Related
Overall, it looks like this phone doesn't seem to offer much compared to the Note 5 for enthusiasts.
This seems to be a matter of form over function here:
3000 Mah battery, which will probably not last 1 day of heavy use - even less so if you are outside (you must turn up the screen brightness in the sun)
To add insult to injury, no removable battery, so extended batteries by companies like Hyperion are harder to come by and in 12 months, changing the battery (because it doesn't hold as much of a charge) will be more difficult
No SD Card (for people who want to store FLAC and movies on their phone)
Exynos means that this phone will probably not be getting an AOSP ROM (not saying the 810 Snapdragon is perfect, as it overheats, but the larger size of the Note might be able to mitigate that)
Glass back assures that you have to use a case or it will crack (plus it makes the "premium" pointless)
They got rid of the IR blaster too
No features like water proofing or anything else special
Other specs are not a huge upgrade - the Exynos is faster than the Snapdragon 805 on Note 4, but not by much
I guess we should look for alternatives? There were rumors of an LG G4 Note (or Pro) and LG's executives did confirm they were releasing an "ultra premium" (their words) device.
There needs to be an "ultra premium" phablet device other then the note...I thought I would be upgrading but not planning on it anytime soon.. hopefully another company steps up and fills the void samsung just left.
sauron0101 said:
Overall, it looks like this phone doesn't seem to offer much compared to the Note 5 for enthusiasts.
This seems to be a matter of form over function here:
3000 Mah battery, which will probably not last 1 day of heavy use - even less so if you are outside (you must turn up the screen brightness in the sun)
To add insult to injury, no removable battery, so extended batteries by companies like Hyperion are harder to come by and in 12 months, changing the battery (because it doesn't hold as much of a charge) will be more difficult
No SD Card (for people who want to store FLAC and movies on their phone)
Exynos means that this phone will probably not be getting an AOSP ROM (not saying the 810 Snapdragon is perfect, as it overheats, but the larger size of the Note might be able to mitigate that)
Glass back assures that you have to use a case or it will crack (plus it makes the "premium" pointless)
No features like water proofing or anything else special
Other specs are not a huge upgrade - the Exynos is faster than the Snapdragon 805 on Note 4, but not by much
I guess we should look for alternatives? There were rumors of an LG G4 Note (or Pro) and LG's executives did confirm they were releasing an "ultra premium" (their words) device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a G4 and it's a beast. Compared to a Note 4 and it's marginally smaller.
Yeah it's a step back and a sidegrade at best.
Amazingly the Note 4, which I have, remains the best smartphone in the world at least for me.
I suspect sales of the Note 5 will be disappointing like the Galaxy S6 and hopefully the Note 6 will be an improvement.
Abandoning Note 4, and not for a Note 5 ...
I too will not go with the Note 5. I'll be watching this thread with interest.
So far I"\'m evaluating between the upcoming Nexus devices (thinking of the Huawei, depending on specs), Moto x Pure (but I prefer to get 4gb RAM due to the large number of apps I use, and the Pure will be 3); LG G4 Pro (but I'm thinking it may be too expensive.
An obstacle for me is I'm on AT&T, and they are pretty much making the vendors make the phones unrootable. (Exceptions out there, but I think those will narrow). So due to need to purchase outside of AT&T, it makes the expense of the phone an issue for me.
Of course I don't think there will ever be a perfect phone.
No IR blaster either :crying:
You forgot the removal of IR-blaster. Wonder what feature they will remove for S7?
Still on my Note 2 and was anticipating the announcement hoping the rumors were false. Too bad, I'm either getting something else or getting a used t-mobile Note 4 from one of the clowns that end up upgrading. The sd card I might live with, the non-removable battery is a complete deal breaker.
I am hoping lack of IR blaster is ....false?
I too am very disappointed with the new offerings from Samsung. I currently have the Note 3, I didn't upgrade to the Note 4 as it wasn't a big enough jump, and the Note 5 is quite disappointing. The non-replaceable battery, no SD card or 128GB phone to make up for this, Samsung Pay will not work with ROOT, and KNOX, makes this another one I will skip. I think at this point I will wait until the new 820 chip powers a nice new phone, before I dump my Note 3.
Very disappointed too.
but not only because the lack of the SD card.
i'm tired of using a heavy device. Almost 180g is just too heavy.
I want something up to 130g.
and, looking back, i'm ready to sacrifice s-pen for a lighter device with no problem at all.
but it has to have sd-card, that's for sure.
you think you got us hooked, Samsung?
wrong! we will switch easily and happily.
mgbotoe said:
I am hoping lack of IR blaster is ....false?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No IR blaster. Last year they touted it and this year not on the device.
Not sure if the Moto X Pure has one or not, but does have:
64GB storage option WITH sd slot (128gb more storage than the Note 5)
Front stereo speakers that apparently sound good (preview event feedback)
Zero carrier bloat
Zero of the infamous Samsung bloat
Case design options
No crack magnet glass case design
The 64GB model is over $300 less than the Note 5 64GB. Moto X Pure 16GB = $400, 32GB = $450 and 64GB = $500
Seems from an overall standpoint the Note 5 is comically on the weak side in comparison.
nygmam said:
I too am very disappointed with the new offerings from Samsung. I currently have the Note 3, I didn't upgrade to the Note 4 as it wasn't a big enough jump, and the Note 5 is quite disappointing. The non-replaceable battery, no SD card or 128GB phone to make up for this, Samsung Pay will not work with ROOT, and KNOX, makes this another one I will skip. I think at this point I will wait until the new 820 chip powers a nice new phone, before I dump my Note 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, sir you used incorrect terminology there: Offerings? Lol. jk
I am definitely not getting the Note 5. It's a giant step backwards to pre 2013.
LG G4 Pro in october.
WTF SAMSUNG!!! You cut two of the most essential Note features and you don't make a 128GB model!!!! Insanity ? I think I'll wait for the Nexus 6 or the Moto X pure I'll miss the S pen and multitasking feature but it's not worth it at all. Smh ?
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Free mobile app
Getting it regardless.
Wait for the Nexus 5 (2015).
Seems this year your battery life will suck. Let it suck with a Snapdragon 820 inside and pure Android.
Or, as someone mentioned above, G Pro 4 (or whatever the hell it will be named). Will contain probably SD820, massive 27 MP camera and probably bigger battery than Note 5.
Talk about killing the excitement with all these negative reviews. Anyone with positive comments? I will be going from a S4 to the Note 5.
Europe: No Note 5 for the time being
To me the Note 5 is also not a step but actually a giant leap backwards, since Samsung happily decided to abandon a lot of powerful features that made the preceding Notes shine.
Of course I am not surprised that the Note series has now fallen victim to the same strategies the S series has, which come straight out of the playbook from Cupertino.
But what makes me shake my head even more in anger is that - at least for the time being - Samsung are not even planning on bringing the Note 5 to Europe but are trying to force feed us the S6 edge+ over here.
Allegedly because Europeans got their Notes mainly because of the screen size!
Although they cannot speak for the whole continent, my Note 1, Note 10.1 and Note 3 beg to differ.
Note 5 is the best smartphone on the market. Looks very good, top hardware. I'm waiting for full reviews and to see it in stores but it is a beautiful phone. Especially the new metallic color. Everything else is just talk. What I was expected was the 128 gb option. The rest are not so important ( I owned every Galaxy S and Note from the beginning, I use 128 GB sd card atm but has never been occupied more than 50%. Now I own S6 with 128 gb and It's enough. Maybe 64 Gb will be the low limit, but the 32 gb variant it's out of discussion.
---------- Post added at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 PM ----------
BTW.
1.No IR blaster - a good universal remote from Philips or Logitech cost 30 USD. Can do so much more and so much confortable with that than a phone with limited data base ( samsung has never implemented the learning feature of a true universal remote). So not much of a problem the lack of IR.- there is not.
2. No sd card - 64/128 Gb of fast internal memory will do more than 128 of external with limited capabilities. Do not forget the limitation we had with external sd. BTW -an micro sd OTG adapter is the size of the coin an can be attached to the phone whenever we want.
3. No removable battery -this could be a problem but in my opinion a power user who charge a phone every day will update in 90% of cases before 2 years. Even so the battery could be exchanged with a new one in service without too much trouble.
THE LACK OF 128 GB IS THE ONLY REAL PROBLEM WITH NOTE 5/S6 EDGE +AND THE LACK OF HDMI OUT LIKE THE S6 ( THIS WAS A REALLY STUPID STUPID MOVE FROM SAMSUNG IN MY OPINION)
What do you guys think? Software, hardware, android updates, rooting, features and why do you think one is better than the other? Cheers
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk
Lots of discussion here about that:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/nexus-6p-vs-note-5-t3212443
I like the size of the note better (I couldn't care less about front speakers). The note barely fits in the place I put my phone in my car, I don't think the 6P would.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
Thats from a nexus forum perspective. I wanna hear from the note side of things.
I'm trying to convince myself to get the 6P but can't find a good enough reason to make the switch just yet.
Development community and updates don't mean as much to me anymore as they used to. I no longer flash roms or have the desire to (but I will root). Updates don't matter as much to me either because I always get the latest phones anyways and don't last long enough with phones to worry about updates.
With that said if the 6P was the size of the G4 and definitely not bigger than the Note 5 and had a IR blaster, I've might have been all over it.
Other things I'll be looking for is the 6p screen actually the same quality as the Note 5 screen? How about outdoor visibility, is it as amazing as the Note 5 is?
Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
Hey buddy, nice to see you here. I'm keeping my Note 5. The Note 5 is the absolute perfect size for a 5.7" screen device. 6P is too big to me and I don't care about front facing speakers.
But my main reason is I hate stock android. Looks like crap and is boring. I know roms and themes can help that but I'm completely over rooting. It just doesn't add the benefits that it used to and I'm tired of doing it.
So with all that being said, I feel that I have the better device. And I like using the S-Pen.
Right now there are no benefits to get that phone. The strongest argument nexus people make is that they have great developing community, however it takes around 3 months for developers to get their units and to add features. By that time sd820 will be out. On top of that, nexus developers won't be able to bring any cooler features that the note 5 already has. I love the scroll to capture feature on the note 5 for example. Stock android is pretty boring as well, and like previous dude said, I am bored of flashing and running custom roms every week, new bugs and stuff like that. As far as it regards the hardware, I believe the note 5 kills the new nexus.
Same here. Man tapatalk quotes have not been working today. I love my Note 5 and i keep trying to get an excuse to try the 6p but i would be giving up too much by getting rid of my lovely note.
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk
@WizeGuyDezignz Hey man! (WizeGuyDezignz)Glad to see you again! Yeah man stock android is quite boring. Even if i were to get the 6p i wouldnt keep it a month if that. The S pen is really fantastic. Once you start using the features of the note its hard to get something else.
Its for you WizeGuyDezignz, even mentions are not working for me besides the quotes for some odd reason.
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk
By the way, I forgot the mention the camera interface. Google camera might be good but that camera interface is so outdated. Yes I can always install a third party application, but man the whole camera experience on the Samsung is a total different Galaxy!
Even though I have the option to return the N5 once there 6p is out, I think I might keep the N5. Haven't owned a nexus device before, just ended up flashing an AOSP based ROM on the Samsung device I owned.
Just might wait it out until someone releases one for the N5.
Only thing nexus is better its updates and roms support
If you want stock, front facing speakers, and ROMs get 6p.
if you like a faster cpu/gpu, a pen, Samsung Pay, better camera (in most ways), and TouchWiz enhancements get note 5.
I also like the size of the note 5 more. 6p is too tall for me.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
This is why I got my Note 5 over a Nexus 6P
**Hardware**
The Note 5 will undoubtedly have superior hardware.
The 14nm Exynos 7420 is miles ahead of the SD810 both in terms of speed and efficiency. Early benchmarks of the SD820 which is also 14nm are actually comparable to the 7420 which is a huge kudos to Samsung for having this chip out there 12 months before Qualcomm in the chipmaking world which runs on 6/12mth cycles. The SD810 in the 6P (even v 2.1) is going to get hot and then throttled as the system underclocks it to compensate. Its just a matter of when, which depends on Huawei's cooling. The SD808 even shares the same problem to a lesser extent.
TLDR: Exynos 7420 chip is miles ahead of the SD810 and has a degree of future proofing.
-NAND storage UFS 2.0 in the Note 5 vs. eMMC in the 6P. Yes its proprietary, but UFS gives much higher read/write speeds.
-4GB RAM vs 3GB. More is better. The aggressive app closing that people have complained about in Galaxy's can be fixed to maximise the use of this for multi tasking.
-Best in class camera – the 6P sounds like it's going to have the best camera ever in a Nexus, but it's still below the S6 edge according to DxoMark, which is going to be below again the yet to be reviewed Note 5. OIS with manual settings is something else altogether if you know what you're doing. Eg http://i.imgur.com/LLp4WQS.jpg – I took this beauty with a super slow shutter speed whilst resting the phone on someone's head lol.
-Best in class screen – there is no way the 6P is going to get the Note 5's screen which has been rated best in class by displaymate and anandtech. Best case scenario is maybe the Note 4's screen which is better than the Nexus 6, but still 40% less efficient compared to the current gen Note 5 (http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_Note5_ShootOut_1.htm)
Build – I'm not a huge fan of the slippery glass back on the Note, but kudos for the screen to body ratio and tapered edges to help with one handed use, while maintaining the same screen size as the note 4. I use cases for all my phones, so in a way build materials don't really matter. The aluminum build on the 6P also looks nice, but the bezels top and bottom bezels are huge (for the front facing speakers?) and is reflected in the relatively poor screen to body ratio (71.4% vs. 75.9%)
True compared to the Note 4, the omission of the mSD card, IR blaster and replaceable battery are disappointing. There are ways around lack of mSD (see below) and sadly it's a trend that a lot of other smartphone makers are adopting as well. The battery although smaller actually provides more juice compared to the Note 4 thanks to processor and screen improvements in efficiency. If you decided to keep the device for 3+ years, the sealed battery is actually replaceable – not super easy to do, but there are guides online. It's not as if the Nexus 6P has any of these features either.
The Note 5 also has wireless fast charging for a sacrifice of 0.3mm of thickness, which was the main reason Nexus 6P engineers have given for its omission.
**Software**
I'm the first to admit that I'm a huge pure android and nexus nut, but Marshmallow may be the first new version of android that I really can't get excited about. The touted features in Marshmallow are not ground breaking and represent disappointing incremental features which already exist in Lollipop with xposed and even 3rd party apps. True it's giving people who don't root their phones access to them for the first time, but for the power user there really isn't much there. See: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/android-6-0-marshmallow-thoroughly-reviewed/
TLDR:
Doze – can still be bypassed by developers of apps. Only affects standby time so will make no difference to the biggest drain which is screen, app usage and cellular reception quality. Can do similar already with greenify, amplified and other similar apps.
On tap – very hit and miss. More miss than hit
Permissions – nice and about time I guess, but already doable with 3rd party apps (AppOps) / a firewall
Google launcher changes – had these for months already with nova launcher
In context voice commands – nice if you use voice commands often. I don't know many people who do.
Xposed won't work for a while and there will undoubtedly be new bugs as always until 6.1.
All up, the maturity of android is making the latest and greatest pure android updates less mandatory.
My last experience with Touchwiz back with the Note 2 were pretty negative. However, with a dark material theme from the theme store, nova launcher and xposed, the gaudy bits of touchwiz are no longer as bad as they once were. Samsung have really pulled it back and you can do the rest with a simple debloating app or a modded stock ROM. With the [dark material theme](http://www.xda-developers.com/material-and-material-dark-hit-samsungs-theme-store/), it really isn't too disimilar to stock android.
I'm not a huge stylus person, but some of the TW features like signing PDFs and better hand writing recognition seem genuinely useful. Multi window which was touted in the developer preview of Marshmallow but disabled at launch has been around in TouchWiz for years.
The cons of the Note 5 would be that updates are 4-6 months late and there will be no AOSP custom ROM support given it runs on exynos. This means updates for only 2 years at most. However, the maturity of android as an OS has meant that there are less "essential" features to upgrade to or problems for custom ROMs to fix. Xposed framework is a miracle in allowing a degree customisation that only customs ROMs used to be able to offer.
Samsung is also committed to monthly security updates for android, which is huge as you're no longer reliant on a nexus for this. http://www.androidcentral.com/samsu...urity-updates-every-month-its-android-devices
**Price**
Local RRP for the 6P is $899 which call it what you want (gouging, Australia tax, market factors) is a huge increase in the $499 US that US customers pay.
Unfortunately I think it will be harder to source cheap grey Nexus 6P stock this time around, as all countries except for North America (with the US Bands version) got done over by the [international pricing model](http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/09/30/prices-nexus-5x-nexus-6p-across-globe/). Hong Kong/Asia where a lot of grey stuff comes from is not significantly cheaper than Australia (+27% vs +21%) and that's without a GST. You can probably get one for $840 delivered from Clove/Handtec at launch, but at these similar prices I'd personally pay an extra $50 for excellent 2 year playstore warranty. Historically, Nexus devices have had stock supply issues initially and thus haven't always had cheap grey stock prices for 3+ months after launch.
Either way, it's going to be more expensive than the Note 5 in the foreseeable future.
Samsung has pretty good price retention as well. Brand new Note 4s still retail for $650-$700. Resale value used is ~$500-550 on ebay compared to the Nexus 6 which is $400-450. When I got my [Nexus 6 in December](https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/174328), I remember it actually cost more than the Note 4 (paid $765 via Amazon France, Note 4 was ~$720 on a ebay sale).
TLDR
The Note 5 has undoubtedly miles better hardware and will be cheaper than the Nexus 6P at launch. The benefits of pure android and the latest android updates are no longer as important as they once were given the maturity of android as an OS as evidenced by only minor incremental updates in Marshmallow. Advancements in TouchWiz and xposed framework have made non pure android much more tolerable than it once was.
The only other major con I see with the Note 5 is the absence of a 64GB version in Australia, and if it does come it'll be ridiculously expensive (+$300 over the 32GB currently from grey imports and no stock as well). There are ways around this with cloud storage. I uploaded my 20GB music collection to Google music and can stream it free. I run a networked storage drive at home for media streaming. You can also get USB OTG dongles for your mSD card which work well when you want to carry extra media locally.
@PearsonDKA Why not return your $800 device and get a $500 device if you want to run aosp? Quote isn't working... That is for PearsonDKA.
WizeGuyDezignz said:
@PearsonDKA Why not return your $800 device and get a $500 device if you want to run aosp? Quote isn't working... That is for PearsonDKA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, I like having the options to go back and forth between TW and AOSP in case I get bored with one of em or something. I'm actually still on the fence about returning it as well, just gonna see how the N5 handles for the next week.
Here is the thing though, in my honest opinion the Note is just a better device overall and im not just talking about specs.
I understand that people love stock android cause you get the updates quickly and a nexus is a dream for people who love to root and all that. This is xda developers and the chances are that people here (all over xda) will mostly be in favor of the nexus because you can root, rom it, have aosp, flash kernels and all that good stuff and this is the site where it all goes down. Thats all beautiful and they are perfectly right.
But when it comes to having a phone that have features and that truly utilizes that big ass display, really nothing out there competes with the note 5. Its a productivity user's dream. It offers an excellent camera (arguably the best), its absolutely future proof with the 4GB of ram and the powerful SoC, it has arguably the best display on a smartphone, it has the S pen which no one can match on the market at the moment.
People who own the note should use these features, use multiwindow and screen capture and all that, you will see that you wont be able to use another device because you have a mini computer in your pocket that performs wonderfully and do things that other devices cant . As a smartphone, what can beat the note 5 when all is considered? Not a thing.
As a developer's phone, as someone who likes to root and tinker with their device to their liking, nothing can beat a nexus especially the 6p with its amazing specs. Honestly the choice is pretty clear: if you wanna root, rom, flash aosp and CM and all that, you MUST go with a nexus. If you want a phone full of features with the best camera on the market and is a productivity champ you have to go with the note. Forget things like battery life and performance and all that cause both devices are champs. I am using a non carrier note 5 which is expected to have android 6.0 by year's end or early next year, im not sweating it cause the phone works extremely well for me. If i get a nexus 6p now, its only because of the hype but i know what type of user i am and the note 5 works best for me. I skipped the nexus 6 this past year, used many devices and im still alive despite not having used a stock android phone
....just saying
One last thing lol, before the note 5 i had the Iphone 6s and i loved it. But then i wanted a bigger display and i was on the fence between the 6s plus and the note. When i returned my 6s at the apple store to grab the 6s plus, thats when i knew i had to get the note 5 cause i saw how much the 6s plus was just a big phone that does not take advantage of the big display, same with the 6p.
Check out this video guys, trust me its worth it.
https://youtu.be/EYRIX9YP3Lk
Ill keep it simple.
Note 5 has:
Multi Window
Pen
Brighter screen in daylight
Better camera
Wireless charging
Tiny bit better dimensions
More attractive/professional build quality
Samsung pay
Better cpu/gpu
More ram
Nexus has
Dual forward speakers
Type c port
Bigger battery
Rootable without voiding warranty
Instant updates
Note 5 wins.
liqn7 said:
This is why I got my Note 5 over a Nexus 6P
**Hardware**
The Note 5 will undoubtedly have superior hardware.
The 14nm Exynos 7420 is miles ahead of the SD810 both in terms of speed and efficiency. Early benchmarks of the SD820 which is also 14nm are actually comparable to the 7420 which is a huge kudos to Samsung for having this chip out there 12 months before Qualcomm in the chipmaking world which runs on 6/12mth cycles. The SD810 in the 6P (even v 2.1) is going to get hot and then throttled as the system underclocks it to compensate. Its just a matter of when, which depends on Huawei's cooling. The SD808 even shares the same problem to a lesser extent.
TLDR: Exynos 7420 chip is miles ahead of the SD810 and has a degree of future proofing.
-NAND storage UFS 2.0 in the Note 5 vs. eMMC in the 6P. Yes its proprietary, but UFS gives much higher read/write speeds.
-4GB RAM vs 3GB. More is better. The aggressive app closing that people have complained about in Galaxy's can be fixed to maximise the use of this for multi tasking.
-Best in class camera – the 6P sounds like it's going to have the best camera ever in a Nexus, but it's still below the S6 edge according to DxoMark, which is going to be below again the yet to be reviewed Note 5. OIS with manual settings is something else altogether if you know what you're doing. Eg http://i.imgur.com/LLp4WQS.jpg – I took this beauty with a super slow shutter speed whilst resting the phone on someone's head lol.
-Best in class screen – there is no way the 6P is going to get the Note 5's screen which has been rated best in class by displaymate and anandtech. Best case scenario is maybe the Note 4's screen which is better than the Nexus 6, but still 40% less efficient compared to the current gen Note 5 (http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_Note5_ShootOut_1.htm)
Build – I'm not a huge fan of the slippery glass back on the Note, but kudos for the screen to body ratio and tapered edges to help with one handed use, while maintaining the same screen size as the note 4. I use cases for all my phones, so in a way build materials don't really matter. The aluminum build on the 6P also looks nice, but the bezels top and bottom bezels are huge (for the front facing speakers?) and is reflected in the relatively poor screen to body ratio (71.4% vs. 75.9%)
True compared to the Note 4, the omission of the mSD card, IR blaster and replaceable battery are disappointing. There are ways around lack of mSD (see below) and sadly it's a trend that a lot of other smartphone makers are adopting as well. The battery although smaller actually provides more juice compared to the Note 4 thanks to processor and screen improvements in efficiency. If you decided to keep the device for 3+ years, the sealed battery is actually replaceable – not super easy to do, but there are guides online. It's not as if the Nexus 6P has any of these features either.
The Note 5 also has wireless fast charging for a sacrifice of 0.3mm of thickness, which was the main reason Nexus 6P engineers have given for its omission.
**Software**
I'm the first to admit that I'm a huge pure android and nexus nut, but Marshmallow may be the first new version of android that I really can't get excited about. The touted features in Marshmallow are not ground breaking and represent disappointing incremental features which already exist in Lollipop with xposed and even 3rd party apps. True it's giving people who don't root their phones access to them for the first time, but for the power user there really isn't much there. See: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/android-6-0-marshmallow-thoroughly-reviewed/
TLDR:
Doze – can still be bypassed by developers of apps. Only affects standby time so will make no difference to the biggest drain which is screen, app usage and cellular reception quality. Can do similar already with greenify, amplified and other similar apps.
On tap – very hit and miss. More miss than hit
Permissions – nice and about time I guess, but already doable with 3rd party apps (AppOps) / a firewall
Google launcher changes – had these for months already with nova launcher
In context voice commands – nice if you use voice commands often. I don't know many people who do.
Xposed won't work for a while and there will undoubtedly be new bugs as always until 6.1.
All up, the maturity of android is making the latest and greatest pure android updates less mandatory.
My last experience with Touchwiz back with the Note 2 were pretty negative. However, with a dark material theme from the theme store, nova launcher and xposed, the gaudy bits of touchwiz are no longer as bad as they once were. Samsung have really pulled it back and you can do the rest with a simple debloating app or a modded stock ROM. With the [dark material theme](http://www.xda-developers.com/material-and-material-dark-hit-samsungs-theme-store/), it really isn't too disimilar to stock android.
I'm not a huge stylus person, but some of the TW features like signing PDFs and better hand writing recognition seem genuinely useful. Multi window which was touted in the developer preview of Marshmallow but disabled at launch has been around in TouchWiz for years.
The cons of the Note 5 would be that updates are 4-6 months late and there will be no AOSP custom ROM support given it runs on exynos. This means updates for only 2 years at most. However, the maturity of android as an OS has meant that there are less "essential" features to upgrade to or problems for custom ROMs to fix. Xposed framework is a miracle in allowing a degree customisation that only customs ROMs used to be able to offer.
Samsung is also committed to monthly security updates for android, which is huge as you're no longer reliant on a nexus for this. http://www.androidcentral.com/samsu...urity-updates-every-month-its-android-devices
**Price**
Local RRP for the 6P is $899 which call it what you want (gouging, Australia tax, market factors) is a huge increase in the $499 US that US customers pay.
Unfortunately I think it will be harder to source cheap grey Nexus 6P stock this time around, as all countries except for North America (with the US Bands version) got done over by the [international pricing model](http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/09/30/prices-nexus-5x-nexus-6p-across-globe/). Hong Kong/Asia where a lot of grey stuff comes from is not significantly cheaper than Australia (+27% vs +21%) and that's without a GST. You can probably get one for $840 delivered from Clove/Handtec at launch, but at these similar prices I'd personally pay an extra $50 for excellent 2 year playstore warranty. Historically, Nexus devices have had stock supply issues initially and thus haven't always had cheap grey stock prices for 3+ months after launch.
Either way, it's going to be more expensive than the Note 5 in the foreseeable future.
Samsung has pretty good price retention as well. Brand new Note 4s still retail for $650-$700. Resale value used is ~$500-550 on ebay compared to the Nexus 6 which is $400-450. When I got my [Nexus 6 in December](https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/174328), I remember it actually cost more than the Note 4 (paid $765 via Amazon France, Note 4 was ~$720 on a ebay sale).
TLDR
The Note 5 has undoubtedly miles better hardware and will be cheaper than the Nexus 6P at launch. The benefits of pure android and the latest android updates are no longer as important as they once were given the maturity of android as an OS as evidenced by only minor incremental updates in Marshmallow. Advancements in TouchWiz and xposed framework have made non pure android much more tolerable than it once was.
The only other major con I see with the Note 5 is the absence of a 64GB version in Australia, and if it does come it'll be ridiculously expensive (+$300 over the 32GB currently from grey imports and no stock as well). There are ways around this with cloud storage. I uploaded my 20GB music collection to Google music and can stream it free. I run a networked storage drive at home for media streaming. You can also get USB OTG dongles for your mSD card which work well when you want to carry extra media locally.
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LOL at 'miles better harder'?... You are exaggerating quite a bit. BTW, it has been confired that the 6P uses the latest Samsung panel.
"Miles better hardware' yet multitasking, scrolling and animations are faster and smoother on the 6P. Advanced Kryptonian technology won't make Touchwiz smooth. You care too much about spec sheets dude. Real life performance is much more important.
---------- Post added at 06:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:02 AM ----------
seh6183 said:
Ill keep it simple.
Note 5 has:
Multi Window
Pen
Brighter screen in daylight
Better camera
Wireless charging
Tiny bit better dimensions
More attractive/professional build quality
Samsung pay
Better cpu/gpu
More ram
Nexus has
Dual forward speakers
Type c port
Bigger battery
Rootable without voiding warranty
Instant updates
Note 5 wins.
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You forgot more efficient and smoother software under Nexus.
---------- Post added at 06:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:03 AM ----------
Reviews are in for the 6P and almost all of them are stating it's the best Android smartphone period including the Note 5. It just goes to show you that the sum of it's parts and amazing optimized software trump spec sheets. Pre-ordered 5 days ago. Going to sell the Note 5 as soon as it arrives. Can't wait to leave touchwiz!
Cool have fun with no s pen, no multi window, no one handed mode, no quick reply, a worse camera, bland speakers, and no wireless charging. Oh and a garbage processor with a full gig less ram. Bye.
Hello guys.
I currently own a Zenfone 2 ZE551ML running CM13.
I fell in love with the ZE552KL (I wanted to buy the Zenfone 3 deluxe version but its way out of budget)
I can acquire the ZE552KL for fairly cheap but what's setting me back from getting one is the possibility of not having Lineage OS support since I don't like the bloated ASUS ROM although there is a custom debloated version in here.
Also the ZF2 was an X86 phone and the community support was quite big, so I assume that the successor with a Snapdragon will have an even bigger community
The question is: Can I buy it and expect a RR or LOS ROM in the future or not ?
This is a big issue, at the moment we do not have custom rom yet. I hope Lineage OS will support our device, I tried it on my Nexus 7 2013 and it is really good.
Possibly, possibly not. Keep in mind that ROM developers are hobbyists developing ROMs in their spare time. It just so happens that there isn't a very large developer community for the Zenfone 3 compared to the Zenfone 2. The Zenfone 2 had a huge amount of publicity behind it - really decent specs for a really great price, in an age where budget phones were getting really good, but still had slow low-end processors. The Zenfone 2 got covered by every major tech website, and was largely received pretty well by enthusiasts. And thus, it had a decent dev community. Issues with the Zenfone 2 started to crop up before long though, and the hype died down pretty much as fast as it came in. Nowadays the only reference you'll find to the Zenfone 2 on forums and around the internet was that it was a phone with great specs, but terrible quality assurance, even worse software, and very bad update support to boot. Because of all this, the enthusiast crowd that the Zenfone 2 aimed to cater to mostly drifted away from the ASUS brand over to OnePlus, Motorola, and Xiaomi - just to name a few. It's a shame, since the Zenfone 3 mostly fixes the problems the Zenfone 2 had and is actually a really nice phone. And it's unlikely that ASUS is going to get the enthusiast crowd back - at least not any time soon. The Zenfone 3 is just not priced competitively in most markets. In the U.S. for example, the phone costs almost as much as the OnePlus 3T, a device with tons of developer support and much higher specs. In some markets it's priced better (it's a steal here in Canada), but it won't be enough to draw back the enthusiast crowd for the foreseeable future.
As it stands now, the user base of the Zenfone 3 is relatively small. With most of the enthusiast market gone (they fled the ASUS brand after the disaster that was the Zenfone 2), all that's really left is a small group of dedicated fans. So far all the ROM development for this phone have been lightly modified versions of the stock ROM, and there is no sign of any other ROMs being in development right now. Unless you can deal with the stock ROM - which, for what it's worth, has gotten much better in Android Nougat - I wouldn't recommend this phone if you're hoping for custom ROM support. Maybe this'll change in the future, but for right now, I wouldn't place any bets on there being any more custom ROMs released in the foreseeable future.
I was reluctant to buy the Zenfone 3 given that there are no custom ROMs available yet. I was also was very interested in a phone from OnePlus or Xiaomi, but the price difference was just too high. However, I just could not find any other phone with the specs that I wanted without spending at least $150 more (in Canada).
Although I am hoping for LineageOS for the Zenfone 3, I find the stock software tolerable. My old Zenfone 2 was the first phone that I have had that I could live with the stock ROM. The Zenfone 3 is marginally better and the battery life is the best I have experienced (even compared to my work iPhone).
One the one hand, I want to encourage people to get this phone (the more users, the more likely custom ROMs will be made). On the other hand, I am reluctant to recommend this phone as there is no certainty that LineageOS will ever be made for it.
BTW. The NewEgg deal on eBay is really good. To me, hands down the best value phone currently in Canada.
What made think of buying a Zenfone 3 is the fact that if I settle for an used it it will cost half of the One Plus 3
Sent from my Asus ZenFone 2 using XDA Labs
PedroCaseiro said:
What made think of buying a Zenfone 3 is the fact that if I settle for an used it it will cost half of the One Plus 3
Sent from my Asus ZenFone 2 using XDA Labs
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That's probably not a bad deal then, again if you can tolerate ZenUI. The hardware is much improved over the Zenfone 2, the build quality is suddenly amazing. Specs in the ZE552KL actually are about the same as in the Zenfone 2 ZE551ML though when you look at pure performance. Battery life is great, and the camera suddenly doesn't suck either. The fingerprint reader is fast, too. The lack of NFC is unfortunate, and the camera app is still pretty much unchanged from the Zenfone 2 (so, slow in other words). Still, I'd say for the price it's pretty good, and certainly a better phone overall than the Zenfone 2.
Considering I can sell my RN5PRO to atleast 120€, should I go for RN7?
It's only 200€, so there are 80€ difference..
Honestly I have to give my RN5pro away to a family member (since her phone is broken). It's not such a noticable upgrade, sure the bezels are thinner and the camera is better (especially in low light).
Hard decision to make but if you are a camera enthusiast (and you don't want to spend 500€ on a phone like I do) then just go for it! Otherwise (in case you are an average user) I really wouldn't since RN5pro is still amazing and offers a lot of modding support.
Nah, don't do it. Still an amazing phone.
Despite mixed opinions, I still think that if you can control your budget, get the RN7. But take your workload to context, f.i gaming - get the RN7,bit's a great deal, normal task and want to have custom ROM - keep it since supporr for RN7 is limited 'till now, rather than waiting, save up some more for the Mi 8 or others :fingers-crossed:
Doesnt make sense, As SDM660 is nothing but an overclocked CPU / GPU of SDM636.
with this upgrade you will just get a more modern phone and nothing more.
I like technology and smartphones and so the other day I bought the Redmi Note 7 for 161 euros, even though I already had the Redmi Note 5 Pro Whyred.
The Redmi Note 5 is a great phone and with the Pixel Experience it guarantees an excellent user experience, but I never really thought of using it as a daily driver, basically because it has a really poor camera compared to other phones.
Instead, I find the room of the Redmi Note 7 really good and so I'm really excited about this phone and for me it was worth the upgrade!
Redmi Note 5 pro has 636 whereas Note 7 has 660, It's not a major upgrade from redmi not 5 pro to note 7 But SD 660 has better performance and graphics for gaming.
Kheppy said:
Considering I can sell my RN5PRO to atleast 120€, should I go for RN7?
It's only 200€, so there are 80€ difference..
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Yes it's a good upgrade.
I don't know if I'm right to post it here, but I have one single doubt before choosing between Le Pro3 or something like Redmi 7 (that is really slightly cheaper). I was looking at this device's xda forum and found some people reporting that their phones got suddenly hard bricked. I wanna know how common is this issue. Could I buy it or probably some unexpected death will haunt my phone usage?
No, stick with Redmi. Too many risks involved with this one in particular. It wasn't released outside of China. The x720 and x722 are total bang-for-your-buck devices though. If you can get them for like $120 USD or something, then go for it
mrdaltro said:
I don't know if I'm right to post it here, but I have one single doubt before choosing between Le Pro3 or something like Redmi 7 (that is really slightly cheaper). I was looking at this device's xda forum and found some people reporting that their phones got suddenly hard bricked. I wanna know how common is this issue. Could I buy it or probably some unexpected death will haunt my phone usage?
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I completely agree with @sk8223
Absolutely the Le pro3's with the Snapdragon 821 or 820 processors are a fantastic phone without a doubt. The problem is that some of those bargains at $120 and actually refurbished units and I have heard stories about the quality not being as good as the original.
Meanwhile the Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a Snapdragon 675 and an excellent camera, modern bezels and if you buy the global version the software is excellent.
Yes, there are many great Roms for the Le Pro 3. However, the Le pro 3 will always be stuck with using an old kernel 3.18, and unfortunately updating kernel any further is a monumental task that is simply not going to happen. So in my opinion, I also feel that you are much better off with a New Redmi Note 7 pro
Biggest issue with the LePro3 is the usb port burning out and the battery wearing out. Both are replaceable but it's an involved process that requires a heat gun to remove the screen.
The parts are cheap though. I got the usb board for $5, a replacement battery for $20 and replacement screen for about $17. These are cheaper than iPhone parts!
Other than that, 4 GB of Ram and Snapdragon 821 cpu is great.
Have any Le Pro 3 owners switched to a Note 7? My Le Pro 3 Elite is working fine but I have been thinking that the Redmi might be a worthy upgrade.
I've owned the Pro 3 x727 since release. The USB port and battery are fine, it can still hit 8+ hours of SOT. Would I suggest the Pro 3 to someone in 2019? No. It's easy to find nicer phones at a similar price. For example, the 3a was going for ~150 after trade in.
Some newer phones have better thermals- which allows them to maintain their peaks longer. If you play games this is obvious. Let's say you're playing PUBG @60fps and recording, the Pro 3 will heat up and throttle. That 60 will soon turn into a stuttery mess.
Then you have to consider sensors. Pro 3 lacks a wide angle and telephoto lens. Thus, limiting the type of images a user can capture. In addition, 64GB doesn't provide much room, at least not for me.
The Note 7 has an SD slot, modern design, and a taller display. Seems like a no-brainer.
One thing I would keep note of it whether the redmi has the band's you need for lte. I know it depends on the cell provider and carrier. But a lot of these international version phones tend not to have the same extended bands needed for indoor coverage in the US