In case anyone actually reads this far still looking for information on the original topic, I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts on the Note 4 thus far. Keep in mind, I've never had an iPhone, so this is not really a comparison--just some (rather long and rambling) impressions.
1. Battery life is good. I don't have an objective measurement, but I'm able to leave "Ok, Google" and GPS on at all times and still get a day's worth of music streaming, phone calls, etc.
2. I'm quickly becoming spoiled by the larger screen. I go back to the old phone and it feels just wrong. I switched to the Basic color profile, and it looks fantastic. I've never bothered with Netflix or Amazon Prime movies on a phone before, but this is actually big enough to be watchable.
3. The S-Pen was one of my reasons for buying the phone, which had me all nervous about it: I was very afraid it'd turn out to be no more than a party trick, or a "meh, it's OK now and again" thing, and I'd regret making it a decision point.
However, a few nights ago I found out you can use it for text entry pretty much everywhere: just hover over the text field and click on the pop-up "T." And it actually translates my horribly messy *cursive* without a hitch probably 95% of the time. Has occasional issues with punctuation marks, but other than that, just about spot on.
Frankly, I'm amazed by it. I can compose tweets and Facebook statuses and text messages by hand. I find this much more fluid than a tiny on-screen keyboard. Not so good for longer posts, but for that, I'd rather be on the computer anyway.
4. Google Now is far from perfect, but still works OK for quick reminders or starting music in the car. Most of the time it picks up quickly when I say "OK, Google." However, it's frustratingly unintuitive in certain ways. For example, I couldn't find any way to *stop* Google music using only voice control. It's also far less integrated into applications than Siri is, based on what I've seen with friends' iPhones. (It does have less of an attitude--I'll leave it to you to decide if that's good or bad.) And I don't think it functions much at all if you are out of range of a decent signal.
5. Speaking of signal (and again, no objective measures), thus far the Note 4 does a much better job of holding onto cell signals than did the GS3. At home, I had to stand in one particular spot or step outside, and woe to me if I slouched too much. With the Note 4, although I have about the same poor signal strength (usually -103 dBm or worse...blah), but I haven't had a dropped call yet. Call quality is quite good, too.
6. I wasn't expecting much from the fingerprint reader: I've heard too many negatives. It does work relatively OK, but there are some frustrating and puzzling aspects. First of all, why just three fingers? I ended up doing right thumb and index and just my left thumb, since using my left index is awkward most of the time, but four would be a much more logical number of prints to hold. And though I'm usually able to make it work after a try or two, it's still enough of a hassle I may just go back to a swipe pattern or pin. This is another aspect where I'm eyeing the iPhone users with envy.
7. I really need to spend more time learning the camera. For still shots in just about any light, it does quite well, but when I tried to take some pictures of my nieces and nephews playing on Christmas Eve, anything that was moving even the littlest bit blurred, and some things looked overly sharpened. In contrast, (older) iPhone pictures taken in the same lighting look grainy, but at least not blurred. I know some conditions just aren't going to be overcome by a cell phone camera, but I'd still hoped for better.
It does capture great detail, and I'm pleased with the colors, for the most part. Like I said, I need to spend more time with it.
8. The Note 4 does lag on occasion. I'm sorry, but it's true. Sometimes the recent apps drawer doesn't pop up instantaneously. It's never more than seconds, so I'm not all that bothered by it, but...just keepin' it honest.
9. I miss the GS3's alarm clock. Samsung, why oh why did you remove the ability to shout "STOP!" and "SNOOZE!" at my clock? It was also handy for timers: you could yell "STOP!" when a timer ended while you were cooking, rather than having to wash and dry your hands in order to deal with the doggone thing. I'm sure there are third party, apps, but I'm annoyed they took this away.
10. I went looking (as I do every year or two) for decent music recording apps for Android--nothing fancy, just enough to capture a practice track--and once again am frustrated by what's available for iPhone vs Android. There are plenty of voice recorders for memos, but nothing for Android. I know you can't get much without additional hardware...but again, that hardware is available for iThings.
11. I did get my music transferred from iTunes: I picked up iSyncr, and although it wasn't a perfectly smooth process (had to keep restarting the process), it worked OK. Not sure it would have been all *that* much better with an iPhone. iTunes has a tendency to lock up on me and otherwise misbehave.
All in all, although I'm still keeping my return window in mind, I think the pros outweigh the cons. The main things I think iPhone has and I don't are the fingerprint reader, Siri, and decent audio recording capabilities.
But I'd have a hard time letting go of the S-Pen--not to mention another two hundred and fifty dollars!
