Samsung Galaxy Note 5 vs Galaxy S6 Edge+: Which One to buy! [Comparison Review]

Samsung has been phenomenal in using innovative technologies in its smartphones and has for sure evolved as one of the most commendable players in the market, at least among the Android-based smartphone makers.

Apart from supplying ample number of mid-range devices to the market, the South Korean company has also excelled in impressing the fans with its premium smartphone ranges including the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series.

The Galaxy Note line up has been one of the biggest assets for Samsung. It was pretty much the first mobile maker to ship a high-end smartphone in the phablet segment. However, other Android handset makers have came up with phablets, but Samsung continues to have a strong hold in the smartphone arena.

Unlike its previous versions in Note family, the Galaxy Note 5 and the phablet sized flagship device, Galaxy S6 Edge+ represents a significant design changes.

At a first glance, the Galaxy Note 5 resembles the popular Galaxy S6 in many ways, including the design with a different size. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S6 Edge+, which is considered as a companion device for Galaxy Note 5, is effective to take on with its design and phablet size.

Well, the good news is that, Samsung offers two distinct devices for phablet lover, so lets break them down and help you to understand the difference between Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+.

Design and Build Quality

Both flagship were launched at the same time by the same company, the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+ are neck to neck competitors when it comes to design and build quality. The Galaxy S6 Edge+ predictably follows the footsteps of the S6 Edge with a glass and metal built.

The Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+ is pretty much identical, but with few design changes like dual-edge display in S6 Edge+. On the front, both phones has the same earpiece, home button, front-facing camera and sensors.

The Note 5 is slightly bulkier than the Edge+, means it measures It measures 153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6 mm and weighs 171 grams, while the Edge+ is 154.4 x 75.8 x 6.9 mm and 153 grams.

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The display has noticeably thinner side bezels than what we saw on the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy Note 4. Along the side of, you can see, power button on the right-hand side and volume rocker on the left. The microUSB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and the speaker are placed at the bottom. While, the S-Pen is the addition in the Galaxy Note 5.

Deciding which among the two device has the best design is really difficult. However, the Galaxy Note 5's rear edges feel better than the Galaxy S6 Edge+'s flat and sharp back.

Display

The Galaxy Note 5 and the S6 Edge+ sports the same 5.7 inch QHD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2,560x1,440 pixels with an impressive pixel density of 518ppi. As the name suggest, Galaxy S6 Edge+ has a slightly curved on both sides of the display.

Both phablets offers sharp and super vivid colors with great viewing angles. As the AMOLED display are little brighter, you can easily adjust the display brightness in the settings panel. The displays are protected with the latest version of Corning Gorilla Glass, which is claimed as 80 percent more durable than the glass on some smartphones.

The screen is very bright and gives a proper image clarity on both devices. There is a particular crispness in the AMOLED display that the company uses and personally, I like it better.

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The Galaxy S6 Edge+ sports a fancy curved screen, but it doesn't add anything special experience when watching videos or looking at images. Meanwhile, the edges refract more light and the sides of the display almost contains somewhat reflections.

Processor and Storage

The Galaxy Note 5 is powered by its very own quad-core Exyno7420 chipset at a processing speed of four cores at 2.1GHz and four at 1.5GHz paired with Mali-T760MP8 GPU and houses 4GB of RAM. Further, the device comes in two internal storage options: 32GB and 64GB and there is no microSD card slot to expand memory. The Galaxy S6 Edge+ exactly has the same processor, GPU, RAM and storage option as well.

As we played with both devices and opened quite a lot of apps and tried to slug the device, to our surprise, both didn't lag. However, we didn't do a versatile test on the devices to come up with a solid verdict on its performance aspect.

Camera

Both phablets come with a 16 megapixel primary camera on the back with features like optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama and HDR.

Don't worry about the selfies, because the Galaxy Note 5 and the S6 Edge+ also features an efficient 5 MP front-facing shooter with f/1.9 aperture. The camera hardware and sensor is the same currently used in the Galaxy S6, which is one of the best cameras currently available on Android flagship.

The above image is taken from teh Galaxy S6 Edge+ using Selective focus mode.

The same sample picture is taken using the Galaxy Note 5 using Selective focus mode.

Closeup shot using Galaxy S6 Edge+.

Closeup shot using Galaxy Note 5.

The camera is capable of shooting video at 4K resolution, slow motion. You can perhaps call this as one of the best cameras in the industry. As far as the camera features in terms of software has received quite a few changes like there is a new video collage mode and new live broadcasting to YouTube this time.

Portrait shot using Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ with Selective focus mode.

Same shot using Samsung Galaxy Note 5 with Selective focus mode.

There is a same set of tools, shooting modes, and manual controls on both smartphones. Users can enjoy the simplicity that comes with the automatic mode, but Samsung has added a Pro mode where you can control the camera settings like shutter speed, aperture, ISO and more.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ using Auto Mode

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 using Auto Mode

The pictures taken from both devices came out to be very neat and crisp. The OIS works fantastic in the device. One of the things that I liked with most was the fast auto-focus.

Software

Both devices are shipped with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and Samsung has recently tweaked its TouchWiz user interface. The real difference in the two devices is the edge screen software features of the Edge+ and the S-Pen option the the Galaxy Note 5.

When it comes to the visuals, they are identical as well with the subtle changes to the icons in the home screen. Besides, there are few diversity like the ability to download custom themes and a one-handed mode. Each phone employs its own unique features, the Note 5 has the S-Pen stylus and the S6 Edge+ features the curved display as secondary screen for notification and quick shortcuts.

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Besides clock, you can read simple information on the side of the screen in the S6 Edge+ and this feature is also said to save battery life. The 'app shortcuts' menu on the sides, is a pull-out list of apps, which you can slide from the side of any screen. Well, the slide out animation is also relatively slow.

On the other hand, the Note 5's software is somewhat better. The software includes Smart Select, handwriting recognition, which is the best it ever has been, however it takes time to recognition what is written. However, the Galaxy Note 5 continues to be a productive beast with the S-Pen functions that helps to broaden its overall worth over the Galaxy S6 Edge+.

Battery

The Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+ is packed with non-removable 3,000mAh battery, which is significant bigger than the 2,550mAh that we find inside the Galaxy S6. There is also a power saving and power management features similar to the Galaxy S6.

The handset support fast-charging, which can charge the battery up around a third in just 15 minutes. The company claims that both device takes up to two hours to charge wirelessly and 90 minutes for charging using cable.

Verdict

The Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ are almost identical in terms of hardware, camera and battery. Well, deciding which is the best is just by judging the physical design. Rather than going into detail about their pricing, its good to just generalize it by saying that the Galaxy S6 edge+ carries a higher premium than the Note 5.

There are quite a lot of things that you can admire in the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+. The display are very impressive and there are hardly anything that you can dislike about the camera. Basically, both devices have been made with the optimum features to give it a classy accent.

Moreover, the design is also such that you will fall in love with it instantly when you see it. However, there are certain things that you might not be happy to see in the handset. For instance, the battery capacity could have been more. The lack of microSD card slot is a major disappointment for sure.

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Despite the oddities, the Galaxy Note 5 still manages to make its impact on the users because of its other impressive features like the wireless charging, S-Pen, awesome display and much more. On the other hand, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ features beautiful edge screen features and the quick shortcuts.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Note 5 feels better to hold, as it offers softer edges. When it comes to software, the Note 5's S-Pen and Air Command menu are more useful than the Galaxy S6 Edge+'s screen edge features.