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OMG finally. . Note 4

Went to Best Buy today here in south Florida. And I was expecting the Galaxy Note 4 to be much better than the Note 3. But boy was I in shock!

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This phone is finally a true luxury phone. It is just beautiful. The iPhone 6+ had nothing in this one.

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I can't wait to get it. The white version is stunning!

They didn't have any other colors or the Note 4 Edge.


I took those photos with my Note 3 and the phones side by side, the Note 4 looked gorgeous :D
 
The IPhone six has smaller displays with much larger bezels. And a weak, bendable aluminum frame. The Note 3 was over twice as strong in bend tests as the iPhone 6. I really never understood this stuff about Samsung devices not feeling/looking "premier". I prefer the plastic - stronger and most phones are in cases so who really cares about some minor exterior aesthetics. As far as the "look" - all these phones are rectangular with rounded off corners. They are almost identical if you really think about it. I actually don't like the iPhone look - large bezels, too tall and small displays. Give me a small bezeled phone with a larger screen that actually has a smaller footprint than an iPhone. The looks - so close that who really cares. I think my Note 3 looks pretty damn nice uncased IMHO. I like that dimpled leather look back. Most of this stuff is so unimportant though that it doesn't matter to me. I want the best screen with the smallest bezels and top of the line internal hardware. And not to be forgotten Micro SD slot and removeable batteries. All wins for Galaxy devices IMO.
 
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Went to Best Buy today here in south Florida. And I was expecting the Galaxy Note 4 to be much better than the Note 3. But boy was I in shock!

8594747eb4ec2d4a15ce92652f224902.jpg


This phone is finally a true luxury phone. It is just beautiful. The iPhone 6+ had nothing in this one.

db7759882c588fbe37f693ff5b571fa3.jpg



I can't wait to get it. The white version is stunning!

They didn't have any other colors or the Note 4 Edge.


I took those photos with my Note 3 and the phones side by side, the Note 4 looked gorgeous :D
The Edge will be rare since Samsung's president stated last week the Edge is a concept phone and not for consumer mass production.

That is a graceful back-away from their tech Hail Mary from the presentation. No livin' on the edge until maybe this time next year.
 
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I don't care what the phone looks like. I care what the software is like, and since there aren't any reviews and you played with it, what did you find it like from that perspective?

1. Does the Built-In Image Editor still resize edited images to 1MP?

2. Does the Video Editor now allow you to adjust the playback speed of the Slow Motion Footage, in Sections like that on the HTC One M8 (or even better, like iMovie on iOS)?

3. Does the SMS/MMS client still change SMS Messages to MMS when you insert an Emoji?

4. Does it still come with an undisablable Flipboard app pre-installed; moreover, how many "bloatware" apps were pre-installed on it (not counting app install "Links"). I reckon My Magazine can be turned off like Blinkfeed in Sense 6.x?

5. Does the web browser still have those awful slow animations (like going to Tab View)? Can you swipe away tabs like in Chrome?

6. Do the Built-in Apps like Scrapbook, S Note, and others still require you to Sync only to Evernote or Samsung Account, or do they now support Google Drive? Do others like S Translate run without a Samsung Account on the phone?

7. Does the FFC still default to [Level 3] Beauty Mode?

8. [Aside: Did you take any Picture Samples and Beam them over to your phone that you can share? :p] Does Slow Motion Video still force you to pick a recording speed up front?

9. Was "Tap and Pay" Available for use with NFC Turned On?

All I'm wondering at the moment.
 
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10. Also seems like both the Camera and the screen seem to "protrude" somewhat so a case would be mandatory to alleviate the stress associated with making sure either of those don't get scratched up.

How did that look to you in person (the screen mostly, since the Camera housing is similar to the Note 3 in that regard)?
 
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The screen does protrude. I noticed that also. The camera - looks similar to the N3, agreed. I always use a case, so neither is of much concern to me. Anon's other questions - if the OP is able to answer any of them that would be great. Would really be nice to get some hands-on reviews started....
 
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The screen does protrude. I noticed that also. The camera - looks similar to the N3, agreed. I always use a case, so neither is of much concern to me. Anon's other questions - if the OP is able to answer any of them that would be great. Would really be nice to get some hands-on reviews started....

With regards to hands on reviews, Michael who does the Daily Note Channel on YouTube has began his feature focus . I will post a link in a minute

Edit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdneth_AKKA&list=UU9cbw1mHe71NbNE-21TLoug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0qMp0Smi58&list=UU9cbw1mHe71NbNE-21TLoug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qarqkllu6Kk&list=UU9cbw1mHe71NbNE-21TLoug
 
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Feature focus videos always miss the details. A lot of the questions I asked are things reviewers missed when doing full fledged reviews of the Note 3 after several days or weeks of use, even.

I suppose I should go check the Samsung experience store and see if they have a review unit to check. Maybe I'll call first to not waste a trip if they don't.
 
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I saw the Note 4 yesterday at BB. Here are my thoughts:

1. The speaker is loud. It sounds even better if you put your hand around it. Try it and let me know.
2. The sound is bad when blasting. At 15, its bad. I had to put it at 13 when playing audio. No even a tiny hit of bass. My HTC One M7 sounds so much better! I wonder if there is a equalizer you can mess with on this phone.
3. I dont see any difference in the high resolution. 1920x1200 (wide) is OK already.
4. Whatsapp is preinstall? What if you dont want it? I do use it.
5. I forgot to check out if I can uninstall any of those app that I dont want. I dont want their file explorer as it doesn't have FTP.

Overall, I can't wait to get it. This is my first Samsung phone. I always use HTC.
 
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Hmm this is not a good look for them at all. I would be pissed if this makes it to my production model phone...It has to be a defect right why would there purposefully be a design allowing you to squeeze a business card in there.

I sure hope it is just an isolated defect from the few that had been reported.

I didn't have any issues like this with my Note 3 or even the replacement I got from Samsung last month.
 
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I saw the Note 4 yesterday at BB. Here are my thoughts:

1. The speaker is loud. It sounds even better if you put your hand around it. Try it and let me know.
2. The sound is bad when blasting. At 15, its bad. I had to put it at 13 when playing audio. No even a tiny hit of bass. My HTC One M7 sounds so much better! I wonder if there is a equalizer you can mess with on this phone.
3. I dont see any difference in the high resolution. 1920x1200 (wide) is OK already.
4. Whatsapp is preinstall? What if you dont want it? I do use it.
5. I forgot to check out if I can uninstall any of those app that I dont want. I dont want their file explorer as it doesn't have FTP.

Overall, I can't wait to get it. This is my first Samsung phone. I always use HTC.

1. You can accomplish the same with all past Samsung phones (cuffing the bottom of the phone, to get louder sound. There's even this plastic add on that they created for iPhones that causes the same type of amplification effect.
2. Why would compare the speakers of any phone to HTC's front facing speakers? Nothing will come close to those, so to expect anything to come close is not realistic
3. You mean 1920X1080? Not sure what device has a 1920X1200 resolution or how that would even make sense.
4. Samsung has partnered up with other app makers before. A special version of Evernote was pre-installed on the Note 3.
5. I discovered fairly recently that the stock file explorer does have ftp, but it has to be activated and as long as Dropbox isn't linked through the phone, the ftp option shows up.
 
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After downloading those images to my PC, yea... I really don't see that big of a difference in image quality between the Note 4 and the Note 3.

I am kind of concerned with the image sizes, though. 4.5-6MB a pop, WTF?! I'm sort of trialing the Google+ stuff (again) right now and there's no way I'd let a phone Auto Backup images that large over Cellular.

1. You can accomplish the same with all past Samsung phones (cuffing the bottom of the phone, to get louder sound. There's even this plastic add on that they created for iPhones that causes the same type of amplification effect.
2. Why would compare the speakers of any phone to HTC's front facing speakers? Nothing will come close to those, so to expect anything to come close is not realistic
3. You mean 1920X1080? Not sure what device has a 1920X1200 resolution or how that would even make sense.
4. Samsung has partnered up with other app makers before. A special version of Evernote was pre-installed on the Note 3.
5. I discovered fairly recently that the stock file explorer does have ftp, but it has to be activated and as long as Dropbox isn't linked through the phone, the ftp option shows up.
2. You can put an HTC One M8 (I have one here, inches away form me with my Note 3) face down and it will still blow away almost every other phone on the market. The reason why HTC's speakers are great has a lot more to do with their design than their mere placement; and I don't find them to be all that superior to the Droid Maxx's speakers. The Moto X 2014 is supposedly on par with the One M8.

What I do find superior is the M8's ability to pump out ear-breaking volume (really HTC? why?) through the headphones. They really hit pretty "unhealthy" volume levels easily. I tend to use my Note 3 for listening through Headsets (better quality to my ears compared to the M8's headphone Jack especially with Boomsound turned on) and the M8 when listening to music through the speakers (+ since it isn't my daily drive I don't care how much battery I waste on it :p ) since they're on a different dimension compared to the Note 3's single speaker (which is still placed better than the Note 4's).

I was not happy when I seen Samsung put the speaker on the back of the phone. Seems like a step backwards.

3. I think a few tablets shipped with that resolution.

4. No Evernote on my Note 3 (and certainly no WhatsApp), but there is a version on Samsung Galaxy Apps which may be the one you're referring to. I don't use Evernote, so I've never bothered to check that.

5. Correct ;-) However, on my phone even if I have Dropbox installed and Activated, it stays FTP. Which is fine, as long as the cloud storage provider in question supports Android's Storage Access Framework (Drive, OneDrive, and Box do... I assume Dropbox as well).

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Does anyone know if the Note 4 supports Synching Google Tasks, or are you still limited to Samsung Account Tasks or using another PIM Service (like Outlook.com) which supports Tasks Synchronization (Granted, you can always use Google Now for Reminders, but it isn't really the same thing...).
 
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After downloading those images to my PC, yea... I really don't see that big of a difference in image quality between the Note 4 and the Note 3.

I am kind of concerned with the image sizes, though. 4.5-6MB a pop, WTF?! I'm sort of trialing the Google+ stuff (again) right now and there's no way I'd let a phone Auto Backup images that large over Cellular.


2. You can put an HTC One M8 (I have one here, inches away form me with my Note 3) face down and it will still blow away almost every other phone on the market. The reason why HTC's speakers are great has a lot more to do with their design than their mere placement; and I don't find them to be all that superior to the Droid Maxx's speakers. The Moto X 2014 is supposedly on par with the One M8.

What I do find superior is the M8's ability to pump out ear-breaking volume (really HTC? why?) through the headphones. They really hit pretty "unhealthy" volume levels easily. I tend to use my Note 3 for listening through Headsets (better quality to my ears compared to the M8's headphone Jack especially with Boomsound turned on) and the M8 when listening to music through the speakers (+ since it isn't my daily drive I don't care how much battery I waste on it :p ) since they're on a different dimension compared to the Note 3's single speaker (which is still placed better than the Note 4's).

I was not happy when I seen Samsung put the speaker on the back of the phone. Seems like a step backwards.

3. I think a few tablets shipped with that resolution.

4. No Evernote on my Note 3 (and certainly no WhatsApp), but there is a version on Samsung Galaxy Apps which may be the one you're referring to. I don't use Evernote, so I've never bothered to check that.

5. Correct ;-) However, on my phone even if I have Dropbox installed and Activated, it stays FTP. Which is fine, as long as the cloud storage provider in question supports Android's Storage Access Framework (Drive, OneDrive, and Box do... I assume Dropbox as well).

---- ----

Does anyone know if the Note 4 supports Synching Google Tasks, or are you still limited to Samsung Account Tasks or using another PIM Service (like Outlook.com) which supports Tasks Synchronization (Granted, you can always use Google Now for Reminders, but it isn't really the same thing...).

These answers should be more directed at chong, since my answers were directed at his comments/observations, but just making sure I'm understanding your additions:

2) So, you're agreeing with me that no phones should really be compared to the HTC speakers, as those would blow any phone speakers away, correct?

3) You're right. I forgot about the G Pad having it, but never seen a phone with that resolution...ever.

4) That's interesting. Maybe it was dependent on carrier. It was pre-loaded on my Sprint version and mentioned specifically that it had custom features, for the Note 3...but, good that it can be uninstalled for most folks. Must be a YMMV situation.

5) You're the one that lead me to understand that there was FTP on the stock file explorer, remember?...LOL That's when I had showed you the screenshot with the dropbox image (where your FTP was indicated). As soon as I removed my Dropbox account (which was a good idea anyway because it was storing up so much cache that it was clogging up my internal storage), it popped up on the main menu in the stock file explorer.
 
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I went to BestBuy as well to take a look at them. I wish they had all the other colors on display as well, instead of them all being white. The one thing I did notice that was a little off-putting was that the gap between the aluminum and screen was not even all around. I'm picky about that stuff. Hopefully it's just a fluke.

I looked at a white one at Best Buy this afternoon. It is a beautiful device, no doubt about that. But, the glass is not an exact fit in the aluminum trim. On the one I looked at the extra space was along the right side. The left side was tight but the right had a gap. I think it would be much less noticeable on a black one and I don't see how it could affect he function at all.
 
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