Hands-on of Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+ in New York

Samsung Electronics unveiled Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ smartphone at the Galaxy Unpacked 2015 event at the Lincoln Center in New York on Aug. 13 (local time). The back of Note 5 and the front of S6 Edge+ look similar, reminding me of a "decalcomanie pattern" (a symmetry pattern made by applying paint to paper and folding the paper into the half). Galaxy Note 5 has rounded edges on its back and Galaxy S6 Edge+ has dual-edge display on the front.

Both Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge feature 5.7-inch displays, which makes not easy to touch other areas of the display while typing on the keyboard. The edge design of the two smartphones contributes to enhance the in-hand feel.

When holding Galaxy Note 5, the rounded edges on the back felt like holding my fingers that were grabbing the smartphone. The in-hand comfort was much better than that of the previous version Galaxy Note 4. It answered the question why Samsung applied the edge design without any function to the back of Galaxy Note 5. The size of Note 5 display is the same to that of Galaxy Note 4. But the width is reduced by 2.5 mm and the thickness is decreased from 8.5 mm to 7.6 mm, which also contributes to the stable in-hand feel.

Bezel of Galaxy S6 Edge+ becomes thinner than the previous version by reducing the bezel surrounding the display to 2 mm. It improves the beauty of double-edge display. It looks like bezel-free, which makes the display look bigger when taking pictures or watching videos.

Basic features of the two smartphones are upgraded. Note 5’s "buddy" S-Pen is spring-loaded, which means it is easily ejected by pushing on the top of the pen, saving efforts to drag it out by hand. The new feature that captures eyes is the "Screen-off Memo." Even when the screen is off, what I scribbled with the S-Pen on the dark display was automatically added to the S Note App. It felt like using an actual pen and a real notepad. "Scroll Capture" feature allows users to capture a long webpage or image that requires several screenshots as a single scrollable screenshot.

Galaxy S6 Edge+ provides more varied UX compared to the previous version. "People Edge" feature, which enables to register frequent contacts for phone calls, text messages and emails, is upgraded to send and receive handwritings, pictures and emoticons. Users can add five frequently-using apps into the edge area to start the apps easily and fast.

Samsung Electronics plans to launch the two smartphones in the domestic market on Aug. 20 at the earliest. Release date in the U.S. is scheduled on Aug. 21 (local time).