Samsung Galaxy Note5 review: The 5blet

The 5blet

GSMArena team, 21 August, 2015.

Performance

Samsung Galaxy Note5 packs an Exynos 7420 chipset developed in-house by Samsung with 1.5 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU, 2.1 GHz quad-core Cortex-A57 CPU, Mali-T760MP8 GPU, and 4GB of RAM. Save for the slight bump in RAM, the hardware setup is the same as in Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.

Samsung Galaxy Note5

First up is the CPU-centric Geekbench 3 test. Rather unsurprisingly, the Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ performed right in line with the Samsung Galaxy S6 family.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    5246
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    5242
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    5158
  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    5124
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    5095
  • HTC One M9
    3761
  • LG G4 (final)
    3522
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    3402
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    2922

AnTuTu 5 painted the exact same picture. Both phablets posted scores in the 70,000 points range - just like their smaller siblings and better than any of their Snapdragon-equipped competitors.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    70938
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    70053
  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    69465
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    68324
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    67553
  • HTC One M9
    51427
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    49441
  • LG G4 (final)
    48693
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    48361

Thanks to the increase in RAM memory, Samsung Galaxy Note5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+ posted eye-popping results in the compound Basemark OS II benchmark. Single-core and multi-core scores on the other hand, were in line with those of the Samsung Galaxy S6 lineup.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    1852
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    1833
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    1826
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    1650
  • HTC One M9
    1526
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    1410
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    1267

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    3585
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    3567
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    3489
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    3372
  • HTC One M9
    2401
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    1853
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    1453

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    18653
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    18536
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    16856
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    16291
  • HTC One M9
    10128
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    7002
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    6995

GFXBench puts the Mali-T760MP8 GPU found in both phablets to the test. Both handsets posted flagship-worthy results throughout.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    59
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    57
  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    56
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    56
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    50
  • HTC One M9
    49
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    45
  • LG G4 (final)
    34
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    30

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One M9
    50
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    46
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    39
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    37
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    37
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    30
  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    29
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    25
  • LG G4 (final)
    25

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    26
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    25
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    25
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    25
  • HTC One M9
    23
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    21
  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    21
  • LG G4 (final)
    15
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    13

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One M9
    24
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    21
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    15
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    15
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    15
  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    15
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    15
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    12
  • LG G4 (final)
    9.4

Basemark X tests the gaming chops of both smartphones. In line with our expectations, the Samsung Galaxy Note5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ performed just like their more compact relatives from the Galaxy S6 lineup.

Basemark X

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    27188
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    27046
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    26333
  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    26281
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    26125
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    20767
  • HTC One M9
    19848
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    13414

The browser-centric benchmarks were performed with the pre-installed Samsung browser. The phablet duo posted chart-topping scores in both Mozilla Kraken 1.1 and BrowserMark 2.1.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    3702
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    3767
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    3975
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    3989
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    4003
  • LG G4 (final)
    4639
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    5057
  • HTC One M9
    5500
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    9204

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
    2702
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
    2641
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
    2591
  • Samsung Galaxy Note5
    2324
  • Samsung Galaxy S6 Active
    2321
  • LG G4 (final)
    1992
  • Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML
    1853
  • HTC One M9
    1681
  • Sony Xperia Z3+ final
    1436

Samsung Galaxy Note5 is expectedly one of the most powerful smartphones available on the market today. The handset handled every task we threw at it without even a slight hint of breaking sweat.

Samsung surprised quite a few people by opting for the Exynos 7420 in the Note5 - previously, the Korean giant utilized exclusive chipsets for the product range. However, no one should knock the manufacturer for choosing this route - the 14nm 7420 is roughly a year ahead of its closest competitor in terms of performance, heat management, and power efficiency.

Reader comments

  • Idon
  • 23 Mar 2024
  • xjH

it's rely that is quality than iphone 12

  • Jamie
  • 25 Nov 2020
  • ks%

Sound quality (24 bit) on this 5 year old phone is STILL better than iphone 12. LOL!

  • jarral
  • 23 Jan 2020
  • ITJ

i want to replace it s LCD its broken how i get its original one