Our Opinion

Phablets used to be large, unsexy slabs of glass backed by cheap plastic. Samsung managed to make phablets sexy again with the Samsung Galaxy Note5. They combined the sexy curved sides and back of the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge with the flat front of the Galaxy S6.

To top it off, they threw out the plastic for metal and glass. The Samsung Galaxy Note5 is framed in metal and clad with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 4 in the front and back. That not only gives it a much better build quality, it also made it thinner, slimmer and believe it or not, lighter.

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 is more than just a larger Samsung Galaxy S6 / S6 edge hybrid though. It features an improved S Pen with an instant note taking feature, a boost in memory and enhanced front and rear cameras. It also comes with Dual SIM, Dual Active capability, allowing you to use two networks at the same time.

All of those features come at a price though - battery life and heat. The Samsung Galaxy Note5 has a reasonably long battery life of just under 9 hours, but this drops precipitiously to 3-4 hours if you use the excellent but power-hungry rear camera. It also gets pretty hot, particularly when you use the camera for long periods of time.

The good news is the Samsung Galaxy Note5 can be quickly recharged. Thanks to its Fast Charging capability, you can full recharge it (from 20%) in just 80 minutes. If you are in a hurry, a 40 minute recharge gets you to 80% of its full capacity.

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 comes with 4 GB of memory. This is important because one of our grievances with the Samsung Galaxy S6 / S6 edge was the limited amount of free memory. The Galaxy Note5 is still full of bloat, but at least now you have extra memory to use.

Other than those niggling issues with its battery life, heat and bloat, the Samsung Galaxy Note5 is a real pleasure to use. We love its new design and build quality, its performance, and of course, its fantastic cameras. Even its new S Pen instant note taking capability proved to be very useful.

We like it so much, we are giving it our Reviewer's Choice Award. Congratulations, Samsung!

We highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy Note5 to those who want a phablet that not only works great but looks fabulous. Its larger size may not suit everyone, but if that is not a problem, the Galaxy Note5 is definitely a better option than the Galaxy S6, if only for its larger memory capacity and improved cameras.

Samsung Galaxy Note5 - Unboxing & First Impressions

Lowest Prices

If you are interested in purchasing the Samsung Galaxy Note5 outside of Malaysia, try Amazon.com.

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