Galaxy Note 5 vs Nexus 6: What You Need to Know

Design

If you want one of the best made and most premium smartphones available, get the Galaxy Note 5. That's all we need to say, really. 

The Galaxy Note 5 is just like the Galaxy S6, and the first Note smartphone that isn't made of plastic. Samsung went with all glass and aluminum, including glass on the back. This makes the Galaxy Note 5 the most premium smartphone Samsung has ever made. Our initial hands-on with the Note 5 left us extremely impressed.

The Nexus 6 still has plastic on the back but it feels pretty solid, and does have an aluminum ring around the frame to make it more durable. It feels like a good expensive phone, but not as good as a Note 5.

A few things worth mentioning in the design though are the dual front facing speakers on the Nexus 6. These are great. They're loud, crisp, and sound quite nice. Samsung put the Note 5 speaker on the bottom so you'll need to cup it with your hand, but it does get extremely loud. Still, if you want to watch video without headphones, the Nexus 6 is better here.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has a dedicated hardware home button with a built-in fingerprint scanner for security, something that will pair nicely with Android 6.0 Marshmallow in October. The Nexus 6 has on-screen keys, no fingerprint scanner, and isn't as secure, if you will.

One thing that is very important is the curved design on the back of the Note 5. The phone isn't as big, and it's also not as wide and the back is curved. This makes it extremely easy to hold given the size. Making it much much easier to use, especially with one hand, than the Nexus 6. I stopped using my Nexus 6 in favor of the Galaxy S6, and the Note 5 may be my next daily smartphone. It's that great in the hand.