Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review: It's Hot Hardware

Name: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review
Brand: Samsung

by Marco Chiappetta — Friday, December 05, 2014, 01:20 PM EDT

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is the highest-performing Android-based smartphone we have tested to date. Whether we’re referring to CPU or GPU performance, the 2.7GHz Snapdragon 805 SoC with its Adreno 420 graphics engine at the heart of the Note 4 put up some of the best numbers we have seen. Single and Multi-Core performance is very good, and GPU performance is excellent in light of most other Android devices currently on the market. The Galaxy Note 4 outpaced other Android devices in every test we ran. Versus the iPhone 6 Plus, the additional GPU resources Apple built into the A8 SoC clearly paid dividends, as Apple’s flagship was slightly faster than the Note 4 in our graphics-related tests. The iPhone 6 Plus also performed well in single-core/single-thread tests, but the Note 4’s quad-core SoC gave it the edge in multi-core/thread benchmarks.

Find The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 @ Amazon.com

We’re going to make this conclusion short and get right to the point: The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is one of the most desirable large-screen smartphones currently on the market. With the exception of its USB port, virtually every aspect of the Note 4 has been improved over its predecessor. The Galaxy Note 4 has a better, higher-resolution screen, faster and sharper cameras, better construction, a more responsive S-Pen experience, higher performance, and the list goes on. The Note 4 also has more features than the Note 3, excellent battery life, and new additions like its heart-rate monitor. The Note 4 also has a more premium “feel” in the hand. This is a very nice device, there’s no other way to put it.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 takes everything that made the Note 3 great and improves upon it, and it also offers some features and capabilities not available in competing large-screen devices. If you’re contemplating the purchase of a smartphone in this class, you owe it to yourself to give the Note 4 a try. If you’re comfortable with its $299 (on contract) asking price, the Note 4’s features, performance, and build quality make it one of the best smartphones currently available in our opinion.


Great Performance Good Battery Life Beautiful Screen S-Pen Excellent Camers	A Bit Pricey Will Be Too Big For Some Users TouchWiz Virtually Everywhere

Tags: Samsung, Android, smartphone, review, Galaxy Note, phablet, note 4, galaxy-note-4

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com