Where Leo Laporte “Demonstrates” How Easy it is to Damage the Note 5’s S-Pen…

After writing my cranky rant about this S-Pen problem yesterday, I got a number of tweets and replies about how this issue is completely overblown, and everyone should just know (I guess innately?) that you shouldn’t do this. Apparently we’re all born with the evolutionary knowledge NOT to EVER slide an S-Pen into a Note 5 backwards.

Thankfully Leo Laporte from This Week in Tech was gracious enough to sacrifice his Note 5 for the cause. Live on the air, in discussing the story, he was fiddling around with his Note 5, and fell for the S-Pen trap.

This video should stand as a clear warning to NOT even THINK about TRYING to insert your S-Pen backwards, even though it slides in easily. There is no tactile feel for when you’ve gone too far, or when the internal latch system will clamp and ruin your day.

Continue reading “Where Leo Laporte “Demonstrates” How Easy it is to Damage the Note 5’s S-Pen…”

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 “PenGate” – Doctor it HURTS When I Do This…

So the Doctor replies “then stop doing that”.

Why is this joke funny? Because we all recognize that the doctor isn’t really addressing the problem, and we’ve all shared in situations where we’ve felt an issue has been ignored or dismissed.

The Galaxy Note 5 suffers from a design flaw. If you insert the S-Pen into the stylus cavity the wrong way, it breaks the sensors in the phone which detect the S-Pen has been removed. In some cases, the Pen can become lodged in the slot, making removal extremely difficult.

samsung s-pen pengate galaxy note 5 design flaw somegadgetguySamsung’s official response to this issue?

We highly recommend our Galaxy Note5 users follow the instructions in the user guide to ensure there are no issues.

“Just don’t do that, and you’ll be fine.”

Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Note 5 “PenGate” – Doctor it HURTS When I Do This…”

Samsung Unveils the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+

Samsung-Galaxy-Note-5-and-S6-edge+Here we go folks! Samsung is pushing up the timetable on their large screen phones, and we’re getting our phablet fix a little earlier than last year.

We now have proper confirmation on specs for these two handsets, and it looks like the rumor train was pretty spot on.

The Galaxy Note 5 is following in the footsteps of the Galaxy S6. We’ll be continuing the more iPhone inspired lines wrapping around the edges of the phone. This means no removable back plate, no swappable battery, and to support Samsung’s internal storage file system, there will not be any MicroSD card expansion. Focusing on “THIN” means we do have a subtle bulge coming from the camera module on the back of the phone.

The battery will also shrink down to 3,000mAh from the Note 4’s 3,220 cell. Samsung is betting on fast charging, and wireless “fast” charging, over including a larger battery capacity. Full charge over USB cable in 90 minutes. Full charge wirelessly over two hours.

We stay with a 5.7″ Quad HD AMOLED screen (resolution of 2560×1440) and these phones will be powered by an Exynos Octa-Core processor and 4GB of RAM. Built in storage options are limited to 32GB and 64GB, which might be a bit lean for a phone with such a monster camera on board. The 16MP, half inch sensor, shooter with OIS returns. Now including an f/1.9 aperture for better low light performance and depth of field. We imagine it will perform very similarly to the camera on the Galaxy S6 (full camera review, KumbaCam samples). Continue reading “Samsung Unveils the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+”