The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 can easily be called one of the best phones in the world, and recently Samsung launched its dual SIM version, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos, for Rs 51,400 for the 32 GB version and Rs 57,400 for the 64 GB version.
Now today, BlackBerry launched its first Android device, the BlackBerry Priv, in India at Rs 62,990.
So let’s check out whether BlackBerry Priv has the charm to attract the business users or the Note 5 Duos is good enough to take its place.
Design – Its Keypad vs Pen
Both the phones have their distinct items that set them apart from each other and from their competitors. While BlackBerry Priv is armed with a QWERTY keypad for which BlackBerry devices are famous for, the Note 5 Dual offers a stylus like its siblings.
In Priv, the keypad comes in form of a slider that has smartly been included in the phone. You can use the phone like any touchscreen based phone but to write fast you can use the keyboard. On the other hand, the Note 5 Duos also offers fast typing for those who like to use the stylus as a pen. The Stylus has many other innovative features too. There is a dedicated slot in the phone itself to keep the stylus which is called as S-Pen.
As far as build is concerned, the Samsung phone dazzles with an aluminium body while the BlackBerry Priv comes with a plastic body. However, the Priv’s design and look has been hailed by the reviewers all around the globe and it is sturdier too. So it is basically a personal choice and you should have a look at the device to decide the perfect device for yourself.
As far as figures are concerned, the BlackBerry Priv measures 147 x 77.2 x 9.4 mm and weighs 192 grams while the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos measures 153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6 mm and weighs 171 grams.
Display
The BlackBerry Priv has a curved glass AMOLED Display of 5.4 inches with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and Quad HD resolution. The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos has a bigger 5.7 inch AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 as well as Quad HD resolution.
Needless to say both phones offer great displays but it is the size you should be concerned about. If you have small palms, you should better stick to the Priv. But if you can handle the bigger Note 5 Duos, then the extra 0.3 inch is a blessing for sure.
Processor & Memory
The BlackBerry Priv is armed with the hexa-core Snapdragon 808 clocked at 1.8 GHz and 3 GB of RAM. The phone offers 32 GB of internal storage and a 200 GB micro SD card slot.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos is equipped with an octa-core 2.1 GHz Exynos 7420 Processor which runs with 4 GB of RAM. It comes in 32 GB and 64 GB internal storage variants but neither of them have expandable storage slot.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos is likely to be the better performer, but for those that require higher storage, the BlackBerry Priv is a good choice, as it is equipped with great hardware too.
Software
It still feels like a dream but the BlackBerry Priv indeed comes with Android Lollipop. While BlackBerry is offering almost the vanilla Android interface, the Priv has been armed with few special features as well. That includes a custom launcher, a privacy App called DTEK (made by BB itself), BlackBerry Hub Messaging app etc.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos also runs on Android Lollipop, and has Samsung’s famed OS TouchWiz. Samsung has its own set of apps and the S Pen also comes with several productivity apps like S Note, Action Memo, Screen Write, Smart Select etc.
Battery
The BlackBerry Priv is powered by a 3410 mAh battery that can provide up to 420 hours of standby or 24 hours of talk time.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos is equipped with a 3000 mAh battery that claims to offer up to 22 hours of talk time.
The BlackBerry Priv is the winner, simply due to size.
Camera
The BlackBerry Priv has an 18 Megapixel primary camera with an Aperture of f/1.8, 27mm lens, Schneider-Kreuznach optics, optical image stabilisation, phase detection autofocus, dual tone flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama, and video recording at 2160 p at 30 fps. The front of the phone has a 2 megapixel selfie shooter which can record videos at 720p.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos has a 16 megapixel primary shooter with an aperture of f/1.9, 28mm lens, optical image stabilisation, autofocus, LED flash, 1.12 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, smile detection, panorama, HDR, and video recording at 2160p at 30fps. The front has a 5 megapixel unit with an aperture of f/1.9, auto HDR, and a 22mm lens. Both cameras have dual video recording.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos and BlackBerry Priv are both neck and neck in terms of hardware and features. Selfie lovers should pick the Samsung simply because of better hardware, but we will wait for a real world test to call a winner here.
Connectivity
The BlackBerry Priv is a 4G phone with WiFi (direct, hotspot), GPS (A-GPS and GLONASS), NFC, and Bluetooth 4.1.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos is a Dual-SIM 4G phone with WiFi (direct, hotspot), GPS (A-GPS, BDS, and GLONASS), NFC, and Bluetooth 4.2.
Wrapping Up
This is a very difficult one to call, as both offer great hardware and features. The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos has the larger display, higher RAM and dual SIM, but the BlackBerry Priv offers more storage, a bigger battery, and better primary camera (in terms of figures).
Many of you, as serious business phone users might go for the BlackBerry due to your previous experience or even nostalgia, and who could blame you? But the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Duos with its S-Pen and superior hardware is also an irresistible device too.