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DaveMike11

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 26, 2014
142
10
The Note 4 phone is currently at BestBuy for demo. I would like to hear from people who played with it in stores at Best Buy. I currently got a iphone 6+. I also played with note 4 today evening. I was really impressed with the device, especially the screen quality, the pictures were amazing. There are so many cool new features. I'm not thinking that I should have gone for the note 4 instead of iphone 6+.

Has anyone in the same boat as me? How was your experiences playing with the device? Share your experiences with it.
 

z06gal

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2011
503
16
I checked it out at BB but I am not a fan of Android so it makes no difference how pretty the screen us to me. Just my 2 cents ;)
 

joshwithachance

macrumors 68020
Dec 11, 2009
2,105
1,320
We're at a point that every flagship phone has a stunning display, so the screen on the Note 4 didn't blow me away compared to my 6 Plus (or previous phones such as the HTC M8 or OPO).

Other than the 2K display it's basically a Note 3 in look and feel. The new metal bands are nice, but don't add much to the device over the faux metal bands on the N3.

Overall the Note 4 is a very "meh" update to me over the Note 3, which I owned for a good 6 months and enjoyed. Surprisingly, none of the Android flagships are tempting me away from my 6 Plus.
 

BigBeast

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2009
643
39
The Note 4 phone is currently at BestBuy for demo. I would like to hear from people who played with it in stores at Best Buy. I currently got a iphone 6+. I also played with note 4 today evening. I was really impressed with the device, especially the screen quality, the pictures were amazing. There are so many cool new features. I'm not thinking that I should have gone for the note 4 instead of iphone 6+.

Has anyone in the same boat as me? How was your experiences playing with the device? Share your experiences with it.

As an owner of a slightly bent iPhone 6+, I contemplated the Note 4. Hardware seemed ok, but still not anywhere close to giving Jony Ive any grief. The screen is great, of course, but the lacks of apps supporting that resolution worries me. Additionally, I've tried to switch to Android fours separate times– all with flagship devices, and all to no avail– I just don't like Android.

I may be annoyed that my brand new iPhone 6+ was bent within a few days of owning it, but it's still better than my 5S, it has TouchID (a feature I cannot live without), and has the best mobile OS in the world. She may not be the strongest phone out there, but I'm still smitten.
 

Ludatyk

macrumors 603
May 27, 2012
5,971
5,141
Texas
I have a 6+ and I tried the Note 4 at BB... And I actually owned a Note 3 before and it seemed similar to the Note 4. Yet, the screen noticeably crisp and it was definitely snappy swiping through various pages. I didn't dive into it too much.. mainly because I despise Touchwiz.

I'm pleased with iOS and I find no reason to change directions. But the Note 4 is a worthy competitor to the 6+. I'd go as far as say... it's a better productivity device in comparison to the 6+. Although, Samsung can be daft and unoriginal... The Note 4 isn't something that can be taken lightly.
 

mazdamiata210

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2014
933
556
Being an owner of a Samsung Blackjack > iPhone > iPhone 3G > iPhone 3GS > iPhone 4 > iPhone 4S > Note 1 > Note 2 > Note 3 > iPhone 5S > iPhone 6 Plus

I can say there is a reason why I came back to an iPhone. Android is great, don't get me wrong. I loved tinkering with my phone and customizing it. I learned how to code some java and even made some ROMs and add-ons for my android phones which I shared with the wonderful XDA android community... However, in the end... iOS wins. Why? Reliability.

After so long you can't deal with the unreliable android OS. Sometimes you miss notifications, missed calls, missed texts, missed emails, rouge apps draining your battery, malicious apps that want to track your locations - use your camera - listen to your microphone, and the list goes on and on. It's things you can deal with because they don't happen often. But when they do happen you're SOL. After a few months I would have to erase my phone and start fresh just to keep that "new" feeling so the phone wouldn't get bogged down even though I run things bare minimum.

My Note 3 was the worst out of all of them. Not only were there major issues with the phone itself (people couldn't hear me when I made a call through the phone) but the software was buggy, and unfinished. 4 times my phone was sitting on my desk not being used and 4 times it came up with a crashed app process with no way to stop the error from coming up without erasing the phone in recovery mode. After this happening the 2nd time I tried going to an AT&T repair center to get my phone replaced. They took it in the back to check it and told me they had swapped it out. Turns out they gave me the same phone back, just cleaned it up and put the plastic back on it. By this point I was fed up and traded it for an iPhone 5s.

I'm not your average user, I consider myself an electronics nerd. For all that I do on my phone, every feature of that Galaxy series is a gimmick. The stylus was barely used in 3 generations of Note ownership. Never once did I use the multitasking. Fingerprint reader on the S5 is a joke. All that power, and the phone still lags scrolling through long menus.

Now reading this you may think I'm your typical android hating apple fanboy. In fact I hate apple computers. I think they're overpriced junk (I built a hackintosh for less than 1/4 of the price as the same spec apple computer)

At the end of the day, if you want a phone that just works, where you don't have to worry about removing 30+ Google and Samsung apps that you'll never use just to get the phone stable (Google movies, music, books, voice, games, and tons of other "bloatware") then an iPhone is that device. When someone calls me, my phone rings. When someone texts me, my phone receives it. When someone comments on my picture on facebook, the app actually works. (although with the way 8.0 is working at the moment this isn't 100% true lol) And now, with the 5.5 inch screen and a battery that can easily get me through the day I have no reason to look back to android.
 

Switchback666

macrumors 68000
Nov 16, 2012
1,600
67
SXM
For those that have held the device, has anyone noticed the 'GAP' behind the screen of the new Note 4's?

Samsung says its a design attribute, not a design flaw. Also says that the gap may widen over time with usage. Yikes.

Noticeable?

http://m.androidcentral.com/galaxy-note-4-screen-gap-necessary-manufacturing-feature-says-manual

I had my Note 3 never noticed the gap (I'm sure i would if someone told me about it) but it seems that on the user manual from Note devices Samsung talks about the gap, same on the Note 4.

Maybe the first batch have a wider gap or with all the iPhone drama people will start looking for any little thing to nitpick from phones this days.
 

verpeiler

macrumors 6502a
May 11, 2013
717
971
Munich, Germany
blablabla

I never had a missed notification/call/text with android so far, maybe you messed up some settings.

And "Samsung" doesn't equal "Android"... there are lots of great android devices out there that are free of bloatware and crap like touchwiz.

So after 1000 chars and lots of personal blabla you come to the conclusion to better buy an iPhone instead of Samsung(=Android). Wow.
 

mazdamiata210

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2014
933
556
I never had a missed notification/call/text with android so far, maybe you messed up some settings.

And "Samsung" doesn't equal "Android"... there are lots of great android devices out there that are free of bloatware and crap like touchwiz.

So after 1000 chars and lots of personal blabla you come to the conclusion to better buy an iPhone instead of Samsung(=Android). Wow.

If you want a phone that is reliable and just works.... Yes. If you want a phone that is very much like a windows pc, needing to be maintenanced all the time to keep running then android is for you.

And your comment about Samung=Android doesn't matter when the OP is talking about a Note 4, I left my review of my previous Note experiences.
 

verpeiler

macrumors 6502a
May 11, 2013
717
971
Munich, Germany
If you want a phone that is reliable and just works.... Yes. If you want a phone that is very much like a windows pc, needing to be maintenanced all the time to keep running then android is for you.

And your comment about Samung=Android doesn't matter when the OP is talking about a Note 4, I left my review of my previous Note experiences.

Uh right, same old ********, over and over... or nice trolling. Whatever, have a nice life.
 

mazdamiata210

macrumors 6502a
Sep 28, 2014
933
556
Uh right, same old ********, over and over... or nice trolling. Whatever, have a nice life.

There's no trolling at all. He wanted to know about a Note 4 and I gave him my experiences with my Note 1,2,3... Have you owned a Note device for a years time? Probably not. So move along.
 

verpeiler

macrumors 6502a
May 11, 2013
717
971
Munich, Germany
There's no trolling at all. He wanted to know about a Note 4 and I gave him my experiences with my Note 1,2,3... Have you owned a Note device for a years time? Probably not. So move along.

You didn't give any experience at all, just platitudes and nonsense about android like malware, missed calls and so on.. and you didn't even talk about the Note 4, that was the topic. Not to forget your crap about windows=android... come on.

btw.. love my miata nb-fl. ;-)
 

Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,725
13,245
UK
There's no trolling at all. He wanted to know about a Note 4 and I gave him my experiences with my Note 1,2,3... Have you owned a Note device for a years time? Probably not. So move along.

I have and I've not experienced any of the things you're talking about.
 

HappyJB

macrumors member
Sep 11, 2012
33
5
Auckland, New Zealand
When someone calls me, my phone rings. When someone texts me, my phone receives it. When someone comments on my picture on facebook, the app actually works. (although with the way 8.0 is working at the moment this isn't 100% true lol) And now, with the 5.5 inch screen and a battery that can easily get me through the day I have no reason to look back to android.

All smartphones do work just like yours, may be better than yours as you described here.
 

Tsuchiya

macrumors 68020
Jun 7, 2008
2,310
372
Being an owner of a Samsung Blackjack > iPhone > iPhone 3G > iPhone 3GS > iPhone 4 > iPhone 4S > Note 1 > Note 2 > Note 3 > iPhone 5S > iPhone 6 Plus

I can say there is a reason why I came back to an iPhone. Android is great, don't get me wrong. I loved tinkering with my phone and customizing it. I learned how to code some java and even made some ROMs and add-ons for my android phones which I shared with the wonderful XDA android community... However, in the end... iOS wins. Why? Reliability.

After so long you can't deal with the unreliable android OS. Sometimes you miss notifications, missed calls, missed texts, missed emails, rouge apps draining your battery, malicious apps that want to track your locations - use your camera - listen to your microphone, and the list goes on and on. It's things you can deal with because they don't happen often. But when they do happen you're SOL. After a few months I would have to erase my phone and start fresh just to keep that "new" feeling so the phone wouldn't get bogged down even though I run things bare minimum.

My Note 3 was the worst out of all of them. Not only were there major issues with the phone itself (people couldn't hear me when I made a call through the phone) but the software was buggy, and unfinished. 4 times my phone was sitting on my desk not being used and 4 times it came up with a crashed app process with no way to stop the error from coming up without erasing the phone in recovery mode. After this happening the 2nd time I tried going to an AT&T repair center to get my phone replaced. They took it in the back to check it and told me they had swapped it out. Turns out they gave me the same phone back, just cleaned it up and put the plastic back on it. By this point I was fed up and traded it for an iPhone 5s.

I'm not your average user, I consider myself an electronics nerd. For all that I do on my phone, every feature of that Galaxy series is a gimmick. The stylus was barely used in 3 generations of Note ownership. Never once did I use the multitasking. Fingerprint reader on the S5 is a joke. All that power, and the phone still lags scrolling through long menus.

Now reading this you may think I'm your typical android hating apple fanboy. In fact I hate apple computers. I think they're overpriced junk (I built a hackintosh for less than 1/4 of the price as the same spec apple computer)

At the end of the day, if you want a phone that just works, where you don't have to worry about removing 30+ Google and Samsung apps that you'll never use just to get the phone stable (Google movies, music, books, voice, games, and tons of other "bloatware") then an iPhone is that device. When someone calls me, my phone rings. When someone texts me, my phone receives it. When someone comments on my picture on facebook, the app actually works. (although with the way 8.0 is working at the moment this isn't 100% true lol) And now, with the 5.5 inch screen and a battery that can easily get me through the day I have no reason to look back to android.

I don't want to completely dismiss these claims, everyones experiences will be different.

However just to throw out my 2 cents, in two years of using Android I've not come across any of these issues on my Galaxy S4. It took maybe 30 minutes to set absolutely everything up including installing Nova Launcher and my phones been golden ever since.
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
We're at a point that every flagship phone has a stunning display, so the screen on the Note 4 didn't blow me away compared to my 6 Plus (or previous phones such as the HTC M8 or OPO).

Other than the 2K display it's basically a Note 3 in look and feel. The new metal bands are nice, but don't add much to the device over the faux metal bands on the N3.

Overall the Note 4 is a very "meh" update to me over the Note 3, which I owned for a good 6 months and enjoyed. Surprisingly, none of the Android flagships are tempting me away from my 6 Plus.

I disagree it feels much different than the N3. much more solid. Its definitely an upgrade for me.
 

Ccrew

macrumors 68020
Feb 28, 2011
2,035
3
For those that have held the device, has anyone noticed the 'GAP' behind the screen of the new Note 4's?

Samsung says its a design attribute, not a design flaw. Also says that the gap may widen over time with usage. Yikes.

Noticeable?

http://m.androidcentral.com/galaxy-note-4-screen-gap-necessary-manufacturing-feature-says-manual

Gap that has everyones knickers in a bunch isn't behind the screen, it's between the screen glass edge and the bezel edge of the phone.
 

Ccrew

macrumors 68020
Feb 28, 2011
2,035
3
I don't want to completely dismiss these claims, everyones experiences will be different.

However just to throw out my 2 cents, in two years of using Android I've not come across any of these issues on my Galaxy S4. It took maybe 30 minutes to set absolutely everything up including installing Nova Launcher and my phones been golden ever since.

I'm in the same boat you are. Except for dropping my Note 3 and having to have the screen replaced it's been stellar with none of these issues. I'd throw it to the curb in a heartbeat as I live by my phone.

Instead I have a Note 4 on preorder.
 

tbayrgs

macrumors 604
Jul 5, 2009
7,467
5,097
The Note 4 phone is currently at BestBuy for demo. I would like to hear from people who played with it in stores at Best Buy. I currently got a iphone 6+. I also played with note 4 today evening. I was really impressed with the device, especially the screen quality, the pictures were amazing. There are so many cool new features. I'm not thinking that I should have gone for the note 4 instead of iphone 6+.

Has anyone in the same boat as me? How was your experiences playing with the device? Share your experiences with it.

The Note 4 is a nice incremental improvement over the Note 3--hardware feels more solid and substantial, screen at first glance seems pretty impressive. I'm note a big fan of Samsungs designs and actually like the rear panel look and texture of the Note 3 over the 4 but these are just based on my preferences. Overall, seems to be Samsungs best hardware to date.

All that being said, I never considered choosing it over the 6+ because of the software and user experience. I've used TouchWiz devices at points over the past 1 1/2 years and I just don't enjoy it. My time using the Note 4 didn't show me that anything has changed enough to consider it.
 

mib1800

Suspended
Sep 16, 2012
2,859
1,250
After so many years I still can't like the archaic ios. All the backwardness from its inception is still around.

-Really slowly and laggy scrolling speed
-Tedious workaround just to do basic email attachments.
-silo data. Make multiple copies the same files for different apps.
-most horrible centralized settings which takes many times longer to set.
-Cannot move back to previous app with back button. Always need to use the task manager.
-locked down no usb host or plug and play support.
-no theme support which make the UI look the same as the other hordes millions.
-can't answer call with home button.
 
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