Related
i'm considering switching from my note 4 to the OP2 what are your recommendations ? can i have user reviews about battery and overheating issues (if there's any) ?
I've only had the device for a day and I played a few games and there was no overheating. A little lag in the game but not much. Battery is better than the Note 4. That is for sure! I've owned the Note 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The OPT does have better battery life than the Note 4 and 5. If i remember right the Note 2 and 3 had amazing battery life.
I will also say this. The Note 5 is faster than the OPT and the camera is better and so is the fingerprint reader software. I hate touchwiz and I mean I really hate it. I said NO MORE SAMSUNGS after the Note 4 but I had to get on Tmobile's Jump plan so I got a Note 5 and I'm impressed with the SW now. Still not stuck but not horrible anymore.
I hope someone answers you but man you have got a lot of reading to do. Same boat as u. torn between op2 and moto. Best of luck.
Interesting
Well, i will be giving a neutral answer.
1. If you owned a note 4(which u already are), dont waste your money and give that OPT invite to others(if you have one)
2. Regarding your question about overheating issue and battery life, i assure you(well unless you get your hand-on an oxygenOS 2.0.0) there is no overheating issue at all(except you play a 3D HD game like implosion for 1hour+ which temperature will be at 48°c). For battery life, i get a decent SOT of 3h45min ~4h30min for average usage such as facebook, watching youtube, spotify, and waze with some occasion wifi hotspot.
N4
Sent from my SM-N910C
Bxsteez said:
I've only had the device for a day and I played a few games and there was no overheating. A little lag in the game but not much. Battery is better than the Note 4. That is for sure! I've owned the Note 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The OPT does have better battery life than the Note 4 and 5. If i remember right the Note 2 and 3 had amazing battery life.
I will also say this. The Note 5 is faster than the OPT and the camera is better and so is the fingerprint reader software. I hate touchwiz and I mean I really hate it. I said NO MORE SAMSUNGS after the Note 4 but I had to get on Tmobile's Jump plan so I got a Note 5 and I'm impressed with the SW now. Still not stuck but not horrible anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the answer.
i also had note 1,2,mega,s4,s5, note3,4, and NOT planing to go on note 5 cuz i hate tw and got bored of it so after sammy removed removable battery and extended storage i also said byebye samsung after the note 4. Might as well get something new and different. The HTC m9+ is way out of my budget. And since i saw the OPT i fell in love for it but i had few doubts about the sd810.
thank you alot your answer helped me very much
sherif2015 said:
I hope someone answers you but man you have got a lot of reading to do. Same boat as u. torn between op2 and moto. Best of luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I reas alot and watched every single review video on youtube, i had 2 options moto nexus 6 and OPT but reviews and specs led me to OPT and i suggest you too go for OPT based on what i've seen and read
best of luck my friend
Warnahly said:
Thank you for the answer.
i also had note 1,2,mega,s4,s5, note3,4, and NOT planing to go on note 5 cuz i hate tw and got bored of it so after sammy removed removable battery and extended storage i also said byebye samsung after the note 4. Might as well get something new and different. The HTC m9+ is way out of my budget. And since i saw the OPT i fell in love for it but i had few doubts about the sd810.
thank you alot your answer helped me very much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you haven't played with the S6 or Note 5. You should. You might be a little surprised by TW now. I guess it's the theming engine coupled with the speed. Check it out on a friends phone if you can. Not at the store.
yChoon said:
Well, i will be giving a neutral answer.
1. If you owned a note 4(which u already are), dont waste your money and give that OPT invite to others(if you have one)
2. Regarding your question about overheating issue and battery life, i assure you(well unless you get your hand-on an oxygenOS 2.0.0) there is no overheating issue at all(except you play a 3D HD game like implosion for 1hour+ which temperature will be at 48°c). For battery life, i get a decent SOT of 3h45min ~4h30min for average usage such as facebook, watching youtube, spotify, and waze with some occasion wifi hotspot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont really know very much about oxygen os lol but im glad to hear that no overheating issues, as for gaming i dont spend more than 10-15 minutes on a game, mostly fb, instagram, calling, whatsapp.......
and as for the invite i dont have one but there is a merchant in my country getting some so im gonna buy from him the 4gb ram 64gb model,
and mate i simply got bored of same tw over and over if there was a cm rom for my varient i wouldnt consider changing my phone.
if you have anyother comments and some things to tell me about the OPT please do as my decision is almost made
Thanks alot for replying
Bxsteez said:
If you haven't played with the S6 or Note 5. You should. You might be a little surprised by TW now. I guess it's the theming engine coupled with the speed. Check it out on a friends phone if you can. Not at the store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did and yeah its nice and i got ported on my note 4 with 5.1.1 and theme engine and n5 apps and n5 air command so i partially have a note 5 and i think its time for a change after 4 years of samsung
i actually like the s6 edge + its very beautiful, didnt play with it alot but yeah.will try a note 5 from a friend after your recommendation mate
Warnahly said:
I reas alot and watched every single review video on youtube, i had 2 options moto nexus 6 and OPT but reviews and specs led me to OPT and i suggest you too go for OPT based on what i've seen and read
best of luck my friend
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess so. The new moto pure has a terrible battery life from what I read so. Although I will miss the touch less control of the x. I want something that can go well for at least a day and somewhat endure for a couple of years. Although the nexus 6 is quite large. Guess it is op2 then. Will get it through oppomart I guess
This is my recent history.
OnePlus One 1 month.
OnePlus Two 2 weeks.
Both OPO & OPT running hot (OPO is hottest).
OPT is equipped with a better battery, and stand-out from the affordable crowd. The thing is, why you want to switch from Note 4? Any particular reason? I guess the Note 4 has all the features one would want. The 16GB version of OPT is way cheaper than Note 5 ot Edge 6. The choise is yours
Melanie22 said:
OPT is equipped with a better battery, and stand-out from the affordable crowd. The thing is, why you want to switch from Note 4? Any particular reason? I guess the Note 4 has all the features one would want. The 16GB version of OPT is way cheaper than Note 5 ot Edge 6. The choise is yours
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well yes i have some reasons, first of all this is my 4th year holding samsung devices and stuck wo damn tw and this is the second year i get a device that doesnt get cm or aosp support haha and its time to change for me. I fell in love with OPT the minute i saw it. Thats why
Do not tust oppomart
sherif2015 said:
I guess so. The new moto pure has a terrible battery life from what I read so. Although I will miss the touch less control of the x. I want something that can go well for at least a day and somewhat endure for a couple of years. Although the nexus 6 is quite large. Guess it is op2 then. Will get it through oppomart I guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not trust Oppomart.
I buy two time from oppomart first time they sent me a new phone, second time a used phone, I sent back and they stole me 400 euro on refound.
“I’m sorry the packet arrived empty are you sure you put the phone inside?”
Come on!
I buy from aliexpress and pandawill, it never happen something like this.
To be honest with you, the OPT is not ready yet! but dont get me wrong is a good thing,i got it 2 weeks ago,bit laggy, some bugs and some heat on stock Oxygen 2.02.
But here is the thing! If you using AK kernel you get a different phone! no heating anymore, decent battery life much snappier UI,an He is still in beta stage!
Thats why I love OP, couse you dont get the best of everything out the box, you have to "treat" it to make better for you.
Thats why you can see lots of bad reviews, and they right, you can buy an apple which out the box, everything is smooth and working, but please ,its too boring for us "modders".
If you dont mind to digging forums for make the phone better step by step, and trying different kernels,roms every week than go for it, if you wanna settle with something which is settled,than buy samsung or moto.
Never settle!
What do you guys think? Software, hardware, android updates, rooting, features and why do you think one is better than the other? Cheers
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk
Lots of discussion here about that:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/nexus-6p-vs-note-5-t3212443
I like the size of the note better (I couldn't care less about front speakers). The note barely fits in the place I put my phone in my car, I don't think the 6P would.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
Thats from a nexus forum perspective. I wanna hear from the note side of things.
I'm trying to convince myself to get the 6P but can't find a good enough reason to make the switch just yet.
Development community and updates don't mean as much to me anymore as they used to. I no longer flash roms or have the desire to (but I will root). Updates don't matter as much to me either because I always get the latest phones anyways and don't last long enough with phones to worry about updates.
With that said if the 6P was the size of the G4 and definitely not bigger than the Note 5 and had a IR blaster, I've might have been all over it.
Other things I'll be looking for is the 6p screen actually the same quality as the Note 5 screen? How about outdoor visibility, is it as amazing as the Note 5 is?
Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
Hey buddy, nice to see you here. I'm keeping my Note 5. The Note 5 is the absolute perfect size for a 5.7" screen device. 6P is too big to me and I don't care about front facing speakers.
But my main reason is I hate stock android. Looks like crap and is boring. I know roms and themes can help that but I'm completely over rooting. It just doesn't add the benefits that it used to and I'm tired of doing it.
So with all that being said, I feel that I have the better device. And I like using the S-Pen.
Right now there are no benefits to get that phone. The strongest argument nexus people make is that they have great developing community, however it takes around 3 months for developers to get their units and to add features. By that time sd820 will be out. On top of that, nexus developers won't be able to bring any cooler features that the note 5 already has. I love the scroll to capture feature on the note 5 for example. Stock android is pretty boring as well, and like previous dude said, I am bored of flashing and running custom roms every week, new bugs and stuff like that. As far as it regards the hardware, I believe the note 5 kills the new nexus.
Same here. Man tapatalk quotes have not been working today. I love my Note 5 and i keep trying to get an excuse to try the 6p but i would be giving up too much by getting rid of my lovely note.
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk
@WizeGuyDezignz Hey man! (WizeGuyDezignz)Glad to see you again! Yeah man stock android is quite boring. Even if i were to get the 6p i wouldnt keep it a month if that. The S pen is really fantastic. Once you start using the features of the note its hard to get something else.
Its for you WizeGuyDezignz, even mentions are not working for me besides the quotes for some odd reason.
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk
By the way, I forgot the mention the camera interface. Google camera might be good but that camera interface is so outdated. Yes I can always install a third party application, but man the whole camera experience on the Samsung is a total different Galaxy!
Even though I have the option to return the N5 once there 6p is out, I think I might keep the N5. Haven't owned a nexus device before, just ended up flashing an AOSP based ROM on the Samsung device I owned.
Just might wait it out until someone releases one for the N5.
Only thing nexus is better its updates and roms support
If you want stock, front facing speakers, and ROMs get 6p.
if you like a faster cpu/gpu, a pen, Samsung Pay, better camera (in most ways), and TouchWiz enhancements get note 5.
I also like the size of the note 5 more. 6p is too tall for me.
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
This is why I got my Note 5 over a Nexus 6P
**Hardware**
The Note 5 will undoubtedly have superior hardware.
The 14nm Exynos 7420 is miles ahead of the SD810 both in terms of speed and efficiency. Early benchmarks of the SD820 which is also 14nm are actually comparable to the 7420 which is a huge kudos to Samsung for having this chip out there 12 months before Qualcomm in the chipmaking world which runs on 6/12mth cycles. The SD810 in the 6P (even v 2.1) is going to get hot and then throttled as the system underclocks it to compensate. Its just a matter of when, which depends on Huawei's cooling. The SD808 even shares the same problem to a lesser extent.
TLDR: Exynos 7420 chip is miles ahead of the SD810 and has a degree of future proofing.
-NAND storage UFS 2.0 in the Note 5 vs. eMMC in the 6P. Yes its proprietary, but UFS gives much higher read/write speeds.
-4GB RAM vs 3GB. More is better. The aggressive app closing that people have complained about in Galaxy's can be fixed to maximise the use of this for multi tasking.
-Best in class camera – the 6P sounds like it's going to have the best camera ever in a Nexus, but it's still below the S6 edge according to DxoMark, which is going to be below again the yet to be reviewed Note 5. OIS with manual settings is something else altogether if you know what you're doing. Eg http://i.imgur.com/LLp4WQS.jpg – I took this beauty with a super slow shutter speed whilst resting the phone on someone's head lol.
-Best in class screen – there is no way the 6P is going to get the Note 5's screen which has been rated best in class by displaymate and anandtech. Best case scenario is maybe the Note 4's screen which is better than the Nexus 6, but still 40% less efficient compared to the current gen Note 5 (http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_Note5_ShootOut_1.htm)
Build – I'm not a huge fan of the slippery glass back on the Note, but kudos for the screen to body ratio and tapered edges to help with one handed use, while maintaining the same screen size as the note 4. I use cases for all my phones, so in a way build materials don't really matter. The aluminum build on the 6P also looks nice, but the bezels top and bottom bezels are huge (for the front facing speakers?) and is reflected in the relatively poor screen to body ratio (71.4% vs. 75.9%)
True compared to the Note 4, the omission of the mSD card, IR blaster and replaceable battery are disappointing. There are ways around lack of mSD (see below) and sadly it's a trend that a lot of other smartphone makers are adopting as well. The battery although smaller actually provides more juice compared to the Note 4 thanks to processor and screen improvements in efficiency. If you decided to keep the device for 3+ years, the sealed battery is actually replaceable – not super easy to do, but there are guides online. It's not as if the Nexus 6P has any of these features either.
The Note 5 also has wireless fast charging for a sacrifice of 0.3mm of thickness, which was the main reason Nexus 6P engineers have given for its omission.
**Software**
I'm the first to admit that I'm a huge pure android and nexus nut, but Marshmallow may be the first new version of android that I really can't get excited about. The touted features in Marshmallow are not ground breaking and represent disappointing incremental features which already exist in Lollipop with xposed and even 3rd party apps. True it's giving people who don't root their phones access to them for the first time, but for the power user there really isn't much there. See: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/android-6-0-marshmallow-thoroughly-reviewed/
TLDR:
Doze – can still be bypassed by developers of apps. Only affects standby time so will make no difference to the biggest drain which is screen, app usage and cellular reception quality. Can do similar already with greenify, amplified and other similar apps.
On tap – very hit and miss. More miss than hit
Permissions – nice and about time I guess, but already doable with 3rd party apps (AppOps) / a firewall
Google launcher changes – had these for months already with nova launcher
In context voice commands – nice if you use voice commands often. I don't know many people who do.
Xposed won't work for a while and there will undoubtedly be new bugs as always until 6.1.
All up, the maturity of android is making the latest and greatest pure android updates less mandatory.
My last experience with Touchwiz back with the Note 2 were pretty negative. However, with a dark material theme from the theme store, nova launcher and xposed, the gaudy bits of touchwiz are no longer as bad as they once were. Samsung have really pulled it back and you can do the rest with a simple debloating app or a modded stock ROM. With the [dark material theme](http://www.xda-developers.com/material-and-material-dark-hit-samsungs-theme-store/), it really isn't too disimilar to stock android.
I'm not a huge stylus person, but some of the TW features like signing PDFs and better hand writing recognition seem genuinely useful. Multi window which was touted in the developer preview of Marshmallow but disabled at launch has been around in TouchWiz for years.
The cons of the Note 5 would be that updates are 4-6 months late and there will be no AOSP custom ROM support given it runs on exynos. This means updates for only 2 years at most. However, the maturity of android as an OS has meant that there are less "essential" features to upgrade to or problems for custom ROMs to fix. Xposed framework is a miracle in allowing a degree customisation that only customs ROMs used to be able to offer.
Samsung is also committed to monthly security updates for android, which is huge as you're no longer reliant on a nexus for this. http://www.androidcentral.com/samsu...urity-updates-every-month-its-android-devices
**Price**
Local RRP for the 6P is $899 which call it what you want (gouging, Australia tax, market factors) is a huge increase in the $499 US that US customers pay.
Unfortunately I think it will be harder to source cheap grey Nexus 6P stock this time around, as all countries except for North America (with the US Bands version) got done over by the [international pricing model](http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/09/30/prices-nexus-5x-nexus-6p-across-globe/). Hong Kong/Asia where a lot of grey stuff comes from is not significantly cheaper than Australia (+27% vs +21%) and that's without a GST. You can probably get one for $840 delivered from Clove/Handtec at launch, but at these similar prices I'd personally pay an extra $50 for excellent 2 year playstore warranty. Historically, Nexus devices have had stock supply issues initially and thus haven't always had cheap grey stock prices for 3+ months after launch.
Either way, it's going to be more expensive than the Note 5 in the foreseeable future.
Samsung has pretty good price retention as well. Brand new Note 4s still retail for $650-$700. Resale value used is ~$500-550 on ebay compared to the Nexus 6 which is $400-450. When I got my [Nexus 6 in December](https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/174328), I remember it actually cost more than the Note 4 (paid $765 via Amazon France, Note 4 was ~$720 on a ebay sale).
TLDR
The Note 5 has undoubtedly miles better hardware and will be cheaper than the Nexus 6P at launch. The benefits of pure android and the latest android updates are no longer as important as they once were given the maturity of android as an OS as evidenced by only minor incremental updates in Marshmallow. Advancements in TouchWiz and xposed framework have made non pure android much more tolerable than it once was.
The only other major con I see with the Note 5 is the absence of a 64GB version in Australia, and if it does come it'll be ridiculously expensive (+$300 over the 32GB currently from grey imports and no stock as well). There are ways around this with cloud storage. I uploaded my 20GB music collection to Google music and can stream it free. I run a networked storage drive at home for media streaming. You can also get USB OTG dongles for your mSD card which work well when you want to carry extra media locally.
@PearsonDKA Why not return your $800 device and get a $500 device if you want to run aosp? Quote isn't working... That is for PearsonDKA.
WizeGuyDezignz said:
@PearsonDKA Why not return your $800 device and get a $500 device if you want to run aosp? Quote isn't working... That is for PearsonDKA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, I like having the options to go back and forth between TW and AOSP in case I get bored with one of em or something. I'm actually still on the fence about returning it as well, just gonna see how the N5 handles for the next week.
Here is the thing though, in my honest opinion the Note is just a better device overall and im not just talking about specs.
I understand that people love stock android cause you get the updates quickly and a nexus is a dream for people who love to root and all that. This is xda developers and the chances are that people here (all over xda) will mostly be in favor of the nexus because you can root, rom it, have aosp, flash kernels and all that good stuff and this is the site where it all goes down. Thats all beautiful and they are perfectly right.
But when it comes to having a phone that have features and that truly utilizes that big ass display, really nothing out there competes with the note 5. Its a productivity user's dream. It offers an excellent camera (arguably the best), its absolutely future proof with the 4GB of ram and the powerful SoC, it has arguably the best display on a smartphone, it has the S pen which no one can match on the market at the moment.
People who own the note should use these features, use multiwindow and screen capture and all that, you will see that you wont be able to use another device because you have a mini computer in your pocket that performs wonderfully and do things that other devices cant . As a smartphone, what can beat the note 5 when all is considered? Not a thing.
As a developer's phone, as someone who likes to root and tinker with their device to their liking, nothing can beat a nexus especially the 6p with its amazing specs. Honestly the choice is pretty clear: if you wanna root, rom, flash aosp and CM and all that, you MUST go with a nexus. If you want a phone full of features with the best camera on the market and is a productivity champ you have to go with the note. Forget things like battery life and performance and all that cause both devices are champs. I am using a non carrier note 5 which is expected to have android 6.0 by year's end or early next year, im not sweating it cause the phone works extremely well for me. If i get a nexus 6p now, its only because of the hype but i know what type of user i am and the note 5 works best for me. I skipped the nexus 6 this past year, used many devices and im still alive despite not having used a stock android phone
....just saying
One last thing lol, before the note 5 i had the Iphone 6s and i loved it. But then i wanted a bigger display and i was on the fence between the 6s plus and the note. When i returned my 6s at the apple store to grab the 6s plus, thats when i knew i had to get the note 5 cause i saw how much the 6s plus was just a big phone that does not take advantage of the big display, same with the 6p.
Check out this video guys, trust me its worth it.
https://youtu.be/EYRIX9YP3Lk
Ill keep it simple.
Note 5 has:
Multi Window
Pen
Brighter screen in daylight
Better camera
Wireless charging
Tiny bit better dimensions
More attractive/professional build quality
Samsung pay
Better cpu/gpu
More ram
Nexus has
Dual forward speakers
Type c port
Bigger battery
Rootable without voiding warranty
Instant updates
Note 5 wins.
liqn7 said:
This is why I got my Note 5 over a Nexus 6P
**Hardware**
The Note 5 will undoubtedly have superior hardware.
The 14nm Exynos 7420 is miles ahead of the SD810 both in terms of speed and efficiency. Early benchmarks of the SD820 which is also 14nm are actually comparable to the 7420 which is a huge kudos to Samsung for having this chip out there 12 months before Qualcomm in the chipmaking world which runs on 6/12mth cycles. The SD810 in the 6P (even v 2.1) is going to get hot and then throttled as the system underclocks it to compensate. Its just a matter of when, which depends on Huawei's cooling. The SD808 even shares the same problem to a lesser extent.
TLDR: Exynos 7420 chip is miles ahead of the SD810 and has a degree of future proofing.
-NAND storage UFS 2.0 in the Note 5 vs. eMMC in the 6P. Yes its proprietary, but UFS gives much higher read/write speeds.
-4GB RAM vs 3GB. More is better. The aggressive app closing that people have complained about in Galaxy's can be fixed to maximise the use of this for multi tasking.
-Best in class camera – the 6P sounds like it's going to have the best camera ever in a Nexus, but it's still below the S6 edge according to DxoMark, which is going to be below again the yet to be reviewed Note 5. OIS with manual settings is something else altogether if you know what you're doing. Eg http://i.imgur.com/LLp4WQS.jpg – I took this beauty with a super slow shutter speed whilst resting the phone on someone's head lol.
-Best in class screen – there is no way the 6P is going to get the Note 5's screen which has been rated best in class by displaymate and anandtech. Best case scenario is maybe the Note 4's screen which is better than the Nexus 6, but still 40% less efficient compared to the current gen Note 5 (http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_Note5_ShootOut_1.htm)
Build – I'm not a huge fan of the slippery glass back on the Note, but kudos for the screen to body ratio and tapered edges to help with one handed use, while maintaining the same screen size as the note 4. I use cases for all my phones, so in a way build materials don't really matter. The aluminum build on the 6P also looks nice, but the bezels top and bottom bezels are huge (for the front facing speakers?) and is reflected in the relatively poor screen to body ratio (71.4% vs. 75.9%)
True compared to the Note 4, the omission of the mSD card, IR blaster and replaceable battery are disappointing. There are ways around lack of mSD (see below) and sadly it's a trend that a lot of other smartphone makers are adopting as well. The battery although smaller actually provides more juice compared to the Note 4 thanks to processor and screen improvements in efficiency. If you decided to keep the device for 3+ years, the sealed battery is actually replaceable – not super easy to do, but there are guides online. It's not as if the Nexus 6P has any of these features either.
The Note 5 also has wireless fast charging for a sacrifice of 0.3mm of thickness, which was the main reason Nexus 6P engineers have given for its omission.
**Software**
I'm the first to admit that I'm a huge pure android and nexus nut, but Marshmallow may be the first new version of android that I really can't get excited about. The touted features in Marshmallow are not ground breaking and represent disappointing incremental features which already exist in Lollipop with xposed and even 3rd party apps. True it's giving people who don't root their phones access to them for the first time, but for the power user there really isn't much there. See: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/android-6-0-marshmallow-thoroughly-reviewed/
TLDR:
Doze – can still be bypassed by developers of apps. Only affects standby time so will make no difference to the biggest drain which is screen, app usage and cellular reception quality. Can do similar already with greenify, amplified and other similar apps.
On tap – very hit and miss. More miss than hit
Permissions – nice and about time I guess, but already doable with 3rd party apps (AppOps) / a firewall
Google launcher changes – had these for months already with nova launcher
In context voice commands – nice if you use voice commands often. I don't know many people who do.
Xposed won't work for a while and there will undoubtedly be new bugs as always until 6.1.
All up, the maturity of android is making the latest and greatest pure android updates less mandatory.
My last experience with Touchwiz back with the Note 2 were pretty negative. However, with a dark material theme from the theme store, nova launcher and xposed, the gaudy bits of touchwiz are no longer as bad as they once were. Samsung have really pulled it back and you can do the rest with a simple debloating app or a modded stock ROM. With the [dark material theme](http://www.xda-developers.com/material-and-material-dark-hit-samsungs-theme-store/), it really isn't too disimilar to stock android.
I'm not a huge stylus person, but some of the TW features like signing PDFs and better hand writing recognition seem genuinely useful. Multi window which was touted in the developer preview of Marshmallow but disabled at launch has been around in TouchWiz for years.
The cons of the Note 5 would be that updates are 4-6 months late and there will be no AOSP custom ROM support given it runs on exynos. This means updates for only 2 years at most. However, the maturity of android as an OS has meant that there are less "essential" features to upgrade to or problems for custom ROMs to fix. Xposed framework is a miracle in allowing a degree customisation that only customs ROMs used to be able to offer.
Samsung is also committed to monthly security updates for android, which is huge as you're no longer reliant on a nexus for this. http://www.androidcentral.com/samsu...urity-updates-every-month-its-android-devices
**Price**
Local RRP for the 6P is $899 which call it what you want (gouging, Australia tax, market factors) is a huge increase in the $499 US that US customers pay.
Unfortunately I think it will be harder to source cheap grey Nexus 6P stock this time around, as all countries except for North America (with the US Bands version) got done over by the [international pricing model](http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/09/30/prices-nexus-5x-nexus-6p-across-globe/). Hong Kong/Asia where a lot of grey stuff comes from is not significantly cheaper than Australia (+27% vs +21%) and that's without a GST. You can probably get one for $840 delivered from Clove/Handtec at launch, but at these similar prices I'd personally pay an extra $50 for excellent 2 year playstore warranty. Historically, Nexus devices have had stock supply issues initially and thus haven't always had cheap grey stock prices for 3+ months after launch.
Either way, it's going to be more expensive than the Note 5 in the foreseeable future.
Samsung has pretty good price retention as well. Brand new Note 4s still retail for $650-$700. Resale value used is ~$500-550 on ebay compared to the Nexus 6 which is $400-450. When I got my [Nexus 6 in December](https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/174328), I remember it actually cost more than the Note 4 (paid $765 via Amazon France, Note 4 was ~$720 on a ebay sale).
TLDR
The Note 5 has undoubtedly miles better hardware and will be cheaper than the Nexus 6P at launch. The benefits of pure android and the latest android updates are no longer as important as they once were given the maturity of android as an OS as evidenced by only minor incremental updates in Marshmallow. Advancements in TouchWiz and xposed framework have made non pure android much more tolerable than it once was.
The only other major con I see with the Note 5 is the absence of a 64GB version in Australia, and if it does come it'll be ridiculously expensive (+$300 over the 32GB currently from grey imports and no stock as well). There are ways around this with cloud storage. I uploaded my 20GB music collection to Google music and can stream it free. I run a networked storage drive at home for media streaming. You can also get USB OTG dongles for your mSD card which work well when you want to carry extra media locally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL at 'miles better harder'?... You are exaggerating quite a bit. BTW, it has been confired that the 6P uses the latest Samsung panel.
"Miles better hardware' yet multitasking, scrolling and animations are faster and smoother on the 6P. Advanced Kryptonian technology won't make Touchwiz smooth. You care too much about spec sheets dude. Real life performance is much more important.
---------- Post added at 06:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:02 AM ----------
seh6183 said:
Ill keep it simple.
Note 5 has:
Multi Window
Pen
Brighter screen in daylight
Better camera
Wireless charging
Tiny bit better dimensions
More attractive/professional build quality
Samsung pay
Better cpu/gpu
More ram
Nexus has
Dual forward speakers
Type c port
Bigger battery
Rootable without voiding warranty
Instant updates
Note 5 wins.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You forgot more efficient and smoother software under Nexus.
---------- Post added at 06:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:03 AM ----------
Reviews are in for the 6P and almost all of them are stating it's the best Android smartphone period including the Note 5. It just goes to show you that the sum of it's parts and amazing optimized software trump spec sheets. Pre-ordered 5 days ago. Going to sell the Note 5 as soon as it arrives. Can't wait to leave touchwiz!
Cool have fun with no s pen, no multi window, no one handed mode, no quick reply, a worse camera, bland speakers, and no wireless charging. Oh and a garbage processor with a full gig less ram. Bye.
I just got my on2 two days ago. And before that i was using oneplus one and i don't feel like this was a big upgrade that i hoped it would be . Sure performance is a bit better, and there's fingerprint sensor etc which i probably don't use much.
I've always hated the Samsung touchwiz and I've always stuck to the pure stock smartphones n4, htc one m8 GPE, Oneplus one, now oneplus two but now i wanna try something different. I can't afford a note 5 at the moment but i can buy a note 4.
So will it be a downgrade if i move from on2 to note 4 ?
Can note 4 compete with on2 in terms of performance(not the benchmarks... Real life usage) even after flashing kernels, roms etc?
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
xrock8 said:
I just got my on2 two days ago. And before that i was using oneplus one and i don't feel like this was a big upgrade that i hoped it would be . Sure performance is a bit better, and there's fingerprint sensor etc which i probably don't use much.
I've always hated the Samsung touchwiz and I've always stuck to the pure stock smartphones n4, htc one m8 GPE, Oneplus one, now oneplus two but now i wanna try something different. I can't afford a note 5 at the moment but i can buy a note 4.
So will it be a downgrade if i move from on2 to note 4 ?
Can note 4 compete with on2 in terms of performance(not the benchmarks... Real life usage) even after flashing kernels, roms etc?
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note 4 (on the latest 5.1.1 firmware) is pretty lag free.....but it wont be as good as stock android. On the other hand you get S-pen and better battery life !!
I would have said... Flash any stable cm rom on note 4 and you'll have all you want... But unfortunately for us.... We don't have great cm roms. They are extremely buggy. I think nexus p is what you should get.
I have used a lot of smartphones Android (Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC, Huawei & Motorola), Windows Phone (520, 920, 720 & 830) & iPhone (5s & 6s).
{ I trading in smartphones }
I believe that using Note 4 is special experience, after years of using so many smartphones I kept Note 4 with me (Stock Rom).
Note 4 provide best user experience for Android with great s-pen.
xrock8 said:
I just got my on2 two days ago. And before that i was using oneplus one and i don't feel like this was a big upgrade that i hoped it would be . Sure performance is a bit better, and there's fingerprint sensor etc which i probably don't use much.
I've always hated the Samsung touchwiz and I've always stuck to the pure stock smartphones n4, htc one m8 GPE, Oneplus one, now oneplus two but now i wanna try something different. I can't afford a note 5 at the moment but i can buy a note 4.
So will it be a downgrade if i move from on2 to note 4 ?
Can note 4 compete with on2 in terms of performance(not the benchmarks... Real life usage) even after flashing kernels, roms etc?
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking about getting OP2 also after OPO few days ago. But went with brand new Note 4 Exynos model, flashed Ditto N5 Rom right away.. it flies, no lag whatsoever. I would get Note 4 over Note 5 any day. Display and camera are amazing, way better than the OP2. :laugh:
Forget the better battery life on exynos hardware (note 4 n910c) - it will give you around 4 hrs SOT. If you use encryption - even less (and you will suffer horrible lags). I like s-pen but as soon apple advertise it on their devices I'll switch to this platform as it is better optimized and just works better.
Hello folks.
I'm looking to replace my current cell phone. It needs to be an unlocked CDMA (Sprint) phone. Things that are important to me:
high quality screen
processing power
decent storage
Things that aren't that important to me:
camera
I have a price limit of $150. Given the above, I am looking at:
Moto E4
Galaxy S5 (refurbished)
Galaxy J3 Emerge
Moto G4 Play
All of them have 5" screens, but the S5 has the highest resolution (the rest are 1280x720). The S5 also has the highest clock rate.
My concern is that the S5 is using technology from 4 years ago, while the rest are more recent. Should that be a concern, or is the S5 the best option here?
Thanks!
mrfeh said:
Hello folks. I'm looking to replace my current cell phone. It needs to be an unlocked CDMA (Sprint) phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your best bet is to post this question within one of the following threads that is specific to your question.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1846277
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1620179
Good Luck!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I DO NOT provide support via PM unless asked/requested by myself. PLEASE keep it in the threads where everyone can share.
yes
mrfeh said:
Hello folks.
I'm looking to replace my current cell phone. It needs to be an unlocked CDMA (Sprint) phone. Things that are important to me:
high quality screen
processing power
decent storage
Things that aren't that important to me:
camera
I have a price limit of $150. Given the above, I am looking at:
Moto E4
Galaxy S5 (refurbished)
Galaxy J3 Emerge
Moto G4 Play
All of them have 5" screens, but the S5 has the highest resolution (the rest are 1280x720). The S5 also has the highest clock rate.
My concern is that the S5 is using technology from 4 years ago, while the rest are more recent. Should that be a concern, or is the S5 the best option here?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
in my opinion, for this expense and one of the best!
I use a Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo and everything works fine.
2 weeks ago there was an update for the S5 over OTA. It is still alive and good.
In USA the normal S5 is still a smartphone that is one of the bestsellers.
I have no need to get another phone.
And the original S5 is better than my neo.
Gesendet von meinem SM-G903F mit Tapatalk
I would go with the S5...
Amoled screen, wireless charging, fingerscan...16mp cam..
Put LOS or RR and youll get the best deal...
Or try a xiaomi mia1
Hello, had a galaxy s5 for around 3 years. My unit had a bit of a network issue, which sullied my experience, so be careful when buying a refurb!
Also, if processing power is important to you, you should note that it has constant slowdowns/stutters and, though not as often, crashes. It also heats up pretty quick and has mediocre battery life, draining pretty fast with any decent usage. The chipset really does not hold up compared to mid range chipsets now imo. Near the time I upgraded, it became nearly unusable for a bit whenever i turned the wifi on, though a factory reset and a sparser app library has alleviated the worst aspects of using the phone. It might be powerful specwise, but in irl use I find newer midrange chips outperform it in day to day use.
I recently upgraded to a redmi note 5 (china) and it was an upgrade in every way. From build to smoothness to battery life (and both cameras but you don't care about that). It also has the 6' display while retaining the same width as my s5, thanks to the 18:9 display. The aspect ratio is great in all apps that aren't games and in general UI use. It also has oreo out of the box and will get updates in the future, unlike the s5.
The redmi 5 plus(china) could also be a replacement that's cheaper, but I can't vouch for the screen on that one. The redmi note 5 has a bright lcd that looks really good. It's not amoled, but the transition hasn't bothered me at all, it's quite excellent! I've gotten compliments on the screen from many friends who have seen it in person as well.
So, yeah, look into the phone and see if your budget can be adjusted. Shoot for the 3/32 GB which is a steal imo. Oh, and it has a micro sd card slot, just like the s5, so storage won't be an issue. Another plus with these phones is that they actually have a fingerprint scanner that's not trash - another thing from the past that does not hold up.
I looked up the prices for these phones and they seem to be out of the 150$ budget, so, if the budget is rigid you might want to look into the redmi note 4, which can be found for 160$ and has all the same internals as the redmi 5 plus. I cannot vouch for how good the screen is, but it's 1080P IPS LCD. I would personally consider it a better phone to buy than the Galaxy S5 as well (working fingerprint scanner, larger screen, equivalent if not better chipset usability wise).
Anyway, I'm not really as knowledgable as most people in xda but I am a s5 owner, so I figured I'd chip in and try to help.
While S5 is still a nice phone, it is not worth buying one at this time. The best option would be to get current/last year mid end phone. Look at the local market websites, maybe there are good deals. Xiaomi redmi 5 plus is nice phone for low price, also redmi note 4 is nice phone too, you will get better peformance than S5, or at very least the same, more ram, much better battery life due to bigger battery and better chipset, you will get android updates.
S5 is still a great phone.. Do not buy refurbished.. you can find great deals on Ebay.. My cost $110 no dings, or dents or scratches.. Phone actually had very little call time on it.. Moto's IMOP are junk.
Hi ,
I personally think you should go for a newer phone like Honor 8. The main problem i would have with an S5 is the fact that it only has 16GB internal memory. Apart from that it is still a great phone.
With those 16 GB you will always struggle if you want to install many applications and keep Whatsapp data on your phone.
loomax12 said:
Hi ,
I personally think you should go for a newer phone like Honor 8. The main problem i would have with an S5 is the fact that it only has 16GB internal memory. Apart from that it is still a great phone.
With those 16 GB you will always struggle if you want to install many applications and keep Whatsapp data on your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does support SD Cards up to 128 GB though. I'm a kinda heavy user and never had problems with storage, always around 3-4 GB free in internal. Though I did put my games on my card obviosly (there was some app that does this, I forgot name).
i picked mine up monday for 45$. cracked rear camera glass. still takes photos fine.
anyway, i love the thing. i went from an s7 to an iphone 7 then to and old moto then to this. i love the effing thing. i get 2 days in low power mode with the original battery. im hunting for a parts phone now.
the s5 has issues from what ive heard but so far, im running fine.
After 2 weeks using the S5 of my wife I have to reverse my opinion. I installed latest lineageos 14.1 on it and it works like a charm. With lineageos there is still a lot of internal memory left for apps. Bluetooth which is often a problem for custom roms seems to work pretty well.
I've actually recently bought an S5, and although it is not the best option, the support for it has been huge over time and its still going on with amazing roms like AEX or CrDroid.
The only part I dislike is the storage, because yea 16GB are little to me. And the fact that it is refurbished is good contrary to what people assume, because, then that means its already fixed, you wont have to go through that pain as you would with a new one waiting to fail, that's how it is, you have more chances of a new one having issues than a refurbished one because that one already had them and its already fixed. On the other hand, "refurbished" doesnt always mean "it broke and we fixed it", usually its because people return it to the store, the package is open, they cant sell them as new, even if theres nothing wrong with it, it automatically falls to the "refurbished" category and not many people think of that.
Now, the Moto G4 is actually a better option, it has a good performance, but you should opt for the Plus version with 32GB internal
So, I'd recommend the G4 Plus, if you cant buy that, then the S5 is the way to go
S5 is still going strong.
I would not change it, but I need a dual SIM phone now.
So if you can get one, go for it.
However, I am not aware of CDMA capabilities or tested it, sorry. I have European model...
My uncle gave me his old S5 back in January to replace my dying S4 LTE-A, and with LineageOS 15.1, it feels like a brand new phone
im now rooted and running the latest lineage 14.1 and its awesome.
12 hours of battery, 4 hours of SOT and no issues. these nougat kernels are pretty nice. lol
people talking about storage, flash Lineage, have a clean sd card in and use the SD card as adptive storage. it shows it as all internal storage and works like a charm.
Bodisson said:
S5 is still going strong.
I would not change it, but I need a dual SIM phone now.
So if you can get one, go for it.
However, I am not aware of CDMA capabilities or tested it, sorry. I have European model...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would you recommend the S5 as a backup to the Note 4?
I still have an S5 as a backup phone. Main phone Xiaomei Redmi Note 4x which I bought due to its superior battery life. The S5 imo is still good as backup phone and has an excellent camera (if you stick to TouchWiz based roms).
mrfeh said:
Hello folks.
I'm looking to replace my current cell phone. It needs to be an unlocked CDMA (Sprint) phone. Things that are important to me:
high quality screen
processing power
decent storage
Things that aren't that important to me:
camera
I have a price limit of $150. Given the above, I am looking at:
Moto E4
Galaxy S5 (refurbished)
Galaxy J3 Emerge
Moto G4 Play
All of them have 5" screens, but the S5 has the highest resolution (the rest are 1280x720). The S5 also has the highest clock rate.
My concern is that the S5 is using technology from 4 years ago, while the rest are more recent. Should that be a concern, or is the S5 the best option here?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello!
I can definately assure you that:
A. Off the phones you have listed AND
B. Your stated price range
The S5 is your choice!!
It is amazing!! You will not be dissapointed! Unlimited battery life (multiple batteries), screen resolution, clock speed etc etc.
I am currently typing from one! Lol, I have the OnePlus 3 and my good ol' trusty S5! Some tips:
You stated about being older firmware (S5 is marshmallow) whilst others are nougat..... The S5 is one of the most developed phones ever! even still!!! In literally 5 minutes and little knowledge you can flash a custom recovery and then a custom ROM, no root needed. I have used the S5 since the early days and have used pretty much EVERY rom, honestly!
I can suggest resurrection remix as THE most customisable, they have features beyond any other! They have 100% stable nougat build and Oreo also, I use them both. In fact we have multiboot so can run 2 ROMs at once just choose at boot!
We have lots of kernels if you choose to root like myself, this way you can have 2.1 amp quick charge, boot windows or Linux on PC from phone, double battery time, gaming performance and over clocking to 2.84 GHz!!!! The phone is a beast!! It is reliable as hell too! I have had mine rooted for 4 years, overclocked and its given me no worries....And waterproof with a removable battery!!!!!!
Hope this helps, any questions at all please ask, happy to help
ErbDroid said:
Hello!
I can definately assure you that:
A. Off the phones you have listed AND
B. Your stated price range
The S5 is your choice!!
It is amazing!! You will not be dissapointed! Unlimited battery life (multiple batteries), screen resolution, clock speed etc etc.
I am currently typing from one! Lol, I have the OnePlus 3 and my good ol' trusty S5! Some tips:
You stated about being older firmware (S5 is marshmallow) whilst others are nougat..... The S5 is one of the most developed phones ever! even still!!! In literally 5 minutes and little knowledge you can flash a custom recovery and then a custom ROM, no root needed. I have used the S5 since the early days and have used pretty much EVERY rom, honestly!
I can suggest resurrection remix as THE most customisable, they have features beyond any other! They have 100% stable nougat build and Oreo also, I use them both. In fact we have multiboot so can run 2 ROMs at once just choose at boot!
We have lots of kernels if you choose to root like myself, this way you can have 2.1 amp quick charge, boot windows or Linux on PC from phone, double battery time, gaming performance and over clocking to 2.84 GHz!!!! The phone is a beast!! It is reliable as hell too! I have had mine rooted for 4 years, overclocked and its given me no worries....And waterproof with a removable battery!!!!!!
Hope this helps, any questions at all please ask, happy to help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello.
Please make recomendation for Nougat and Oreo firmwares
I don't know if I'm right to post it here, but I have one single doubt before choosing between Le Pro3 or something like Redmi 7 (that is really slightly cheaper). I was looking at this device's xda forum and found some people reporting that their phones got suddenly hard bricked. I wanna know how common is this issue. Could I buy it or probably some unexpected death will haunt my phone usage?
No, stick with Redmi. Too many risks involved with this one in particular. It wasn't released outside of China. The x720 and x722 are total bang-for-your-buck devices though. If you can get them for like $120 USD or something, then go for it
mrdaltro said:
I don't know if I'm right to post it here, but I have one single doubt before choosing between Le Pro3 or something like Redmi 7 (that is really slightly cheaper). I was looking at this device's xda forum and found some people reporting that their phones got suddenly hard bricked. I wanna know how common is this issue. Could I buy it or probably some unexpected death will haunt my phone usage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree with @sk8223
Absolutely the Le pro3's with the Snapdragon 821 or 820 processors are a fantastic phone without a doubt. The problem is that some of those bargains at $120 and actually refurbished units and I have heard stories about the quality not being as good as the original.
Meanwhile the Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a Snapdragon 675 and an excellent camera, modern bezels and if you buy the global version the software is excellent.
Yes, there are many great Roms for the Le Pro 3. However, the Le pro 3 will always be stuck with using an old kernel 3.18, and unfortunately updating kernel any further is a monumental task that is simply not going to happen. So in my opinion, I also feel that you are much better off with a New Redmi Note 7 pro
Biggest issue with the LePro3 is the usb port burning out and the battery wearing out. Both are replaceable but it's an involved process that requires a heat gun to remove the screen.
The parts are cheap though. I got the usb board for $5, a replacement battery for $20 and replacement screen for about $17. These are cheaper than iPhone parts!
Other than that, 4 GB of Ram and Snapdragon 821 cpu is great.
Have any Le Pro 3 owners switched to a Note 7? My Le Pro 3 Elite is working fine but I have been thinking that the Redmi might be a worthy upgrade.
I've owned the Pro 3 x727 since release. The USB port and battery are fine, it can still hit 8+ hours of SOT. Would I suggest the Pro 3 to someone in 2019? No. It's easy to find nicer phones at a similar price. For example, the 3a was going for ~150 after trade in.
Some newer phones have better thermals- which allows them to maintain their peaks longer. If you play games this is obvious. Let's say you're playing PUBG @60fps and recording, the Pro 3 will heat up and throttle. That 60 will soon turn into a stuttery mess.
Then you have to consider sensors. Pro 3 lacks a wide angle and telephoto lens. Thus, limiting the type of images a user can capture. In addition, 64GB doesn't provide much room, at least not for me.
The Note 7 has an SD slot, modern design, and a taller display. Seems like a no-brainer.
One thing I would keep note of it whether the redmi has the band's you need for lte. I know it depends on the cell provider and carrier. But a lot of these international version phones tend not to have the same extended bands needed for indoor coverage in the US