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nviz22

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I had both devices the 6P and the Note 5. I don't see where the 6P out performs the N5 in anyway. I found it to be the opposite. The N5 has as good or better battery life than the 6P even with a smaller battery. Performance is subjective but in my experience he N5 outperformed the 6P. Then TW love or hate it but it offers more features than stock does.

When it comes towards the flashy stuff the 6P loses. With the core user experience, the 6P is better because it doesn't have to expend extra resources.
 

jamezr

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When it comes towards the flashy stuff the 6P loses. With the core user experience, the 6P is better because it doesn't have to expend extra resources.
I don't know about the what the flashy stuff is but i won't even include the S-Pen. But simple things like a battery percentage display that can be easily read. Having separate images for homescreen and lockscreen. Voice control for the camera and a better camera and software to go with it. The 6P has better speakers by a longshot. The N5 has a better screen and is lighter and smaller despite them both having a 5.7 inch display. Then there is wireless charging.....
Battery life is better on the N5 despite having a smaller battery. If stock Android is using less resources why doesn't that translate into better battery life? The 6P has a 3450 mAh battery and the N5 has a 3000 mAh battery.
 

nviz22

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Jun 24, 2013
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I don't know about the what the flashy stuff is but i won't even include the S-Pen. But simple things like a battery percentage display that can be easily read. Having separate images for homescreen and lockscreen. Voice control for the camera and a better camera and software to go with it. The 6P has better speakers by a longshot. The N5 has a better screen and is lighter and smaller despite them both having a 5.7 inch display. Then there is wireless charging.....
Battery life is better on the N5 despite having a smaller battery. If stock Android is using less resources why doesn't that translate into better battery life? The 6P has a 3450 mAh battery and the N5 has a 3000 mAh battery.

I'll put flash into context. Flash vs substance. With the Note 5, you still get some lag, tons of RAM being eaten up for the OS skin, less signal quality (at least on T-Mobile for me in my experience), and a warmer phone. The 6P's camera is slightly better actually. Voice control for a camera is a gimmick. S-Pens are variable from customer to customer. Arguing about a better screen at that size is moot because the naked human eye cannot see beyond a certain PPI. Stock Android doesn't lag at all for me. It has less RAM too. The processor is good enough, but nowhere the best on the market as the A9 and Exynos have it beat. Wireless chagrinning isn't mainstream to adopt as an advantage because only some folks use it. Doze is a nice extra software addition for the 6P.
 

epicrayban

macrumors 604
Nov 7, 2014
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Between the note 5 and the 6p, there are some amazing options. Probably the two best from 2015.
 

Truefan31

macrumors 68040
Aug 25, 2012
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Well I look forward to seeing the s7. Will it continue in the spirit of the s6 or will it be a radical departure in order to turn around its mobile division further. I would think it'd be similar in hardware but maybe again they try to improve software efficiency.
 

jamezr

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Aug 7, 2011
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I'll put flash into context. Flash vs substance. With the Note 5, you still get some lag, tons of RAM being eaten up for the OS skin, less signal quality (at least on T-Mobile for me in my experience), and a warmer phone. The 6P's camera is slightly better actually. Voice control for a camera is a gimmick. S-Pens are variable from customer to customer. Arguing about a better screen at that size is moot because the naked human eye cannot see beyond a certain PPI. Stock Android doesn't lag at all for me. It has less RAM too. The processor is good enough, but nowhere the best on the market as the A9 and Exynos have it beat. Wireless chagrinning isn't mainstream to adopt as an advantage because only some folks use it. Doze is a nice extra software addition for the 6P.
We all have our preferences and likes and dislikes. I use the voice control for the camera all the time it is a nice feature. The N5 camera is rated by all as better than the 6P and my personal experiences i agree. The camera software provides so much more in the way of features than the stock camera Google camera app. I personally don't use the S-Pen all that much but when I do need it it is very nice to have. The difference in screen side by side is very telling....to the naked eye. There are some lags in stock Android. Ram has never been an issue for me and the way I use my phones.
I would expect the 6P to get better battery life considering it has a bigger battery. But it actually gets less than my N5 despite running stock Android. Speakers is a no contest with the 6P having I think the best speakers around.
Doze is really only good if you don't charge your phone overnight and very few I think actually does that.
Anyway enough arguing which phone is better. They are both great phones!
 

Tig Bitties

macrumors 603
Sep 6, 2012
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I have to agree with jamezr here on the Note 5. Myself I am typically a big Nexus / AOSP fan, and don't really care for Samsung and HATE Touchwiz.

But I picked up the Note 5 back in August, I am running the Darthstalker ROM with Arty97 Kernel and HOLY CRAP :) this phone actually blew my mind, I had no idea a Samsung phone could be this good, honestly, did not expect this whatsoever. This thing is super crazy fast, and hot butter smooth, ZERO lag, and battery life I routinely get like 6h Screen On time, not uncommon to reach 6.5h or even 7h Screen On time.

My previous phone was the Motorola Nexus 6, also tweaked running a custom ROM, I had that Nexus 6 dialed in perfectly, to it's fullest potential, and it was a smooth fast phone, and I can honestly say the Note 5 is actually smoother and more fluid feeling, and way batter battery life. The best I could ever squeeze out of my Nexus 6 was like 5h to 5.5h Screen On time, on it's best days.

Honest question, if AOSP and Nexus is supposed to be so good, meaning no crappy Touchwiz, and is free of bloat, and supposedly lighter system, why isn't battery life that great compared to the Note 5 ? The Note 5 has a 3,000mAh battery, the Nexus 6P a 3,450mAh battery, and the Nexus 6 had a 3,200mAh battery, yet the Note 5 wins the battery over both those phones. And the Note 5 doesn't even have the "Doze" feature yet.

I found the same thing way back on my Note II, I also had a tweaked custom TW ROM on that beast, and that phone gave me ridiculous battery life, like 7h Screen On time, and at the time, no AOSP ROM could even touch that, or Nexus phone.

In my case, I am running a custom ROM and custom kernel on the Note 5, which makes a MASSIVE difference compared to stock. This ROM is debloated, no BS apps, and I can delete all the other crap I don't want with Root Explorer which i did, and that helps save battery. Plus the overall system tweaks the ROM does to the phone, is night and day compared to stock.

My final point, I am actually satisfied with my phone for once. Normally I am itching to upgrade and swap to a newer phone after a couple months, but this custom tweaked Note 5 just feels so good, I see no reason to get rid of it right now. What else would be better ? Yeah the Nexus 6P is a sweet phone, but that's a side grade to me, not a major upgrade over the Note 5. What other high end 5.5" to 5.7" sized screen phone bests the Note 5 today ? I guess I'll wait till the SD820 phones start coming out, and specifically the larger 5.5" + sized phones.
 
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MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
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a better place
Samsung have always done better power management than Google stock android devices. And thankfully you can choose how you want it to work (which power saving to implement) whereas on stock android and especially marshmallow we have to make do with the hideous red status bar and buttons !!! Seriously Google !!! It's not how power saving should be done.
 
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Tig Bitties

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Now the rumors are saying there will be a standard 5.2" flat screen S7, and the 5.5" curved screen will be rebranded as simply the S7 Edge (no more "Plus" in the naming).

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/28/10673052/galaxy-s7-specs-screen-size

Interesting move, if true.

I guess I won't be getting an Edge version after all if the only option is a 5.5" screen...


I read that too. But earlier I read reports of a normal sized S7, and also a S7 Plus type in the 5.7" Note 5 size, but no S-Pen, just a larger S7, which I would be all in on. I'm not a huge fan of the Edge type, rather just a larger flat screen.

How does the SD820 stack up against the Exynos 7420 ?

Display tech in the S7 ? Will the screen be even better than the S6 / Note 5 ? Which were ranked as the best displays of 2015. How will Samsung up their screen tech in 2016 ?
 

jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
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Now the rumors are saying there will be a standard 5.2" flat screen S7, and the 5.5" curved screen will be rebranded as simply the S7 Edge (no more "Plus" in the naming).

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/28/10673052/galaxy-s7-specs-screen-size

Interesting move, if true.

I guess I won't be getting an Edge version after all if the only option is a 5.5" screen...
I read that too. Doesn't make sense to me though. I have heard a lot of conflicting news reports. Some say the S7 and its variants will be released early in Feb...then some say March at the usual cycle. Then some say the SD Card is coming back but only to the flat S7 and not the edge models. Lots of rumors :). CES(Jan 6th) is around the corner so we might get more info then or during MWC in late Feb.
 
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jamezr

macrumors P6
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I read that too. But earlier I read reports of a normal sized S7, and also a S7 Plus type in the 5.7" Note 5 size, but no S-Pen, just a larger S7, which I would be all in on. I'm not a huge fan of the Edge type, rather just a larger flat screen.

How does the SD820 stack up against the Exynos 7420 ?

Display tech in the S7 ? Will the screen be even better than the S6 / Note 5 ? Which were ranked as the best displays of 2015. How will Samsung up their screen tech in 2016 ?
I am sooo with you on a flat S7 with 5.5 or 5.7 inch display. That will be my next phone if that is true.
I really hope Samsung doesn't go 4K with the displays. I think that is a mistake IMHO.
 
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Tig Bitties

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Samsung likes to copy Apple, so I think a 4.7" Galaxy S7, and a 5.5" S7 Plus would be great. Just put more RAM, and a few extra features on the larger Plus
 

Blaze4G

macrumors 65816
Oct 31, 2015
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I am sooo with you on a flat S7 with 5.5 or 5.7 inch display. That will be my next phone if that is true.
I really hope Samsung doesn't go 4K with the displays. I think that is a mistake IMHO.
I think I read a news report that stated they spoke to some Samsung and lg execs and they both said they would not move to 4k.

EDIT: for their 2016 flagships.
 
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epicrayban

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Nov 7, 2014
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I'd love if Samsung stayed with the 5.1" screen for their standard S7. But if it goes up to 5.2", I'd be fine with that, too.

Nothing below 5" though. Heyo, that's what she said! And definitely let the "Edge" or "Plus" variant take care of 5.5" and above.
 
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Tig Bitties

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Sep 6, 2012
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Will the S7 finally have the Touchwiz version that Samsung and Google collaborated on together, in terms of Touchwiz being less of a hog and not so much bloat, and more of a vanilla Android style, and not so heavy Touchwiz ?
 

jamezr

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Galaxy S7 could finally get an awesome version of TouchWiz
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/ph...ly-get-an-awesome-version-of-touchwiz-1311477

Google Rumored To Help Samsung Optimize TouchWiz
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/11/google-samsung-optimize-touchwiz/
I am sure this will be a welcome collaboration. I hope this will remove one more thing people always use a complaint against TW. Hopefully this will help TW be optimized and use less ram in the background. I know this has been an issue for some so it will be a welcome improvement! :)
 

epicrayban

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Nov 7, 2014
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Hopefully it's all true.

Like I said, if the S7 is just the S6 perfected, it's gonna be another winner.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
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In always sceptical when I hear months before launch that touchwiz will be less bloated or heavy on ram, whereas historically this never happens. We shall see, but I've heard it before ...

And generally... at the moment rumours are just OTT throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks ...

Biggest unanswered question this year I am interested in will be - are HTC going to release a new handset at the same time again and let it disappear under the weight of the Samsung marketing machine or will they push the M9 successor out to May or June so that it's not competing directly ...
 
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jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
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In always sceptical when I hear months before launch that touchwiz will be less bloated or heavy on ram, whereas historically this never happens. We shall see, but I've heard it before ...

And generally... at the moment rumours are just OTT throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks ...

Biggest question this year will be - are HTC going to release a new handset at the same time again and let it disappear under the weight of the Samsung marketing machine or will they push the M9 successor out to May or June so that it's not competing directly ...
Last year proved to be correct...even you admitted the TW on the N5 and edge phones was toned down from the previous year. So I think a little more evolution would be on track.
Hoping the collaboration with Google will help as well.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
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a better place
Last year proved to be correct...even you admitted the TW on the N5 and edge phones was toned down from the previous year. So I think a little more evolution would be on track.
Hoping the collaboration with Google will help as well.

Well yes the OS is much smoother but in fairness a lot of that was down the octo exynos which is a great processor to muscle through and way ahead of all 2015 devices power wise.

Software wise ..

The actual Touchwiz OS actually used more ram though than any previous version which is why the 3gb S6/Edge had their ram management problems. We know it was mostly fixed with the extra 1gb in the Edge+ and Note 5, but again that's more relying on muscle power to fix it rather than through software optimisation.

And pre-loaded bloat ...

Likewise I do believe that some regional variants of the S6/Edge came with up to 54 pre-loaded apps which after the months of spin about debloating and not having as many of these pre-installed it simply didn't happen


Hardware wise ...

I have no doubt the S7 will be a stunning device, fantastic screen technology and amazing camera. I have no doubt over the hardware capabilities.

But software wise ... Samsung still have a lot to improve under the hood, and if they do - they will have the best Android devices out there ... But I will remain sceptical; but hopeful; until it's actually released and in users hands ...
 
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jamezr

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Well yes the OS is much smoother but in fairness a lot of that was down the octo exynos which is a great processor to muscle through and way ahead of all 2015 devices power wise.

Software wise ..

The actual Touchwiz OS actually used more ram though than any previous version which is why the 3gb S6/Edge had their ram management problems. We know it was mostly fixed with the extra 1gb in the Edge+ and Note 5, but again that's more relying on muscle power to fix it rather than through software optimisation.

And pre-loaded bloat ...

Likewise I do believe that some regional variants of the S6/Edge came with up to 54 pre-loaded apps which after the months of spin about debloating and not having as many of these pre-installed it simply didn't happen


Hardware wise ...

I have no doubt the S7 will be a fantastic device, fantastic screen technology and amazing camera. I have no doubt over the hardware capability,

but software wise ... Samsung still have a lot to improve under the hood, and if they do - they will have the best Android devices ... But I will remain sceptical but hopeful until it's actually released and in users hands ...
They optimized TW with the S6, N5 and Edges phones. So much so that it gets better or equal battery life as the Nexus 6P and Moto X 2015 running stock Android with larger batteries. So I think TW is optimized in that respect.

Bloat ware is present on all Android carrier phones. But then even with the extra bloat TW gets better battery life...go figure.
How does a phone with all the bloat you mentioned and a smaller battery get better battery life than stock Android phones with larger batteries? I think Samsung is getting shorted here on TW. Does it need improvement? Sure it does. But i don't think it is as bad as some would let on.

There should be even more muscle under the hood this year if the rumors are true and a more evolved and optimized TW should make the S7 a beast of a phone.
 

spriter

macrumors 65816
May 13, 2004
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I wonder if they might implement 4k on the larger devices as an option for certain apps (Gear VR). I guess it depends on how much they're willing to bet on the future of VR.

Another round of TW optimisation would be welcome especially if Google are pitching in. That said, Samsung have done a good job on the S6 Marshmallow beta as, from the very first time you use it, it's notably better in terms of general fluidity, scrolling, and memory management.

The S7 could be quite the awesome 2016 flagship. HTC? I actually have no idea if they're gonna stun us with a revamped One or completely flounder again. They can't have much cash left to survive the latter.
 
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