Note 4 Review – Why the Note 4 is King of Phablets!

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Today we are going to talk about why the Galaxy Note 4 is the king of phablets, this is my full Note 4 review.

First of all, what is a phablet?

Phablet is basically a large phone that may double as a tablet due to its larger-than-normal size, roughly 5.5 inches to 6-inches is considered a phablet.  Phones like HTC One or S5 are not considered phablets because they are just a bit small.  Phones like LG G3, Note Edge, Nexus 6, and Note 4 are considered phablets.  Once it hits 7-inches, it’s really a tablet as it doesn’t fit in your pockets anymore.

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Why is the Note 4 king of phablets?

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The Note 4 is a 4th generation phone. This means they’ve worked on this phone for the last 4 years and has gotten better every year.  Every year there’s more features added, the design has gotten really good.  People have been complaining about the plastic for the first 3 years and Note 4 now comes with a metal bezal with solid feeling in the hands.

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First, Note 4 has a lot of features that make sense.  Let’s start with the one-handed mode keyboard.  Although this may be a small feature but goes a long ways so you can type easily with one-hand even with a whopping 5.7-inch screen.  Take the Nexus 6 for example, Google just got into the phablet game, it’s missing stuff like this.  Heck, there’ even more one-handed features like reducing screen size, one handed input, and side key panel.

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Note 4 has the most advanced multi-tasking ever.  The Note series came out with the the first multi-window for Android period and it has gotten better every year.  With the Note 2, Samsung introduced multi-window. With the Note 3, Samsung introduced floating windows.  With the Note 4, you can make any window into a floating window. This is pretty advanced stuff, no other phablet in the world comes even close.  Every one likes to copy but nothing beats original Note, it does everything!

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Next, let’s about sensors.  The Note 4 has more sensors than you could imagine including a heart rate sensor, UV sensor, pedometer, and even an oxygen saturation meter.  The Note 4 does many things, there’s no need to carry additional health gadgets.  S Health app also allows you to easily record and track everything easily.  I even have people who have told me they lost weight with the app/  It’s also got great cardio app.  Whether you are walking, jogging, cycling, or hiking, it can automatically calculate your distance, speed, and even number of calories burned.

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My favorite part is the IR blaster, you can throw your TV remote away.  The Note 4 comes with IR blaster that can control all of your TVs, blu-ray players, cable boxes, etc…etc…

And yes, there is a fingerprint scanner.  I am not too keen on it as I feel it’s easy for bad guys to chop off your hand to unlock your phone but it’s there if you want to use it.

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Taking notes or drawing art like a real pen?  Note 4’s S-pen is plain ridiculously awesome with 2048 pressure sensitivity points.  When you write on the Note 4, it finds the exact coordinates, precise angles, and pressure level applied.  Want to take notes like a real notebook?  There’s simply no substitute for the Note 4.  Other phone manufacturer try to copy Note 4’s note taking features but nothing close to having the original. I mean Note 4 is like having Wacom tablet integrate into the phone.

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The 16MP camera with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) on the Note 4 is excellent along with its 4K video recording.  Overall, Note 4 has plenty of camera features to get you that photo/video you need for many different occasions.  4K and 1080P video recording is as best as it gets on a smartphone.  Also, you can download different camera modes with support for new camera modes.  If Galaxy S6 comes out with a new camera feature, you will get it with your Note 4.  On screen HDR is also great for actually being able to see your HDR photo before taking it.

The Note 4 comes with Snapdragon 805 processor at 2.7Ghz, this is the fastest processor on the market “right now” (810 has been announced but not actually out with any phone yet).  The powerful 805 processor will last you at least 2 years before you need an upgrade.

The best thing about Note phones?  They literally last forever. Note series get better with age, just like wine.  As Note is one of the most popular phones for rooting/custom ROMs, you will be able to continually upgrade your phone with custom ROM to enjoy new Android OS in the future even if Samsung stops updating it.

Battery life on the Note 4 is not as good as the Note 3 due to its quad-HD 1440P screen but then again, it’s better than smaller smartphones like the HTC One and Galaxy S5.

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The 1440P quad-HD screen is brilliant.  When LG G3 came out with the world’s first 1440P screen on a smartphone, it had over-sharpening problems when viewing full-sized websites.  The Note 4 has absolutely no problems like that, it’s just flawless screen.

My favorite feature on the Note series in general is the external micro-SD card and support for USB OTG out of the box.  As soon as I received my 32GB Note 4, I inserted a 64GB micro-SD card to turn it into a 96GB device! (You can also use 128GB micro-SD card.)  On top of that, you can connect any of your favorite USB flash drives by using an OTG cable (no root needed) and this works out of the box!  With 4K videos on the rise, you need to have good alternative storage and Note 4 has exactly that.

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Last not but least, you can turn your Note 4 into an Oculus Rift with Gear VR.  Gear VR will turn your Note 4 into a full-fledged virtual reality headset, no other smartphone can do this.

So, who needs the Note 4?

For those of you who want to do everything.  Whether that’s taking notes for your class, sketching digital art for your new logo designs, keeping track of all your exercise routines at the gym, or maybe even keeping track of what you eat to lose weight, the Note 4 does everything literally.  It doesn’t matter whether you are a student, artist, couch-potatoe, photographer, videographer, or maybe a vlogger, the Note 4 can help you accomplish your goals.

What is wrong with the Note 4?

I will be honest with you, TouchWiz is a bit laggy.  To fix, just install a 3rd-party launcher like Nova launcher and problem sovled.  Older people don’t know what launchers even are but TouchWiz lag is simply TouchWiz launcher lagging, replacing with  a faster Nova launcher will solve that issue easily within seconds.

Price?

Price is right.  Note 4 is priced at $689 to $749 for no-contract price.  That’s maybe 50-100 more than the Nexus 6, maybe a bit more than LG G3.  But think about what you can do with your Note 4, probably a lot more you can do than with any other phablet that is priced similarly.

Out of the all the phones launched in 2014. What is the best phone that kills everything else on the market?   It’s definitely the Note 4, not just king of phablets but king of smartphones period.

Getting a new Note 4?  See Amazon here for best prices.

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Max Lee

Max Lee is the founder of HighOnAndroid.com. Max makes Android tutorials and review videos for people who want to get high on Android over at his YouTube channel and Korean YouTube channel.