Samsung Unpacked 2015: Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Note 5

It’s that time again where Samsung announce their Flagship phablet device, the Galaxy Note, and this years is most certainly no different. However, Samsung didn’t just announce the Galaxy Note 5 everyone was curious about, they also took the time to release a new variant of the Galaxy S6, beautifully named the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+. Both devices are phablets, both have high end specs, although minus the S-pen, we think most will likely struggle to find much difference between the two which we’ll get to in a minute.

Galaxy S6 Edge+

Aside from a new available colour and a much large screen option, you’re probably hard pressed to look at the S6 Edge+ and think you’ve been cheated for getting the standard Galaxy S6 (or Edge), as the device really doesn’t offer anything new for the end user. Even spec wise, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ really is no different to the Galaxy S6 devices we’ve known of over the last couple of months, but if that just over 5 inch display wasn’t enough for you, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ comes in at a much larger 5.7 inch display at the same Quad HD resolution, so no one will still see any pixels on this display. Samsung have debuted one new feature on the S6 Edge+, which will very likely make it to other Edge devices, being that you can now not only have your favourite contacts on the side, but also your favourite Apps, which actually could be useful and not gimmickish like all other Samsung features.

Other than that however, the only spec difference on the S6 Edge+, likely so the display can be run smoothly, is the additional gig of RAM, now coming in at 4GB, and the much larger battery at 3,000mAh, which yes is non-removable, and storage is non expandable, Samsung are going to continue being the new money grabbers in terms of storage, but the same Octa-Core Exynos processor and internals. Speaking of storage, Samsung will offer a 32GB and 64GB variant, but a 128GB variant should be coming soon.

Big question that needs asking however is, who’s the S6 Edge+ for … well, in short it’s for that one person who wanted an S6 Edge but bigger, that’s literally all it comes down to.

Galaxy Note 5

So, what about the star of the show as it were, yep this is indeed the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, and as expected it resembles a lot of the design principles of the Galaxy S6, and we mean a lot! For one, it has the same aluminium and glass unibody construction, the same thin stylish design which Samsung are bringing to all of their line up … and yes, even being a Note it hasn’t escaped this one, a non removable battery or expandable storage! Thankfully, Samsung didn’t forget all traits that made a Galaxy Note a Galaxy Note and have still included a much improved S-pen, which fits underneath with a flush design you can simply click to remove.

Now, maybe it’s due to the disappointment that Samsung couldn’t add a microSD slot, or that the 3,000mAh (lower than Note 4) is non removable, but when we look closer to the Galaxy Note 5 we’re finding it hard to be that impressed. In fact, when we look at the Galaxy S6 Edge+ we’ve been talking about above, there’s not that much difference. The Note 5 does feature the same 5.7 inch Quad HD AMOLED display, 4GB of RAM as well as actually the identical Exynos processor as well … see what we mean?

Which brings us to another feature we don’t like about the Galaxy Note 5, the materials are incredibly slippy. The Galaxy S6 was slightly slippy, but at least it had the dimensions to fit in the hand so it wasn’t too much of a major problem, this isn’t the case with the Note 5, plus this isn’t the same plastic durable material we’re used to having on Notes, so you bet this thing will break and smash when dropped.

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As we mentioned briefly, the Note 5 is more or less the same Phone as the Galaxy S6, meaning the two phones we’ve been talking about are more or less the same Phone, difference being either a curved display or an S-pen so it literally comes down to which of those is more important to yourself. Both will be great devices and are, though like I said we are slightly disappointed it only comes down to one thing as a difference between the S6.