Following the Moto X 2015 outing in late July the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 was uncloaked this week and Android fans suddenly have two mouth-watering supersized smartphones to pick from.
The two devices are direct competitors and it should be interesting how they fare in an epic phablet slugfest. Following below is a quick comparison:
Build
Like the Galaxy S6 before it, the Note 5 is premium in every side and angle that is beautifully crafted in melded materials of metal and glass, solidly framed together. The S6 was described as both stunning and gorgeous, which can be attributed as well to the Galaxy Note 5 but in a scaled up fashion.
The Moto X 2015, known in the U.S as Moto X Pure Edition and Moto X Style elsewhere, also boasts of a metallic frame with glass on the front panel but it is easily evident that Motorola's bet is yet to reach the aesthetic level established by Samsung with the S6 and sustained with the Note 5.
Platform
Powering the latest Moto X is a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 chip that works in tandem with 3GB or RAM. On the GPU is an Adreno 418 and firing this mix of hardware is Android 5.1.1 Lollipop that easily makes the Moto X 2015 as one of the phones to beat tis 2015.
And the Note 5 not only beats the Moto X, what the Samsung phablet packs under the hood is simply overwhelming: an 8-core Exynos 7420 chip in 64-bit configuration with 4GB of RAM. Lollipop is also the Android sweet stuffed with the Note 5 but this one is layered by Samsung's TouchWiz skin.
OS
As mentioned, both the Moto X and the Note 5 run on Android Lollipop but the former enjoys a huge advantage on the account that its Android candy is in vanilla flavor. Now pure Android means no unwanted apps or bloatwares and direct access to software updates, which is all about the Moto X 2015 and not the Galaxy Note 5.
Display
The screen size is similar as both the Moto X and Note 5 sport a 5.7-inch screen profile. And in terms of quality, the specifications are in the same zone - 2560 x 1440 display resolution with nearly identical pixel density, 520ppi on the Moto X and 518ppi on the Note 5. The only difference is the latter rocks a Super AMOLED QHD screen that in the Galaxy S6 easily bested the iPhone 6.
Input
The two devices employ advanced touch screen input technology though the Note 5 has an extra productivity tool - the enhanced S Pen. This proprietary Samsung stylus boasts of new features such as allowing users to write notes on stand-by screen with the Note 5 automatically saving the doc for later use.
Camera
On paper, the 16MP-front and 5MP-rear camera combo of the Galaxy Note 5, with the usual killer features like OIS, seems to be easily overpowered by the Moto X shooting prowess of 21MP on main and 5MP on secondary. But in reality, Motorola is yet to prove that its claim the Moto X 2015 is among the best camera smartphone to come out this year. The Note 5, on the other hand, simply needs to carry over what the S6 camera package was and it's already a winner. The Galaxy S6, by the way, is seen as the best camera phone to date.
Storage
The Note 5 will sell in two storage flavors - 32GB and 64GB - while the Moto X will offer the same on its memory menu but with a 16GB addition. But Motorola thought it wise to include a micro SD slot that supports up 128GB of extra memory. The feature was a Galaxy Note phablet feature that didn't make the cut in the latest version.
Price
As always, sticker price proves as the deal-breaker for Samsung flagships and the same is true with the Galaxy Note 5 that will hit store shelves starting at $700 (in a number of U.S. carrier) and perhaps even more for the unlocked version. The Moto X 2015 is ready to use and the cash setback is as low as $400.
The Galaxy Note 5 actual release date reportedly starts on August 21 while the Moto X 2015 will begin rolling out September 3 in North America.