But that's all it needs to be competitive with the Note. I see quite a few Notes out in public and a few friends own them but you know what I rarely see being used, if ever? The S-Pen--my friends even admit they never use it, forget it's even there. Quite a lot of people love the Note simply because of the extra screen real estate--they just want a bigger phone.
The fact that you can use multi-window or that it has a stylus makes no difference to what I'd guess is a pretty substantial number of Note users. And until now, if you wanted a phone with a big screen, your choices were basically the Note and a few other minor devices. Samsung is now going to have to share the 'Consumers who just want a big screen' pie with Apple.
I don't know about that, do you have numbers or research to back that up besides observing a few people? I don't claim to have the answer either, but I do know that stylus use is incredibly important to me. If the Note series didn't have the stylus I would most likely not buy it and would probably prefer a LG G3 or the 5.5" iPhone. Multi window is probably a little used feature because Samsung are morons and only allow a few apps to be used this way. You can root and install an xposed module that allows any app to be used multi window, but how many consumers will go to that trouble?
Add to that how incredible OneNote for Android is now. With true handwriting support, seamless and lightning fast syncing, and searchable handwriting I just cannot fathom ever taking notes with another device.
It's just my personal opinion but I have a feeling that the stylus plays a pretty big part in a consumer decision within that group of consumers who have already decided they want a phablet.
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They have precisely ruined the proportions/ratio that I found to be so beautiful on Note 3.
Pictures from
The Verge:
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WHY??? WHYYYYY Samsung?
It was exactly what made Note 3 so special. It was a phablet, but you could forgive because of the bezels and overall fell. It is the difference between clunky and not clunky, even though it is that little a difference. It means so much when you hold a device.
I don't see the difference really. The N4 is a tiny bit longer and narrower, which is actually a plus with holding it into the hand. Otherwise I see the corners are a touch more squared off. The top and bottom bezels look a tiny bit larger too, but only a tiny bit. The side bezels look exactly the same.
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And you know none of that will matter to a consumer seriously considering an iPhone. If any/all of that is important to a consumer, they're already using an Android device.
There is nobody Samsung can steal customer from with their Note since it's basically been the only game in town. Where do you think Apple will get many of their customers for the 5.5" device?
I'm not trying to argue the merits of one device over the other because as Shanghaichica correctly pointed out, they really are very different and won't always target the same consumer--only that I think Samsung stands to lose quite a bit when Apple releases the 5.5" iPhone and didn't do themselves any favors by announcing today but not having the Note 4 available until well after Apple makes their announcement.
Well Samsung stole me from my iPhone, who knows how many other users are out there like myself. I do agree that Samsung messed up not releasing the phone before the iPhone.
This beast needs at least a 3,500mAh.
