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Galaxy Note 4 reviews

The one issue with the review is the negative of no battery life improvement for screen on time. Being on par with the N3 and 1080p is impressive, especially considering the G3 in comparison is about two hours less and has a smaller display.

I think the reviewer's point is this could have been really impressive with a 1080p, since would be even better battery life. Still seems counter-intuitive to the fact this is a Qhd device and not 1080p.

I would expect battery life to be better than the N3 with less SOT due to the 805's improved battery management. In theory at least.
 
The one caution I have is Phone Arena noting the audio output from the the jack is a lot lower than other current devices. Low audio output does not usually equal good quality sound. I will need to test at Best Buy.
 
Just wish Samsung had the production capacity to but the Ex chip in all N4 models instead of the 805. The Ex is a CPU beast in comparison, so would mean better performance for higher end MAME games and PSP.
 
rushmore said:
Just wish Samsung had the production capacity to but the Ex chip in all N4 models instead of the 805. The Ex is a CPU beast in comparison, so would mean better performance for higher end MAME games and PSP.
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You really think it will be that noticeable of a difference?

Overall - what percentage of people will even know the difference? I do find it strange the US variants usually get what is considered a slightly inferior chip, but this isn't something that worries me about the N4. My N3 has never once suffered from hardware limitations to my recollection. I don't use emulators however.
 
Popped into the local Samsung store in bristol UK yesterday and they had the n4 on display - they get it on Thursday if anyone is local to a store...
Very nice design, very light - feels lighter the the n3, trim is much nicer but not sure about the annodised white finish on the white model and black finish on the black model. Think it would have looked better like the Alpha...silver.
Its quick, the screen is amazing. Didn't think to try the camera but apart from that it is as functional as the note 3...the pens had been removed too! Didnt notice any quality issues with gaps etc.
One thing I found after updating to the n3 from the n2 was the underwhelming feeling of updating to something that looks different yet does the same thing. There was nothing but the look and feel. I can feel that happening with this as it is a small update rather than a huge jump of an upgrade. Its not a windows 10 type upgrade!
Shame it couldn't receive L out of the box...!
All the same, looks very nice, it'll never go in a case - its too pretty.
 
icemanchilled said:
First thing that comes to mind looking at those benchmarks, the Galaxy Alpha is a great little device thanks to the lower resolution display. :)

Disappointed with the Note 4 (Snapdragon 805) performance, good device but the hardware just isn't at a level we need for 2560*1440.
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The 805 GPU was designed for Qhd being its normal operational zone, per Qualcomm. Tests support this, but I still agree from the perspective 1440 is overkill for a small display. I do not exactly see a rush by consumers to 1440 for their desktops and laptops and those displays are much larger, yet we are dwelling on much smaller displays. The irony is thick with silly.

I agree 100% with Apple and Sony sticking with 1080p. Given the N4 battery life apparently being in the top two of devices (Z3 number 1), just imagine how high it would be with 1080p.

Really wish Samsung had invested that $994 million for chip production two years ago instead of now. Then we would all probably get the much better CPU performing Ex chip in all N4 models. THAT chip is probably going to make a lot of tech geeks "stuck" with the 805 jealous. Yeppers.
 
rushmore said:
The 805 GPU was designed for Qhd being its normal operational zone, per Qualcomm. Tests support this, but I still agree from the perspective 1440 is overkill for a small display. I do not exactly see a rush by consumers to 1440 for their desktops and laptops and those displays are much larger, yet we are dwelling on much smaller displays. The irony is thick with silly.

I agree 100% with Apple and Sony sticking with 1080p. Given the N4 battery life apparently being in the top two of devices (Z3 number 1), just imagine how high it would be with 1080p.

Really wish Samsung had invested that $994 million for chip production two years ago instead of now. Then we would all probably get the much better CPU performing Ex chip in all N4 models. THAT chip is probably going to make a lot of tech geeks "stuck" with the 805 jealous. Yeppers.
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I just wish we could get nvidias K1 in a smartphone, there is also faster version also planned with 64bit support.

People often ask why the iPhone runs games better, well try Tegra K1 and you can finally see Android is not a limiting factor, we just lack the GPU performance but they absolutely fly with K1.

Snapdragon 805 provides comparable performance at 1440p to Snapdragon 800/801 at 1080p so there has been no real performance increase, still slower than the iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s.

By the time qualcomm catchup nvidia will have maxwell out and who knows what Apple will be using.

Pretty disappointing year for Android manufacturers to be honest.
 
No harm no foul on the k1, since the core temp gets over 90C per Anandtech. The K1 would have to be throttled to 805 performance level to not get so hot.

It is also a power sucking demon when running 3D. Kind of the chip version of the G3 display as far a power hogging.
 
rushmore said:
No harm no foul on the k1, since the core temp gets over 90C per Anandtech. The K1 would have to be throttled to 805 performance level to not get so hot.

It is also a power sucking demon when running 3D. Kind of the chip version of the G3 display as far a power hogging.
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I remember reading about K1's power draw back in march when they were using review boxes.

Can't say I've noticed much heat from my nvidia Shield and battery life so far has been very good, comparable to my old Nexus 7 2013, probably a little better.

But yes the battery does drain quickly while playing games, but that's not unusual.

Can you post a link to where Anandtech commented on the load temps? I don't recall seing anything about that when I read their review.
 
Shocky said:
I remember reading about K1's power draw back in march when they were using review boxes.

Can't say I've noticed much heat from my nvidia Shield and battery life so far has been very good, comparable to my old Nexus 7 2013, probably a little better.

But yes the battery does drain quickly while playing games, but that's not unusual.

Can you post a link to where Anandtech commented on the load temps? I don't recall seing anything about that when I read their review.
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Look up the follow-up review of the Shield tablet. They point out the higher temp and the potential concern for the silicon at that temp. Not sure of the link now.
 
rushmore said:
Look up the follow-up review of the Shield tablet. They point out the higher temp and the potential concern for the silicon at that temp. Not sure of the link now.
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Looking at the results it pretty much flat lined at 80C under very heavy load, games will likely never stress the hardware this much so I don't see this as worrying at all.

Actually very impressed with the results, 110 loops of GFXBench 3.0 T-Rex Onscreen test before there was any significant reduction in performance. That's mighty impressive considering how much Snapdragon and other SoC's on the market throttle in normal gaming situations. :D

AnandTech | Revisiting SHIELD Tablet: Gaming Battery Life and Temperatures
 
My concern with the Shield is the weak wifi that is a known issue. The 16gb had weaker wifi of any devices I have tested and users are reporting the same for the LTE model. I never got to the game testing stage when noticed the weak wifi. I prefer returning a product until the OE fixes it for sure rather than me hoping it happens.
 
rushmore said:
My concern with the Shield is the weak wifi that is a known issue. The 16gb had weaker wifi of any devices I have tested and users are reporting the same for the LTE model. I never got to the game testing stage when noticed the weak wifi. I prefer returning a product until the OE fixes it for sure rather than me hoping it happens.
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Wifi performance is fine, not as good as it could be but everything downloads and streams quickly enough so haven't noticed any issues outside of speedtest.

Shame on you, it's an amazing tablet for gaming and you sent it it back before testing gaming performance?!

What's wrong with you?! :p
 
icemanchilled said:
Wifi performance is fine, not as good as it could be but everything downloads and streams quickly enough so haven't noticed any issues outside of speedtest.

Shame on you, it's an amazing tablet for gaming and you sent it it back before testing gaming performance?!

What's wrong with you?! :p
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The wifi bugged me, so better to wait to see if fixed rather than me cry about it after keeping it ;)
 
rushmore said:
The wifi bugged me, so better to wait to see if fixed rather than me cry about it after keeping it ;)
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Meh, you could have at least put it through it's paces before sending it back.

What was wrong with the wifi anyway? other than slightly slow 5GHz band performance I haven't experienced any issues.
 
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