The Samsung Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ Review
by Joshua Ho on October 2, 2015 8:00 AM ESTSystem Performance
While subjective judgments of performance may be possible to make when the delta is significant, when the gap gets increasingly close within the range of perceivable performance differences it becomes important to rely on more precise and accurate methods of measuring the overall performance of the mobile device. For the most part, when we’re discussing system performance the single biggest factor is often the SoC, which makes sense given that an SoC contains the CPU, GPU, video encode and decode blocks, memory bus, and DSPs. There are other aspects of the device that determine the overall perception of performance and things that can have a meaningful effect on performance, but the SoC is often the gating factor.
In order to test this we run mobile devices through our standard suite of benchmarks. In the case of the Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+, there shouldn’t be too many surprises given the commonality in components with the Galaxy S6.
If you guessed that performance in these benchmarks would be similar to the Galaxy S6, you'd be right. Given the shared SoC and general commonality in components performance remains as high as it is with the Galaxy S6. In some cases we see improvements, likely a combination of changes to Chrome and changes to areas like the frequency governor to respond faster to changes in load. It's probably fair to say that the Exynos 7420 will continue to be the best SoC for Android mobile devices in 2015, although it's likely that we'll see significantly increased competition for 2016.
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theduckofdeath - Thursday, October 8, 2015 - link
There are issues for desktop sized high resolution displays. The biggest one is volume and production cost. Just look at what you have to pay for an LG OLED telly compared to a nano LED telly. Like Kamus said, look up what professional display calibration companies says about SAMOLED. It's not "on par", it's in a league of its own.thedons1983 - Sunday, October 18, 2015 - link
You are an idiot. The reason that top end monitor manufacturers don't use OLED, or AMOLED, is because they can't afford to. Eventually they will replace LCD, when they can afford to. LCD is crap technology and outdated, and will eventually be entirely replaced, when the costs make sense. Samsung can produce AMOLED screens, because they actually build them!! Apple builds nothing. At all. They buy their tech from others whom have the know how. Therefore, they pay through the nose for it, and aren't ever even offered the superior tech, because, why would you bother?! You'd maybe understand these issues, we're you not such an utter moron.sany - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
HiI've been wondering, having the best chip to process still photos and good software - why still slow motion FPS rate is still kept too low compared to the slow motion fps for iPhone. Is this a limitation with hardware or can be fixed through an software update?
thedons1983 - Sunday, October 18, 2015 - link
Dude, seriously, smartphones take terrible pictures. The camera tech they employ is light years behind that used in actual cameras. Any photographer using their smartphone as there primary photographic device, is an utter moron!! Probably an unsuccessful one too!!Peichen - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
As an iPhone user that also played with Samsung and LG flagships extensively, I feel Samsung Galaxy S and Note are the only phone that can be mentioned in the same sentence as iPhone. No other Android phones come close to S and Note's Apple-like hardware and refinements. Android + TouchWiz still lags and not as stable as iOS but where Samsung did their homework it is at Apple's level. I hope the upcoming V10 and Z5 Premium is as well made and tweaked as Note 5.thedons1983 - Sunday, October 18, 2015 - link
Your opinion is entirely meaningless, as you haven't used any flagship Android devices, other than Samsung. Sony make great phones, as do HTC, and Google and Motorola, and Huawei... Need I go on?? You might know this, if you weren't so entirely blinkered and pathetic.jrich7 - Monday, October 5, 2015 - link
Just picked up a Note 5 today, ugraded from the Nexus 6 and wow its way faster ! The batter drains a little faster but the fast charge feels just sweet and that see coming from another fast charge device. The screen is beautiful and the spen is going to come in handy. The only thing I really like better in the Nexus 6 was the two front facing speakers. I thought I would not like TouchWiz because I heard it's slow compared stock androld but the hardware on the phone makes up for it like 10 fold ! I'm very happy with this device :)coolhardware - Tuesday, October 6, 2015 - link
The Nexus 6 had splendid speakers! That was my biggest complaint switching from it to a smaller Galaxy S6.For another set of nice stereo phone speakers, check out the Moto X Pure Edition. My wife has one and the speakers sound good, better than any phone from Samsung or Apple IMHO. :-)
Speaking of Apple, I am excited to hear the speakers on the new iPad Pro. I'm *hoping* they really advance the tablet speaker situation to a new level!
thedons1983 - Sunday, October 18, 2015 - link
Thank you! The opinion of someone who has actually bought the device in question, is always going to be more legitimate, than the reams of idiots who have only ever used an iPhone. Good work, for bothering to add your two cents, it is appreciated.Thounee - Monday, October 12, 2015 - link
Hey staff @ Anand. I tried to look for any review of Xperia's (Z3, Z3+/Z4 or new Z5's) but came up empty. Since the sensors and image/video quality is considered as best by some benchmarks in the industry (look at dxomark), it would be nice to see your take on the latest versions.