For years now, the Galaxy Note line from Samsung has represented the absolute best that the South Korean manufacturer is capable of. Forget the innovative S-Pen that is still a class-leading feature, the Galaxy Note line of devices have become known for excellent battery life as well as an excellent camera experience. 2015 seems to have been a year of good smartphone cameras, with LG focusing on manual controls with the G4 and Samsung delivering a powerful all-rounder with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. So, let’s focus on the camera inside of the Galaxy Note 5 and see what Samsung have bought to the table this time around.
Looking at the specs sheet for the Galaxy Note 5, it doesn’t look like Samsung have approached the camera in the Galaxy Note 5 with a new sensor or anything like that. The same 16-megapixel f/1.9 sensor configuration from the Galaxy S6 is here the Note 5, with a front-facing 5-megapixel camera as well. Where things get a little better however, is with Optical Image Stabilisation and we’re sure that Samsung have added some new software to the Note 5’s camera stack. Still, Samsung appear to have approached the Galaxy Note 5’s camera in a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” kind of manner.
Considering the sensor from earlier this year is still easily one of the best out there, making low-light performance in many other smartphones, including the iPhone 6 look pathetic, there’s nothing to complain about here. A bump in resolution would have been expected, but we’d rather Samsung ship a good quality camera overall, rather than start focusing on features just for the sake of it. The whole experience with the Galaxy Note 5 is an elegant one, and it looks like, for once, Samsung is going after the whole package rather than feature creep. With a camera that performs no matter the lighting, the Galaxy Note 5 shouldn’t disappoint even the most demanding users. We’ll have more, including samples when we get our hands on a unit.