14 DAY TRIAL // The unfolding story of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 phablet is about to get another chapter. On August 13, Samsung is going to host another one of its Unlocked events in New York, where it will unveil its fifth Galaxy Note model.
You might remember that the original Galaxy Note got off to a rough start. Back in 2011, when Samsung first debuted the series with a model bundling a 5.3-inch display, everyone thought the Korean tech giant lost its mind putting a handset with such a huge screen on the market.
But slowly, it became evident that people loved having a phone with a big screen. The praises wouldn’t stop pouring in, and now you can hardly find a flagship device out there that doesn’t come boasting a form factor larger than 5-inch.
So Samsung’s seemingly nutty idea set in motion the development of a fully fledged trend in the mobile environment.
Still, given that this is the fifth iteration from the series, the question arises: will Samsung be able to impress the public? The answer is mixed.
Will the Galaxy Note 5 still manage to surprise us?
There is one obvious reason customers will still flock to the Galaxy Note 5, especially the creative types - the S Pen.
Sure, the presence of a responsive touchscreen display half-annuls the necessity of a smart stylus, but for some individuals working as graphic designers or creative directors, the S Pen is a godsend.
Samsung has managed to modernize the stylus very well throughout the years, while adding interactive features for note taking and drawing like Smart Select or Action Memos. The company has recently teased the advancements of the S Pen that will be offered on the Galaxy Note 5, and while we have no clue about what they will be, we’re pretty excited to hear about them during August 13.
But this year, the Galaxy Note 5 is going to be a bit differently than what we knew. Samsung will be sacrificing function for form once again (it did so with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge), so you shouldn’t expect the device to pack a removable battery nor a microSD card slot (although the dual-SIM version might be treated to that).
On top of that, even as initial rumors said the Galaxy Note 4 would pack a more spacious 4,000 mAh battery, it seems that, in reality, the phone will rely on just a 3,000 mAh one. This is smaller than the power box inside last year’s Galaxy Note 4, which relied on a 3,320 mAh unit.
So naturally, this aspect raises concerns whether the phone will offer inefficient battery life, as the Galaxy S6 does. Couple that with nasty future Android updates that could drain the life cycle even more, and the prospects aren’t all that good.
Another aspect that we need to take into consideration as far as the Galaxy Note 5 is concerned involves connectivity options. While USB Type-C smartphones like the OnePlus 2 have started making an appearance online, it seem that Samsung will not be offering this standard with the Galaxy Note 5.
Even if initially the phablet was rumored to bundle the new USB standard, it appears that this won’t be the case after all, and this is a bit disappointing, even if USB Tpye-C hasn’t gone mainstream yet.
The phablet should arrive in the wild with a 5.66-inch display. Interestingly, Samsung has not continued to push the boundaries of form factor, leaving the competition to go wild in this department and offer phablets with 6-inch displays and beyond, which is a bit odd for the company that was among the first to start the trend.
So all in all, the Galaxy Note 5’s appeal continues to rest on the S Pen functionality. Samsung is even taking out some of the features that made customers fall in love with the Galaxy Note series in the first place, which isn’t very encouraging.
So, what do you think? Will the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 be able to blow your mind?