Samsung Galaxy Note 4 review - Back in 2011, Samsung decided that bigger was better and launched the Samsung Galaxy Note which came with a 5.3-inch screen. At the time, this screen was a massive talking point: many thought it was too large to be a phone, others thought it was too compact to be a tablet.
Skip three years and that 5.3-inch screen no longer looks out of place in the phone market. Given that the Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a 5.1-inch screen, it's clear to see the line between what was once classed as a phablet and what is now expected as a phone has well and truly blurred.
While this hasn't stopped Samsung pushing out the size boat - the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 came equipped with a 5.7-inch screen - it seems Samsung has finally put on hold the size creep.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 comes with the same-sized 5.7-inch screen as the Note 3, with Samsung instead deciding to improve on the quality of the screen rather than its size.
You can now pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 now, before its delayed release in the UK and some other regions on October 17.
It's not cheap though. If you fancy getting hold of a SIM-free Galaxy Note 4 you'll have to part with over £600 (around $840, AU$960), while on contract in the UK a free handset will see you shell out at least £43 per month for two years.
Screen quality
The screen now boasts Quad HD Super AMOLED (2,560 x 1,440 resolution) technology that stretches to 500 pixels per inch. Couple this with what Samsung is calling an adaptive display - one that changes depending on the light of the place you are viewing the screen - and on paper you have the optimum viewing no matter what situation you are in.
To test the quality of the screen I watched a video that was shot in UHD on the device and it was stunning. Colours were vivid and detail popped out with the clarity you would expect from a 500ppi screen. Even zooming in there were no jagged edges and playback was smooth - no judder from the demo I viewed.
But the screen isn't the first thing that hits you when you get the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in your hands, it's the build quality.
Design
Samsung has definitely listened about its latest line-up feeling plastic-y in the hand and has decided to give the Note 4 more of a premium finish, with a metal rim surrounding the handset, shielding the rest of the chassis like a velvet rope protecting celebs from real people in a club.
I love the way the Galaxy Note 4 feels in the hand and being a regular user of the Note 3, it definitely felt different enough and it's light too, just a touch over the weight of the Note 3 at 176g.
It's obvious but the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 does come equipped with some of the features that we saw on the S5.
The most notable is the heartrate monitor on the back (which also has a neat camera functionality I will explain shortly) and the back has been improved somewhat too, but is still a little too faux leather for my liking.
There is a lot of similarity between the Note 3 and its successor. Size difference between the two chassis is definitely negligible - the Note 4 comes it at 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5mm, compared to the Note 3's 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm size.
It's clear Samsung hasn't re-invented the Note range but refined it with clever software updates and slight tweaks here and there.
S Pen
One of the most impressive is to do with the S Pen. It surprised me that the stylus (sorry Samsung, I know you hate that word) made a comeback with the Note range but four devices in and the S Pen finally makes a lot more sense.
For a start there are two new pen options: fountain and caligraphy. Of these, fountain is the most interesting as it shows off how far the S Pen has come in terms of usability. Until now, using the S Pen has felt a lot like gliding a piece of plastic over a glass screen.
The "feel" of writing on paper just hasn't been there. With the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 this has changed.
The fountain pen works best when you sweep the S Pen across the screen as you would ink on paper and because of extra sensitivity (which has doubled) it is now a joy to write on the Note 4's screen. Signatures look like signatures and your handwriting actually really looks like your true handwriting.
I'm left handed and the S Pen was still a joy to use. Considering I have never been able to use a fountain pen in real life, because of smudging, it was great fun.
And the innovations don't end there. Now you can use the S Pen much like you would use a mouse. Click the button on the side of the S Pen and you are in Smart Select mode, where you can highlight whole passages of text from a website, or even clip out sections of a site and put it into your own clippings archive.
Instead of being an added extra, the S Pen finally feels like a necessary part of the Note 4, rather than a "this is fun but I have no use for it" accessory.
Snap mode has also been improved on the Note 4. While you used to just be able to snap two separate services to the top and the bottom of the screen, you can now "resize" an app much like you would a widget.
So, if you are using the camera and want to send an image via text but stay in camera mode, a quick diagonal down swipe from the top right of the screen will shrink the camera function and show the rest of the phone screen for you. It's a nice feature that could replace using the left multi-tab hot key for many.
You can also make use of the new 'floating UI' which offers Facebook Chat Heads style pop ups on the screen for certain apps.
GENERAL 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G Network LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600
SIM Micro-SIM
Announced 2014, September
Status Available. Released 2014, October
BODY Dimensions 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm (6.04 x 3.09 x 0.33 in)
Weight 176 g (6.21 oz)
- S Pen stylus
- Fingerprint sensor
DISPLAY Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 1440 x 2560 pixels, 5.7 inches (~515 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3
SOUND Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 128 GB
Internal 32 GB, 3 GB RAM
DATA GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL (N910C)
HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA; LTE, Cat6, 50 Mbps UL, 300 Mbps DL (N910S)
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth v4.1, A2DP, EDR, LE
NFC Yes
Infrared port Yes
USB microUSB v2.0 (MHL 3), USB Host, USB On-the-go
CAMERA Primary 16 MP, 3456 x 4608 pixels, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
Features Dual Shot, Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR
Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, optical stabilization, dual-video rec., check quality
Secondary 3.7 MP, 1080p@30fps,
FEATURES OS Android OS, v4.4.4 (KitKat)
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 (SM-N910S)
Exynos 5433 (SM-N910C)
CPU Quad-core 2.7 GHz Krait 450 (SM-N910S)
Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A57 (SM-N910C)
GPU Adreno 420 (SM-N910S)
Mali-T760 (SM-N910C)
Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, gesture, UV, heart rate, SpO2
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
Browser HTML5
Radio TBC
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Frosted white, Charcoal black, Bronze Gold, Blossom Pink
- ANT+ support
- S-Voice natural language commands and dictation
- Air gestures
- Dropbox (50 GB cloud storage)
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- TV-out (via MHL A/V link)
- MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
- Organizer
- Photo/video editor
- Document viewer(Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa
- Voice memo/dial/commands
- Predictive text input (Swype)
BATTERY 3,220 mAh battery
Stand-by
Talk time
TESTS Camera Photo / Video
Battery life
Endurance rating 87h
Skip three years and that 5.3-inch screen no longer looks out of place in the phone market. Given that the Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with a 5.1-inch screen, it's clear to see the line between what was once classed as a phablet and what is now expected as a phone has well and truly blurred.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 comes with the same-sized 5.7-inch screen as the Note 3, with Samsung instead deciding to improve on the quality of the screen rather than its size.
You can now pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 now, before its delayed release in the UK and some other regions on October 17.
It's not cheap though. If you fancy getting hold of a SIM-free Galaxy Note 4 you'll have to part with over £600 (around $840, AU$960), while on contract in the UK a free handset will see you shell out at least £43 per month for two years.
Screen quality
The screen now boasts Quad HD Super AMOLED (2,560 x 1,440 resolution) technology that stretches to 500 pixels per inch. Couple this with what Samsung is calling an adaptive display - one that changes depending on the light of the place you are viewing the screen - and on paper you have the optimum viewing no matter what situation you are in.
To test the quality of the screen I watched a video that was shot in UHD on the device and it was stunning. Colours were vivid and detail popped out with the clarity you would expect from a 500ppi screen. Even zooming in there were no jagged edges and playback was smooth - no judder from the demo I viewed.
But the screen isn't the first thing that hits you when you get the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in your hands, it's the build quality.
Design
Samsung has definitely listened about its latest line-up feeling plastic-y in the hand and has decided to give the Note 4 more of a premium finish, with a metal rim surrounding the handset, shielding the rest of the chassis like a velvet rope protecting celebs from real people in a club.
I love the way the Galaxy Note 4 feels in the hand and being a regular user of the Note 3, it definitely felt different enough and it's light too, just a touch over the weight of the Note 3 at 176g.
It's obvious but the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 does come equipped with some of the features that we saw on the S5.
The most notable is the heartrate monitor on the back (which also has a neat camera functionality I will explain shortly) and the back has been improved somewhat too, but is still a little too faux leather for my liking.
There is a lot of similarity between the Note 3 and its successor. Size difference between the two chassis is definitely negligible - the Note 4 comes it at 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5mm, compared to the Note 3's 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm size.
It's clear Samsung hasn't re-invented the Note range but refined it with clever software updates and slight tweaks here and there.
S Pen
One of the most impressive is to do with the S Pen. It surprised me that the stylus (sorry Samsung, I know you hate that word) made a comeback with the Note range but four devices in and the S Pen finally makes a lot more sense.
For a start there are two new pen options: fountain and caligraphy. Of these, fountain is the most interesting as it shows off how far the S Pen has come in terms of usability. Until now, using the S Pen has felt a lot like gliding a piece of plastic over a glass screen.
The "feel" of writing on paper just hasn't been there. With the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 this has changed.
The fountain pen works best when you sweep the S Pen across the screen as you would ink on paper and because of extra sensitivity (which has doubled) it is now a joy to write on the Note 4's screen. Signatures look like signatures and your handwriting actually really looks like your true handwriting.
I'm left handed and the S Pen was still a joy to use. Considering I have never been able to use a fountain pen in real life, because of smudging, it was great fun.
And the innovations don't end there. Now you can use the S Pen much like you would use a mouse. Click the button on the side of the S Pen and you are in Smart Select mode, where you can highlight whole passages of text from a website, or even clip out sections of a site and put it into your own clippings archive.
Instead of being an added extra, the S Pen finally feels like a necessary part of the Note 4, rather than a "this is fun but I have no use for it" accessory.
Snap mode has also been improved on the Note 4. While you used to just be able to snap two separate services to the top and the bottom of the screen, you can now "resize" an app much like you would a widget.
So, if you are using the camera and want to send an image via text but stay in camera mode, a quick diagonal down swipe from the top right of the screen will shrink the camera function and show the rest of the phone screen for you. It's a nice feature that could replace using the left multi-tab hot key for many.
You can also make use of the new 'floating UI' which offers Facebook Chat Heads style pop ups on the screen for certain apps.
GENERAL 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G Network LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600
SIM Micro-SIM
Announced 2014, September
Status Available. Released 2014, October
BODY Dimensions 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm (6.04 x 3.09 x 0.33 in)
Weight 176 g (6.21 oz)
- S Pen stylus
- Fingerprint sensor
DISPLAY Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 1440 x 2560 pixels, 5.7 inches (~515 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3
SOUND Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 128 GB
Internal 32 GB, 3 GB RAM
DATA GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL (N910C)
HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA; LTE, Cat6, 50 Mbps UL, 300 Mbps DL (N910S)
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth v4.1, A2DP, EDR, LE
NFC Yes
Infrared port Yes
USB microUSB v2.0 (MHL 3), USB Host, USB On-the-go
CAMERA Primary 16 MP, 3456 x 4608 pixels, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash, check quality
Features Dual Shot, Simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR
Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, optical stabilization, dual-video rec., check quality
Secondary 3.7 MP, 1080p@30fps,
FEATURES OS Android OS, v4.4.4 (KitKat)
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 (SM-N910S)
Exynos 5433 (SM-N910C)
CPU Quad-core 2.7 GHz Krait 450 (SM-N910S)
Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A57 (SM-N910C)
GPU Adreno 420 (SM-N910S)
Mali-T760 (SM-N910C)
Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, gesture, UV, heart rate, SpO2
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
Browser HTML5
Radio TBC
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Frosted white, Charcoal black, Bronze Gold, Blossom Pink
- ANT+ support
- S-Voice natural language commands and dictation
- Air gestures
- Dropbox (50 GB cloud storage)
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- TV-out (via MHL A/V link)
- MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
- Organizer
- Photo/video editor
- Document viewer(Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa
- Voice memo/dial/commands
- Predictive text input (Swype)
BATTERY 3,220 mAh battery
Stand-by
Talk time
TESTS Camera Photo / Video
Battery life
Endurance rating 87h
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