Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Pro Reviews

If you feel like the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge is the right phone for you, just get it. And if your inner voice is telling you to pick the Galaxy Note 4 instead, just get it. Both devices rank among the best Androids money can buy and likely won't disappoint you with what they bring to the table. Yet we must admit that the Galaxy S6 edge is better than the Note 4 in many ways, and we're not talking only about the outstanding design and build quality it draws so much attention with. Samsung's curvy flagship phone shines with its blazing hardware performance and with the responsiveness of its software, which is enough for us to recommend it over “older” Samsung handsets. Not that the Galaxy Note 4 is a slow phone – its Snapdragon 805 can handle anything thrown at it – but the Galaxy S6 edge is more refined of a smartphone with its superior hardware configuration, and that's a plus. On the other hand, we must admit that the large and beautiful display on the Galaxy Note 4 is a valuable asset, and we have a feeling that users who need a phone for heavy multimedia use would rather go with that over the gorgeous but smaller and curved screen on the Galaxy S6 edge. Also, the Galaxy Note 4 managed to outrun the S6 edge in our battery endurance test, which is why the phablet should be picked by those who prioritize battery life. And if that's not enough, the Galaxy Note 4 provides you with the convenience of expandable storage, while the Galaxy S6 edge relies solely on whatever it has built in. And higher-capacity S6 edge units cost a pretty penny.

Paying attention to their prices, it’s plainly obvious that there’s considerable savings with the Nexus 6. In the US, Google’s prized smartphone can be snagged for the outright cost of $649, which is easier to swallow than the over-$720 cost of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – and that’s Sprint’s price, which is the cheapest amongst the major carriers. Undeniably, there’s a lot to like with these two smartphones, seeing that they’re outfitted with delicious hardware that makes them class-leading and future proof in several ways. The Samsung Galaxy Note 4, we have to say, has the upper hand in a bunch of categories, such as taking photos/videos, battery life, call quality, and the sheer amount of features baked in. Still, the Nexus 6 is absolutely not to be overlooked, because it does have a more polished and consistent overall user experience, as well as Motorola's signature sturdy build quality. It’s not like the Nexus 6 is an inferior smartphone, considering that we’re greeted with the most up-to-date Android experience with Lollipop, one that not only brings forth a cleaner and more modern interface, but it also deepens and extends the experience to heights we haven’t seen before with its diversified portfolio of new software features. At the core of it all, though, is that we’re dealing with BIG phones here – phablets to be more exact, and for everyone that sees phablets as devices that should be a bit more functional and versatile than regular smartphones, the Galaxy Note 4 will probably stand out as the more appealing choice.

Now that we've explored the anatomy of the Note Edge and the device it's based on – the Note 4 – in parts, we can finally claim to have something approaching a holistic view of the matter. Unfortunately for the nevertheless appealing Note Edge, when the smoke clears, the Note 4 proves to be the better bet – it's got the more ergonomic body and a noticeably-better battery life. And yes, at $299.99 with a 2-year contract, it's also $100 cheaper than the extravagant Edge (and savings are even bigger when paying full retail). Sure, we could beat around the bush and argue that the Edge's screen might eventually become useful through functionality added by third-party developers, but that's a shaky argument at best. In the end, unless you're looking for a thrill and just want to try something different, you're better off keeping to the well-beaten path.

Samsung refines its populate Note handset, and the result is a beast of a smartphone

It's hard to find much drawbacks with the Turbo and the Note 4, but if we have to go for something, it will be the design. Both are relatively crude-looking and handling, but while Samsung's phablet has a much larger screen, it weighs the same as the Turbo, and is much thinner. Motorola used innovative design materials such as balistic nylon and Kevlar, though, so we'd call it a draw in the looks department. When you consider that the Turbo is more comfortable to handle with one hand, the ergonomics scales tip in its favor, though. Both feature ultra high-resolution screens, but the Note 4 scores a small win here, thanks to its pretty accurate colors. We can't give much edge to either one when it comes to performance, either, as they both sport the latest and greatest Qualcomm processing gear. The TouchWiz interface coupled with the Note 4's S Pen input abilities are arguably more functional than the barebones Motorola UI, yet one might find the Moto Voice, Actions and Display features more useful on a daily basis. When it comes to camera performance, the Note 4 shoots a tad better, plus it has optical image stabilization to keep things steady at all times, and records great audio to the footage, unlike the Turbo.

The Galaxy Note 4 is a bit of a handful and is rather expensive but lovers of the Galaxy Note range will likely be enamoured with this edition. It is, on the whole, a great device with plenty of power and features. As long as you're aware that you're buying a huge phone and will get the most out of what it offers. Otherwise a smaller and cheaper handset is probably a better choice – the Galaxy S5 or one of its rivals.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the Huawei Ascend Mate7 are two of the best options on the market right now, if you’re looking for a smartphone with a large screen. With this in mind, the 6-inch Mate7 may be a bit too steep of a form factor for some, with its wide screen that is harder to operate with one hand, so before looking into the specs, we do recommend you considering the size difference with these two. With the Galaxy Note 4, Samsung has made some big strides forward - the metal frame, new elegant design, and the simplified TouchWiz are all steps in the right direction. The Mate7, on its part, is even better in terms of style and build quality is solid with its sturdy metal back, but the software often feels like a blatant clone of iOS. Then, we’re in love with the 16-megapixel OIS camera on the Note 4, a shooter capable of capturing some of the best images of any smartphone, while the Mate7 is good but not that great. The Snapdragon 805 chip is also a level above Huawei’s own HiSilicon chip - the Qualcomm chip is faster in terms of both CPU and GPU.

Yes, the Note 4 is bigger than some of the other flagships out on the market, but when you factor in its beautiful screen, powerful internals, and the utility of the S-Pen, it's a worthy buy.

With the fourth generation of the Galaxy Note, Samsung has finally got it right. The Galaxy Note 4 is an awesome combination of useful software features and top-notch, cutting edge hardware. If you want a large-screened smartphone that succeeds in nearly all key areas, it’s hard to look past Samsung’s latest and greatest. The biggest and most obvious change to the Note line is the refined design. Samsung finally ditched the cheap plastic in favour of a part-metal design, improving the plastic back cover in the process. The Note 4 is truly the first Galaxy product I’ve used that feels and looks like it’s worth the asking price, which is a massive step forward for the company. And this isn’t just token praising of improvement and effort: the Note 4’s has one of the better designs of the year.

With a premium facelift and an eye-popping 5.7-inch Quad HD display, the Galaxy Note 4 continues Samsung's reign of phablet dominance.

Samsung created the phablet segment with the original Galaxy Note, and the Note 4 comfortably keeps the crown. Incredibly well specified, with a noticeable step up in build quality, a fantastic display, and a highly capable and flexible camera, the Note 4 makes no compromise on battery life either.Just as important, though, the Note 4 hasn’t lost its focus on the power users that are most drawn to it. While I’ve criticized TouchWiz in the past for its cutesy graphics and somewhat disjointed feel, this latest iteration looks far more cohesive and actually offers features that improve everyday use. There’s a premium to be paid for all that, with the Note 4 coming in $100 more than the typical $200 subsidized price for a new high-end handset in the US. It’s hard to begrudge that, though, given the combination of hardware and software. Whether you’re a digital notetaker or a mobile artist, the accurate S Pen, detail-friendly resolution, and clever multitasking add up to a phone that’s a step above most others for simply "getting things done."

Do you want a big phone? If so, you should get this big phone because it is the best big phone. Windowed multitasking, split screen options, and drag and drop stylus features turn the Note 4 into a device that actually has a reason to be as big as it is. Where giant phones like the OnePlus One, Nokia 1520, iPhone 6 Plus, and presumably the 5.9-inch Nexus 6 are just bigger versions of their smaller predecessors, the Note 4 actually offers something more. And even if you never use any of that, the Note 4 is good-looking, easy to hold, has an amazing screen and battery life, and runs like a dream. It's a best-in-class big phone even without the extras. The god-awful TouchWiz skin and poor design used to be the dealbreakers, but they're not anymore. And without those handicaps, the Note 4 is free to be truly great.

If we take size out of the equation, though, the Note 4 has a clearly pronounced advantage: its brilliant Quad HD display is a beauty to behold with its accuracte colors, while the screen on the M8 does not look bad, but lacks that color fidelity, then, the Snapdragon 805 system chip on the Note 4 is an improvement over the 801 on the M8, and finally, the 16-megapixel optically stabilized camera is among the best smartphone shooters out there, while the M8's UltraPixel camera is not all that capable. Where M8 still comes up is the stylish unibody aluminum body, but hardware-wise it is just not as impressive. Picking between the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and HTC One (M8) also comes down to price, and that’s where the M8 has a clear advantage with a full, off-contract price of around $600 (540 euro), while the Note 4 carries a full retail cost of $825 (770 euro). So which one would you pick?

Scenario where the iPhone 6 and Note 4 are among your considerations is not at all improbable. Sure, at its core, the bigger, 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus is a more direct competitor to Samsung's latest, but it doesn't exhaust all the possibilities that you'll be faced with if considering a new flagship. So go for the iPhone 6 if your only means of transporting the Note 4 is your pants' pockets – the phablet is plenty big, and won't fit comfortably in most cases. Bet on the iPhone 6 if you want to get your hands on the newest, hottest apps first (most apps, and especially games, are often first released on iOS) and prefer a less-complex, easier-to-understand interface. Pick the iPhone 6 if you value low-light photography – it's just better overall in that regard. This, however, is about where the clear advantages of Apple's flagship come to an end. Indeed, the Note 4 has quite a bit going for it, granted that you're ready to stomach its chubbier profile. The Note 4's screen is not only much larger, but also proved to be the one that is better, more true-to-life (even if not by far), and its arsenal of extra features works well with it. The Note 4's camera is also more flexible, and image quality is right up there with the best – in fact, outdoor shots during the day ended up slightly better than the iPhone 6's. Its optical image stabilization mechanism also helps you record shake- and tremor-free footage. But perhaps the biggest advantage of Samsung's latest device is its far superior battery life – a very valid concern with most of us.

With Samsung being credited with the popularization of the phablet form factor, it comes as no surprise that most consumers expect these to be super functional pieces of hardware, filled to the brim with extras and perks. But that's actually synonymous with Samsung, not the phablet category, and that becomes apparent with the iPhone 6 Plus, which, despite its relatively empty bag of goodies, makes for an awesome phablet experience. But it's not as simple as just “pick the Note 4 if you want features; go for the 6 Plus if you want simplicity”, and it never was. To start off, despite the improvements Samsung made with the Note 4 in terms of its exterior – this is the best-looking Note yet - it still can't compete with the iPhone 6 Plus when design is concerned. The iPhone 6 Plus also proved a better performer in synthetic benchmarks, especially when graphics were involved, though we've got to point out that we stumbled upon virtually no hiccups with the Note 4 anyway – and that's the important part. We were also happy to see Samsung finally deliver a Super AMOLED panel that not only competes with a well-calibrated IPS one, but actually beats it. All said, how all of the above comes across in your mind will, ultimately, provide you with the only real and applicable clue as to which one you should go for.

The Galaxy Note 4 has proven to be a very feature-rich, and well-executed phablet, and when you conciser its amazing 16 MP camera, along with the cutting-edge Snapdragon 805 SoC, it really makes for a phone without any significant drawbacks. It is yet to be seen if the Note 4 will have such an easy time against its rivals out there, such as the G3 and the iPhone 6 Plus, but one thing is certain – if you're simply looking for a great, no-compromise phablet, and you find the benefits of having a stylus useful – chances are that the Galaxy Note 4 is what you're looking for. Do you note?

Sony's OmniBalance design language is epitomized in the most stylish Xperia to date with the Z3, while the plasticky nature of Samsung's phablet line barely budges in the Note 4. Samsung's handset is bigger, but comes with a 20% larger, ultra high-res screen, which sports excellent color reproduction, while the Z3 display is very inaccurate in that department. On the other hand, the more aesthetically pleasing and more compact Z3 is also waterproof, and houses stereo speakers at the front – features that are more useful than the heart rate and UV sensors, or the clunky fingerprint scanner that Samsung included in the Note 4. Since the camera pictures and video quality are rather comparable between the two flagships, there aren't true advantages of the Note 4's bombastic spec sheet before the Z3, too, despite the higher chipset speed and pixel density on paper. When it comes to multitasking, productivity and media consumption, though, the Note 4 is the undisputed king, with its large ultra high-res display, the extra stylus input, and the split-screen functionality. If you don't need that extra input, though, you will certainly appreciate the Z3's record battery life for the category, and the nicer feeling it leaves in the palm, pocket, and in the eye of the beholder.

Unsuprisingly, the Galaxy Note 4 is a better phablet than its predecessor in every regard. It has a nicer build, an incredible display, a faster processor, revamped interface and enhanced functionality, along with a better camera, and a slightly longer battery life. If you are a fan of big-screen phones, and the Galaxy Note line in particular, there's hardly anything unlikeable about the fourth-generation Galaxy Note. If specs, looks, and an enhanced S-Pen don't compel you into upgrading from the Galaxy Note 3, that's perfectly reasonable. However, if you are still rocking the good old Galaxy Note 2, then we think you are going to have a much better time with its heir from 2014.

As much as we like the LG G3, we have to admit that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is the better phone, at least for the most part. It isn't leading by a mile, but overall, we find it a step ahead of LG's flagship in almost every major aspect – from design and display quality to hardware and camera performance. Made of metal, curved glass, and textured plastic, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is a sophisticated phone with lots of character. Simply put, it is an eye-catching phone. The G3 is not a bad-looking phone by any means, and its metallic design also does a good job at drawing attention. Besides, the G3 is slightly smaller and fits better in the palm. Then there's the display quality – the Note 4 has a display capable of meeting the needs of both people who demand color accuracy, and those who are into vibrant, punchy colors. The LG G3 does not lag far behind with its equally detailed IPS LCD display, but it will take something better than this to beat what Samsung has made. On the hardware side of things, both phones can handle anything thrown at them. Powerful processors and lots of RAM ensure that you won't necessarily need to upgrade for at least a year or two. Still, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 packs more silicon muscle and as a result handles its screen's high resolution better than the G3. With LG's flagship, lags or dropped frames can be a bit more frequent, and these should not occur on a phone of this class.

The Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5 are devices of different size and there’s no going around that: the phablet-sized Note 4 is not among the thinnest devices out there and its heft is felt at that large size. In return, it will reward you with one of the best Android experiences out there starting with the brilliant, 5.7-inch Quad HD display, the latest Snapdragon 805 system chip that scores at the top of the Android ranks, and an improved camera with optical stabilization. The Galaxy S5, on the other hand, comes with an important advantage - it won’t drill a hole in your pocket. We’re speaking literally and figuratively - literally, because of its more manageable dimensions, and figuratively because of its reduced price. The full off-contract price of the S5 stands at around $520 (480 euro), while the Note 4 starting full price is a much tougher to swallow $800 (800 euro). The Galaxy S5 is also protected from the elements, something that could be important to many. On the flipside of things, you have to make a couple of noticeable trade-off with the S5 - the comparatively lackluster display comes first and foremost, the slightly sub-par camera second, and the slight performance delta last. Decisions, decisions.