Galaxy Note 5 leaked in clearest images yet, complete with retail packaging

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 5 has been leaked in full, showing the device from almost every angle, complete with packaging and compared alongside the iPhone 6 Plus to show its relative size. As you can probably tell from the images, the photos were snapped by a retail worker. A Samsung rep had been in to his store with the two unreleased phablets (Note 5 and S6 Edge+).

Unlike previous versions of the Galaxy Note, this device is a unibody construction made of glass and metal, just like the Galaxy S6. The retail worker who originally posted his experience on Reddit last week stated that the Note 5, although big, feels great in hand thanks to the more exaggerated tapered edges. They apparently make it feel much smaller than it really is. Saying that, the picture with the device alongside the iPhone 6 Plus clearly shows it has being a smaller device than Apple’s biggest smartphone.

The images also seem to confirm suspicions I had about the new Galaxy S-Pen. You’ll remember the S-Pen leaked a couple of weeks ago and seemed to show a clickable end which would presumably help you pull the stylus out from the metal phone’s frame. Looking at the top gallery (at the first image) you’ll see the end of the S-Pen is extended outside the frame of the Note 5.

As well as the images of the device itself, the sealed retail packaging has been shown off and — as is the current trend with high end smartphones — the design of the box is incredibly minimalist. On the front, there’s nothing except the branding and storage size (32GB). Perhaps most importantly for design enthusiasts, Samsung has been much more restrained with its choice of fonts (I only count two different ones).

Reading the specs on the back, we can see the device will feature a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display, 4GB RAM and a 64-bit octa-core processor. Along with those impressive specifications we should expect a 16MP rear camera with OIS and 5MP front facing camera as well as wireless charging.

Much of this simply serves as confirmation of what we’d previously read. We know much about the new phone’s design before this physical leak appeared thanks to an abundance of render and press image leaks. Perhaps the one big negative from the original post is that Samsung appears to be pushing on with its tradition of loading devices with memory-intensive software. It’s noted in the post that, upon boot up, half of the available 4GB RAM is already being used before even opening any apps.

Regardless, I’m really looking forward to this week’s Unpacked announcement. It’s only three days away, and this could quite easily turn out to be this year’s phone to beat. I’m bracing myself for the launch price point though. Something tells me it could be horribly expensive.