Nexus 6P vs Note 5: No Losers Here

The Huawei-made Nexus 6p, and the Samsung-made Galaxy Note 5 are two of the best Android smartphone/phablet I have used to date. Both of them are similar in size and specifications as well, so a comparison between those two is pretty much inevitable, so lets do it.

In my Nexus 6P review, I call it the best Android phone in the market at this point in time. Of course that’s just my opinion, and might not be the same for everyone. But here’s the tricky part, it can be the best phone in the market TO me, but it may not the phone the best phone FOR me. Hear me out.

The Nexus 6P gets my vote for the best Android phone for 3 simple reasons. Stock Android experience, fast updates, and there is very little wrong with it. To elaborate further on my last point, consider the following.

• The design is nice, but not amazing.
• The fit and finish is good, but not the best.
• The specifications are great, but not the most cutting edge.
• The battery capacity is huge, but it’s not the most efficient.
• The screen is one of the best I’ve seen, but just not the best.
• The camera is really nice, but not the nicest.

I could go on, but you get the point…

It’s a phone that does everything well, but excel in few (mostly only software). It’s a great device that combines great software in a nice hardware package, and It’s a device that will undoubtedly be pleasurable to use for most people. But... it’s kind of boring.

On the other hand, you have the Note 5 which does a lot of things right on the hardware front, but loses point on the software side of things. Let me list out the things that I like about it over the Nexus 6P.

• It manages to fit the same 5.7” display into a smaller physical size.
• The display is better calibrated.
• The fit and finish is better.
• It has better specifications like a better processor, more RAM, faster UFS 2.0 storage.
• Playing games like Need For Speed: No Limits, the Note 5 is noticeably faster.
• Despite a much smaller battery, it actually has better usage battery life.
• The camera is superior in pretty much all situations.
• It has an S-Pen which is really useful.

Its fatal flaw is Samsung’s insistence on overbearing software customisations. In other words, Samsung is its own worst enemy here. While they can try not call it TouchWiz, and claim that they have “lighten” it up, there is just too much things going on still. In most cases it’s fast, but it’s still inconsistent and unreliable at times.

While using the Note 5, I miss the Nexus 6P’s stock Android experience. When using the Nexus 6P, I miss the Note 5’s slimmer form factor, slightly better battery life, better camera, and the S-Pen. You simply can’t have your cake and eat it.

It's not that I want Samsung to simply adopt stock Android wholesale, I just want them to take a more conservative approach when customising their software. They have good features, they just need to be better at selecting what to put in. Motorola has proven that their method of only adding meaningful software on top on stock Android, and leaving the rest alone works really well. Perhaps Samsung can take a page out of their book. Recently there are rumours that Google is helping Samsung optimise TouchWiz, and I hope that it's true.

The Nexus 6P is still the best Android phone to me though. It’s the best representation of Android software, on a really decent hardware. It just isn't the best phone for me though. On my way to work I like to watch videos while doing other things, and the Note 5 does that. I need to use a photo editor to highlight things from time to time, draw once in a while, and take long screenshots occasionally, and the Note 5 does those.

To a smaller extent, I also enjoy the fact that the Note 5 is not just an Android smartphone with a big screen. It tries to do things a little differently with its stylus. Whereas the Nexus 6P feels a little bland, a little too safe, a little too boring.

In the end, there is really no winner or loser here. Both are great Android devices with their own pros and cons, and the decision will simply be down to what you can live with, and what you can’t live without.