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Review: Samsung Galaxy Note 4

By Andre Schild, ITWeb contributor.
Johannesburg, 31 Oct 2014
The Galaxy Note 4 is equipped with a super amoled-screen that excels in vibrant colours and contrast.
The Galaxy Note 4 is equipped with a super amoled-screen that excels in vibrant colours and contrast.

Samsung used to be king of the hill when it came to big smartphones. Today, brands like Sony, LG, HTC and even Apple have also entered the market for five-inch-plus devices. So how does Samsung plan to stay ahead of this approaching wave of competitive devices?

By introducing a smartphone stuffed with all the new hardware and software it could find and calling it the Galaxy Note 4. Does this over-completeness make it the perfect business phone or will it backfire on productivity? ITWeb took the Galaxy Note 4 for a test drive to answer these questions.

Plastic, but solid

Traditionally, every year when Samsung presents the new wave of mobile devices, they are always slightly bigger than the previous generation. This year, however, Samsung breaks this tradition by introducing the Note 4 featuring a 5.7-inch screen similar to the Galaxy Note 3.

Like the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus we recently reviewed, the Note 4 also needs both hands to operate it comfortably. Using just one hand will inevitably result in the device falling onto the floor. Business users who only have one hand to spare should definitely consider a smaller phone. Another downside of the large size is the limited location for safe storage. The Note 4 barely fits the typical office pants or (skinny) jeans. The best place to keep and store it would be the inside pocket, if you have one.

The Note 4 looks remarkably similar to previous Samsung phones. It's got the typical home-button, two buttons on each side, the slightly curved corners and removable plastic back cover. There is a subtle difference though; the housing of the Note 4 has a bit more aluminium in it than the Note 3. This gives the Note 4 a slightly more exclusive look and feel. Despite the housing being mainly fabricated out of plastic, the Note 4 feels solid and durable and should have no problem surviving the roughest of office days or business trips.

Best screen so far

The Galaxy Note 4 is equipped with a super amoled-screen that excels in vibrant colours and contrast. Because of the high brightness and low reflection of the screen surface, the Note 4 is very suitable for use outside of the office. It also features excellent viewing angles, which make it easy to share the content on the screen with colleagues sitting next or opposite to you.

Another great feature of the Galaxy Note 4 is the incredible high resolution of 2 560 x 1 440 pixels. In combination with the 5.7-inch screen, this results in an unheard-of pixel density of 515ppi. Compared to the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, which boasts 401 pixels per inch, that's 28% more.

Of course, that all sounds incredible in theory. In practice, when using the Note 4 for typical office activities like e-mailing, messaging and browsing, the ultra-high resolution doesn't bring visible advantages. We compared the Note 4 screen with that of the Galaxy Note 3 (388ppi) and found it almost impossible to spot the difference with the naked eye. Nevertheless, the screen of the Galaxy Note 4 is the most impressive we've come across in a smartphone and we hope it sets the new standard.

Fastest Android smartphone

The Galaxy Note 4 is available in two separate hardware models. The standard version of the Note 4 can deal with regular 3G and 4G/LTE (Cat4) networks. Samsung also ships a version that can additionally handle the faster 4G/LTE Cat6 network, also known as 4G+. This new and faster version of 4G, which is currently being rolled out in parts of Europe and the US, isn't yet available in SA. On the other hand, it's just a matter of time. Business users dependent on the fastest connection available, now or in the near future, should definitely consider the 4G+ version.

The 3G and Cat 4 4G/LTE versions of the Galaxy Note 4 feature the brand new 64-bit Samsung Exynos octa-core chip running at a maximum of 1.9GHz. The Cat 6 4G/LTE version of the Note 4 houses the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core chip running at a maximum of 2.7GHz. Both versions use 3GB of RAM and have 32GB of storage that is easily expandable up to 96GB with an extra micro SD-card. We, unfortunately, only had access to one model for this review, the 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 version.

So how does the Note 4 compare with other similar smartphones in terms of raw computing power and how does that translate to higher productivity for business users? To be able to answer those questions, and to compare the Note 4 with competitive and similar devices, we used our set of specialised benchmark software.

By using Peacekeeper and Kraken, which not only benchmark the hardware, but also the browser, we were able to determine the Galaxy Note 4 is by far the fastest Android device on the market at this moment. It leaves the LG G3, Sony Xperia Z3 and HTC One (M8) biting the dust. The only smartphone considerably faster, according to these two benchmarking suites, is the Apple iPhone 6 Plus. In the 3D-graphics department, the Galaxy Note 4 performs mediocre at best according to the GFXBench benchmark software we used. The iPhone 6 Plus, Sony Xperia Z3 and HTC One (M8) are all faster at 3D-graphics, but use a lower resolution than the Note 4 to do so.

For business use, where time equals money, the lightning fast Galaxy Note 4 will feel right at home. Scrolling and browsing through documents and Web sites works silky smooth and apps all react very quickly. Fast-paced business users (not the ones playing 3D-games all day) will greatly benefit from the speed and smoothness of the Note 4.

Charger required when working overtime

Battery life is a key consideration for business users. Longer battery life means less dependency on a power source or charger. The Galaxy Note 4 is equipped with a 3220-mAh battery, a capacity quite common among modern smartphones, both big and small. Considering the large 5.7-inch screen of the Note 4, this should, in theory, result in poor battery life. In practice, the battery performance of the Note 4 isn't nearly as bad as the numbers would suggest.

The Note 4 battery life is primarily determined by how the phone is used. The super amoled-screen consumes most energy when displaying white pixels and least energy when displaying black ones. In our standardised battery test, which simulates a worst-case scenario, the Note 4 lasted a mediocre seven hours and two minutes.

On a typical day at the office (e-mail, surfing, messaging), the screen of the phone isn't continuously turned on and Samsung implemented some smart energy-saving techniques in the Note 4. Therefore, it is safe to state the Note 4 will last a standard eight-hour working day and still have some juice left. When working serious overtime, it's best to connect it to a charger though. Similar smartphones that lasted longer are the iPhone 6 Plus (8.5 hours), HTC One (M8) with nine hours and the Sony Xperia Z3 (9.5 hours).

If you plan to use the Note 4 mainly for watching videos or using apps with a lot of dark colours, it's a completely different story. The Galaxy Note 4 now lasts a whopping 13 hours and 40 minutes in our test. No other five-inch smartphone endured our test for this long. Closest competitors are the Sony Xperia Z3 (11.5 hours), HTC One (M8) with 9.8 hours and the iPhone 6 Plus (9.2 hours).

The Note 4 has two unique features that will specifically benefit the business user. It's got a removable battery and supports Qualcomms Quick Charge 2.0 technology. Taking an extra, fully charged battery on a business trip will double the work time without needing a charger. The quick charging technology makes it possible to completely recharge in less than two hours.

Great-quality camera

The front-facing camera, often used for video-conferencing or Skype, features a more than decent resolution of 3.7MP. The rear camera can take pictures in a 16MP resolution and features optical image stabilisation, like the iPhone 6 Plus.

We found the actual picture quality near identical to that of the Samsung Galaxy S5. This means beautiful colours, great white balance, plenty of detail and good auto-exposure. In low-light situations, the Note 4 performs considerably better than the S5, thanks to the optical image stabilisation hardware. During our test run we found the Galaxy Note 4 to be very fast when taking pictures, there were no noticeable delays and the auto-focus reacted quickly.

By default, the Note 4 shoots videos in full-HD resolution (1 920 x 1 080), more than enough for personal and business use. For those really special occasions where you need the best of the best, the Note 4 can shoot video in a bizarre high resolution of 3 840 x 2 160. Unfortunately, this super-mode is only limited to a few minutes. Altogether, the Note 4 camera is more than perfect for business trips, corporate events, important meetings or the occasional office birthday party.

Software and features

The Galaxy Note 4 is shipped with Android 4.4.4 and topped off with Samsung's own TouchWiz interface, which you either love or hate. As with most mobile Samsung devices, the Note 4 is completely stuffed with all kinds of pre-installed features and apps, some of questionable quality and functionality. Nevertheless, there are some pretty useful ones in there for business users like Flipboard, Evernote, the do-not-disturb mode and energy saving mode. The challenge is to find these useful options and apps between all the experimental and trial balloon versions that seem to come directly from Samsung's marketing machine.

Business users who like to multitask, or have to switch between apps all the time, will like the split screen option of the Note 4. This feature enables two apps to be displayed simultaneously, each filling 50% of the screen. Not specifically useful for business users, but still worth mentioning is the Note 4's ability to monitor your heart rate, steps taken and even the oxygen saturation in your blood.

The built-in fingerprint scanner on the home-button may sound perfect for business users tired of typing in their passwords. Unfortunately, in practice it doesn't work that well. You have to slide your finger over the scanner very slowly, instead of just pressing it for a second. In the end, it's faster to just type in your password. Looking at the fingerprint scanner of the iPhone 6 (Plus), Samsung's version pales in comparison.

In summary:

Pros: Impressive screen, great camera, solid housing, 32GB storage easily expandable, removable battery, fast charging
Cons: Expensive, high quantity of low-quality apps and options, needs two hands to use, fingerprint reader is useless
Dimensions: 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5mm
Weight: 176g
Storage: 32GB, expandable to 96GB
Screen: 5.7-inch (2 560 x 1 440, 515 pixels per inch)
Connectivity: USB, 3G, 4G (+)/LTE, Bluetooth, WiFi, NFC
Processor: 1.9GHz Samsung Exynos or 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805
Rating: 8/10
Price: R10 999
Availability: Now
Product page: http://www.samsung.com/za/offer/galaxynote4/

The included S Pen, a feature Samsung hopes will set the Note 4 apart from its competition, works very well but isn't the answer for today's modern business user. Only those who yearn for the pen will feel right at home with it. Most business users will probably try it for the first week to make some notes and drawings and never use it again.

Verdict

From a hardware point of view, the Galaxy Note 4 is a very impressive piece of work. It's got an amazing screen and blazing-fast processor. The Note 4 feels very solid despite the use of plastic, and features two very good cameras. Because of its size, it does require two free hands to use comfortably. Storage-hungry business users will also appreciate the easily expendable 32GB capacity. The S Pen is a nice extra, but only those business users who long for the good old days will continue to use it after a week.

From a software point of view, Samsung traditionally chose the scattergun approach. The Note 4 is completely cluttered with a multitude of options, features and apps. Most of them are nothing more than a gimmick. We really would like to a see fewer features, options and apps and more quality. This overwhelming quantity can easily impede efficient use and reduce business productivity. Luckily, the solution is simple: just manually uninstall all unwanted apps yourself.

Business users looking for a fast, big Android smartphone and have the money to spare will find everything they need (and a lot more) in the Galaxy Note 4. If you didn't like previous Samsung phones, this one won't change your mind.

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