Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review : The Best Phablet of All Time

We are not really a fan of large screen devices. They are bulky, huge, power hungry and not very practical as a primary device. But the Galaxy Note series is an exception. While most large screen devices are essentially upscaled devices, the Galaxy Note devices have always justified their large screens with the various features they offer.

Features like the S-Pen and Multi window have been a highlight of this series and with every new version they bring in more features and power to the Note. While the Note 3 was an excellent device already, they have now released the Note 4 which is even better. We tell you what this new Samsung phablet is like.

Look and feel

Samsung did a really great job with the design of Note 3 and it is the same story here. Even some oversized 5 inch devices feel huge at times but it isn’t the case with Note 4 which is even bigger. When we say the size is comfortable for use, we obviously mean two handed use as it is impossible to hold and use this device comfortably in one hand. The bezels around display are very slim though the design is not something new.

It is still the simple rectangular design with physical home key and capacitive keys below the display. It is time Samsung switches to on screen buttons which offer more flexibility and also help cut down on device size. The physical home key also doubles as a fingerprint scanner. There is metal around the device which gives it a premium feel as compared to the previous generation device. The back is still made out of faux leather though even it feels better than the Note 3.

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Display

Another reason for loving the Galaxy Note devices is the use of AMOLED displays. Large high resolution displays with excellent contrast ratios, what else one could ask for. The Note 3 has got a 5.7 inch full HD display which is really good. The Note 4 retains the same display size but from full HD, it is up to Quad HD. The resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels gives it a pixel density of 518 pixels per inch. That is really high number by any standards.

We recently saw LG come up with the G3 and it has got the same display resolution. However the displays are very much different because the G3 has got an IPS LCD display. The display is excellent and you get very crisp graphics. Moreover it is an AMOLED display so the contrast ratio is excellent. But this is one of the reasons it is oversaturated and if you are used to LCDs, it might take a while getting used to. The colour tone is a bit cooler which is soothing to eyes but might not replicate the truest colours. But this isn’t a major issue and shouldn’t make any difference. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.

Hardware

Just like many other Samsung devices, there are two different chipsets on offer with the Note 4 as well. The version powered by Exynos chipset runs a 1.3 GHz quad core processor and a 1.9 GHz quad core processor. The other version has got a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset with the quad core processor running at 2.7 GHz clock speed.

Both these versions come with 3 GB of RAM. The hardware is insanely powerful and can handle anything you throw at it. It has got fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor as well. No connectivity options have been missed here. It is powered by a 3220 mAh battery and just like all Note devices in the past, this one gives you impressive battery life. On mild usage, you can easily take it to the end of second day.

Camera

The Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 16 megapixel primary camera which comes with optical image stabilization. It can record 4K videos at 30 fps or full HD videos at 60 fps. The camera is a huge improvement over the camera found on the Note 3 which was pretty good already. The difference is noticeable in low light shots as well. Samsung has added a bunch of software features to the camera software like seen on many other devices by the manufacturer. People are obsessed with the growing selfie trend and almost all the manufacturers are making huge claims with their front cameras.

Here they have used a 3.7 megapixel sensor on the front camera of this device. The camera is pretty decent and can yield some good results. It also features a mode called the Wide selfie which allows you to shoot a panorama using the front camera. Just in case the front camera is not doing well for you, you can choose to use the primary camera for shooting selfies. The device keeps track of your face and beeps as soon as you are in focus.

Software & features

The device still runs the familiar Touch Wiz interface seen on all other Samsung devices. While we love the vanilla android experience, the Touch Wiz isn’t bad either. It adds a lot of interesting software features and in case of a high end device, these features really make the device.

There is a one handed operation mode on this device which would shrink the screen in specific area for easy access. The pop up view allows having an app in floating window over another app that is running full screen. Samsung has killed the My Magazine which was seen recently in favour of Flipboard.

The S pen is really the highlight of this device. Unlike previous generation devices, this one provides excellent feedback making the usage swifter. Most of the features that we saw with the S Pen we saw on Note 3 are carried here. They have added a nice feature called Snap Note allows you to click photo of a paper and then alter what is in the picture.

Verdict

The Galaxy Note 4 is an excellent device offering nice features and powerful hardware. It is hard to fault this device and there is nothing we can say is wrong about the device, except for the sound on loudspeaker. Otherwise the device would be a great companion and a replacement of your tablet at times.

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