Samsung Note 5: It's a big deal

Samsung's latest star in its galaxy - the Note 5 -shines brightly enough to catch your attention but falls short of being a deal clincher

In the last few years, Samsung has been coming up with high-end phones to give tough competition to Apple. Its latest offering, the Note 5, is perhaps the sharpest weapon in the Korean company's arsenal. The Note 5 has almost everything going for it. Although the Note series isn't meant for everyone, the Note 5 could just end up changing that perception.

The Note 5 is a beautiful looking phone and Samsung has really worked on the aesthetics and design. It is a premium phone and it certainly looks like one. Unlike the S6 Edge+, the Note5 isn't too curvy. The 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED display is great and the colours are sharp and vibrant. Even under sunlight, the Note5 display doesn't wilt.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Dimensions: 153.2 X 76.1 X 7.1mm
• Weight: 171g
• Screen Size: 5.7”
• Screen: 2560X1440 pixels (550ppi)
• Camera: 5MP (front), 16MP (rear)
• RAM: 4GB
• OS: Android Version 5.1.1 — Lollipop

The stylus or the "S-Pen" is a throwback to the days of Palm but it's quirky and one of the best features of the Note 5. Located at the bottom edge, the S-Pen is made of plastic but has a metallic finish to give it a classier look. The Note 4 had a stylus as well but didn't have the Air Command feature. There are features like Action Memo which lets you take down notes. Screen write, meanwhile, helps you take screenshots and capture Wen pages. This is certainly one of the most useful features on the Note 5. While there is a legion of users who believe that Stylus are a thing of the past, they certainly are making a comeback.

The Note 5 delivers excellent performance, which is down to the octa-core Exynos 7420 processor and the 4GB RAM. It's a super-fast phone but after a few hours of gaming, the phone did heat up. It's not something you expect and it was a bit of a downer.

The 16MP camera, however, was a bit of a let down while taking indoor shots. We compared indoor shots on the Note 5 with Apple's iPhone 6 and it was the latter that gave sharper image quality. However, the real quality of the Note 5's camera shines through while taking outdoor shots.

Good looks, super performance and a very handy tool in the form of a stylus means that the Note 5 lives up to its premium phone tag. However, there are quite a few drawbacks to the Note 5 as well. It's a phone that is impossible to use with one hand and at times you do get pretty annoyed with its sheer size. For instance, if you're carrying groceries in hand and want to text someone, forget doing it on the Note 5.

The battery life is a big disappointment. Samsung has used a smaller battery - 3,000mAH - in its Note 5. Even under moderate use, the phone runs out of battery very quickly. There is no microSD card slot, either. The Note5 comes in two variants - 32GB and 64GB - but neither has expandable storage. At Rs 53,900, the Note 5 is a good upgrade for Samsung fans. The size and price, however, might turn away many. And, with the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus launch a few days away, chances are more people will flock to those than the Note 5.