22.7.2015

I have owned the Note 4 in white for 4 months now and in short, I am thoroughly pleased with it. I've split my review into the following sections:-Build-Hardware-Software---Build---As a previous owner of the LG G2 and LG G3, I have been consistently let down by the poor build material choices. The Note 4 is unlike my experiences with the previous two phones: its metal band certainly gives it a premium feel and is ever so reminiscent of those on the iPhone 5s. This is coated with a protective white paint which complements the white colour of the front and back of the phone.As for the back, the plastic back cover is a disappointment in feel and quality.However this is a welcome trade off for the added functionality that a removable battery and a Micro SD card slot offer. It appears leathery in texture, but is entirely plastic. However I have recently added a carbon fiber dbrand skin over the back cover. This has completely alleviated my issues with the build quality.Although I will discuss the screen in the subsequent section, the front of the phone is certainly unique. The glass panel on the front of the Note 4 has a slight horizontal stripiness which gives it added flare and makes it look more premium. Along the edge of the glass panel, the glass curves off to give the phone a rounded edge. (Please bear in mind that this will result in a 'halo' effect when applying tempered glass screen protectors to the front of the phone. This does not bother me.)---Hardware---Firstly and most importantly, the screen quality is absolutely fantastic. If one can imagine four iPhone 6 screens arranged in a square, then shrunk down to the 5.7inch size, that's more or less the number of pixels in this thing. Everything is amazingly sharp and there is no pixellation. Consuming 1440p HD content on it is stunning and the SAMOLED display technologies provide deep blacks (the pixels are essentially off) and colours that pop. It puts the screen of the iPhone to shame for sure.On the face of the phone we have two touch buttons beside a physical home button with embedded swipe fingerprint sensor. This sensor is different to the one found on the S6 and iPhone models; it is requires a swipe action which I find to be very inconsistent and as such I tend not to bother with it. The earpiece speaker is clear and maybe on the loud side, which certainly is not a problem. The LED notification light is certainly useful for telling what has arrived on your phone from a distance, and the front facing camera is more than adequate for use in Snapchat. It is also relatively good in low light conditions, I have found.As for the back, the speaker is disappointing to say the least. I have found it easy to obstruct and particularly useless when watching media on the device. One has to cup their hand such that the sound is reflected towards the viewer, which should not be necessary. The 16MP camera is absolutely stunning however. In low light it can let down a bit, but I tend to abstain from using camera flash as a habit. As for the video quality, I am left amazed by its capabilities. The 2160p (4k UHD) resolution for videoing is amazing for shooting video that can be zoomed into afterwards without pixelation. More importantly, I love the 60fps 1080p recording capabilities as it makes video seem so much more lifelike. It is also a great compromise between video quality and file size. I highly recommend this mode if you are to buy a capable device. Although a great addition on the back, the heart rate monitor beside the camera on the back is something that I just find little use for. It works perfectly fine but its novelty quickly wears off.On the top of the phone, the Note 4 has an IR (infrared) sensor which allows the Note 4 to be used as a remote control. I absolutely love this feature as the remote can be quickly accessed from the notifications area. It is compatible with most TVs, and streaming boxes such as Sky, Virgin etc.---Software---The phone runs at its heart Google's operating system called Android. However Samsung modifies this with its own services and apps. As such it is somewhat different to what one would find on a Nexus phone or an HTC/LG/Motorola phone for that matter. As of 22/07/2014 the phone is yet to receive an update from Samsung to the latest version of Android (5.1.1) but it still runs 5.0.1 and is forecasted to be updated by the end of this month. I would not describe the software to have the same level of polish as Apple's iOS or stock Android, but it certainly is not as bad as I was expecting. Moreover the likelihood is that if you dislike an element of the software, you can probably change it through an app on Google's App Store equivalent: Play Store. The Play Store more or less equals Apple's App Store nowadays and arguably beats it in many respects. For example a lot of the preinstalled apps (such as browser, clock, keyboard, home screen etc.) update themselves through the Play Store and are completely separate from the software. It is for this reason that being on the latest software version is not really as much of a problem as if you used an iPhone.As for Samsung's included applications, they work as you would expect without hiccups. Phone call quality is sound, the camera app is responsive, the messaging app is rich with features such as quickreply to texts, there are hardly any let downs. The included software for the S-Pen (the included stylus) is intuitive and bizarrely useful. I had always viewed this as a feature I would overlook but I find the convenience of writing down notes with the phone locked unbeatable with its analogue alternative. In particular, what I was particularly impressed to find was that if you were to write a phone number on the note pad, the Note 4 recognises this as a number and you have the ability to call it directly from the note. This is likewise possible with email addresses and internet addresses. As a student who had been recently studying for exams (including mathematics), I found that the stylus was useful when mates would send me maths questions they were stuck on. I could select the question in the image they sent me, doodle over it with workings and send it back to them, right from my phone with no problems. This certainly did help me out when coming to achieving my grade!Overall, for those seeking a large phone I would not hesitate to recommend this. However be aware that it is as big as the iPhone 6+ and is unsuitable for one handed use. The only aspects where it is let down are by the plastic back cover, the speaker on the back, and some aspects of the software, which can be easily remedied.

21.8.2016

I had always been Impressed with the sleek appearance and size of this handset - to say nothing of the specs. But at the end of August 2016, is this still a worth investment? As a former, premium phone it should be.My new, used handset is black. The textured, moulded black plastic backing was not hugely attractive at first, though I did not buy it as a fashion accessory. I am more interested in its performance and for those who don't know, it has an Octa-core 1900 MHz processor, ARM Cortex A57 and ARM Cortex a-53, 32 gig inner memory and 3 ram. So it is still very fast and powerful, although it does seem that the more memory a handset gets, the more the demand for memory grows.It still needs cleaning from time to time.Itis a big enough phone, though for my tastes, the screen still seems small compared to what a really big phablet can offer me and I have got used to phones of 6 inches in size and more. The handset itself is 5-7 inches in size and the display 5 inches so that for me, even this can seem a little cramped for tired eyes at times. It is certainly, however, more convenient a size on the road.The display is not to be faulted though, with the luxurious super- Amoled and 1440x2560 pixels on view - it is impressive to gaze into, with rich, crisp colours and contrasts. This will remain a classy phone for a while to come and even as an older model and second-hand, still commands relatively premium prices.'No Sim' presumably means unlocked. I used mine with a Vodaphone Sim card, allegedly it can be used to watch TV as Telenor offers TV service, though this might have been downloaded afterwards, rather than bundled with the original phone. In the UK maybe another provider deals with TV issues if that is important for potential buyers.I have fitted my new handset with a 64-gig SD card, though the phone for some reason only registers this has having 29 gigabytes.I bought it because of a mishap with my previous phone, whose screen proved to be less robust than I could have wished for - as the picture was lost altogether, it did seem that it might be doubly expensive to have mended. This handset, being premium, already felt reassuringly robust, perhaps because of the metal rim, but it got an extra reinforced glass cover anyway. This handset, with the arrival of the Note 7, may soon already be officially obselete, but the OS wasn't, when I bought it - it is equipped with Android Marshmallow already.The battery is not bad, though not as long-lasting as reports had led me to believe and I am still coming to grips with what allows me to charge it quickly.The camera comes with megapixels and so is an important step-up from the 13 megapixel standard more recently set by midrange and high-range phones alike. Megapixels are of course not everything, of course: this handset comes with LED Flash, 31mm focal length and 162.6 sensor size - in other words a good lens. All these mean that I can take even bigger and more finely-detailed photographs of my artworks, for the purposes of creating better merchandise where size does matter. From a hardware point of view there is also autofocus and the software means that the phone should be able to handle night mode, panorama, burst mode - whenever these may be fun things to be able to do at a party. The OIS-known feature helps with camera shake and shooting in low lighting, though I prefer to shoot in good light. The front-facing camera is only 3-7 megapixels but does come with beautifying software. Analogue can sometimes have a way of adding years onto a face, though again I am not that interested in tryingto create the ultimate selfie.On the software front, one small gripe I have is that cropping images can be fiddly - sometimes the controls don't always co-operate. As remarked earlier, sometimes with extra memory, all that seems to happen is that there are more waysw this memory can get used up. What does the trick then is to turn to the soft button on the left-hand side and close all the applications still left running.The HD Camcorder promises that should never need to make a small video, the means are here to deliver well.One advantage of the phablet is that it can be used that much more as the computer Gates once claimed would one day be able to fit into everyone's pocket. Possibly there was already an office bundled with the phone as it rolled out - I use Polaris to write with and to look at documents, correct essays and so on. Strangley, from a language point of view, this phone does not appear to be as flexible with languages as the earlier Galaxy models - the editor has to be set to the language I am working with at a specific time. However, it does in time seem to be getting used to the idea that I may sometimes work in more than one language as more words get added to the memory banks.I tried writing with the stylus, as my experience is that such marvellous tools do not alwys work that well. So far, the stylus does seem to be usable for making handwritten notes - it is better than some I have encountered. Its presence still seems a little gimmicky though.Soundwise, from the point of view of the MP3 player, it is ok, though I have actually heard richer sounds on other products. As with all mobiles, late-night listening only works well without speakers if the sound is kept low. A lot depends on the headphone bought or bluetooth products used with it, though.And finally.....as a phone, the Galaxy Note 4 is an excellent phone. Sound quality for listening to people is good.There are other gimmicks such as the bundled health monitor and the UV measurer that I have not yet had time to try out on this amazing box of tricks.The smartphone is still developing and not yet a mature product, though there are rumours it is all starting to get to the stage there there is not much more that can be done in terms of making these things even newer and more powerful.Whilst I have followed the development of the smartphone enormously exciting I do not reallly like being a slave to the tyranny of inbuilt obselescence and I am hoping this handset will still hold its own for a while yet - from a quality and durability point of view I see no reason why this should not be the case.

21.8.2015

Dismayed by the unacceptable non-removeable battery and no memory carddesign of the S6 that I originally wanted I was thus diverted instead to side-gradefrom my trusty 2yo 16gb Galaxy S4 onwards to a 32gb Sim free no contract Galaxy Note 4.So my comments after 2 months continual use of my new Note 4....Hardware pros:- Fantastic 5.7" screen, 2560 x 1440 sharp as a pin with beautiful tones & colours.- Pin sharp 16MP camera so good I used it on holiday in place of my bulky bridge camera.- Beautiful phone with a nice premium quality build - large but still useable as a phone.- Fast with no apparent lag. Runs just about everything.A joy to use.- 32gb native memory - plenty of room for apps and games (My 16gb S4 ran out of app space)- Samsung S-pen - A real nice surprise! Truly very useful and very capable - you can actuallywrite notes, draw pictures and diagrams on screen etc. Wonderful and capable.- Fast charging.- Can accept wireless charging for around another £20 - £25 - works ok but heats the phone up though.(Buy the 0.5/ 0.6mm after-market cards! - the Samsung wireless back caused my cover case not to fit!)- Larger extended life batteries available from Anker and others.- Will accept 16, 32, 64 and 128gb MicroSd & Sdhc cards for additional memory expansion.- Good sound. A bit clearer and louder than my old S4 in my opinion.And....- REMOVABLE back so you can access/change out the battery andthe external Micro SD card. - (S6's, S6+'s & N5's Glass backs? NO.. Thank you!)- And no daft curved edges! - I am unsurprisingly happy to suffer a life without curved edges on my phone!Hardware cons:- As usual, massive glass screen vulnerable to damage if used without a full case cover.- Difficult to buy portrait (Bottom hinge) rather than book format (left side hinge) full cover cases.(Try making phone call with a book cover or even have fun watching someone else do it!)- Shiny aluminium bevel edges are prone to scratching.- Battery capacity is still not large enough but better than most other phones.- There is pretty much no decent software available that can use what this phablet'scapabilities or even older phones like the S4 and S5 offer to their full potential.- Less Sensors than the S4.- Appalling 8 -11 hours battery life out of the box down to combination ofAndroid Lollipop 5.01, ugly bright battery sucking Lollipop colours, and afair load of active Samsung pre-loaded bloat. Battery life was in fact so bad I nearlyreturned it after 3 days. I fixed this by disabling & uninstalling loads of items thatI don't need or use combined with an excellent but somewhat naggy battery doctor program that Inow have to use regularly -I now get around 2 - 3 days between charges on light use. 1.5 days medium use.These were essential steps to make it useable but I think it is unacceptable that youneed something outside of Android to achieve this.Software Pros:- Plain Samsung stock Android 5.01 is very stable on this machine. - I have not had ONE crash yet in over 2 months.- Slightly lighter on bloat-ware than previous Samsung phones. - Also sim free means no crashy junk-ware from mobile phone provider.- Imminent update due from Android 5.01 to AndroidM 5.1 (Hopefully fix a few evils and not break stuff again!)Software Cons:- Available App abilities are not really up to hardware capabilities of this phone.- Still very annoying that you STILL cannot install so many non-systemApps that you don't want or use without resorting to rooting.- Athough navigation swift and accurate a separate dedicated sat nav unit isalways still more reliable than the Google one due to mobile network drop outs - unless you load Gb of maps on board.- A certain popular TV catch up player does not currently work with the Note 4 due to the TV player software lot notbothering to investigate & update for this model.- Everything always seems to be updating for whatever reason.Conclusion:Absolutely fantastic and stable phone and although the general experience of using it is far more "Plush" than my old S4which I stubbornly keep jammed on KitKat 4.4.2, from a work point of view I really have to be honest & question whether or notI have wasted my money on the N4 as excepting the advantage wielded by the S pen stuff and additional screen size, I cannot findany more Apps available with which I can do additional proper work beyond what my Galaxy S4 can still provide. So think carefully beforeyou upgrade and spend over £400.Notably though, It is also very probably the last Samsung high ender to come with user access to removable battery and memoryuntill Samsung regain their previous wisdom and return to us the CHOICE to remove batteries and change memory as and WHEN wesee fit. - Power to the user!Therefore I am now hoping this Note 4 lasts a good few Years. . . . .

16.4.2015

This is a truly remarkable bit of technology. I am someone who has gone through numerous phones trying to find the perfect one for me and I have never been more impressed than I am with this one. I decided to consider every possible choice of phone regardless of price and I looked at hundreds of reviews and tried out numerous phones. I initially looked to the Iphone 6 as it does seem to be very popular and does seem to attract a lot of attention. In comparing the Iphone to this one is just incredible. I immediately saw that there was very little on the Iphone 6 that was as good or better than the note 4.

4.4.2016

.There are a number of good reviews here and I do not want to rehash what has, necessarily been said before, so here is “my 2 pence worth”.Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 excels at everything that seems to matter, it packs Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chip, the Snapdragon 805. It is a quad-core setup based on the updated Krait 450 architecture clocked at 2.7GHz, with an Adreno 420 graphics processor (GPU) and 3GB of RAM. Naturally, this is a supercharged chip and easily capable of running even the most demanding games, apps, and content from Google’s Play store. The Note 4 and that is 32GB of on-board storage with support for micro SD cards up to 128GB. Still, that is a fair bit of space all in.

16.11.2015

Simply because the Note 4 may be the last of the great phones that have user access removable battery and expandable storage. Then there is the stylus pen. I waver between the S6 and this as there is not much differences in the costs between them, and as some may have mentioned, nor the specs either. The deal breaker is the pen. No matter how much comparing is done with other phones, costs or specs wise, no other could tick the pen stylus spec - ever.I enjoy pen on paper writing and finally I am a convert to writing on a screen. As a Wacom Pro pen & touch tablet user, I had no idea how responsive the pen stylus is. It is simply amazing how true to my penmanship it is on this device,

29.5.2016

I have wanted one of these since they were first launched, but my other Samsung has only just given up the ghost.Stunning phone with an amazing screen and takes great quality pictures. It updated a couple of weeks ago to Marshmellow with no problems. Seems nice and smooth with the good processor and memory. Battery doesn't last as long as I had hoped (though should easily last a day with most peoples use), but I had always planned to get a spare battery for it anyway. The supplied fast charger works really well and charges from 5% to 30% in about 10-15 minutes.Its a beast of a phone - but its amazing how quickly you get used to the size - I couldn't go back to a normal phone now - websites and

16.2.2015

Excellent phone overall.I had the note 2 before. I sometimes have a problem with the picture gallery recognizing the pictures from the memory card. This may be sorted by using a different memory card though hopefully.The S pen is what separates this phone from all others. This is full of features & blows all other phones out of the water.you can handwrite with the S pen & it' ll automatically convert into text.you can use two screens @ the same time which is very handy, so basically you don't need to keep hopping from one page to another. Or for instance you can overlay the calculator on any screen which is handy.This is fully customisable unlike iphones etc.This can shoot 4k video which is

31.1.2016

From the start I need to admit I am a long term Samsung user and I have to admit my view will probably be a little one sided. Bought this phone as I have used the Note 3 for two years. It is a big phone and falls into that category of "phablet". A friend was curious about the phone and did one simple test. He took it, put it in his pocket and despite it being bigger than the other Android phones he was instantly hooked.Its a great phone and all its functionality resembles the note 3 (only better). I won't go into any technical detail as I am sure I don't know anywhere near enough to comment on it. However, if you are an android user and looking for a phone with an outstanding build quality then I can highly recommend it.

4.2.2015

Amazing phone, I'm a bit of a phone addict and have tried Iphones/HTC one and lastly the S5. This trumps the lot by a considerable margin. Great camera (why better then the S5 even thogh same spec - assume better software).The screen is gorgeous in HD and the sound quality just as good. Was unsure about the size and if it was worth the upgrade and I would same definitely say so. The size is big but not unbearable even for my small hands, watching videos and films is a pleasure.Pros over the S5 :Great fast charging 50% full in 30 minsGreat cameraGreat HD screen32gb standard over 16Gb S5.Brilliant stylus for making quick notes and handwriting buts (and doodling)

29.10.2014

Bought it from my local o2 store in peterborough,great device, fantastic colourful screen,very fast,camera is brilliant,mp3 player sounds better and louder than previous samsung devices and most important it looks so beautiful and premium in hands especialy in white ,i believe only the s pen feature is enough to beat any phone in the market what a great device it is,i compared it with iphone 6 plus before i bought it and it looks much better than iphone 6 plus in every way, iphone 6 plus looks bigger in size but has smaller screen than note 4,go and buy one you will love it and i wish if samsung has had released this phone alonge side iphone 6 then they would have sold millions of them because

23.5.2016

I am extremely slow in getting smart phone as I only use my phone for making call and send text message so I didn't see the need to have a smart phone. However, when I was forced to buy a new phone when my old phone finally gave in, I decided on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 direct from Amazon UK and I absolutely love it! The phone is light for its size. The screen is big and smooth. The camera is excellent and the S pen is an extra bonus. The phone has so many features that I am still finding out what they are for. If you are liked me, a phone for life kind of person then my advice is to make sure you register your phone with Samsung to ensure that it is a genuine product and then get a tempered

9.1.2017

Arrived next day - which was amazing considering I'm in Jersey. It seems to be as described (being a used one) and there are no obvious issues with it. Managed to transfer most stuff from my Note 2 without issue - just a few apps hiccupped as they were installed on the SD card on the Note 2 and the configurations didn't quite make the transfer. However, I un-installed and re-installed them and they seemed to pick up the previous configurations with just a couple of exceptions. Still finding my way round the upddated interface (v6.0.1) and there are a few things where I preferred the older version. However,

2.11.2014

I've upgraded from Note 2. I must say that this Note 4 actually feels smaller and smarter in the hand. There is a metallic and premium feel to it that was lacking in the Note 2. I won't even start to write about the performance. I think the LG G3 screen provides some resemblance of a competition to the Note 4 and only in the display department . Beyond that there is nothing out there that comes close.Unlike the Note 2 the Note 4 is crying out for a good case. I got a black leather premium case at a hefty price to match my white Note 4. My god does it look cool.I've read a lot of cons about this device. The most ludicrous one is the size.

9.5.2016

This was my very first smart phone and, after much research, I decided on the Samsung S5. However, I couldn't source a new one and didn't want a second-hand one so chose the Note 4 instead. I'm really pleased with it. It was easy to set up my emails and sync them with my laptop and to add/remove apps. It takes super pictures (I've added a 32 gb SD card). I also frequently make use of the S-Note app and like that I can just scribble something down without resorting to the keyboard. The delivery was exceptional as I ordered it on the Saturday of the Easter weekend and it was delivered the next day (yes, Easter Sunday !) with no delivery charge.

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