Samsung Galaxy Note5 review: excellent software support for the S Pen and amazing screen make it a great smartphone despite a smaller, irreplaceable battery
Context & Ripple Effects
Dieter Bohn's Note5 verdict arrives a few months after the Galaxy S6 rebuild restored Samsung's reputation for build quality, and it extends the same arc: the best screen in the lineup plus genuinely good S Pen software support, undercut by a smaller, sealed-in battery. It is a snapshot of the Note line at peak identity — a distinct flagship defined by its stylus.
Read against the later coverage, that identity doesn't last. By the Note10+ generation the hardware still shines but the software 'backslides,' and within a few more cycles the S Pen itself migrates out of the Note franchise entirely.
First-order effects
- Buyers weighing the Note5 in 2015 are being asked to trade battery replaceability for the S Pen and display — the review makes that sealed battery the explicit price of entry rather than a footnote.
- For Samsung, strong marks for S Pen software support validate investing in stylus software, not just the hardware nib.
Second-order effects
- Once the S Pen's software layer is established as the line's differentiator, it survives even when surrounding software stumbles — handwriting recognition is still the highlight of the Note10+ review years later, even as DeX and general software draw criticism.
- With the Note no longer uniquely tied to the stylus, the feature loses its moat: the Galaxy S22 Ultra absorbs S-Pen support into the main S-series flagship, collapsing the Note's reason to exist as a separate SKU.
Third-order effects
- The endgame visible in the coverage is one consolidated 'Ultra' flagship per year where the stylus is one feature among several — and optional stylus features get pruned when they stop earning their place, as the S25 Ultra dropping Air Actions shows.
- On the battery front, the Note5's sealed-cell compromise sets up a decade-long pendulum: flagships chase thinness first, then reviewers push battery life back to center stage, which the S23's 'much improved battery life' verdict reflects.
The trend: Over the decade after the Note5, Samsung dissolves the Note's stylus-led identity into a single Galaxy S Ultra tier, trading a dedicated franchise for consolidated flagships while battery life re-emerges as the decisive spec.