Samsung debuts Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus

Yesterday, Samsung announced two new flagship phones, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, and its new sibling, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. This seems a direct iPhone 6 Plus competitor. Both phones include 5.7-inch screens, with the Edge's curving around the sides of the device. Both feature a sleek metal-and-glass design, a break from Samsung's previous plastic devices. The company moved to more premium materials earlier this year with its Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.

"Bigger screens are great for moving between emails and important files and scrolling through photos and social media or watching a movie," said JK Shin, the CEO of Samsung's mobile business, at a presentation in New York. "We are still betting big."

While the S6 Edge Plus has the same 5.7-inch display as the Note 5, it is slimmer, lighter and better suited for real world usage. It doesn’t have a stylus and all the power features that Galaxy Note users love. But it has a bigger screen than your average smartphone letting you do more. The Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ go on sale in the US and Canada on August 21. Preorders in the US start today at 3 p.m. In the US, the Note 5 will cost $200 with a contract, and the S6 Edge+ will sell for $300 on contract.

 

Like the S6 Edge, Samsung’s new phone is made of glass and aluminium. Gone is the cheap plastic casing, the removable battery and the microSD slot. In exchange, the device only weighs 153g, which is lighter than the iPhone 6 Plus and the Galaxy Note 5. Even though the iPhone 6 Plus has a slightly smaller 5.5-inch display, it weighs 172g.But the best part is that the S6 Edge+ feels incredibly light. It doesn’t feel like a phablet at all.

When you turn the device on, you are immersed in the display. Because of the curved display, it feels like you are just holding a big screen in your hand. You can pin apps to the screen edges, making these edges at least a little useful. The new devices are Samsung's latest attempt to regain its momentum in the smartphone market. The company has used phones with bigger screens to stand out from other Android vendors and Apple, but more and more companies are releasing phablets of their own.

Apple's introduction of the 4.7-inchiPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus in September caused Samsung's market share to tumble -- from controlling nearly a third of the smartphone market in 2012 and 2013, to sharing the title of No. 1 smartphone vendor with Apple in the fourth quarter of 2014. Both companies controlled about one-fifth of the market in that period, the first full quarter of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales, according to Gartner. Samsung's two new phablets -- hybrids between smartphones and tablets -- come loaded with Android 5.1 Lollipop, 16MP rear-facing cameras and 5MP front-facing cameras.

They also include Samsung's homemade Exynos 7420 eight-core processors built on the same advanced technology as the chips in the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. Both feature fast charging and fast wireless charging capabilities, as well as near-field communications chips that allow users to pay for items with Samsung Pay by holding their phones near retail sales terminals.

We compared the device with its smaller version, the Galaxy S6 Edge. It looks very similar and it’s hard to notice differences. The top and bottom bezels are similar, the thickness is the same, you don’t get any new button on the S6 Edge+. While this isn’t a cheap Android phone, if you’re really invested into the Android ecosystem and like big displays, this might be the device to get.

 

The only thing is that, arguably, the best feature of the iPhone is iOS and its strong ecosystem. People are willing to pay a premium to access this ecosystem. While Samsung didn’t say a word on pricing, if the S6 Edge+ is like the S6 Edge, you can expect to pay as much as you would to get an iPhone 6 (Plus).

The device charges in only 90 minutes, has the same camera as the S6 Edge and packs a large battery. We will see how it fares in real world usage in our upcoming review.

The device will launch later this month. Samsung traditionally unveils it latest marquee phablets at the September IFA electronics trade show in Berlin at the IFA electronics trade show. But this time around, it moved the date up by a couple of weeks and shifted its event to New York in what some believe is an attempt to get an even earlier jump on Apple's next iPhone introduction - which likely will take place in early September.

On Thursday, Samsung also unveiled its plans to launch its mobile payment system, Samsung Pay, in Korea on August 20 and in the US on September 28. The company announced Samsung Pay in March. "With the launches of these exciting new smartphones, we will open a new era of mobile payment," Shin said. "It is easy, safe, and most importantly, available virtually anywhere you can swipe a card."

At the end of Thursday's presentation, Samsung played a video teaser of its next smartwatch, which has a round screen. The watch, which Samsung has teased before, will be called the Gear S2, and it is launching at the IFA show next month. It will be Samsung's seventh watch but its first in the past year.