<div><em><strong>Mala Bhargava</strong> has a short but powerful laundry list of disappointments with the recently launched version</em></div><div> </div><div>Every year I give in to the temptation and “upgrade” my Samsung Galaxy Note device. But that innocuous word, upgrade, doesn’t mean you can do anything to your existing Note. It means you need to put a huge wad of cash to buy a fresh Note.</div><div> </div><div>I never pre-order because you never know what problems could come up: an overheating processor (happily unlikely in the case of the Note 5), a battery that doesn’t behave, and so on. So while I’m eager to get my hands on the Galaxy Note 5, I have a short but powerful laundry list of disappointments with the recently launched version.</div><div> </div><div><strong>No Galaxy Note 5 Edge?</strong></div><div>You have a Galaxy Note 5, a Galaxy S6, a Galaxy S6 Edge, a Galaxy S6Edge+, but no Galaxy Note 5 Edge. If you use the Note as much as I do – basically all day – you may well decide to put your money on a device that’s proven its worth over the years and pay for that extra feature that looks good as well as has a slick roll-out of apps and information on the wrap-around screen. But that is not to be. The one really innovative feature on Samsung flagships (well, apart from the stylus) has been left out of the Note 5 series.</div><div> </div><div><strong>No Change In Camera</strong></div><div>This one is outright unreasonable because the Note usually has the same camera as the Galaxy S-something that precedes it but given Samsung’s decline, this would have been a good time to do something additional to the camera on the Note 5. While it’s probably the best in class, it would have been great to have a step-up. The one addition is a Live Broadcast button that allows you to send a video live or scheduled, straight to YouTube. But for a photography buff, pure image quality and optics is always a strong draw.</div><div> </div><div><strong>No Storage Expansion</strong></div><div>With everything now using apps, an increased number on a device is a given. While you can use online storage, a lot of which is being freely offered from so many sources, it would have been nice to have external storage to stash away data, leaving internal storage free for apps. As things stand, one will have to get into the strong habit of putting photos ad data up in the cloud. While there is a rumoured 128GB version, it’s bound to be prohibitively expensive.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Not Enough Battery</strong></div><div>The Note 4 has a 3,220mAh battery which is removable – one can swap or replace altogether, a move I am considering because of the heavy use I put it to. But the Note 5 comes with a 3,000mAh battery and is non-removable. Both have Samsung’s quick charging feature, but it would have been nicer to have an upgraded battery for a device that has a higher res screen and is larger and has a more capable camera.</div><div> </div>
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
