Galaxy Note 4

The Note 4 is showing up in Best Buy. I played with one yesterday in the dedicated Samsung section.

The phone hardware was really nice and felt like a flagship phone. Kudos to Samsung for realizing what a mess they made with the design of the S5 and fixing it.

I played with the iPhone 6+ too. Honestly, the Note 4 just felt more premium and solid. For whatever reason I felt like Note 4 was easier for one handed use - maybe because the smaller bottom bezel meant my thumb could go closer to the top of the screen?

I really liked IOS's double tap to halve the screen feature. IMO much better than Samsung's shrink screen feature, which didn't seem to reliably respond to my finger swipes . Does this feature work when the Note is in a case?

Megalith said:
They tweaked TouchWiz so it's more like stock Android? God, now I want to get this. Can you guys shut up.
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Looked like good old TouchWiz to me. Phone did seem fast and responsive to me though.

I've noticed my local Best Buy tends to turn off a number of features (e.g. Multi-Screen, shrink screen on swype, etc) so I don't know if performance will get worse with all of these on. They seemed to have turned off some of the S-Pen stuff, unless this is different from what was in the Note 3.

The Note 4 is a great phone hardware wise, but bad past experiences (lag!!) with TouchWiz means it's off my list :(
 
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obug said:
......Phone did seem fast and responsive to me though.

I've noticed my local Best Buy tends to turn off a number of features (e.g. Multi-Screen, shrink screen on swype, etc) so I don't know if performance will get worse with all of these on. They seemed to have turned off some of the S-Pen stuff, unless this is different from what was in the Note 3.
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Either that, or maybe the hardware is fast enough now that even with bloated, laggy Touchwiz, it can be fast?? :confused:
 
obug said:
The Note 4 is showing up in Best Buy. I played with one yesterday in the dedicated Samsung section.
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I heard that Samsung stepped up the launch because of the positive consumer reaction for the iPhone 6 and that it wants to ship 15 million in the first 30 days. Start the fan boy clock now.

I hope the local Best Buy has one on display. If it does I will take a picture.
 
QwertyJuan said:
Either that, or maybe the hardware is fast enough now that even with bloated, laggy Touchwiz, it can be fast?? :confused:
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That just means it'll be even faster without TouchWiz :D

Honestly if HTC can rewrite Sense 6 to be fast and without lag, why the hell can't Samsung? They have about a million times more cash.
 
WarpDrive said:
Pentile is not a problem anymore. Seriously anything above 300PPI totally negates the drawbacks of Pentile.
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I read this and I told myself that I wouldn't reply to this. I told myself it's total PR bullshit from a Samsung employee. Well, I am going to reply anyway. The sub 400-DPI pentile Samsung AMOLED displays were Pentile shit. Yes, they were large, but shit is still shit.

Once it got over 400 DPI on the S4 Pentile doesn't seem to be a problem. And even that was somewhat subjective. It didn't bother me anymore, but it did bother some of my friends.
 
Local Best Buy has the Note 4, Note 4 Edge and Alpha on display.

Impressive in person. Not only is the display higher resolution and dpi but it's also brighter than the Note 3 and graphics performance is top notch for the resolution. Samsung addressed all the shortcomings of the LG G3 issues and knocked it out of the park with the design and build quality.

Before I tried the Note Edge I couldn't think of too many benefits other than seeing notifications with a closed book cover but in actual use it's a useful UI shortcut. Ergonomically easy to reach and use in left hand and the edge rotates on the x-axis through different menus.

Other than design and better alternative to iPhone 5S and 6 don't have much to say about the Alpha since I've outgrown tiny phones.

Samsung guy is pretty cool and accommodating and even signed in with an account so I could download and run Epic Citadel benchmark.

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I just found out about the $200 rebate thing. Is there any way to upgrade to the Note 4 at Verizon while keeping unlimited data?
 
Here's the Note 4 at my local BB.

I feels so much more refined in hand than the iPhone 6+.
N4 is a true productivity device. Photo Note won me over.

4K video is amazingly good.

The Note Edge is stupid IMO. Feels awkward in the hand. Don't buy.

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Really thinking about picking this phone up since there doing the 200 dollar trade in at best buy.. Never thought I would get a phone this big.. But good deal on the trade in and seams like the best phone out right now. Fastest cpu out right now and killer screen.. Any reasons not to get this phone? I'm going to go and try it out at best buy tomorrow. Right now I'm using a HTC DNA. I'm a big guy so I hope this will fit in my pocket ok :)
 
Makeroflostsouls said:
Really thinking about picking this phone up since there doing the 200 dollar trade in at best buy.. Never thought I would get a phone this big.. But good deal on the trade in and seams like the best phone out right now. Fastest cpu out right now and killer screen.. Any reasons not to get this phone? I'm going to go and try it out at best buy tomorrow. Right now I'm using a HTC DNA. I'm a big guy so I hope this will fit in my pocket ok :)
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Please explain Best Buys $200 deal on this Note 4. How exactly would that work ?
 
Right now best buy is doing a 200 dollar instant trade in value for any working smart phone. Doesn't have to be high end or anything. Just go to there site and look up the Note 4 and you should see the deal.
 
Here's the $200 trade-in offer details. What's nice about Best Buy is they'll price match, for example against Amazon $699 vs $799, and their trade-in value is a little more than, for example, Verizon. The HTC Thunderbolt I plan to trade in is worth < $10 through Verizon but through Best Buy it meets the $10 minimum value requirement for this offer.

https://samsunggalaxypromotions.com/note4


Different offer from Best Buy which is $200 gift card:

http://bestbuymobile.com/weekly-offers/

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Offer Details:
Valid 9/19/14-10/16/14. Valid on purchase of Samsung Galaxy Note® 4 on AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. Taxes/surcharges due at time of purchase. Taxes applied to price of phone prior to the gift card credit. Not all phones are eligible for trade-in and trade-in value may vary. Excludes phones that are cracked or that lack power. Not available in all locations and some stores may have additional limitations. Not compatible with other trade-in offers. No rainchecks. See BestBuy.com/TradeIn for full details.
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Can BB do upgrade transfers from one line to another with Verizon? Or can that only be done direct with Verizon?

Both my old unused smartphones are worth $9.XX at fucking Verizon's website.
 
I tried the Note 4 at BB and IMO it still lags and stutters, esp compared to my G2 running AOSP rom. It also didn't seem any faster than a S5 which I compared side by side.

Damn you Samsung for the curse that is TW :mad:
 
Pre ordered my note 4 2days ago:D i have a galaxy s4 and iphone 5. Will sell the iphone to cover some cost:)
 
I have a Galaxy Light I got for $48 out of contract at T-Mobile with their summer savings deal. I wish for $700 more I could at least opt to remove shitty ass touchwiz.
 
QwertyJuan said:
Either that, or maybe the hardware is fast enough now that even with bloated, laggy Touchwiz, it can be fast?? :confused:
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I didn't mean to imply they turned off those features as a duplicitous way to hide lag. Features like the "One Handed Mode" shrunk screen could confuse just about anybody if they accidentally activated it in the store. I'm sure some of those are turned off just so people don't have a "WTF is going on with this phone?" moment and walk away.

Still, I want to see user reviews with all those features activated. Then we'll know if the usual issues from TW have been resolved.
 
I didn't see any gaps at that BB store. We'll see when the consumer versions hit the shops, or if it's addressed "before" US release.
If after release then we have two phones, 6+ and Note 4, I will pass on.
 
The Galaxy Note 4 looks sexy, but it's a bit too big for my liking. If it was like the LG3, I may consider it, since that doesn't seem huge; although it is a 5.5". I know the Note 4 is 5.7", but if they can make it seem smaller, it may be something I consider.
 
Zorachus said:
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 build issues reported by South Korean buyers
http://www.sammobile.com/2014/09/29...build-issues-reported-by-south-korean-buyers/

Reports have surfaced about users complaining about a manufacturing defect in the Note 4, manifesting itself in the form of a gap between the phone’s display and its casing, a gap that can easily fit two sheets of A4 paper or a business card.
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Just read about this, this is pretty ugly. They need to focus on quality versus pushing product out the door
 
I just pre-ordered a Note 4 at best buy. Played with it and really like it .. it's not near as big as I thought it was. I'm a big guy at 6'1 and 260 pounds lol so it fits my hand well and is a lot easier to text on with my big hands. Also it's the same size as my current phone in its case. It didn't seam laggy to me when I played with it in the store.
 
I went to the best buy to see them, they only had white note 4s, no note edge, no black. First I was surprised to realize that the outside edge is actually painted to match the back. it seems like it might be powder coated but still I think it will get scratched up no matter how durable the paint.

Other than that it had a pretty good screen, it wasn't particularly laggy but IMO phones get laggy later in life due to flash issues so that could still happen. None of the 3 phones had a noticeable gap though. The new photo capture mode was cool and they have an option to export what you see as a image which means you could drop it into onenote. I don't do selfies but they had a cool mode where you can take a selfy then move the camera around and it will do a sort of selfie panorama. Actually seemed like a good idea given how often I see people try to take a selfie that captures some scene they want to be in.

Now the multi tasking is still there and now you can have like 3 items out. My biggest problem with it was it just wasn't intuitive or organized. I don't know what to say, something like windows 8 has would be much better. Anyhow doubt anyone will come out with another phablet with a stylus and all these features so I guess it doesn't matter what they do with that. They have no competition.


lol and my best buy now is getting rid of the magnolia room. The whole store is utter garbage its so empty in there like Detroit. They are selling out almost every space to sponsored vendors. Samsung now occupies like 15% of the store between their computer and mobile booth, and the TV booth. Then you have another 10% taken up by the apple section. The aisles keep getting wider and more spread out. The professional music room in the back has been turned into a clearance area, like artvan or something. It's so pathetic.
I also looked at the iphone 6, really I get why some people complain definitely feels like a major step down in finish even compared to the 5S sitting right next to it. Oh well millions buy the iphone 5C which is really cheap looking so they probably wont have a problem.
 
Zorachus said:
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 build issues reported by South Korean buyers
http://www.sammobile.com/2014/09/29...build-issues-reported-by-south-korean-buyers/

Reports have surfaced about users complaining about a manufacturing defect in the Note 4, manifesting itself in the form of a gap between the phone&#8217;s display and its casing, a gap that can easily fit two sheets of A4 paper or a business card.
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This precaution/warning is ALSO present on the user manual of the Note 2 and Note 3. It is pretty much nonexistent in both. Atleast Samsung gives a "heads-up" in writing when you get the device and not a "you're just holding it wrong" response a few weeks later.

Page 176 of Note 3
http://www.galaxynote3manual.com/


EDIT: Talked to Brad from BGR - he updated his post as such (http://bgr.com/2014/09/30/samsung-galaxy-note-4-gap/) and also went through the Note 2 manual to verify. He looked at a Note 2 and a Note 3 to physically verify also...
 
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Went down to the local BB for something stopped by the experience shop to test this.

1) Only the note 4, didnt see any edges (confirms the report that the edge is simply a demo/prototype).

2) Compared the Note 3 and 4 back to back. To most the uninformed eye the note 3 and note 4 look basically the same. Yes the materials have changed and such, but the difference was not apparent off the bat unless I really looked closely.

3) The screen...I was expecting something similar to happen like when I first switched from the 3G to the 4, the WOW factor. From the 3 to the 4 that same wow factor isnt there. I was expecting my eyes to visibly be adjusting to the different screen. However it merely ok.

4) The F&R camera was improved for sure. The 3->4 worth an improvement
 
One thing I hope for is manual control of XLTE since in fringe areas it doesn't play nicely. I'd rather have LTE on by default and toggle XLTE on manually for dense areas.
 
mi7chy said:
One thing I hope for is manual control of XLTE since in fringe areas it doesn't play nicely. I'd rather have LTE on by default and toggle XLTE on manually for dense areas.
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Not to be a douche, but XLTE is just a marketing term, Its all LTE

Verizon LTE uses the 700mhz band, "XLTE" uses AWS( A mix of the 1700mhz/2100mhz band)

700mhz will be used when in buldings and be a much stronger signal, but have a lower data speed.

AWS will not pentrate buildings as well but will have a higher data speed and relieve some of the 700mhz band that is overly saturated on Verizon's network.

TL;DR: Its not going to happen, the phone and the tower will decide automatically whats best
 
People are aware of the differences and pros and cons. You can disable XLTE but it's hidden and doesn't stick between reboots.
 
This is probably the hardest launch for Samsung yet, right off the bat the note 4 is going for $200 discount on most carriers, with a trade in of course.
 
Pre-ordered mine today. Reviews are starting to come in and it looks like another great phone. Some really great UI and s pen improvements.

I'm sure the metal edges will be nice. I'm glad to see the move back to a regular micro USB charger connection, while you can use a regular micro usb cable on the note 3 I found it a bit awkward. I never once used the usb 3.0 connection to transfer dara, so it was pointless.

Not having android L (Lolipop) is a dissapointing to me. I hope they don't drag their heals too long on that...

I find it weird how vague they are being about release dates for the device and I'm noticing more this year than last, all adds from electronics stores, and cellular providers are absolutely completely dominated with marketing and promotions for the iPhones... Pretty much nothing for the Note 4. For people who aren't into this stuff, they would have no clue about this release. It's a shame.

Hopefully the note 4 is as much worth the upgrade as the note 3 was when I upgraded from my Note 2 last year.

PS this review is the best yet.
http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-note-4-review-533774/
 
Just took my HTC back from root to stock big pain in the ass so I could trade it in on this lol.. I really hope this gets root so I can use it with my touch screen in my car.
 
samm said:
This is probably the hardest launch for Samsung yet, right off the bat the note 4 is going for $200 discount on most carriers, with a trade in of course.
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Why is that making it the hardest launch? No carrier is discounting the phone

Are you talking about the Samsung promotion?
 
Carrier discounting is one thing which most are not. however the fact Samsung is running a promotion for $190 trade in offer is the point, has Samsung ever done this before?
 
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