What I do is copy a season of a TV series to my SD card and watch it during commuting on the train which is 2 hours per day. Next to this I have a large music library which I use when cycling to and from the train. Not to mention that some free games like hearthstone use up a lot of space that the internal memory is just not sufficient for anymore.outerlimitsurvey - Thursday, August 13, 2015 - link
I guess different people use their phablets differently. Not only do I use a large MicroSD I even plug thumb and hard disks to my phone with an on-the-go cable. When I had a phone without uSD I was constantly managing my storage to have enough space for pictures and videos but now my phone camera is configured to save stills and videos to uSD. My phone is for work and my employer could demand I surrender it at any time. Since most of my personal stuff is on uSD I could just pop it out and give my phone back without loosing anything important. I was a very loyal Galaxy Note user but lack of uSD will make me look around when it is time for a new phone.tenoutoften - Thursday, August 13, 2015 - link
And you are one of the 10% that sound like you have a legitimate reason for storage, I'm obviously not blanket saying everyone is the same, but I'm willing to bet a lot of the people in this forum are in their teens and only have their entire music library or movies on their phones just because they can, it's more a choice rather than an everyday requirement.If you're recording footage or taking a lot of photos, I get that, I use the phone for photos and video capture for personal use and work as well, but the whole music and films argument, it's just old and invalid these days.
It's exactly the reason Apple don't make a giant capacity music juke box anymore, it did sell when it was available, but it sold because people chose to have their entire music library available - did they ever listen to even a tenth of it months on end, no, but the space was available so they used it. Particularly with the advent of things like google and apple music, storing huge amounts of music is a waste of valuable storage space and ultimately pointless.
I use my note more for internet than for media, it's really useful, particularly with the big screen - I do use it for video, photos and the odd tv show if i'm really stuck, but space is a commodity that people take for granted, it's a lot cheaper to be organised and it's amazing how much space you really have available when it's not filled with unnecessary clutter.