Last year, Galaxy Note 4 stood proudly as the finest phablet in the high-end market. The power-packed device featured a crafty leather back and offered top-tier specs for big-screen lovers. Its domination, however, did came to an end with the launch of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Samsung redefined the word “craftsmanship” with its upgraded Galaxy series. Introduction of metal and glass was a great move, and played a significant role in shifting company’s sale to a whole new level. Well now, we have a new player in the game, Galaxy Note 5.
The latest beauty from Samsung appears extremely well-crafted. It features a number of tweaks in terms of design, and looks very powerful for heavy usage. But, the question of the day is, can Galaxy Note 4 hold up against the new Note? Find out in our detailed comparison given below!
Design and Build
Last year, Galaxy Note 4 featured a decent upgrade over the highly criticized chrome-effect body of Galaxy S5. Instead of plastic, Note 4 featured a faux-leather back complimented with metallic edges, and gave a nice grip with 8.5mm thickness and 176 grams of weight. It didn’t felt enormous like other phablets, but appeared very premium with its rubberized back panel with textured finish. The new phablet, on the other hand, is fairly slimmer, lighter, and more attractive than its predecessor. It follows the lines of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, and boasts a combination of metal and glass which appears extremely well-crafted from all-angles. The weight has been reduced to 171 grams, and thickness tips just around 7.6mm. The curved edges also give a better grip, and the S-Pen pop-ups automatically, instead of being pulled.
Display
The Galaxy Note 4 packs a powerful Quad-HD display of 5.7-inches. It offers a nice visual trip, and boasts vivid color production and better contrasts from all-possible angles. The highly-detailed display of Note-4 looks slightly over-saturated, but still, with 515 pixels per inch, only a few smartphone have been able to match its efficiency.
The display of its successor, on the other hand, has not been increased to 4k. With same-size and resolution, it gives a nice viewing experience, and moves completely in line with Note 4. Many of us asked for a UHD display, but maybe Samsung thought it was already perfect, and didn’t required any upgrades for the latest phablet.
Hardware
Galaxy Note 4 packed decent hardware capabilities and delivered snag-free performance while running demanding apps and games. It powered up by Qualcomm’s top-tier Snapdragon 805 chip with four cores clocked at 2.4GHz, coupled with 3GB of RAM and Adreno 420 GPU. Its performance was already on the mark, and wasn’t the primary reason to make the jump. But, the new Note 5 brought some real power with company’s own Exynos 7420 quad-core chipset- the same one that powered Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Built on 14nm manufacturing process, the processor of this device promises unparalleled performance, and has been paired with 4GB RAM to handle Android Lollipop’s memory eating multi-tasking.
Software
Samsung’s latest Galaxy series featured a huge turn around in the software department. The company redefined its much criticized TouchWiz interface, and brought a bunch of upgrades with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Notably, the new Note runs Android 5.1.1, and will go further towards Android 6.0 Marshmallow. But still, the functionality of the interface is almost similar to Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. The device comes integrated with added features like live YouTube Broadcasting and SideSync, and offers a perfect platform to share screen seamlessly. Note 4, on the other side, was very slow in receiving updates, and Samsung would surely like to prove a point by upgrading Note 5 with frequent OTA updates.
Camera
Like we said, Galaxy Note 4 was probably one of the best phablets in the high-end market. The word ‘best’ goes for its camera performance as well. Samsung’s former Note packed ideal camera capabilities with its 16MP main snapper enriched with Sony IMX240 sensor, Optical image stabilization, f/2.2 aperture, LED flash, and 4k video recording, and a 3.7MP front-facing shooter. It delivered best image quality, until the new line of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge showed up. The new Note 5 also featured the same camera from Galaxy S6. It offered improved rear camera performance with f/1.9 aperture, and offered higher pixel count with its 5MP front-facing snapper.
Storage
For storage, Galaxy Note 4 offered 32GB of built-in storage, with expandability up to 128GB via micro-SD card. It was a nice deal for standard as well as heavy users. But, this time around, Samsung disappointed all of us by dropping micro-SD card slot with the Note 5. The new phablet ships in two variants with 32GB and 64GB internal memory. It sufficient for work and play, and is certainly a big disappointment for heavy users.
Battery
One of the best things that Galaxy Note 4 could manage to offer was its prolific power efficiency. The formed Note device housed a long-lasting 3,220mAh battery, and offered sufficient support to power its Quad-HD display. It had a removable back-cover, and additional options for quick and wireless charging as well.
Galaxy Note 5, on the other hand, didn’t introduced a big improvement. The device packs the same display, but its battery capacity has been reduced to 3,000mAh. It offers support for quick-wireless charging, but still it, won’t help in enhancing backup of the device.
Price
As of now, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is hitting the shelves at Rs. 41,900, while the new Galaxy Note 5 has been recently priced at a hefty Rs. 53,900 for 32GB and Rs. 59,900 for 64GB variant. The phablets are currently available at company’s retail outlets, and will soon also go on sale via other ecommerce portals.
Final Verdict
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is a decent upgrade over its predecessor. It has some disappointments, but still, offers a nice package with top-tier performance and stunning looks. The improved performance and sleek form factor of this device certainly addresses the issue of weak battery and lack of micro-SD card slot. Samsung has given a lot of attention to looks, but if it doesn’t sway you, go for the low-priced Galaxy Note 4.
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