Samsung Galaxy Note 5, S6 Edge+: Side By Side
(Image: Thomas Claburn)
Samsung gave its new Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 their official unveiling Aug. 13, having done so already by accident. News of the updated Samsung devices surfaced on a Samsung website in France on Tuesday morning, only to be hastily taken down.
Samsung has been letting the cat out of the bag for the past two weeks. In early August, I was invited to a media preview at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco and sworn to secrecy until the appointed time, August 13, 11 am EDT.
The shroud of mystery, though presumably necessary from a marketing perspective, is largely symbolic. If you've seen the Galaxy S6 edge, unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in March, you've seen its successor. Not much has changed in the intervening months.
There are a few differences that can be teased out with a magnifying glass and a finely calibrated scale. The S6 edge+ comes with 4GB of RAM instead of 3GB. It runs Android 5.1 instead of Android 5.0. It features a 3000mAh battery, up from 2600mAh, and a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED 2560x1440 (518ppi) display, which provides more viewing space than the S6 edge's 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED 2560x1440 (577ppi). The Galaxy S6 edge+ weighs in at 154.4 x 75.8 x 6.9mm (153g), up from 142.1 x 70.1 x 7.0mm (132g), though you'd be hard pressed to notice the 21g difference were you to hold one model in each hand.
Both models sport the same processor, an Exynos 7420 (64-bit, 14nm), Octa core (2.1GHz Quad + 1.5GHz Quad).
"One of the fundamental approaches at Samsung is staying ahead of the curve," said Drew Blackard, director of product marketing at Samsung Telecommunications, probably not intending any reference to the curved screen that helped make the original Galaxy S6 edge a hit. "What we mean by that is trying to deliver new technologies to the market first, that consumers can really take advantage of."
[Google is reorganizing. See Alphabet Rewrites Google's Script.]
The Galaxy Note5 is, apart from its dimensions and the inclusion of the S Pen stylus, more or less identical in terms of specifications. It's not the same in terms of appeal, however. Phablets are not for everyone (the word alone would keep me from buying one). But there are people who adore them, just as there are people who adore mobile homes.
"We see these really as two difference personalities," said Blackard. "One is really more of a multimedia center phone, the Galaxy S6 edge+. On big-screen devices, people consume more multimedia content than they do on small screens. Everything we hear from our customers on Galaxy S6 edge is that it's an amazing viewing experience. ... Whereas the Note5 is really more of your productivity powerhouse."
The table below gives you the specs. Continue through the pages that follow to check out images and special features for both devices.
| Galaxy S6 edge+ | Galaxy Note5 | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Android 5.1 (Lollipop) | Android 5.1 (Lollipop) |
| Dimensions | 154.4 x 75.8 x 6.9mm, 153g | 153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6mm, 171g |
| AP | Exynos 7420 (64bit, 14nm) Octa core (2.1GHz Quad + 1.5GHz Quad) | Exynos 7420 (64bit, 14nm) Octa core (2.1GHz Quad + 1.5GHz Quad) |
| Memory | 4GB RAM (LPDDR4) 32/64GB (UFS 2.0) | 4GB RAM (LPDDR4) 32/64GB (UFS 2.0) |
| Display | 5.7” Quad HD Super AMOLED 2560x1440 (518ppi) Dual edge screen | 5.7” Quad HD Super AMOLED 2560x1440 (518ppi) |
| Camera | Rear: 16 MP OIS (F1.9) Front: 5 MP (F1.9) | Rear: 16 MP OIS (F1.9) Front: 5 MP (F1.9) |
| Battery | 3,000mAh | 3,000mAh |
| Charging | Fast Charging, Fast Wireless Charging (wireless charging pad sold separately) | Fast Charging, Fast Wireless Charging (wireless charging pad sold separately) |
| Payment | NFC, MST | NFC, MST |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), MIMO (2x2) 620Mbps Bluetooth® v4.2 LE, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC, Location (GPS, Glonass, Beidou) | WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), MIMO (2x2) 620Mbps Bluetooth® v4.2 LE, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC, Location (GPS, Glonass, Beidou) |
| Sensor | Accelerometer, Proximity, RGB Light, Geo-magnetic, Gyro, Fingerprint, Barometer, Hall, HRM | Accelerometer, Proximity, RGB Light, Geo-magnetic, Gyro, Fingerprint, Barometer, Hall, HRM |
| Audio | Format: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA | Format: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA |
| Video | Format: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM | Format: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM |
| Colors | Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum | Black Sapphire, White Pearl |