Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Leak Provokes Love And Hate

Galaxy Note 5 Leaked Images (image: @evleaks)

The latest leak around the Galaxy Note 5 brings not only the specifications into the light, but information on the hardware choices that Samsung has made for its popular phablet product line.

As always, assuming Taniyama-Shimura, the Note 5 is turning into a pivotal device for Samsung. The old way of doing the phablet has been depreciated, and in its place is a shiny and new approach.

Will that be enough to revitalise the line, or will the changes draw even more ire than those made to the main smartphone line when the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge were released?

The Exynos 7420 is acting as the processor, which matches the Galaxy S6, but with 4 GB of RAM the Note 5 will be making as much use of the 64-bit capability of Android Lollipop as possible. It will ship with Android 5.1.1 out of the box (and I’ll be interested to see if the ‘Stagefright‘ exploit patch is included in this build of Android). 

Photography fans will be delighted with the 16-megapixel camera on the back, coupled with Samsung’s improved imaging processing software. The Galaxy S6 was a better camera than the iPhone 6, and I’ll be interested to see what the Note 5 can do compared to the iPhone 6S Plus and whatever updates Apple announces at its September event.

Galaxy S6 (left) versus iPhone 6 (right) – image credit Gordon Kelly

The Note 5 will also come with multiple native storage options, and that’s where the fun stops.
The multiple native storage options are being offered because the Note 5 is lacking support for extended storage through microSD cards.

Whatever you can afford when you buy the handset will be the storage option that you have for the life of the device. That might be an acceptable trade-off to get a glass back panel and new styling for some, but not everyone has ready access to a desk-bound computer or the bandwidth and money to rely on cloud storage for large files.

The reason appears to be a drive to unify the styling of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge across the full range of Samsung device. That makes sense from a marketing point of view if you want to sell your handsets based on looks alone, but the Note 5 has never been targeted as a fashion-conscious handset. It’s a workhorse handset, the mighty-engined pickup truck of Samsung’s portfolio. And it doesn’t stop at the microSD card, the fuel tank has been locked tight as well.

Barcelona, Spain– 1 March: CEO and President of Samsung JK Shin presents the new Samsung Galaxy S6 during the Mobile World Congress (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Written by Ewan Spence, a contributor for FORBES