Galaxy Note 5 (and S6 Edge+) review—big, premium phones, big premium prices

.related-stories { display: none !important; } ars.AD.queue.push(["xrailTop", {sz:"300x251", kws:["bottom"], collapse: true}]);Specs at a glance: Samsung Galaxy S6Screen2560×1440 5.7"(518 ppi) AMOLEDOSAndroid Lollipop 5.1.1 with TouchWizCPUEight-core Samsung Exynos 7420 (Four 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57 cores and four 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 cores)RAM4GBGPUMali-T760Storage32GB or 64GBNetworkingDual Band 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, GPSPortsMicro USB 2.0, headphonesCamera16MP rear camera with OSI, 5MP front camera,SizeNote 5:153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6 mmEdge 6+: 154.4 x 75.8 x 6.9 mmWeightNote 5: 171 gEdge 6+: 153 gBattery3000 mAhStarting priceNote 5: $750, S6 Edge+: $800Other perksFingerprint reader, heartrate monitor, RGB notification LED, IR blaster, NFC, Qi and PMA wireless charging, Qualcomm and Samsung quick charging, Samsung Pay (coming with software update)

Another year brings another Galaxy Note—this is the fifth version of Samsung's category-defining device. Samsung has had the big-phone market to itself for years, with only a small amount of competition from other Android OEMs. Almost a year ago, though, it gained a very high-profile competitor in the iPhone 6+, a 5.5-inch device released alongside the iPhone 6. The Note 5 is the first chance Samsung has had to respond, and the Note is an entirely different device this year. Everything from the materials to the feature set to how the device complements the Galaxy S line seems to have changed.

In the past the Note series was a completely different product from the Galaxy S line—or at least as different as any two Galaxy phones ever are. The Galaxy S was usually released around April, and the Note usually came in September. The two devices were on different development tracks, and while they definitely shared DNA, they would leapfrog each other and were free to have different designs.