Samsung Galaxy Note 4
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is an Android phablet smartphone developed and produced by Samsung Electronics. The Galaxy Note 4 was unveiled during a Samsung press conference at IFA Berlin on 3 September 2014 and was released globally in October 2014. It is the successor to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Its subsequent model, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, was unveiled on 13 August 2015.
Specifications
Hardware
Display
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 features a 2560×1440 Quad HD Super AMOLED 5.7-inch display with 2.5D damage-resistant Gorilla Glass 4 and provides a pixel density of 515 ppi.Chipsets
The Note 4 came in two variants, one powered by a 2.7 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset with Adreno 420 GPU, the other powered by Samsung's ARMv8-A Exynos 7 Octa SoC with two clusters of four cores; four Cortex-A57 cores at 1.9 GHz, and four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.3 GHz, which is the same processor cluster sold for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in markets that mostly use or only have 3G, and/or '2G', such as unaltered GSM and CDMA networks, similar to how the Galaxy Note 3 is sold. The phone has metal edges with a plastic, faux leather back.Connectivity
Both devices that use 4G, LTE/LTE-A and Hybrid 4G-LTE Networks were only sold in Canada, Australia, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and South Korea, which have widespread 4G LTE Markets, or are solely 4G/LTE/LTE-A dependant such as Canada and Denmark, which did not use any 3G or older networks, except for HSUPA, as well as HSPA+, which is a 3G network, though considered by some to be the Original 4G. The GPU in charge in the Exynos chipset is the Mali-T760.The Chinese variant utilizes the TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA Plus Network.
Storage
Both variants came with 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 32GB of internal memory that can be expanded using MicroSD-XC cards.Design
The Note 4's back-cover has a strong resemblance to the Note 3, with a faux leather texture. Note 4 has a new aluminum frame design, bearing resemblance from the Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Criticism has been aimed at the lack of IP67 certification, which was present in Samsung's other flagship, the Galaxy S5, released half a year earlier.Stylus
Like the predecessors, the Note 4 also includes a stylus pen, branded S-Pen, incorporated into the design. Samsung touted new S-Pen features including tilt and rotation recognition but these features were either not implemented or not supported.The WACOM digitizer has been upgraded to be able to distinguish between 2048 pressure sensitivity levels, twice as much as the predecessor.
The Scrapbook feature introduced on the Galaxy Note 3 has been extended by a so-called Intelligent Selection feature that allows for optical character recognition of highlighted screen areas.
Battery
The Note 4 also incorporates a user-removable 3,220mAh lithium-ion battery for the global model and a 3,000mAh non-removable lithium battery variant for the model sold in China. The global model is the last Samsung Mobile flagship to be equipped with user-replaceable battery.The device is the first flagship phone by Samsung to support Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 for fast charging up to 15 Watts.
The Note 4 features a USB 2.0 charging port instead of USB 3.0, in favor of a new feature called Fast Charge, which Samsung claims can charge the phone from 0% to 50% in about 30 minutes and from 0% to 100% in less than 100 minutes.
With the Samsung Note 4 S Charger View case, the battery can be charged wirelessly using Qi technology.
Miscellaneous
The Galaxy Note 4 uniquely features an ultraviolet ray measurement sensor.Like the Galaxy S5, it is also equipped with heart-rate monitor, oximeter, among other, more common sensors. However, the Note 4 lacks the thermometer and hygrometer sensors which the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 from 2013 were equipped with.
The Air View feature is no longer useable with fingers like it is on the S4, Note 3, S5 and Alpha. However, it is still useable with the stylus.
The capacitive key on the left side of the home button is now a task key, whereas it has been a menu key for previous Galaxy Note series models. However, holding the task key for one second simulates a press of the menu key.
Unlike its successor, the Galaxy Note 4 supports Mobile High-Definition Link, which can be used to connect the mobile phone to an HDMI display.
Software
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 originally shipped with Google's mobile operating system, Android, specifically KitKat 4.4.4, with its user interface modified with Samsung's custom skin named TouchWiz Nature UX 3.0. The Note 4 contains most of the original Note's software features and functions, but also adds more significant upgrades from the predecessors, such as a new multitasking interface, expanded S-Pen functions, gestures, and refreshed menus and icons.However, some Samsung Smart Screen and air gesture control functionality which was present on the Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Alpha, including Air Browse, Smart Pause, Smart Scroll and Air Call Accept, has been removed.
Multi-window
The new multitasking interface merges the Galaxy Note 3's “S-Pen window” feature and the split-screen feature known from the Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5, into one feature. Applications can be transitioned from floating pop-up view to flexible split-screen view and vice versa, and can be put from normal into pop-up view by dragging diagonally from an upper corner.Gallery software
The Galaxy Note 4 uses a gallery software very similar to the one of the Galaxy S5, with support for functionality such as "Shot & More" and "Selective Focus". Additional camera modes can be downloaded from a store provided by Samsung.The gallery software is compatible with the Air View feature that allows previewing photos from albums when hovering the stylus above it.
User reports suggest that the Exif viewer has been removed from Galaxy Note 4.
Software updates
The device can be updated to Android 5.0.1 Lollipop in many regions, bringing a new, refined UI, and new runtime. This version has been criticized for poor battery life. A further update to 5.1.1 is available, depending on the wireless carrier.Most Note 4 devices can also be updated to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, bringing Android features like Android Doze and greater control over app permissions to the device. The Note 4 TouchWiz UI was also evolved featuring the home screen icon pack known from the Galaxy S6 and also features new S Pen features known from the Galaxy Note 5 such as the new Air command menu design with custom shortcuts and Screen-off memo. However, the UI is still very similar to the previous UI and slightly similar to the S6 UI, but most of the TouchWiz UI resembles the original UI for the Note 4.
Camera
The main camera is a 16 Megapixel autofocus camera with 16:9 aspect ratio image sensor, featuring Smart OIS, being the first mobile phone of the Samsung Galaxy Note series and the first original variant Samsung flagship phone to feature an opticlaly stabilized rear camera.It allows optically stabilized 4K video recording at 30 fps, 1080p video recording with 30 fps and 60 fps options and also 120 fps slow-motion video recording in 720p resolution. An option for 1440p video has been added in the camera software. Digital zoom is allowed up to eight times, twice as much as on the S5 and Note 3.
The secondary camera is a 3.7 MP camera with an f1.9 aperture that can record 2560×1440 QHD videos and capture wide-angle pictures.
The Galaxy Note 4's front camera is the first front camera in any mobile phone that is able to record videos at 1440p resolution.
After the LG G3, the Galaxy Note 4 is the second mobile phone to be able to record optically stabilized 2160p video.
Sales
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 was released around the start of October 2014 and was available in most major markets by the middle of October. The first regions to receive the device were South Korea and China where it gained huge popularity. In the first month only, the Galaxy Note 4 reportedly sold 4.5 million units, which is a little less than its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 3, which was able to report 5 million sales in the first month after release. Samsung says that sales of the Note 4 were lower than those of the Note 3 at launch because the Note 4 was initially unavailable in some major international markets due to manufacturing issues, delaying release until early November in markets including the United Kingdom and India.Plug-in for Samsung Gear VR
Only Snapdragon variants of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, sold by US and European mobile carriers, may be plugged into the Samsung Gear VR headset, which was created in partnership with Oculus VR.Reception
The phone was met with critical acclaim. When the Note 4 was released in late 2014, DisplayMate measured the performance of the display and said it was the best performing smartphone display ever tested and raised the bar for display performance.Note 4s were used to film Cai Lan Gong, the world's first feature film shot with a smartphone at 4K resolution.
Successors
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is an Android phablet smartphone developed and produced by Samsung Electronics. The Galaxy Note 5, along with the Galaxy S6 Edge+, was unveiled during a Samsung press conference in New York City on 13 August 2015. It is the successor to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The phone became available in the U.S. on 21 August 2015.In the United Kingdom, the successor to the Note 4 is the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, because the Note 5 was never released there, there never was a Note 6, and the Note 7 was withdrawn due to battery hazard. However, the Note 8 has neither a replacable battery, nor a custom colour case window, nor a 16 Megapixel camera. With the S Charger View case, user-replaceable battery, Micro SD-XC-expandable storage and 15 Watts of charging performance, the Note 4 still performs well 6 years after release.