To Former and Current Note 4 Owners....

[chinee]

From reading replies over the last week or so, I know there's at least 2 members here who transitioned from Note 4's; I'd like your feedback on this device.

My daughter is a diehard Samsung fan and her S4 is starting to show it's age, and behave like a heavily used 2 year old phone that badly needs a factory reset. So I was cruising eBay last night and on impulse dropped a $350 bid on an almost mint white 32 GB Note 4, and surprisingly won. So now I'm contemplating using the N4 just for s*** and giggles. I will eventually pass it down to her, but I can have fun for a little while.

So what's the quick and dirty on the N4? Why you made the switch, new phone fever? What did you like about the Note 4, what you didn't, and any general things I should know?

 

[chinee]

... and I will be browsing the N4 boards for more info. There's just SO MUCH to sift through with a device that's been out a year...

 

[The_Chief]

I had the Note 4 and it had some issues. Foremost were the Bluetooth binaries.

I wear a BT stereo headset almost all day long (Jabra Revo Wireless, worth their weight in gold). The Note 4 would routinely forget that I was listening to music. I would hit the Play button on my headset and... nothing. It took me unlocking the phone, going to Play Music, and manually starting the tunes. Worse, I would hit Pause on my headset and the music would play on - again, I would have to go into the phone to pause the music. Infuriating!

Not so on the Moto X Pure. Whether it's 5 minutes, 5 hours or overnight: I hit the headset button and everything just works.

The Note 4 was rooted and ROMmed. Android Pay will not work on rooted devices. I know that's MY deal, but another reason to switch. And the tinny little rear-facing speaker never did anything justice.

That said, the Note 4 was great for what I wanted it to do besides music. The S-pen functionality will be sorely missed. But I'm not looking back: the Moto X Pure is everything I want (except the S-pen, I'll get over it) in a smartphone. If you want a Note, skip the Note 5 and go with the Note 4. Bigger battery and a microSD slot. You'll love the phone... just don't rely on it for all-day music through a BT Headset!

The only reason I'm not selling the Note 4 is because I also have the Gear VR and I'll use it for VR Purposes. I hope this helps.

 

[chinee]

The only reason I'm not selling the Note 4 is because I also have the Gear VR and I'll use it for VR Purposes. I hope this helps.

What exactly do you do with VR? I don't know much about it (other than my kids want an Occulus).

 

[zombdroid]

I had a Note 4 and think it is a great phone. I purchased under a Big Red plan. I got rid of them and ported to another carrier. Things that made me get rid of it. BLOATWARE! Seeing the Verizon logo every time I turned it on and plastered on the back.

I had been trying to get away from carrier bloatware for some time but refuse to give up a MicroSD slot, so that made Nexus phones out of the question. Not only do I like this phone, I like that it supports GSM and CDMA and multiple bands at that. It is fast, I mean really fast. No interchangeable battery kind of sucks, but to charge to 100% in less than an hour, that is awesome (WITH Motorola's charger). You will most likely enjoy the Note 4.

 

[Shrews824]

I have a Note 4 and like it very much, but I was really wanting to try stock Android and the Motorola price point along with "new phone fever" really helped push me into the Moto X Pure direction. After I received the Lollipop update on my ATT Note 4 I really started seeing a lot of lag and stutter. It began to get bothersome. I'd agree with the Bluetooth issues as well. The Note 4 screen and camera seems to be a bit better than the Moto X Pure though, but I don't believe that it's so great that it will make me regret my decision to move to Motorola. I will say that I didn't have the greatest battery life with my Note 4 either. I'm not sure if it was my coverage area or what, but I never could get the SOT that a lot of other people seemed to be getting on their Note and I never downloaded a lot of apps and I frequently closed apps when not in use. I'm not a heavy gamer either. Granted my Moto X Pure is new, but the battery has been just as good if not a touch better than my Note was. I don't think you'll regret your decision to grab the Note 4 however. It truly is a very good phone and although I didn't use the S Pen a great deal.... I'll miss it in those times when I did use it for things like note taking and highlighting text.

 

[The_Chief]

What exactly do you do with VR? I don't know much about it (other than my kids want an Occulus).

The Gear VR, along with the appropriate device (in my case the Note 4), is used for a fully-immersive virtual reality experience. You can look forward, behind you, left, right, up, down... and with headphones on you're essentially transported to an alternate reality. VERY COOL. Occulus and Samsung are at the forefront of VR: while I expect VR to be a fringe technology for at least 3 more years, it's still really awesome fringe technology. Just don't try walking or driving with a VR headset on

 

[chinee]

I have a Note 4 and like it very much, but I was really wanting to try stock Android and the Motorola price point along with "new phone fever" really helped push me into the Moto X Pure direction. After I received the Lollipop update on my ATT Note 4 I really started seeing a lot of lag and stutter. It began to get bothersome. I'd agree with the Bluetooth issues as well. The Note 4 screen and camera seems to be a bit better than the Moto X Pure though, but I don't believe that it's so great that it will make me regret my decision to move to Motorola. I will say that I didn't have the greatest battery life with my Note 4 either. I'm not sure if it was my coverage area or what, but I never could get the SOT that a lot of other people seemed to be getting on their Note and I never downloaded a lot of apps and I frequently closed apps when not in use. I'm not a heavy gamer either. Granted my Moto X Pure is new, but the battery has been just as good if not a touch better than my Note was. I don't think you'll regret your decision to grab the Note 4 however. It truly is a very good phone and although I didn't use the S Pen a great deal.... I'll miss it in those times when I did use it for things like note taking and highlighting text.

Thanks... good opinion piece.

 

[chinee]

The Gear VR, along with the appropriate device (in my case the Note 4), is used for a fully-immersive virtual reality experience. You can look forward, behind you, left, right, up, down... and with headphones on you're essentially transported to an alternate reality. VERY COOL. Occulus and Samsung are at the forefront of VR: while I expect VR to be a fringe technology for at least 3 more years, it's still really awesome fringe technology. Just don't try walking or driving with a VR headset on

Now I want one...!