Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review
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Introduction
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Launched in 2011, Samsung's first Galaxy Note arrived at a market where phone screens were already getting increasingly bigger, but most were still nowhere near the 5" mark. We were just getting used to working with those "larger-than-life" 4.3-inchers, and out of nowhere came the Galaxy Note – a true monster with a 5.3" screen. It looked scary with its imposing dimensions, and it felt rather weird at first, partly due to its focus on the so-called S Pen stylus. However, Samsung believed in its new form-factor, so it kept pushing it, and most importantly – refining it. The following generations of the Note series all came with even bigger screens, better internals, and refined S Pen capabilities. One by one, hardcore smartphone users were making their bold first step into phablet territory, lured in by the gigantic screen size and added multitasking features. And while the mainstream audience was still mostly interested in the Galaxy S flagship line, the Galaxy Note established itself as a viable alternative for those who wanted a Galaxy S with more of everything. As time eventually showed, 'phablets' had turned into a juicy niche not to be overlooked.
So, what's next for the Note line? Even though multiple smartphone companies have followed in Samsung's footsteps by releasing their own phablet offerings, the Galaxy Note has remained the benchmark device in this supersized category. All eyes are on what Samsung has in store, as each new Galaxy Note defines what a top-shelf phablet should be – after all, no one has managed to leapfrog Samsung in this particular market segment yet.
The latest and supposedly greatest edition in the series, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, has just begun hitting the market in some areas of the world, and as one can imagine, the hype is starting to reach critical levels. As the everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink device in Samsung's portfolio, the Note 4 is expected to pack all the latest technology available, in order to meet the requirements of its tech-savvy public. And, by the looks of it, the Note 4 isn't going to disappoint. The newest phablet by Samsung sticks with the same 5.7" diagonal as its predecessor, but significantly bumps the resolution to the extremely dense 1440 x 2560 pixels. Most other components of the device, including the chipset, the camera, and the S Pen, have also been upgraded, and make no mistake – there's a whole host of different sensors mounted on the device, just to add that extra level of versatility, which is so characteristic of the Note series.
With an enhanced design choke-full of hardware and software features, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 looks like a dream come true for smartphone enthusiasts who tend to be firmly convinced that more is better when it comes to technology. It's an ideology that we'll put to the test.
| 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) | |
| - Fingerprint sensor (PayPal certified) - S Pen stylus |
| 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, 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, 5312 x 2988 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, 1440p |
| 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 | No | |
| 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 - Photo/video editor - Document editor - Voice memo/dial/commands |
| Battery | Li-Ion 3220 mAh battery | |
|---|---|---|
| Stand-by | ||
| Talk time | (2G) / Up to 20 h (3G) | |
| Music play | Up to 82 h |
| Misc | SAR US | 0.37 W/kg (head) 0.88 W/kg (body) |
|---|---|---|
| SAR EU | 0.37 W/kg (head) 0.38 W/kg (body) | |
| Tests | Camera | Photo / Video |
|---|---|---|
| Battery life |
