Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review!
The industry's most popular large screen smartphone is back and better than ever, but is it "better"
enough to call your own? Today we're getting into my full review of Samsung's Galaxy Note
4 and we'll find out if this phablet king can hold the throne...
Hey what's up everyone, this is Dom and just prior to the Galaxy Note 4, we had the Galaxy
Alpha. This was Samsung's first attempt at a metal-framed smartphone and gave me an optimistic
view on the future of its mobile devices. So as you can imagine, when the Galaxy Note
4 was announced, my optimism grew tenfold. Samsung is building things better, there’s
no doubt about it.
I'm not saying that the plastic found on the Galaxy Note 3 is bad, but there's definitely
nothing wrong with a little metal here and there. This device is a mix of the past and
present. While we still have a solid metal frame supporting the Galaxy Note 4, there's
also a bit of plastic in the form of its back cover to hide the removable battery, Micro
SIM, and Micro SD card slot. The back cover still has familiar characteristics like the
fake leather texture, but at least Samsung has given up on the artificial stitching that
was found on the Note 3. This build quality makes a huge difference in your hands, but
there's much more than a metal frame that makes the Galaxy Note 4 a win for Samsung.
First up, we have a gorgeous 5.7-inch QHD display. This pixel-packed beauty has a resolution
of 2,560 x 1,440 coming in at 515 ppi. I was initially a huge fan of the QHD display on
the LG G3, but the Galaxy Note 4 takes it one step further with Super AMOLED technology.
The display is crisp and vivid. It's one of those things that cannot be unseen. The problem
is, QHD doesn't matter a lot in the grand scheme of things. It's just one of those luxuries
that's available, but not yet mainstream from an app development and design perspective.
Aside from the improved build quality and 5.7-inch QHD display, the Galaxy Note 4 is
shipping with top of the line specifications including a quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor
clocked at 2.7GHz, 3GB of RAM, an Adreno 420 GPU, and a 3,220 mAh battery. I've been reviewing
the Exynos Octa-core processor model for the past couple of weeks, but even with that everything
is buttery smooth.
Samsung has also included a fingerprint sensor that’s built into the Galaxy Note 4’s
home button. It seems to be a bit improved over the sensor found on the Galaxy S5, but
it’s nothing I’ve ever cared to use. Along with that, we also have a heart rate sensor
located on the back next to the LED flash and beneath its 16-megapixel camera.
Up to this point, I've almost pointed out everything that makes the Galaxy Note 4 better
than its predecessor. There are software and S Pen enhancements, but the exterior quality
and internal specifications may be enough change for some people.
One of the main reasons people purchase a Galaxy Note is because of its S Pen functionality.
This wouldn't be a Galaxy Note without the S Pen. Samsung has doubled the S Pen's sensitivity
which will be helpful for those looking for improved accuracy. Along with that, the Air
Command menu has been simplified and a couple of new options have been added. Samsung has
ditched S Finder and Pen Window options in the Air Command menu and reconfigured it to
include Action Memo, Screen Write, Smart Select, and Image Clip.
Out of these four options, I really only found two of them to be useful. Smart Select and
Action Memo are the only two I ever found myself using on a regular basis. In fact,
I hardly ever used Image Clip or Screen Write. In my opinion, Image Clip and Smart Select
could be combined into one feature as they perform similar functions with the S Pen,
but that would leave the Air Command menu a little empty.
Most of the time, I just didn't find it to be quick or efficient to use the default Air
Command options with the S Pen. Instead, I often found the little things the S Pen does
to be more useful. Selecting multiple items or text, hovering over the interface elements
to uncover details, and turning my sloppy handwriting into useable information quickly
made it to the top of my S Pen usage list.
Samsung has expanded Multi-Window functionality to include pop-up app windows that can be
ran simultaneously. These resizable windows can be minimized into little floating circles
and pushed out of the way until they are needed again. I found myself using this feature quite
often actually. Multi-Window still features the traditional split screen view and you
can go back and forth between the two modes, but overall I did find Multi-Window’s new
features to be very helpful.
I know a lot of people cringe at the sight of Samsung's Android overlay TouchWiz, but
it's not all that bad. Things have been improving all around and it has become relatively responsive.
Most everything is smooth, but don't get me wrong, you'll run into some lag here and there.
Just like every other smartphone, the Galaxy Note 4 is not perfect. That being said, it
is incredibly snappy most of the time. TouchWiz has been redesigned to feature a modern look
and feel and I’m a big fan of it.
I think Samsung is refining TouchWiz in the right areas, but I'd like to see a little
more simplicity in future releases. TouchWiz may have earned a bad reputation in the past,
but in my opinion it's far more exciting than stock Android.
I've mentioned this in previous Galaxy Note 4 coverage, but this camera is pretty incredible.
The 16-megapixel sensor with optical image stabilization is nearly second to none. Pictures
in acceptable lighting are absolutely beautiful. I'll be sure to leave a links to all of my
photos taken with the Galaxy Note 4 below in case you'd like to check them out. The
low-light performance does get a little rough at times, but overall this camera is a win
for Samsung.
For video, the Galaxy Note 4's camera can shoot up to UHD quality with a resolution
of 3,840 x 2,160. I've put together a beautiful cinematic camera test using the Galaxy Note
4 and I'll leave that link below as well, but as you can see, this camera doesn't mess
around.
Speaking of mess, again I find myself wanting a simplified interface in almost every area.
It’s nice to have camera options, but surely it could be organized a little better. It's
not all bad, but still feels a bit clunky in certain areas when compared to other smartphone
cameras. Either way, thumbs up to Samsung for the image quality here.
The 3.7-megapxel front-facing camera on the Note 4 is also a great improvement. Images
from the Note 4’s front camera aren't going to be the best, but much better than its predecessor.
Samsung also allows you to use the heart rate sensor on the back as a shutter button and
we also have a new “Wide selfie” mode that will take 120 degree panoramic photos
with a slight rotation of the device.
So what about battery life? Well the Note lineup in known for impressive on-screen times
and power management and there's no difference here. As mentioned before, I've been testing
out the Exynos octa-core Galaxy Note 4. This is an internationally unlocked model, so your
battery life may be different than mine. With that said, I was still able to get as much
as 5 to 6 1/2 hours of on-screen time.
If you do find yourself running out of battery quickly, Samsung has included an Adaptive
Fast Charging brick which will allow you to charge up its battery from zero percent to
50 percent in about 30 minutes.
I'll be sure to update my written review which you can check out using the below when I've
had enough time with the US carrier version of the Galaxy Note 4.
There's no denying that this is one of Samsung best smartphones to date. Of course, we expect
innovation over iteration, but I believe that Samsung has hit the nail on the head with
the Galaxy Note 4. Overall, it's a solid smartphone. The Galaxy Note 4 will provide you with most
everything that was great about the Galaxy Note 3, but much needed improvements where
it counts. For a full comparison between the two, be sure to check out my ultimate comparison
video linked below.
Nothing is perfect, but Samsung has done the right things in the right places with the
Galaxy Note 4 and I think that you'll enjoy it. Let me know what you think down in the
comments section below and if you enjoyed this video, feel free to leave it a thumbs
up. Also, subscribe for more review videos like this in the future. Thank you very much
for watching everyone, this is Dom and have a great day!