Samsung Galaxy Note 4 review: Four of a kind

10 October 2014
From an oddball that everyone was laughing at to becoming one of the most important Samsung announcement of the year – the Note series got to a place where now everyone else wants to be in too, including Apple...

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  • N
  • Nico
  • 3CY
  • 12 Oct 2014

No doubt that this is the best overall phone. I cant wait to have this.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • ijh
    • 12 Oct 2014

    AnonD-298939, 12 Oct 2014Love reading the comments. For the last year every time Sa... morewell now this time, exynos comes with 20nm chipset, that's why hatred on Exynos reduced.

      • k
      • kamikazi
      • HI4
      • 12 Oct 2014

      super expensive :|

        AnonD-79768, 12 Oct 2014Is there some sort of upscaling present when viewing 1080p ... more1080p videos won't look pixelated, but they won't look as sharp as QHD ones.

        1080p videos on a QHD screen will look as sharp as 1080p videos look on a 1080p screen i.e. not pixelated.

          • D
          • AnonD-79768
          • uuT
          • 12 Oct 2014

          Is there some sort of upscaling present when viewing 1080p or 720p videos? I mean, it takes a lot of the good things away from the QHD screen if even 1080p videos are pixelated.

            • D
            • AnonD-298939
            • 4A8
            • 12 Oct 2014

            Love reading the comments. For the last year every time Samsung was in the news it was followed by plastic-hate comments, etc... And with the Note 3 it was all about the Snapdragon version and not the Exynos version. Now I see you are all in love with Samsung again and now can't wait for the Exynos version.

            You people turn faster than the zombies in World War Z.

              • D
              • AnonD-309127
              • 3Jn
              • 12 Oct 2014

              AnonD-312097, 12 Oct 2014Sweet! Thanks for the info thom!You're welcome buddy! Only a few more days left to wait now.

                • K
                • Kampret
                • y$d
                • 12 Oct 2014

                Anonymous, 12 Oct 2014Oh wow. They do things a tiny little bit faster by having s... moreLol, I don't think you follow the news. At least Touchwiz or Android never makes BOTCHED update like iOS 8 had. I mean, an update that made you UNABLE to use your phone?

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • JE0
                  • 12 Oct 2014

                  Anonymous, 12 Oct 2014Benchmarks are not important. However the fact that the iPh... moreThis is not a criticism on you personally but i'm really surprised that so many people hanging out on more technical sites like this one don't know that number of cores by it self is not a value to measure performance when you are talking about two completely different core designs.
                  People don't seem to have that hard grasping that when talking about desktop CPUs Intel/AMD but for some reason that does not apply to mobile CPUs.

                  You can not say that having two cores is "inferior" to having four cores without comparing the cores. The Cyclone core in A7/A8 is much more complex/powerful than the Krait core in Snapdagon.

                    • D
                    • AnonD-312097
                    • 3a%
                    • 12 Oct 2014

                    AnonD-309127, 11 Oct 2014Snapdragon to cater for our lte network.Sweet! Thanks for the info thom!

                      • D
                      • AnonD-309127
                      • 3Jn
                      • 12 Oct 2014

                      Anonymous, 12 Oct 2014At this point in time that's purely a conjecture. In any ca... moreNo I'm just stating the case that benchmarks between two separate operating systems are pointless. I'm saying apple are very capable of doing such things and I did point out that android oems have done such things, I would doubt samsung has this time round because of the bad press they had same can be said for a few other manufacturers. Because IOS is heavily software optimised rather than raw processing power the camparisons are purely there as a gimmick to satisfy ones need to validate their choice.
                      I don't rate IOS because it's locked down, and that's me I've had iPhones and iPads and I can safely say never again, I find them immensely boring and I hate iTunes. some people love that stuff. That's where relative comparisons can be made or if you somehow managed to put the same software on each piece of hardware to run benchmarks, which is pretty much impossible. Also the parameters around how each benchmark works is different I.e resolutions, refresh rate potentially. You shold see where I'm coming from, to summarise there are far to many variables to take such benchmarks as case in point for which phone is 'better' (relative and immeasurable) is idiotic. Have your opinion but remember that's all it is and get what ever what you prefer, you don't have to justify it, just own it.

                        • D
                        • AnonD-216585
                        • MR0
                        • 12 Oct 2014

                        i wonder if can samsung do in near future an overkill like nokia 808, which is still best in some specs.

                          • D
                          • AnonD-213026
                          • 7Xg
                          • 12 Oct 2014

                          AnonD-318408, 12 Oct 2014Have Samsung finally fixed the purple ghosting issue with t... morelol it's not a major issue. it's just your personal issue based on personal preferences.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • uQ5
                            • 12 Oct 2014

                            AnonD-309127, 12 Oct 2014Thing is its not just hardware that dictates benchmark scor... moreAt this point in time that's purely a conjecture. In any case, Samsung could be doing the very same thing that you've accused Apple of. Are you then implying that Apple is better at cheating benchmark tests than Samsung?

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • q8Q
                              • 12 Oct 2014

                              Anonymous, 12 Oct 2014Benchmarks are not important. However the fact that the iPh... moreBenchmarks mean something. Just not everything.
                              And the most important thing to "note" here is that in daily usage you don't see much speed difference. What you do notice is the extreme lack of anything ios has. As well as all the bugs, freezing and crashing it does have.

                              And if you can't fully understand the entire spectrum of something you should not be making comments.
                              The iphone does not win in all benchmarks. And where it does win there are reasons behind it doing so. Which are not "they do everything better".

                              IOS is excessively restricted and limited. That right there is the biggest reason for almost every advantage it has in most aspects. They use system wide lock down as an illusion to perfection. A failed I'lillusion that I cannot for the life of me figure out how so many are blind to. It's to the point software and hardware that technically flip phones of 2004 still have some hardware/software advances ios/iphone lack....that's not innovation or optimization. That's laziness and greed.

                              And the cpu points do good in some test because they are using a different architecture. A 57 cores which are stronger. However to be greedy they charge you more for a lower clocked cpu and weaker battery. And because a weaker battery couldn't support a proper clocked cpu it is severely held back.
                              And the 1gb of ram probably aids heavily in the freezes and crashes. Especially since higher amounts of ram are a requirement for 64bit architecture. Requirement, not a maybe..but again. Apple only cares about excessive profit.

                              Just because it can run well on low hardware doesn't mean they should only use limited hardware. Especially if they charge more than everyone else.
                              Android "especially kitkat" can run great on less hardware....that's where the low end phones come in.
                              Since they charge so much and claim themselves so premium and advanced they could have worked out many more bugs, added 2 or 3gb of ram and clocked the cpu to 1.8 or 2ghz. And even made it quad core with a beefier battery.
                              Then it would have a performance lead and be worth the price.... but their greed again...Profits and illusions.

                              You do realize the battery stayed the same basically since the iphone 4-5s. That's 4 different iphones with the same battery... and the 5c.
                              And the little bump the 6 got was only enough to accommodate the larger screen. The 6 plus is the only one to actually get a decent bump in battery life.

                              But they did include a new and strong gpu. Go figure. It just came out and there is an updated gpu off the vendor they use.

                              So that in combination with their restrictions amd lack of functions makes benchmarks appear good.
                              That in turn does not change any of their negatives or change the fact it's mostly restrictions and the good gpu.

                              It is not top end optimizing and even if it was which its not it still wouldn't justify the lesser expensive parts.
                              Though they finally increased a few things.

                                • D
                                • AnonD-309127
                                • 3Jn
                                • 12 Oct 2014

                                Anonymous, 12 Oct 2014Benchmarks are not important. However the fact that the iPh... moreThing is its not just hardware that dictates benchmark scores, software counts too.
                                Like what some android vendors did in previous benchmarks, I'd bet apple throttles the iPhone when running benchmarks. That's what ultra-optimising will do.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • uQ5
                                  • 12 Oct 2014

                                  Benchmarks are not important. However the fact that the iPhone 6 plus beat the Note 4 despite its inferior components (dual core processor & 1GB RAM) shows how ridiculous it is to trumpet Note 4's spec sheet. Having a superior list of top tier components means nothing if it can't even capitalize on it to beat the competition in terms of performance. Again, not saying that benchmarks are important (real world performance is what really counts) but logic would dictate that the Note 4 should at least come out slightly ahead of the iPhone 6 plus with such a superior sped sheet.

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-318483
                                    • jBu
                                    • 12 Oct 2014

                                    I was interested in trading in my Note 3 for a Note 4 because I'm very interested in Gear VR, but the downgrade from USB 3 to USB 2 is a deal breaker for me. I hope Samsung doesn't think I'll buy a Note 5 without USB 3, because I certainly won't!

                                      • F
                                      • FAZA
                                      • v{%
                                      • 12 Oct 2014

                                      Anonymous, 11 Oct 2014In translation you have absolutely no clue what you are tal... moremy previous phone iphone 5. and I don't think its on android

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • q8Q
                                        • 12 Oct 2014

                                        AnonD-317956, 12 Oct 2014...for all phones, you can always find fault in anything...... moreActually not. Some phones have many more amazing points and some have many more flaws.

                                        The note 4 is overall best device. 6+ is same scam any other iphone is.

                                        And no company is perfect, but the ridiculous umbrella Corp wannabe aka apple is not a great company.
                                        They are just socially accepted scams.

                                        The iphone is terribly restricted, limited behind, and overpriced.