Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review - Best Phablet Yet

[Mark Spoonauer]

The Galaxy Note 4 delivers a luscious quad HD screen, advanced multitasking, better pen input and a sharper camera, all in a slick metal frame.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review - Best Phablet Yet : Read more

 

[Kary K]

I appreciate the review which by industry standards seems very unbiased with personal opinion.

I wish that low light shot had also been done with HDR on as a third comparison.

 

[Matthew Langley]

Good review on multiple parts (I think your camera comparisson was mostly fair if a bit limited and points out the strengths and weaknesses of Note 4 vs iPhone).

I am a bit skeptical about a couple other areas however:

1) Brightness

You say it hit 318 nits brightness

Display Mate is my choice reference here:
http/www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_Note4_ShootOut_1.htm#Brightness_Contrast

In manual brightness mode they saw (in adaptive display screen mode the default mode):
Average: 382
Full: 350
Peak: 445

Auto Mode: 478-750

Compared to iPhone 6 Plus
http/www.displaymate.com/iPhone6_ShootOut.htm#Brightness_Contrast
Average: 566
Full: 566
Peak: 566
Auto: 566


So yes, one of the benefits of an LCD (one of the few benefits over AMOLED) is better and more constent brightness; however display mate got ratings for the Note 4 higher than yours and their peak was 445 which is actually pretty good... Then in auto mode it goes up to 750 far higher than the iPhone can go. I could understand a critique since it's not a manual option though that's obviously to benefit users from not leaving brightness at some ridiculously high rating and killing their batter (not sure if I woudn't still like the option but you should show the full picture).

So was your 318 in the Adaptive mode? Was it an average rating, peak, low, etc? Did you take enough of a sample to get average and peak values?

Since your results differ so much from someone like display mate I would suggesting looking at your testing procedures


2) Battery life

Your battery test seems a bit limited and cattered towards the strengths of LCD screens (and weakness of AMOLED) and towards only a single user's use case.

http/www.displaymate.com/iPhone6_ShootOut.htm#Display_Power
"For mixed image content (that includes photos, videos, and movies, for example) with a typical 50 percent Average Picture Level,
the latest OLED Galaxy Note 4 display is 21 percent more efficient than the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus displays. On the other hand, for a
Full White Screen the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are 45 percent more display power efficient than the latest OLED Galaxy Note 4 display."

This means that iPhone 6 with LCD is probably 20 percent or so more efficient than the Note 4's AMOLED on high white level content such as browser pages (considering they're 45 percent more efficient in a full white screen) and the Note 4 is about 20 percent more efficient with mixed image content such as photos videos and movies.

This is why it's important to battery test more than just browsers, especially considering people won't just look at a browser and even if they do they'll probably watch videos etc.

That's purely display mate's look at the screens too, while the Note 4 has a bigger battery, this is why more sites that do comprehensive tests are finding the Note 4 has a better battery life than the iPhone 6 Plus (though it does weakest in web browsing tests)


3) Color accuracy

You say:

"On our lab tests using a colorimeter, the Galaxy Note 4 produced 163 percent of the sRGB color gamut. Samsung's AMOLED displays tend to produce oversaturated hues, so that high number isn't a surprise. The iPhone 6 Plus registered 95 percent on the same test. It was a similar story with color accuracy, with the Note 4 achieving a Delta-E rating of 4.2 (closer to 0 is best) and the iPhone 6 Plus a 1.9."

Again I'll refer to the display mate in-depth analysis:

http/www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_Note4_ShootOut_1.htm#Colors_Intensities

I'm guessing you left the note 4 in the Adaptive Display mode which purposely has a higher color gamut and less color accuracy. Display mate found the Basic mode was the most color accurate screen for any smartphone, even compared to the iPhone.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Very nice job Samsung!

 

[M.Spoonauer]

Please note that our brightness test was conducted using our instruments. Happy to look at the measurements again but there's no question the iPhone 6 is brighter.

As for complaints about 4.5 vs 4 stars, we actually docked a 1/2 star for battery life. It was less than longest lasting phones. We normalize all battery tests for phones at 150 nits of brightness.

The VIDTRIM result chart has an error. That will be fixed.

Thanks

 

[truejudge]

Agree with all those who say you are biased, just like several other biased reviews of Samsung's excellent phones.
One thing many of you have in common is a sly compliment to Samsung thrown in here and there to make it look unbiased, for example the hypocritical title you give your article then followed by a pile of made up flaws, you apple fan's love bending things don't you.
Why can't you just admit your jealous, too painful?

 

[Watching Everything]

"compete with Apple Pay with NFC-enabled payments."

Notice how even though this service is just starting the tech community has already decided to completely remove Google Wallet from the conversation. Just Saying.

 

[truejudge]

Agree with all those who say you are biased, just like several other biased reviews of Samsung's excellent phones.
One thing many of you have in common is a sly compliment to Samsung thrown in here and there to make it look unbiased, for example the hypocritical title you give your article then followed by a pile of made up flaws, you apple fan's love bending things don't you.
Why can't you just admit your jealous, too painful?

 

[soldier44]

Love my Note 4, the Iphone is for the kiddies and those that don't want any customization.

 

[Rick liners]

The oxymetry is an amazing tool. Health care providers can use it in the field. You can check grandpa's oxymetry to decide if his copd exacerbation is bad enough to go to ER vs calling your doctor's office. A COPD patient can monitor their oxymetry to detect if their disease is acutely worsening. One can fill a page with the multiple uses of this feature. The heart rate monitor is a gimmick but oxymetry is a unique and very useful feature. It boggles my mind how everyone fails to recognize its potential! It's like it's an afterthought.
Say your kids suffering a flare up of asthma, or your mom or your little kid, who was sent home on antibiotics for pneumonia, are not getting better, you check on them later and find the pulse ox is in the 80's, that means you're making a trip to ER, no delay! People don't get the importance of this.
I do not like touch wiz but I am considering this phone because of the oximeter.

 

[Colin Lee]

Agree with all those who say you are biased, just like several other biased reviews of Samsung's excellent phones.
One thing many of you have in common is a sly compliment to Samsung thrown in here and there to make it look unbiased, for example the hypocritical title you give your article then followed by a pile of made up flaws, you apple fan's love bending things don't you.
Why can't you just admit your jealous, too painful?

Lol, you've got some serious issues regarding Apple dude....

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

On the brightness side, the Galaxy Note 4’s AMOLED display can go as bright as up to 400 nits in manual mode, which is comparable to displays of the same size. Under Automatic Brightness mode though, the Note 4’s display can reach a brightness level of up to 750 nits. Even the minimum brightness levels of the display is an impressively low 2 nits.

http/www.androidbeat.com/2014/09/displaymate-praises-galaxy-note4-amoled-display-performance/

 

[akhgar96]

I bought note 4 like 4 days ago and the back speaker is notworking. The only sound I here comes from front speaker which is not made for listening music. Please suggest me what to do.