Types of samsung galaxy note 4. Prices in online stores

GALAXY Note 4 is a continuation of Samsung's line of large smartphones. Traditionally, this series is distinguished by manufacturability, i.e., top-end characteristics. This year, the main changes have been made to the screen (Quad HD resolution) and body materials (metal frame), as well as a large number of others. Taken together, the Samsung GALAXY Note 4 has become one of the most technologically advanced smartphones of 2014. It is also available with a curved screen.

In 2011, Samsung released its first GALAXY Note. Then the model was accepted ambiguously, there were many jokes about the gigantic size, but in the end it was she who gave impetus to the development of large smartphones. Despite the fact that the diagonal of the first Note is 5.3”, which is not so much by modern standards. Before the advent of the GALAXY Note, the market for large smartphones was almost non-existent. Time has put everything in its place, literally in three years the phablet format has become massive. The secret is very simple: people love universal solutions.

Before the advent of the Samsung GALAXY Note, the market for large smartphones was almost non-existent.

The new GALAXY Note is not a revolution, it is already a familiar set of a large screen, a functional stylus and advanced features, which is how the model differs from the GALAXY S. In order to space the devices away from each other and not create internal competition, Samsung traditionally makes a difference in launch in half a year . However, with the increase in the average diagonal of the screen in the lineup (and in the market as a whole), the Note series smartphones stand out less and less. At the same time, this still includes the company's technological flagships: if you want the most advanced features - this is Note 4, if you want a more versatile solution - S5.

Specifications

• Network: EDGE/GPRS/GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), WCDMA (850/900/1900/2100 MHz), 4G+/LTE-A Cat.6 (300/50 Mbps) in Qualcomm version
• Operating system: Android 4.4.4 (Kitkat), TouchWiz interface
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core 2.7GHz or Samsung Exynos 5433 octa-core 1.9GHz
• Memory: 32 GB, 3 GB RAM, microSD slot
• Display: 5.7" Quad HD Super AMOLED
• Camera: Rear 16 MP, OIS, flash, UHD 4K video (3840 x 2160) @ 30fps, Front 3.7 MP
• Communications: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac VHT80, MIMO(2x2), NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 BLE / ANT+, USB 2.0, no FM radio
• Sensors: accelerometer, digital compass, magnetic field sensor (Hall Sensor), gyro sensor, light sensor, proximity sensor, hand motion sensor, heart rate sensor, fingerprint scanner
• Battery: 3220 mAh, removable
• Dimensions, weight: 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm, 176 g

Design, ergonomics

Starting with the GALAXY Alpha model, Samsung has changed its approach to smartphone design, satisfying the audience's demand for metal. However, this is too loud. The main change is that a metal frame is now added to some models. True, in Note 4 it is painted in the main body color, so the metal is not immediately noticeable. This applies to all color options, including pink and gold, which looks ambiguous.

Otherwise, we have almost the same design that we already saw a year ago in Note 3. We removed the line along the contour of the back cover (but this strange stylization under the skin remained), on the front panel the dot texture was replaced with stripes, the camera protrusion was slightly reduced and the window was enlarged front camera. In general, the changes are purely cosmetic. From afar, it is very difficult to distinguish the new Note from the old one.

From afar, it is very difficult to distinguish the new Note from the old one.

Let's compare the dimensions of Samsung GALAXY Note 4 with S5 and LG G3:

For controls, the set of the previous year with changes and additions has been retained. First, a fingerprint scanner has been added. It's an improvement over the S5, but it's still different from the iPhone 5s/6: you have to swipe, not just touch it. Secondly, Samsung's standard heart rate and ultraviolet radiation sensors appeared. The control keys are in their usual places: on / off on the right, volume on the left. On the top there is a 3.5 mm audio jack and an infrared port for controlling consumer electronics, on the bottom there is a stylus holder and a microUSB connector.

The connector, unlike Note 3, is USB 2.0, not 3.0. Samsung's official position here is this: according to many buyers, there is no urgent need for a 3.0. At the same time, its presence increases the cost of the product. In this regard, it was decided to abandon the use of this technology in Samsung smartphones.

Hardware stuffing

There are two hardware versions of the Samsung GALAXY Note 4: quad-core (Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 @ 2.7GHz) with Adreno 420 and eight-core (Samsung Exynos 5433 @ 1.9GHz) with Mali-T760. It is planned to supply the Exynos version to Russia, and the curved Edge will be on Qualcomm. With support for LTE-A Cat.6, there is no clarity yet: it will definitely be in the Qualcomm version, but for Exynos it depends on the region. It is quite possible that a modification without support for this standard will be delivered to Russia. This is what we had on our test. Exynos 5433 is Samsung's new 20nm chip with powerful graphics running at 700MHz.

According to our tests, everything works smartly, no problems were noticed. But usually, for Android smartphones (in particular Samsung), slowdowns begin after a while, when the device is clogged with data. Initially, Note 4 is one of the most powerful smartphones right now. What is important, even in games and other resource-intensive tasks, the smartphone heats up quite moderately. RAM 3 GB, as in Note 3.

Runtime is a sore point of modern smartphones. But Samsung has done a really great job of optimizing, and the Note 4 performs very well given its powerful hardware and Quad HD screen. With an average load, a full charge lasts for one and a half to two days, this is comparable to Note 3 or slightly worse. The smartphone plays video at maximum brightness with active Wi-Fi for almost 12 hours (Note 3 had 14 hours).

The Samsung GALAXY Note 4 plays HD video at maximum brightness for almost 12 hours.

In addition to the actual autonomy indicators, the removable battery design and the fast charging function are pleasing. The latter allows you to charge the battery from zero to 50% in 30 minutes, however, you will need a special complete charge. In addition, the traditional Samsung power saving mode has not disappeared. With one touch, you change the screen image to grayscale, limit the number of available applications, disable background work and turn off all communications such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. As a result, you get a simple dialer with basic features.

Note 4 has 32 GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot for cards up to 64 GB. Everything is standard here. Communications is also the usual set (except for the new version of Bluetooth): Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac (HT80) MINO PCIe, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS / GLONASS / Beidou, NFC, infrared port. But the FM radio never returned. In addition, as I wrote above, for some reason USB is only version 2.0, not 3.0.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the reception and sound. With the quality of communication, Note 4 is in full order, the sound transmission is on top. But the sound in the headphones is noticeably quieter than that of the iPhone (both 6 and 5s, we did not compare it with other models) or Nokia. In terms of quality, everything is not bad, but for some reason low frequencies are added by default. However, this is easily corrected by third-party software. Speaker volume is good, but no more than that - a little louder than the iPhone 5s/6, a little quieter than the LG G3. In general, in terms of audio capabilities, there was no breakthrough compared to Note 3.

The screen was tested by our expert Mikhail Kuznetsov:

Screen Samsung GALAXY Note 4 made according to technology Super AMOLED and has impressive characteristics: diagonal 5.7 inches, permission 2560 x 1440 dots (Quad HD), order pixel density 515 ppi. Naturally, with such an image density, it is already difficult to find fault with clarity: even the simplified PenTile pixel structure is reliably hidden. Importantly, screen real estate is used more efficiently than past generations.

The measured brightness at the maximum was 345 cd/m2. However, these data were obtained on a white field covering the entire screen - that is, with the maximum load on the display. A feature of AMOLED is that the brightness of the screen depends on the average brightness of the image. In other words, in real images, where there is less white, the brightness rises even higher - up to 370-400 cd / m2. And the highest brightness is provided by the automatic mode - if the smartphone is in the sun or in a very bright environment, then the screen brightness can already rise to 620 cd/m2. These are excellent indicators that are significantly superior to their predecessors. Note 4.

Contrast is perhaps one of the main strengths of OLED screens. Display Note 4 in this sense, it is no different from other representatives of OLED: it is also capable of displaying perfect blacks and a deep picture. At the same time, the anti-glare properties of the screen are very good - a decent level of contrast is maintained in bright light. Viewing angles are just excellent, the image is almost not distorted.

The screen has an optimal gamma curve with a linear index of 2.24. Various transitions of chiaroscuro are worked out perfectly.

Color reproduction is completely dependent on the selected screen mode. There are several options to choose from here: Adaptive», « Basic», « Photo AMOLED" and " AMOLED movie". So-called " Adaptive» mode selects the desired settings for the selected applications, if the developers have taken this possibility into account. In essence, this is a combination of the other modes, which we will discuss in more detail.

Mode " Photo AMOLED» Optimized for the extended Adobe RGB color space. In fact, it differs from sRGB in a more saturated green color. It cannot be said that the resulting profile exactly matches the coverage of Adobe RGB, but the color reproduction is quite adequate. The color balance is excellent - the color temperature is close to 6500K, deviations are low. This profile will appeal to those who like rich colors without sacrificing overall image quality.

Mode " Basic” offers the most accurate color reproduction, and making it the main one is the right choice.

The average color temperature is close to the reference value 6500K.

The color balance is even, the deviations on the gray scale are very low. Average error Delta E- near 1,07 .

Color gamut " Main» profile complies with the standard sRGB.

Moreover, color reproduction has excellent accuracy over the entire range, including intermediate gradations.

Average error Delta E on 24 templates ColorChecker- only 1,22 . Natural colors are faithfully reproduced on the screen, the quality of the "Main" mode setting is excellent, it can be safely recommended to everyone as a starting point.

Screen Samsung GALAXY Note 4- one of the main advantages of the whole device. This time the quality turned out to be envious: effective anti-glare properties, high brightness in auto mode, excellent contrast. Viewing angles have also improved, and the highest color accuracy in the "Basic" mode makes the screen Note 4 leader in its class. It is also nice to be able to choose a color profile to your liking. In a word, this is the screen that other manufacturers should be guided by: the combination of advanced OLED technology and adequate settings is a rarity.

The Samsung GALAXY Note 4 uses a Sony camera module and Samsung's proprietary ISOCELL technology.

The Samsung GALAXY Note 4 camera is one of the best to date. Sony module and proprietary ISOCELL technology are used. The latter forms a physical barrier between neighboring pixels, isolating them (ISOlated CELL, isolated cell). The isolation allows the pixel LEDs to receive up to 30% more photons, minimizing unwanted electrical interference between pixels. Compared to BSI technology, ISOCELL pixels reduce noise by about 30%, resulting in higher color fidelity and richer, more contrasty images, even in low light. In practice, this does not always work successfully, there are mistakes with color reproduction, but still the pictures are very decent, with high detail, here are shooting examples:

Camera Note 4 16 MP with optical stabilization, there is a dual flash. Maximum image resolution is 5312 x 2988, video is 3840 x 2160 (UHD). There are all the familiar functions, including selective focus (after taking a picture, you can change it and "blur" the desired area, while you do not have to reshoot the object again). The main functional improvements relate to the front camera (3.7 megapixels, lens with aperture F 1.9): panoramic selfies with a viewing angle of up to 120 degrees and automatic shooting when blinking / smiling. Noisy groups of friends will be pleased with this Korean innovation.

Software, interface

Software Note 4 is based on Android 4.4.4 (KitKat), the TouchWiz interface is traditionally used. The appearance of the shell has not changed (which is very controversial), but the functionality has been improved. The most important thing is multitasking. Now the user chooses how to work with running applications (full screen, split screens, pop-up screens). Everything happens quickly and conveniently. You can smoothly resize the window and adjust the format to suit you. For a large screen, this is an important feature, although not all applications support it.

Two more interesting new features concern the Note 4's business applications. Firstly, the voice recorder has been improved, now it allows you to remove noise and highlight voices. The latter makes it possible to later listen to certain speakers in the conference recording. Secondly, the recognition of footage has been improved. Now you can take a picture of a document at an angle, and then automatically recognize it digitally (text and photo) in S Note, Russian is supported.

The stylus, which is a signature feature of the Note family, has not gone anywhere either. Here it is also improved, now it is more convenient and natural to use it (the sensations are even more reminiscent of drawing with a regular pen due to increased accuracy). Of the functional innovations, the new Air Command (Action Memo, Screen Write, Image Clip and Smart Select). For example, Smart Select allows you to collect content from different sources and send it.

Built-in applications have changed a bit (for example, a fitness trainer has appeared). But in general, we have software familiar from any of the latest Samsung smartphones (for example, GALAXY S5). Plus several new wallpapers and a set of pre-installed applications. The latter includes PEN.UP, Flipboard, Evernote, Dictionaries, Bookmate, GetTaxi, Internet Security and more. After the first boot, 24.4 out of 32 GB is available to the user, so the memory card slot is very handy.

Opinion Hi-Tech.Mail.Ru

Samsung GALAXY Note 4 is one of the best phablets to date. The model boasts a high-quality camera, excellent screen and interesting stylus functionality. In general, the filling is very powerful, while maintaining good autonomy. Traditionally, the weak point of Samsung is the design. Also, not everyone will like the angular body, with such dimensions it is debatable. But here it's a matter of taste. Of the features, it lacks moisture protection and wireless charging, which one would expect, given the manufacturability and price of the novelty. But the removable battery design and the expansion slot, traditional for Samsung, have not gone away. Unfortunately, the company stubbornly does not return FM radio to its top-end smartphones, considering it an anachronism (and the Koreans are right in some ways, but I would still like to have a choice).

Samsung GALAXY Note 4 will go to Russian retail on October 23 at a price of 34,990 rubles. Given the minimal design differences and the lack of dramatic changes compared to its predecessor, the new Note is unlikely to be considered for purchase by Note 3 owners. Moreover, the Note 3, given the reduced price, is currently a completely justified purchase. The Quartet can be recommended to those who want the best performance, especially the owners of the first two generations of Note, if for some reason the Note 3 is not enough. Samsung has set a high bar for its phablets and the market as a whole, holding it every year, it is difficult to compete here, especially if the buyer is interested in the functionality of the stylus and in general its availability.

The main alternative to Samsung GALAXY Note 4 is the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, which loses to the Korean technically, but wins in design and ergonomics. The choice between them will most likely come down to the choice between Android and iOS, each system has its fans. In addition, LG G3, Huawei Ascend Mate 7 and a number of others compete among Android devices with Note 4. All of them are cheaper and in some ways even better (for example, the G3 is smaller, the device fits better in the hand, and the Mate 7 has an excellent battery life), but in the aggregate of all characteristics, Samsung has the most powerful and advanced phablet. For this, based on the results of testing, the model receives an award-recommendation from us.

pros

• Great screen
• Quality camera
• Powerful stuffing
• good working time
• Improved stylus
• Removable battery
• microSD card slot
• fast charging

Minuses

• Controversial design
• Angled body
• Lack of moisture protection
• Opting out of FM radio
• No wireless charging

Specifications

• Android 4.4.4, TouchWiz shell
• micro SIM
• Screen SuperAMOLED, 5.7 inches, 1440x2560 pixels, QHD, 515 dpi, 16 million colors
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• S Pen for handwriting, drawing and more
• 3 GB RAM, 32 GB internal memory, memory cards up to 128 GB
• Exynos 5 Octa 5433, 8-core processor, up to 1.9 GHz per Cortex A57 core, up to 1.3 GHz per Cortex A53 core, GPU Mali-T760 - LTE Cat.4 - N910C
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, 4 cores Krait 450 up to 2.7 GHz, Adreno 420, LTE Cat.6 - N910S
• Acceleration Sensor, Gyroscope, Proximity Sensor, Compass, Barometer, UV Sensor, Heart Rate, Blood Oxygen Saturation
• GPS/A-GPS/Glonass
• ISOCELL camera 16 megapixels, optical stabilization, video recording up to 2160p 30 fps
• Ant+, Bluetooth 4.1 EDR, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, dual band; microUSB (USB 2.0), USB Host, MHL, USB On-the-go; NFC, infrared port;
• 3G 850/900/1900/2100; 4G 800/850/900/1800/2100/2600
• Battery 3220 mAh Li-Ion
• Size 153.5x78.6x8.5 mm, weight 176 grams

Contents of delivery

• Telephone
• Battery Li-Ion 3220 mAh
• Wired stereo headset
• Charger with USB cable
• Instruction

Positioning

The Note line began as an experiment within Samsung, the result of which unexpectedly turned out to be in demand in the market. Already by the second generation, the Note line acquired the features of a flagship, stood out in a separate direction and began to pull sales over to itself. Samsung has two flagships during the year, one is the Galaxy S, which appears in early spring, and the autumn one is a device from the Note line. In 2013, it became clear that most of the innovations will be used in the Note line, these devices have become not only a testing ground for the latest technologies, but also a key product for the company. Interest from the Galaxy S gradually shifted towards the Galaxy Note, suffice it to say that Galaxy S4 sales reached 10 million devices worldwide in the first 50 days, while Galaxy Note 3 sold the same circulation in 60 days. It is conditionally possible to say that in the offer from Samsung these two categories of goods existed in parallel and gradually the focus shifted to the older model. There are many reasons for this - the absence of real and strong competitors, the high cost of the product, which in itself creates a niche (there are always those who want a phone for the maximum price), excellent technical characteristics. The Note 3 was a huge success and, like the Note 2, it couldn't be replicated by the competition. Look at the Note line and how it has changed.

For example, LG has been closely following the development of both the Galaxy S and Note lines. In 2013, the company was forced to decide how it could compete with these two flagships, and created a kind of intermediate product - LG G3. In terms of size, screen diagonal, this model is exactly in the middle between the Galaxy S5 and Note 4, although functionally gravitates towards the Galaxy S5.

The Note line created a niche in the market and became successful, this is also proved by how Apple tried to bite off its piece by creating the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, a hybrid of its phone and tablet, which at the same time, like Chinese devices, does not rely on new technology or quality of work, but only on the growth of the diagonal of the screen. That is, just like the Chinese, Apple sells just another device with a large diagonal, but not a concept that changes the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe device and its capabilities.

At Samsung, creating the Note line has always focused on the dream of consumers to get the highest possible performance that will be relevant for several more years. For example, Note 3 does not lose its relevance today, a year after its release. In fact, this device remains one of the best on the market, it does not look outdated, and in terms of camera quality it is second only to the latest generation Galaxy S5, as well as Note 4. For fans of brute force and the power of phones in synthetic tests, such devices are just a godsend. For ordinary consumers, this is also a good choice, since buying such a device, you can not think about changing it for at least a couple of years, or even all three. The main thing is that even after a couple of years you will have a device in your hands that is quite functional and works well. Perhaps this is what defines the real flagships of the market - not by how they are positioned at the time of release, but by whether they can be used a few years later, and without the user missing something. And in this aspect, two companies are leading the market - Apple and Samsung, which is proved by their sales. But the approach of these manufacturers is very different: if Apple does not rely on technical characteristics, but on the strength of the brand, marketing, design, then Samsung has always focused on the filling of the device, its capabilities and the latest developments. These are completely different approaches, and in this aspect, Note 4 does not look like a device for everyone, it is only for those who want to get the maximum possible technologies for their money and, as a result, image quality, voice transmission, speed and other points.

Among the users of the Note line, three groups of consumers can be distinguished - on the one hand, these are geeks, those who focus on the most productive, interesting solutions. The second group is business users, those who need productive solutions with additional features, such as working with a stylus, handwritten notes. And also partly this is a “fashionable” audience, those who buy the most expensive solutions are trying to disguise themselves as a business audience. Let me also remind you that, as before, Note is the only product on the market that is suitable for those who are used to making notes by hand and love to write, there are simply no alternatives to this product in this aspect.

Design, dimensions, controls

Samsung positions the Note line as the most expensive device. In 2013, they added a back with leather embossing, which caused a lot of laughter - supposedly a premium product can only be made of real leather, and this is, well, fake leather. The lack of logic in such comments, as well as common sense, is understandable. Plastic is one of the best materials on the market, but the main thing is that it is unpretentious in use. Samsung's find was copied by many Chinese companies that keep their noses to the wind, and in 2014 we see dozens of models with plastic embossed under the skin - this allows you to maintain the appearance for quite a long time. But at the same time, many have forgotten that leather covers for Note 3 were available from the first months of sales - that is, you could modify your device as you like. Do you want leather? Buy a cover and get such material. In my opinion, this is the most adequate approach - when you yourself choose the material that you need. As a regular user of the Note line, I rather wanted to get a durable, wear-resistant case, and the fact that it is included in the default configuration is a big plus.

It's also important to note that Note covers are not just an external accessory, they are part of the case, you install the cover instead of the back cover. At the end of the review, we will return to this issue, as it is important in the aspect of fashion accessories that appear for Note 4.

Let's start with the exterior of the model - outwardly it resembles Note 3, there are few differences as such, they can be confused from afar. In many ways, the heredity of the design is not bad at all, especially since it is accompanied by radical changes in the body materials. Just like the Galaxy Alpha, the Note 4 uses a metal frame around the entire body. Look at Alpha, this is what it looks like on this miniature machine.

Approximately the same looks and Note 4, if you close your eyes to a completely different size of the device. The metal edges are beveled, they play in the light. But at the same time, the side face itself is painted to match the color of the case - in a pink device it is pink, in a white one it is white, and so on. From a technological point of view, this is a certain challenge - how to achieve such a quality coating of metal paint so that it does not peel off with constant use. I specifically tried to scratch the coating with keys and other metal objects, no traces remain. I admit that with a knife or a nail it will be possible to achieve a result in the form of scratches, but this is definitely a deliberate damage to the device.

Everyone likes the Note 3, but I don't like the fact that the side faces peel off after a year of use, as well as one of the faces is crumpled after repeated falls.

It should be noted that Note 3, as well as previous devices, very easily withstood falls from a person's height onto different surfaces. With Note 4 I tried to drop it on the floor from 1.5 meters, there is no noticeable damage. I didn’t drop it on the asphalt, because I didn’t want to spoil the brand new device. In total, one of my complaints has apparently been removed - in Note 4, the durability of the frame has been taken to another level, it will not change and will not be wiped off, since the edge is made of metal.

Initially, the device enters the market in 4 colors: white, black, pink and gold. All colors look interesting, unlike the previous season, you don't have to wait extra for these colors, they appear instantly.

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The back cover is also made with leather embossing, but the pattern has changed, it has become a little larger, there is no stitching along the edges. Does not rub off, white color is wearable, looks good. The lid, unlike the previous device, must be carefully snapped into place at the bottom, due to a slight bend in the case, it does not always snap into place instantly. But this is not a problem, you just need to be careful.

The speaker in the device was moved to the rear wall, the design is completely similar to the Galaxy S5 - Note 3 had a speaker on the bottom. The changed location made the speaker even louder, in Note 3 it was impossible to complain about it, now the same melodies sound even louder, I tried to show this in our video.

There are microphones at the ends - there are now three of them in the device. Two on the bottom and one on the top. Three microphones do an excellent job not only with noise reduction in street conditions or a noisy room, but they have added some features that are uncharacteristic for phones and I have not met until now. The voice recorder has been improved - now it has an "Interview" mode, when it records sound from two microphones - it is important to turn the phone end to the interlocutor and preferably put it on the table. There is also a "Conference" mode, when sound is recorded from different sources. One of the new features, but unlike many, it is not at all useless and convenient in work and life.

I want to note that it is from the point of view of the quality of speech transmission in Note 4 that they have done a great job. And it's not just support for HD Voice codecs, which in turn depend on carrier support. Samsung tried to create the best sounding phone when talking, for this they worked on both the speaker and the microphones. Due to the illegibility and unimportance of this parameter for the vast majority of people, they simply will not notice it. But I spend about 1.5-2 hours a day on the phone, and for me the sound quality is important, here it is the highest possible. I can only compare with Nokia phones, which have regained their former quality in the latest flagships.

A 16-megapixel camera module protrudes on the back panel, it does not have any edging. It doesn't protrude much, and it's already habitual for Note 3, it doesn't pose any problems. Given that the camera is in the middle, this even has its own plus, the body rises, and the speaker sounds louder when the device is on the table.

The sensor under the camera has changed compared to the Galaxy S5, now it can not only measure the pulse, but also measure the level of oxygen in the blood, stress, ultraviolet radiation. Many parameters will become redundant for the majority, but a lot is not a little, in the end, they don’t ask for extra money for them.

At the top there is an infrared port for controlling household appliances. Your phone can play the role of a remote control for any technology. And this sometimes saves and helps. I had several situations when there were no batteries in the remotes from the equipment in hotels, and the phone saved me, in one click it turned into a full-fledged remote control. At home and when using TV services (cable or satellite channels), it also gives you all programs, schedules and searches for them. Very comfortably. The service itself is from Peel.

On the left side there is a paired volume rocker, on the right side there is an on/off button. The keys are comfortable to use, they are also metal. On the top end there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, while on the bottom end there is a USB connector (microUSB 2.0 standard). Perhaps the only retreat back was just such a connector - in the Galaxy S5, Note 3 USB 3.0 connector. I've heard many theories as to why they did it this way, but the most likely one is that Samsung hoped they could use a USB 4.0 connector here. It looks the same as the connectors in the latest devices from Apple, it is very simple. But such devices will appear only in the summer of 2015, it is possible that this is why there was a return to USB 2.0. This cannot be considered a serious drawback, few people will regret USB 3.0, it was important for a very small part of the audience.

At the bottom, you can also see the slot for the S-Pen stylus. As before, the handle is securely fastened, does not fly out, we will talk about it separately, since it has changed.

Let's talk about the front surface of the device - to the left of the speaker is the indicator of missed events, it blinks blue, you can turn it off in the menu. The proximity sensor is located on the right, and even more to the right is the front camera, it received a higher resolution and also a new function for a panoramic shot of a loved one. We'll talk about this separately, for someone, perhaps it will be an interesting addition to the functionality of the phone.

The mechanical central key remained unchanged, on the sides of it there are two touch keys.

Let's open the back cover. Inside we will see a slot for microSD memory cards, their "hot" replacement is supported. A little lower is the microSIM slot, but you need to remove the battery to replace it.

Unlike the Galaxy S5, the Note 4 does not have any water and dust protection, and I remind you that the S5 supports the IP67 standard. This is simply not provided here, so you should not throw your phone into the water. Finally, the last thing worth mentioning in this part of the review is the dimensions of the device - 153.5x78.6x8.5 mm, weight - 176 grams. It is comparable to Note 3 (151.2x79.2x8.3 mm, weight - 168 grams), fits well in the hand and does not cause any problems. Very often they say that these are extremely large devices, and this is true. The phone is rather big, but quite comfortable for a man's hand. See pictures in comparison with other devices.

Compared to Huawei Mate 7

Compared to Samsung Galaxy S5

Compared to Samsung Note 3

Compared to Lenovo Vibe Z2

Compared to Sony Xperia Z3

By comparison, the Apple 6 Plus, which has a smaller battery, smaller screen size (5.5 inches), weighs 172 grams and is almost 8 millimeters taller at 158.1x77.8x7.1mm. It's just different measurements - Apple couldn't achieve small size when using a smaller screen. At the same time, in the Note line, the dimensions do not stem from the components, but from the originally invented form factor, which has been maintained for the 4th year in a row. Please note that all models in the Note line are close to these sizes, and they are unlikely to change, because the question is how comfortable they are to hold in the hand, and the compromise that the company found was ideal for such a form factor.

Display

It is worth remembering that Samsung is one of the few manufacturers that creates its own components, including screens. Therefore, for many years the company has been a leader in this market, and competitors simply do not have access to the latest developments, this was one of the reasons why Apple tried to abandon Samsung components, but in the end was forced to return to the company and buy them again.

The race regarding the quality of screens has long reached a fundamentally different level - this is not only the picture quality, screen resolution, but also how much energy the display consumes, this parameter comes to the fore. A few generations ago, Samsung tried to start reducing the power consumption of screens and made noticeable progress in this - ceteris paribus, the company's devices work as much or more than competitors. They have the best energy efficiency, and the display plays a huge role in this. At the same time, for the average person, the difference in screens is often difficult to imagine, they live within the framework of marketing stories and do not understand the real difference between technologies, displays, and when faced with them in real life and having the opportunity to compare them, they cannot come to their senses for a long time - the difference hits eyes. At some point, I even realized that it was necessary to compare the latest generation of screens in tablets and show this difference with very specific examples.

Let's look at the specifications of the screen in Note 4. The diagonal remained unchanged - 5.7 inches, but the resolution has grown to QHD - 1440x2560 pixels, 515 dpi, SuperAMOLED. In my opinion, any screen that has a resolution of more than 400 dpi can already be considered excellent, it is extremely difficult to see the difference. Other parameters are used - picture quality, color reproduction, ease of use.

To begin with, the Note 4 is one of the few devices with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 (an example of another device is the Nexus 5). Usually phones are equipped with the second version of glass, it is much cheaper, but inferior in strength by 50 percent, in terms of scratch resistance - by 40 percent. At the moment, nothing better than this piece of glass simply does not exist.

But the choice of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 is not at all accidental - the thickness of the glass also plays a role here, since Note 4, as well as in previous devices, has a special layer that processes stylus presses. This is a technological difference from other devices, that is, the Wacom digitizer is only in the Note line, and Wacom itself was partially bought by Samsung. Competitors will either have to invent something similar from scratch, or be content with conventional screens, as they do today. Drawing on this device is much easier than on any other model with a stylus. At the Note 4 presentation, they specifically emphasized that they tried to make the pen as similar as possible to a pen or pencil, the screen processed the degree of pressure and you could draw, as you do on a sheet of paper. Or write the way you are used to. Looking ahead, I will say that despite the same pen design, we managed to achieve a greater resemblance to pens, which is a plus for this model.

Let's get back to the screen and its characteristics. The presentation mentioned that the increased resolution allows for better display of fonts. The eye cannot see this, but the fonts are neater. Will it affect the perception of the picture? I think yes. From the screen on Note 4, the eyes are less tired, it has been tested in practice.

The next point is the accuracy of color reproduction. In my opinion, measurements and their interpretation, which is even more important than getting the result, should be done by professionals, those who do it every day and earn their living from it. Display Mate did some screen research on the Note 4 - you can find it here.

A brief conclusion sounds like this - this is the most complex screen of all existing, and it has the most accurate color reproduction, the most flexible settings, it has no analogues. It also outperforms the screens in the Galaxy S5 (it was number one up to this point), as well as the screen in the Galaxy Tab S. Read the company's report, it's very detailed and describes in detail why it's the best screen in smartphones, the second place goes to the Galaxy S5 .

In practice, the screen seemed to me very close to the Galaxy S5, but the fonts and the picture are clearer - a different screen resolution affects. I also want to note that the picture remains readable in different conditions, including in the sun. Of the advantages of the screen - the ability to customize to your preferences, you can choose to work like on other phones (faded colors, RGB), you can choose Adobe RGB, as well as an adaptive screen.

The screen supports operation in any gloves, you only need to activate this function in the menu.

Look at the screen comparison with Galaxy Note 3 (pictured above), although the pictures do not convey the real difference.

And this is how fonts differ in the same program.

In my opinion, the amount of work that Samsung has done in the field of SuperAMOLED screens has created a separation from the nearest competitors for years. It is SuperAMOLED that allows you to create a special power saving mode that other players do not have. And in general, with such a screen brightness, the supply of which is huge, with such picture quality, this screen does not consume so much, it allows you to install the fastest processor and graphics processor without compromising the overall operating time of the device.

In the bottom line, I want to note that the screen in Note 4 can be called a work of engineering art - this is the best screen in terms of a set of parameters, it has no direct competitors.

Battery

Li-Ion battery capacity has not changed much compared to Note 3: 3220 mAh compared to 3200 mAh. According to the manufacturer, the operating time in the main modes has not changed, these are approximately the same values: in standby mode - up to 850 hours of operation, talk time - up to 16 hours, video playback - up to 10 hours, music - about 50 hours.

Due to the fact that a new chipset is used here, made using 20 nm technology (same as in Alpha), there is an increase in operating time, but it is leveled by a large screen resolution and a powerful graphics processor. At the presentation, they said that with the same battery capacity, they were able to achieve an increase in operating time by 7.5 percent.

To some extent, this is a tricky figure, since it affects synthetic measurements, and not the actual behavior of the phone in life. Our measurements of video playback time (maximum backlight brightness, HD video in loop) show that the time is about 9 hours, that is, it was reduced by an hour (Exynos version), but on the Qualcomm version it is the same 10 hours. Ceteris paribus, this can be attributed to chipset drivers and their operation on this hardware. I think that in reality, the Exynos version will not show an increase in operating time compared to the previous model, and this applies to the Qualcomm version of the device.

Under normal load, the device can easily work for two days, as it was for the previous model. This is one of the longest-lived smartphones on the market, and no one has been able to come close to it in this parameter. Regardless of what modes you work in, what you do on your smartphone, you can definitely know one thing - it will live longer than similar devices with the same screen size. With a very heavy load, as in my case, my Note 3 survives until the evening - this is about 3-4 hours of screen operation, constantly online, transferring a large amount of data. Note 4 showed exactly the same results, there were no differences.

Interestingly, the shape of the battery in Note 4 has changed, it looks different from Note 3.

The device used Adaptive Fast Charging & Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 technology, this is the first model with it. In the settings ("Energy Saving" item), you can mark the possibility of fast charging. In this case, with a native, complete charger, you can half charge the phone in half an hour, a full charge is possible in an hour and a half, while in an hour the device will be charged up to 90 percent.

Curiously, fast charging technology is developed exclusively for Snapdragon processors, but Samsung has received the right to use it for Exynos as well. The chargers themselves are also different, without proper charging it will not work to achieve such a time, normal charging will do it in 3 hours (2A). In my opinion, fast charging is one of the visible advantages of this device, it is worth a lot to recharge the phone in 2 hours to 90 percent capacity. In the car, fast charging will not work, which is a pity.

Finally, I want to note that there is a huge space in Note 4 in order to increase the operating time of the device from a single charge. From elementary screen brightness adjustment - the maximum values ​​​​are redundant for most - to disabling the S Pen detection if the stylus is not needed, and many other settings. Including limiting the power of the processor, which does not affect performance, but gives about 5-6 "extra" hours of work. I think that in the near future the hands will reach to write a detailed material on how to save energy on Android smartphones without compromising the comfort of their use, especially since the issue causes controversy and lively discussions. On my Galaxy Note 3/Galaxy S5, I get so much run time through settings alone that many people find it impossible.

Finally, I want to note that, just like in the S5, the Note 4 has added two power saving modes. There is a regular power-saving mode in which you can limit the background work of applications, turn on gray colors for the screen (for AMOLED this is a feature - gray color consumes almost no energy). Moreover, in grayscale, you can work almost everywhere, even watch a video - but it will be gray, which is not very pleasant and convenient.

This power save mode is great when you're running low on battery, but you need all the features of your phone. Then, on a 10 percent charge, you can easily live for about three hours, practically without denying yourself anything. Three hours is an active use of the device, but in a pocket it can live much longer.

The maximum power limit mode cuts almost everything, at 45 percent of the battery charge, the phone will be able to work in standby mode for at least 6 days! But, of course, it all depends on how you will use it. The gray scale is also turned on, but all communications are cut off, the list of running applications is limited only to those that you have allowed, all background processes are turned off. This is a very deeply revised procedure, since many system functions are disabled, you will not be able to take a screenshot in this mode, many built-in options will be unavailable (but you do not need them).

I liked this mode because when the battery runs out, by activating this mode with one touch, you can safely live until the evening - SMS and voice will be available to you.

It would be useful to recall that competitors simply do not have anything like this. Officially, these features did not come to Note 3, the company considered that this new model should differ from the previous one. Unofficially, this functionality from S5 was added in third-party firmware, but the quality of these firmware raises questions, they are not always stable.

Memory, memory cards, chipset, performance

Let's start with a simple one, the device has 3 GB of RAM, which is currently the maximum size for Android. By comparison, Apple's 6th generation devices only have 1GB of storage. In theory, you can organize the work of the OS in various ways, in particular, the amount of RAM is important in order to keep open browser pages in memory, they can be quickly called up. But they can also be stored in a cache in regular memory. The user is usually not interested in this, he cares how quickly and efficiently he can open a page in the device's memory. From this point of view, Note 4, as well as Note 3, are among the best on the market.

The amount of internal memory is 32 GB, you have about 24 GB of space available for your programs and data. You can install a memory card up to 128 GB, there is almost no difference in access speed, so the applications stored on the card will work just as quickly.

Now let's dwell on the hardware differences between the two versions of Note 4. The N910S model is built on Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 - 4 Krait 450 cores up to 2.7 GHz, Adreno 420, LTE Cat.6. And the N910C version, which is the main one for Russia, is built on Exynos 5 Octa 5433, 8-core processor, up to 1.9 GHz for the Cortex A57 core, up to 1.3 GHz for the Cortex A53 core, Mali-T760 graphics accelerator - LTE Cat.4.

For the first time, Samsung applied 20 nm technology to the chipset in the Galaxy Alpha, which is the reason for the delay in the release of this model. The company's plants are switching to a new process technology. Note 4 also uses it.

The RAM remained dual-channel, but the bandwidth increased to 17 Gb / s (1066 MHz).

The new Cortex A53/A57 cores should provide not only performance, but less heat under heavy load. Comparing Note 3 and Note 4 in "heavy" toys, I can say that in practice this is clearly noticeable. In the new model, the heating is almost not felt, and I did not manage to turn off the camera when recording video in ultra-high resolution after games. Although video recording is limited to 5 minutes, this is from the days of the Note 3 and overheating.

In all synthetic benchmarks, the Note 4 performs at its best, being the fastest smartphone available today. See for yourself the virtual parrots.

It's a pity, but there are no publicly available and universal tests on the market that could show the performance of the graphics subsystem. The same Epic Citadel test shows the maximum performance for both Note 3 and Note 4. While this is just a good result for the Galaxy S5, less RAM is affected.

In theory, the 16-core Mali T-760 GPU outperforms the Adreno 420. In practice, the result is confirmed in the Note 4, but the difference is not too big.

In general, the Exynos solution is more productive. In practice, this is noticeable in the camera mode - for example, when shooting at night, the shutter fires instantly, while on Note 3 it was necessary to wait for the image to be processed, this is directly related to the speed of the chipset. Historically, users prefer the Qualcomm solution, but in the case of Note 4 there is not much difference between them, Qualcomm wins a little in terms of work time, but loses in performance. The difference is not catastrophic and almost imperceptible in real use of devices.

USB, Bluetooth, communication capabilities

Let's start with the fact that Note 4 was the first device with support for Bluetooth 4.1. And the first accessory to support this technology was the Gear S watch.

In addition to the fact that BT 4.1 has absorbed all the protocols implemented in previous versions, it has added several fundamental features. Firstly, this is an extended range, which can reach several tens of meters, depending on the settings of the devices and how the manufacturer configured this option. Secondly, the IP protocol is used for addressing, that is, devices now have their own unique addresses, and communication with many such devices is supported. In practice, thanks to this, a connection with the Gear S watch is implemented, you can receive a call from the phone on the watch, but you can also answer the call received on the SIM card in the watch or receive it on the smartphone. That is, the connection operates in two directions, and the watch and the smartphone act alternately in relation to each other as a headset. This was not possible in previous versions of the standard.

From the technical points, the interaction of Bluetooth and LTE has been improved, now within the same device the operation of these technologies is synchronized, mutual interference is not created (for our LTE frequencies it is irrelevant). Plus, Bluetooth devices can now access the cloud and transfer their results directly, bypassing the companion device, as was necessary before. But within the framework of Note 4, this is not so relevant, after all, this is not an accessory, but the main device.

USB connection. USB 2.0 is used here, that is, the data transfer rate is not 45 Mb / s, as in Galaxy Note 3 / S5, but about 20 Mb / s. These are not theoretical, but real results on devices. They may differ depending on the operating system and the computer you are connecting your phone to. Both up and down. But I think you understand the difference.

The microUSB connector also supports the MHL standard, which means that using a special cable (available from electronics stores) you can connect your phone to a TV (to the HDMI output). In fact, the standard describes the ability to connect via microUSB to HDMI. This solution looks more preferable than a separate miniHDMI-connector on the case.

The maximum data transfer rate in LTE is 150 Mbps.

WiFi. 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac is supported, the wizard is similar to that for Bluetooth. You can remember the selected networks, automatically connect to them. It is possible to set up a connection to the router with one touch, for this you need to press a key on the router, and also activate a similar button in the device menu (WPA SecureEasySetup). Of the additional options, it is worth noting the setup wizard, it appears when the signal is weak or disappears. You can also set Wi-Fi to work on a schedule.

HT40 mode of operation is also supported for 802.11n, allowing you to double the Wi-Fi throughput (requires support from another device).

WiFi Direct. A protocol that aims to replace Bluetooth or compete with its third version (it also uses Wi-Fi version n to transfer large files). In the Wi-Fi settings menu, select the Wi-Fi Direct section, the phone starts searching for devices around. Select the desired device, activate the connection on it, and voila. Now in the file manager you can view files on another device, as well as transfer them. Another option is to simply find the devices connected to your router and transfer the necessary files to them, this can be done from the gallery or other sections of the phone. The main thing is that the device supports Wi-Fi Direct.

NFC. The device has NFC technology, it can be used with various additional applications.

S Beam. A technology that allows you to transfer a file of several gigabytes to another phone in a few minutes. In fact, we see in S Beam a combination of two technologies - NFC and Wi-Fi Direct. The first technology is used to bring and authorize phones, but the second is used to transfer the files themselves. The creatively redesigned way to use Wi-Fi Direct is much easier than using the connection on two devices, selecting files, and so on.

IR port. Required to use the phone as a remote control for various household appliances. Automatically configured for almost any model of equipment.

Camera

The situation is repeated last year, when Note 3 received a camera module from the Galaxy S4, but due to software improvements, it began to shoot a little better. The Note 4 comes with a camera module from the Galaxy S5, a 16-megapixel sensor with ISOCELL technology from Samsung. In fact, we are witnessing a change in components, the rejection of Sony cameras in top products, since Samsung was able to bring its own technology to perfection.

As a user of both the S5 and Note 3, I can say that I like the HDR mode in the S5, which is enabled by default, it works instantly and gives good quality pictures. You can argue for a long time which camera shoots better than others, but it can be said for sure that Samsung smartphones almost always outperform their competitors in terms of the combination of characteristics. Moreover, devices from Apple have long and firmly established themselves as very average in terms of cameras, Android devices have gone far ahead in this aspect.

In terms of technical characteristics, the camera has not changed, except that optical stabilization has been added.

The geometry of the matrix is ​​16:9, the pixel size has not changed - 1.12 microns, while F / 2.2, which is very good, but quite standard for the market. The focal length in terms of 35 mm is 31 mm. USO settings in manual mode - from 100 to 800, in automatic mode - from 50 to 1600.

The camera interface has been simplified, so you can set a couple of your shortcuts on the main screen, a line with basic settings is called from the menu, and only by pressing again the entire list opens in the form of icons.

I decided to compare the quality of the pictures with the Galaxy S5, since the camera modules are the same and should provide comparable quality. Look at the pictures for yourself, they are about the same, the quality is slightly better for Note 4. We couldn’t see any striking differences here.

Galaxy Note 4	Galaxy S5

It’s a completely different matter - pictures in the dark, the camera began to shoot noticeably better. Moreover, unlike the S5, it shoots instantly, there is no waiting for the picture.

Galaxy Note 4	Galaxy S5

But comparing shots in total darkness with the Lumia 930, the Sony Xperia Z3, I have to say that the two do a much better job. In their pictures, you can read the text on a sheet of paper, while on the Note 4 it remains smeared.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Samsung Galaxy S5

Should I focus on shooting in the dark? I think that the vast majority of people always shoot in conditions where the light is still present. And in this aspect, the Note 4 camera is able to produce guaranteed good pictures. And regardless of whether you conjure over them or not. This is a result that is noticeably higher than that of smartphones from Apple, and above the average for the Android flagship market. In my opinion, the camera shoots much better than analogues from other companies.

The "Mode" button, which is familiar from previous devices, hides exactly the same settings inside as before (it is not available during a quick start). These effects are Retouch, Motion Shot, Panorama, Dual Camera, Sports, Panorama, Sounds and Photos.

One of the biggest changes is that additional effects can now be downloaded from the Samsung store - everything that was previously available in previous phones is available for free, but many new effects will be sold. A nice feature, the company is opening the SDK, and other companies will be able to create effects for the camera, I don’t know if this direction will be successful, but I’m sure that we will see some interesting settings.

The maximum shooting resolution is UHD (3840x2160; 16:9), and the default is FullHD (1920x1080; 16:9), you should use it (there is also an intermediate one - WQHD - 2560x1440 pixels, to fit the screen size). There is also just HD and VGA, but I don't think you'll need them. UHD resolution is still a thing in itself, you won't be able to watch it anywhere but on a range of players and your phone.

For FullHD resolutions and below, you can also apply different frame rates. For example, "smooth movement", which smooths out the jerks of objects in the frame, is recorded on a microphone.

Slow motion can be 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 speed. Microphone recording is not possible. Rapid movement is the opposite, speeding up by 2x, 4x, and 8x.

Finally, I would like to dwell on the front camera. I am not a fan of such a phenomenon as selfie, but many people love to take pictures of their loved ones against the background of the surrounding beauties. Especially for them, the front camera was made with a resolution of 3.7 megapixels. You can shoot not only by pressing the screen, but by placing your finger on the sensor at the back, where the pulse is measured. Here are some sample selfies for you (the skin is tinted by default, this is the Beauty mode).

Stylus S Pen, or new features of the pen

One of the key differences of the Note line is the built-in stylus, which allows you to draw on the screen and do it extremely well. I don't have any artistic talents and that's why I just die when I see how people can draw on such devices. In the Pen.UP program, you can look at someone else's work, evaluate it and post your drawings.

The logic of the S Pen has hardly changed in relation to Note 3, although the pen itself has changed, serifs have appeared on it, it is more convenient to hold it in your hand. At the same time, the weight and size remained the same. As additional accessories, it will be possible to purchase MontBlanc “pens” with which you can “write” on the Note 4 screen.

The sensitivity of the pen has been doubled, that is, not only touch is supported, but the screen also processes the force of pressing it. My impression is very positive, the S Pen works as it should, however, I only enter my notes, not draw.

Pull out the S Pen, and the context menu immediately appears. The first item is an active note, in which you can not only enter text by hand, but also create a reminder to call, send mail or SMS to a specific number, it will be recognized and transferred to the appropriate application. A kind of fantasy, but I personally do not need it, I just make notes in S Note. The last application is in the menu, but from the active note you can go to it with one touch, there are already all sorts of templates, voice recognition of text and the like.

Other context menu items are the inscription on the screenshot, the phone takes a screenshot, and then you can write something on it. The choice of pens and pencils, colors can be saved for the future.

Each release of the next Galaxy Note phablet is a very important event for Samsung and for all of us. Moreover, the presentations are held on the same scale as the announcements of the Galaxy S flagships. The Note line has a huge army of fans who are attracted by the new form factor of the device and the functionality of the S Pen stylus. The next flagship phablet will be the Galaxy Note 4 and we've heard enough rumors and leaks already. As a result, we can already say that this device can even be with a curved Youm display, with 128GB of internal memory and a 64-bit processor. In general, great hopes are placed on him.

iris scanner

There was a very interesting post on the SamsungExynos Twitter account the other day, where we were very subtly hinted at the presence of an iris scanner in the Galaxy Note 4. However, I got a feeling of deja vu, because we talked about almost the same before the announcement of the Galaxy S5. Now we are talking about the same thing - that Samsung will introduce a new security system that will be more reliable than a fingerprint scanner. Now, at least on Twitter, Samsung almost directly shared this.

In the image, we see a rectangular-shaped smartphone with a strange round button. The display shows an eye with a hint of an iris scanner. This has been rumored for a long time, so maybe in fact a new security system is ready and along with Note 4 we will be presented with a new technology that will allow the Koreans to get ahead of the competition in the race.

Galaxy Note 4 rumors, specifications and news in video

New version of TouchWiz

Samsung promised to return to the "basics" with the release of the Galaxy S5, and the company, by the way, partly fulfilled its promise. Many believe that the Koreans spared no effort for new technological innovations, while others believe that the S5 was a work on the bugs that were with the S4. The TouchWiz interface has been partially redesigned and we are very interested in how much the updated proprietary shell will differ from stock Android. Nothing can be said yet and we are waiting for the first leaks with screenshots.

There was also news that Samsung is getting rid of the Samsung Hub, meaning it will no longer be pre-installed on its devices. There may be other radical changes in Note 4, but for sure the Koreans got rid of the "ballast" - services and applications that are not popular with users.

Even the fact that Android L will be released in September promises us changes in the future of TouchWiz. So far, the operating system is available in the developer version, but even in it, Google has shown many new design changes, in particular, there is a shadow for notifications and quick settings, there are new features such as battery saving mode.

Youm curved display, OLED and QHD display

Over the past two years, we've been talking a lot about curved and flexible displays. Ever since the Galaxy S4, we've been waiting for the Youm display to come to some flagship model. Now it seems not a fantasy, but quite plausible. Samsung managed to release the Galaxy Round, although it was only sold in South Korea. Based on numerous leaks and test results, the words of executives who can not always keep secrets, we are almost sure that we are waiting for the appearance of a device in a “new form factor”. We think this is just a hint at the new display, which will be with a resolution of QHD and released on OLED technologies. There are also rumors of a 5.7-inch screen and a 5.9-inch model. One of them could be just with a curved display. So you can choose between a classic shape and a curved one. If a 5.7-inch display with QHD resolution is introduced, the pixel density will reach 515ppi, although this is less than the LG G3, which was officially announced in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress.

Some expect Samsung to introduce a phablet with a side-curving screen. This will allow you to display some of the necessary shortcuts and notifications on them so that there is no need to look at the main screen every time, as shown in the figure below.

20 megapixel camera

At first, there were rumors about a 20-megapixel camera and there were news on the authoritative site ETNews. You can trust this resource, as it often had time to inform about future devices in advance. But the near future can be very unpredictable for us. Samsung isn't keen on pursuing a megapixel race, although if the S5 has a 16MP camera, why not 20MP on the Note 4? This camera will certainly support 4K video shooting, as even the Note 3 can do it.

Subsequently, there were rumors that Samsung was going to order 16-megapixel camera modules from Sony, which were already used in 2014 in some flagships. The Galaxy Note 4 should also come with optical camera stabilization. The front camera will already be 3.7-megapixel.

Hardware, processor and battery

Samsung has a habit of officially announcing its own technologies in addition to any exhibitions and press events in honor of the flagships. This was the case with the latest octa-core Exynos processors, Youm curved display and QHD display. So it will be quite common if something is shown to us before the presentation of the Galaxy Note 4.

We also know that Samsung is planning to increase the amount of internal storage in its mobile devices, so we expect the Note 4 to have a whopping 128GB of storage. The Korean company is also working on 64-bit Exynos processors. The other day we have already shown one of these, which will replace Snapdragon processors. By the way, there are enough rumors even that a 64-bit quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor with Adreno 420 will be installed in the phablet - this is the first graphics processor with dynamic hardware tessellation. Simply put, you will see more graphical detail, which will require less power and less memory.

In addition, each new device in the Galaxy Note line gets 1GB more RAM. In general, we expect 4GB of RAM from the fourth generation. Although even 3GB is enough for current smartphones. There will also be a new GPU, given that in the previous generation Samsung used Adreno 330. The Note 4 should also have support for LTE Cat 6. With data transfer rates up to 300 Mbps.

Undoubtedly, the battery will also be improved in Note 4, because due to the appearance of an economical QHD display and a powerful processor, not only LucidLogix optimization, but also OSes need to be worked on. As a result, the phablet will consume even less energy than its predecessors.

Galaxy Note 4 release date

Predicting a release date for a phablet isn't all that difficult given the line's history. All of them appeared in early September or late August:

• Galaxy Note N7000: September 2011
• Galaxy Note 2 N7100: August 2012
• Galaxy Note 3: September 2013
• Galaxy Note 4: August/September 2014 (?)

As for the price of the next phablet, it will probably cost around $700, as that was the price of previous models at the time of their introduction.

Best Smartphone 2014

To be honest, there were not so many rumors about the Galaxy Note 4 and its characteristics and features when compared to the Galaxy S5. Think Koreans will also install a fingerprint scanner and a heart rate monitor. With a few lost ground, Samsung has to release a real monster on the market.

Recently, sales of the new generation of the Samsung Galaxy Note line were launched. The fourth iteration of the phablet has become more attractive and powerful, and also received new interesting features. Read more and see our review.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 video review

Specifications:

SIM card type	Micro SIM
Number of SIM cards
Operating system	Android 4.4 (KitKat) + TouchWiz UI
RAM, GB
Built-in memory, GB
Expansion slot	microSD/SDHC/SDXC (up to 64 GB)
Dimensions, mm	153.5×78.6×8.5
Weight, g
Accumulator battery	3220 mAh
Diagonal, inches
Permission	2560×1440
CPU	Exynos 5433 + GPU Mali-T760
Number of Cores
Frequency, GHz	1,3+1,9
Main camera, Mp
autofocus	there is

Equipment

If I'm not mistaken, with the release of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha, the Korean company changed the design of the box and got rid of the wooden texture. Now it is a box of a calmer beige shade. Inside, the review hero himself, branded headphones, a microUSB cable, a mains power adapter, replaceable stylus tips and some waste paper are hidden.

Design

The appearance of the phablet a year later has not undergone significant changes, but it definitely got better. The biggest difference between the Note 3 and 4 is the side bezel, which is now truly metallic instead of the metal-styled plastic of last year. This creates a very interesting combination between the hand-chilling side bezel and the pleasant leather-look back.

From year to year, Samsung has been experimenting with the texture of the design on the glass of the front panel, this time the front of the smartphone is decorated with neat stripes. The glass itself is slightly rounded at the edges and goes right into the metal frame, like in the iPhone 6 - this solution makes a very pleasant aesthetic impression. On the top are the earpiece, the Samsung logo, proximity and light sensors, and the front camera, which has grown significantly in diameter compared to the previous year.

At the bottom is the physical home button, which has already become rare for Android devices, which has a built-in fingerprint scanner, on the sides of it are the touch buttons "Back" and the multitasking menu. The last function last year was performed by a long press on the "Home" button, it was easy to reach it, but now it is almost impossible to open the multitasking panel using a phablet with one hand.

On the left side of the device is a paired volume key, and on the right - the lock button. Both keys are metal and have a clear stroke. At the top end there is a standard 3.5 mm headphone output, an additional microphone and an IR sensor for controlling TV and other household appliances. Below are two more conversational microphones, between them is a microUSB connector version 2.0. Hidden in the right corner is the S Pen, the hallmark of the Note line.

The back cover of the phablet got rid of last year's fake line around the perimeter. The texture under the skin has also changed a little. The camera eye has become even larger, and now, in addition to the flash, a sensor has appeared under it, which can measure UV radiation, heartbeat, as well as stress levels and blood oxygen saturation. In general, a small medical laboratory was hidden in Note 4 as part of a proprietary health monitoring program S Health. Next to this sensor is the company logo, in the lower left corner there is a slot for speakers with a special lift that will not drown out the sound when the smartphone is lying on the table.

Under the removable cover is a large elongated battery with built-in NFC, as well as slots for a microSIM card and a microSD card up to 128 GB.

The assembly of the smartphone itself is at the highest level, nothing creaks or plays, except for the S Pen, which "walks" within reason in its connector.

Screen

The Note 4's Super AMOLED display remains the same size as last year at 5.7". However, the resolution has grown from FullHD to QHD (2560×1440), and the number of pixels per inch is now 515. All this beauty is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass. 3 with a wonderful oleophobic coating.

Many users consider such a resolution on a smartphone to be redundant, and to some extent they are right, but the Note 4 from a QHD display has a really practical meaning - multitasking. Since the phablet supports multi-window mode, such a resolution is simply necessary to clearly display small text and other elements, so blaming Samsung for simply increasing numbers in this case is not entirely appropriate.

The picture is very pleasant, infinitely clear and rich. It is worth noting that Samsung traditionally offers to choose other picture modes if you like calmer colors. The brightness margin of the device is very large, there will be no problems with this either. With a strong tilt, the colors of the display begin to shimmer iridescently, so the viewing angles here are not ideal.

Sound

The speaker on the back provides good sound quality. It lags behind the HTC One, but also has its advantages. The speaker is very loud, so loud that I would not turn it to the maximum, it causes discomfort, sound detail is lost. By turning down the volume a little, you can get a comfortable, clear and high-quality sound.

Separately, I would like to note the location of the speaker itself - no matter how I tried to change the grip, I could not find a comfortable position in which the speaker would be covered with a finger.

Performance

Note 4, like other flagships of the Korean company, traditionally appeared on the market in two versions - with processors from Samsung and Qualcomm. The first version, which will be sold in the CIS countries and is under our review, combines an eight-core Exynos 5433 processor and a Mali-T760 graphics accelerator. The second version is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor and Adreno 420 graphics. RAM in both versions is 3 GB.

Year after year, I was very skeptical about the Samsung stone version, so last year, when buying a Note 3, I opted for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 processor and had not a single performance problem. Note 4 with Exynos works very quickly in everyday tasks, all applications open instantly, the camera starts up in less than two seconds, but Samsung's processor would not be Samsung's if it worked without problems, the phablet occasionally, but still allows itself to lag , this can happen when opening/closing applications, scrolling or flipping menus. I repeat, this rarely happens, but when buying a smartphone for $ 800, the buyer should not even think that his device can slow down, but as you can see, it can.

In heavy games, I was surprised that the graphics settings were not at the maximum, and in Dead Trigger they were at the minimum level. However, indignant, I did not even try to play at low settings and immediately set the graphics value to high. And the default graphics setting turned out to be not a mistake, the Note 4 at maximum settings did sometimes lose frames, which is very unfortunate. Real Racing 3 and Asphalt 8, on the other hand, run smoothly.

There is a little lack of optimization of applications in the window-in-window mode, sometimes there are lags when scrolling or changing animations. In general, in everyday use, the Note 4 on the Exynos processor runs smartly, but you need to be prepared for the small performance flaws that I described above.

autonomy

This year, manufacturers are doing well to increase the characteristics of their devices, especially with regard to display resolutions, but the increase in battery capacity is very small, so this year vendors are focusing on fast charging devices. Note 4 is a prime example of this trend. The screen resolution has grown from FullHD to 2K, but the battery capacity did not increase from 3200 mAh to 3220 mAh. But charging from 0% to 50% percent now occurs in just 30 minutes. In any case, you should not focus on the number of mAh, because the autonomy of the device is at an excellent level. With normal use, the battery will last for 1.5 - 2 days. Coming home late in the evening, I put the smartphone on charge, but at the same time it still had 30-40% of the charge left. In everyday use without resource-intensive tasks, the screen time is about 6 hours, the result is very decent.

Soft

Note 4 just recently went on sale on the current version of Android 4.4.4, but time flies quickly and the new version of Android 5.0 Lollipop has already been officially released. Samsung does not announce the exact timing of the update of its phablet, but, as a rule, it should not take much time. On top of Android 4.4.4, a fresh version of the proprietary TouchWiz shell is installed, which is becoming more and more beautiful from year to year. Compared to the predominantly dark and even slightly gloomy design of the Note 3, the design of the Note 4 interface looks very beautiful, everything has become much lighter, more transparent and simpler. Interface elements got rid of the archaic volume and became pleasing to the eye.

All applications work stably, not a single crash has happened during the entire testing period. There are some features of the work of programs on the Note 4 2K display, in Dots, for example, there were very small fonts, and some elements of the apps looked a little soapy, but this is not critical and we can definitely assure that the problem is much smaller than the one that exists now with applications on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

A rare example of poor application optimization on Note 4

multitasking

Samsung has been improving the multitasking capabilities of the Note 4 line of smartphones from year to year. This year, there have been no cardinal changes in this regard, rather the principle of interaction has changed. If you remember, in Note 3 using the S Pen it was possible to draw a window of any size on the screen, and open the application in it, they decided to abandon this method in Note 4, which upset me a little, now instead you need to swipe from the corner of the screen in order to reduce the application area. I must say that this solution has the right to life, but it was not implemented very well, since the screen of the phablet is quite large, then the opening of the notification curtain for the sake of convenience occurs just at the corner of the screen, and instead of opening the CC, quite often accidentally it turns out to reduce the application and vice versa. On the other hand, it is good that the number of applications that support this solution has increased, but the inscription "This application cannot be opened in a pop-up window" is still seen quite often.

S Pen

The built-in stylus, another hallmark of the Galaxy Note line, is more powerful and accurate this year. Significantly improved text recognition. Since my handwriting is very difficult to call accurate, using Note 3 I had to adapt to the not very good definition of my scribbles and start writing with concentration and beautifully, in Note 4 I stopped worrying about this, because the device recognizes my handwritten text very well. well.

The menu of contextual commands has changed a bit - one new one called "Smart Choice" has been added here. It would be more correct to call it "Multiple choice", it would better reveal the essence of this function. With it, you can select multiple items throughout your smartphone, and then save to Scrapbook or send to any application as pictures.

Other innovations of the S Pen include the insanely convenient ability to select photos in the gallery in the same way as it happens on a computer with a mouse. Last year, you could select text using the S Pen, but this functionality was only available in standard Samsung apps, now you can do it everywhere.

S note

The branded S Note application has also been updated, the main innovation is the function of instant text digitization. It allows you to take a photo of a board or paper, remove everything superfluous in the photo and leave only the text on a white background. We also added new types of pens and slightly changed the application interface.

cameras

Camera resolution has grown by three megapixels compared to last year and now the Note 4 has a 16 megapixel sensor that can take really high-quality pictures during the day, and if the conditions are close to ideal, then you will want to say “wow” when you see the finished result. However, Samsung flagships are traditionally not very good at night photos. If there are enough light sources (in a city at night, for example), then the image will be bright enough, but the signs of shops and restaurants will look just like flashes of light. In addition, night shots have a lot of noise and low detail. It is worth noting that the live HDR mode, as expected, migrated from the Galaxy S5 to Note 4. Pictures are taken just as quickly as without it.

Examples of photos on the main camera:

As for the technical characteristics, the pictures are taken at a resolution of 5312 × 2988, the video is recorded in 4K resolution. I was very pleased with the presence of such a recording mode as "smooth movement", here the video is recorded in FullHD resolution and at a frequency of 60 fps - watching the finished video is a real pleasure.

Video shooting examples:

#1 FullHD 1080p

#2 FullHD 1080p

#3 4K 2160p

#4 1080p 60fps

The front camera has significantly increased in size, but not without reason, because its resolution has grown from 2 to 3.9 megapixels. I must say that the pictures are good, and in both natural and artificial lighting conditions. Photo resolution 2560×1440.

Examples of photos on the front camera:

The "Camera" application at first glance looks quite simple and neat, but in fact, the developers hid all the variety of settings behind three dots on the menu bar on the left. The number of preset shooting modes has decreased significantly, Samsung offers to download additional ones in its company store.

Results

Samsung has introduced a very worthy continuation of the Note line, the device has improved in literally every way. I can’t single out any main killer feature, but the total number of big and not so great improvements makes me feel the difference compared to Note 3. Externally, the device has become more attractive, the screen is better, the software is more beautiful and cleaner. The smartphone was simply licked to perfect condition in a year.

During the testing period, I didn’t have any complaints about Note 4, with the exception of periodic jamming, which has been caused by poor optimization of the proprietary Samsung Exynos processor for several years in a row. I can safely recommend the Note 4 for purchase if you are sure that you will get along with a large smartphone and if you choose the version with a Snapdragon processor.

Prices in online stores

It is possible to display similar models if this one is not in the catalog.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 is a powerful and affordable smartphone with a large screen. In August 2016, the official announcement of the device took place. At the same time, the gadget went on sale in the autumn of the same year.

Appearance and ergonomics

Compared to its predecessor, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 smartphone has received an updated design. Thanks to the beveled and thin edges, the device fits very comfortably in the hand. There is a stylish 2.5D glass covering the screen. If you swipe your finger across the display, you will feel exactly the smoothness. A 4100 mAh battery is hidden under the metal case. On the back of the top and bottom there are shiny dividing lines, which are made of anodized aluminum. As for the speakers, they are located on the bottom end for the best convenience.

It is worth highlighting the beveled frame, which creates a sophisticated silhouette. The device received a premium appearance, which is confirmed by the quality of the materials used. The round fingerprint scanner is located in a convenient place - on the rear panel. There are three navigation touch buttons on the front. Available colors: grey, gold and black. Dimensions: height - 151 mm, thickness - 8.4 mm, width - 76 mm, weight - 175 g.

Display

The high-quality and large 5.5-inch screen in Redmi Note 4 has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. This IPS-matrix supports 10 simultaneous touches, and is also covered with an elegant protective glass with an oleophobic coating. The display is of the highest quality, as it does not fade in the sun, and the color palette remains contrasting and juicy. Due to the high resolution, the detail of the picture is at a decent level. Through the settings, you can freely change the color scheme, or activate the reading mode.

Hardware and performance

The new Redmi Note 4 is equipped with a progressive mid-range processor in the face of the Snapdragon 625 chip. It consists of eight cores and is also implemented using one of the most advanced technologies (14 nm FinFET). The clock frequency of this processor from Qualcomm is 2000 MHz. The amount of RAM is 4 GB, the amount of storage for files is 64 GB. There is also a cheaper version with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. If you need to increase the free space, then this is done using MicroSD cards up to 128 GB. Out of the box, the user meets Android 6.0, but it is possible to upgrade to a more recent version of the OS. MIUI 8 acts as a proprietary interface. There are no restrictions on the number of desktops, and programs can be placed in specific folders. The user is allowed to duplicate the interface. The smartphone confidently "pulls" all the games, and only some of them start to slow down at maximum graphics settings.

It is worth noting that Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 also exists in another modification, namely with a MediaTek Helio X20 processor. This chip operates at a frequency of 2100 MHz, and also has ten cores at once. In the AnTuTu test, the device reaches 80,000-85,000 points. This applies to both modifications of the device, which have approximately the same performance.

Communication and sound

Although the slots on the bottom end of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 are intended for two multimedia speakers, but here the sound element is presented in a single copy (the second one is for the microphone). At the same time, the speaker has a solid power, the volume margin is large. Voice calls occur without obvious problems. There is support for VoLTE networks, and for two SIM cards.

Camera

The Redmi Note 4 uses a 13-megapixel backlit camera with phase detection autofocus. There is also a dual flash, which is sure to come in handy at night. The module has an aperture ratio of 2.0 and consists of 5 lenses. As for the pixels, they are enlarged, allowing more light to be captured. The camera performs well in low light conditions. And the built-in image processing system significantly improves every single frame. There are also quite flexible settings. At the front is a 5-megapixel front camera with multiple modes for perfect self-portraits. The front module got live filters, as well as face recognition with age and gender.

conclusions

Redmi Note 4 turned out to be a thoughtful evolutionary smartphone. He not only inherited almost all the best from a successful predecessor, but also acquired some completely new features. For its price (about $200) the device looks very worthy. Of particular note is the excellent performance, chic design, high-quality materials and a nice large screen.

Pros:

• Aluminum body with sleek appearance.
• Large and high contrast display.
• Very good performance.
• Fast and convenient fingerprint scanner.
• Really powerful battery.

Minuses:

• Limited hybrid SIM slot.
• Many different versions of this smartphone.

Specifications of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

General characteristics
Model	Redmi Note 4
Date of announcement and start of sales	August 2016 / August 2016
Dimensions (LxWxH)	151x76x8.4.
Weight	175
Available colors	grey, silver, gold
Operating system	Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) + MIUI 8
Connection
Number and type of SIM cards	two, Micro-SIM+Nano-SIM, dual stand-by
Communication standard in 2G networks	GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 CDMA 800 & TD-SCDMA
Communication standard in 3G networks	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
Communication standard in 4G networks	LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
Compatibility with telecom operators	MTS, Beeline, Megafon, Tele2, Yota
Data transfer
WiFi	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth	4.2, A2DP, LE
GPS	yes, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
NFC	No
infrared port	there is
Platform
CPU	ten-core Mediatek MT6797 Helio X20 Deca-core 2.1 GHz
GPU	Mali-T880 MP4
Inner memory	16/32/64GB
RAM	2/3/4 GB
Ports and connectors
USB	microUSB 2.0, USB On-The-Go
3.5mm jack	there is
Memory card slot	microSD, up to 128 GB
Display
Display type	IPS LCD capacitive, 16M colors
Screen size	5.5 inches (~72.7% of device face)
Display protection	Oleophobic coating
Camera
Main camera	13 MP, f/2.0, autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash
Functionality of the main camera	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR, panorama
Video recording	[email protected], [email protected]
Front-camera	5 MP, f/2.0, 720p
Sensors and Sensors
illumination	there is
Approximations	there is
Gyroscope	there is
Compass	there is
Hall	No
Accelerometer	there is
Barometer	No
Fingerprint scanner	there is
Battery
Battery type and capacity	LiPo 4100 mAh
Battery mount	fixed
Equipment
Standard kit	Redmi Note 4: 1 USB cable: 1 SIM eject tool: 1 User manual: 1 Warranty card: 1 Charger: 1

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