October 30, 2014
Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback! I am a former owner of a Note 3, and based on that I wanted a Note 4. I was stunned at the new look and build quality of the Note 4. Everywhere you look on the phone, there is detail and attention. Right down to the chamfered edges on the ear speaker, home button, and LED Flash/Heart Rate sensor array. Even the shiny grill behind the opening on the back panel for the speaker looks good. I don't have any gap issue on my Note 4.The hard buttons have a nice resistance and clicky feel to them and are themselves built well and look nice. This Cellphone seems to be built on a different planet than the Note 3. That is how big the difference is. The only negative would be that the speakerphone is now located in the back rather than the bottom, and it affects quality when the phone is on it's back. That being said, the speakerphone does seem to have more power compared to the Note 3's. Perhaps they needed to do this for adequate separation from the dual microphones on the bottom.Touch Wiz has matured and has expanded on it's feature set from what was seen on the Note 3 Settings seem to be arranged better on the Note 4 than on the Note 3, and overall Touch Wiz seems to be slimmed down slightly. It feels less like there are overlaps in settings (meaning: Touch Wiz adjustments are clustered in one place, but same settings in stock Android are clustered elsewhere).The screen at first looks the same as the Note 3, but when viewing photos and looking at websites, the QHD screen is stunning. It is more than bright enough at full brightness, but also goes dim enough for a dark room for extended reading.The rear camera has excellent resolution in bright settings, but does have smudging and noisy characteristics in low light. The OIS makes a huge difference and was a deal maker for me in deciding to purchase this phone. The selfie cam is very sharp and has a wide field of view. The Wide Selfie setting is nice and seems to work well most of the time. Very cool.Battery life seems as good as the Note 3's despite the QHD screen.The Snapdragon 805 processor seems unchallenged so far.When I heard Micro USB 3.0 was being replaced by regular Micro USB, I took it as a step back. But really, why did I need USB 3.0? I never "needed" it. All file transfers are done wireless, and I always worried about the width of that Micro USB 3.0 harming the phone, becoming lose, shorting out. The opening it needed at the bottom of the phone was too big. With the Note 4, there is a solid almost "Apple Lightening" like Click and positive solid attachment. Micro USB 3.0 had no positive click attachment about it, and always seemed to want to slip out if I picked the Note 3 up from the table. Micro USB as done on the Note 4 is a big step forward.I do agree with other reviews that the faux leather back is better without the faux stiching. Have you ever seen plastic resemble leather better than this?The S Pen has been improved as well, but I notice the extra software touches that have been added and refined to the Note 4 more than even the "pressure sensitivity" improvement. For example, S Note is more of a default native app for generalized note taking versus the Note 3's "Action Memo". The natural option to tie-in with Evernote works perfectly.Overall, it seems like every single piece of what a cellphone is, has been improved on the Note 4. I am a former Apple iPhone owner, and I had the 3g, the 3gs, and the 4. I watched as the 4s, the 5, 5s, and the 5c were released. I thought the 5 series screens were not ideal and could not understand the reasoning behind them. The want for a larger screen lead me to Android and the Note 3. I haven't looked back since. The ability to customize my phone (widgets that are live tiles on the home screens, for example) make a massive difference. The Note 4 in my opinion has widened the gap (no pun intended....and there is NO gap issue with my Note 4), between what Apple is doing and what Android and Samsung (and LG and Sony and HTC, etc., etc.) are doing. Apple's build quality, ecosystem, and ease of use are standout, so Apple continues to make an excellent product as well. With that being said, Google Now's power on an Android cellphone is a life changing experience. To me, even with those who don't favor Touch Wiz, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is at the very pinnacle of the power of mobile connectivity and usefulness.