Gadgetory

in mobile technology it's the same thing over and over new device comes out new device gets reviewed new device gets forgotten almost no one follows up no one follows along no one sticks around to see how well a gadget ages over time because there's always something new to drool over so let's do something about it let's take another look at the smartphone that continues to set the bar for phablets in 2015 I'm Michael Fisher with Pocket Dow this is the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and this is episode 44 of after the buzz if you didn't catch the spoiler in the intro let's get this out of the way now the note 4 is still the best phablet you can buy in terms of sheer feature load no one else in this size class has the s pen or the digitizer that supports it no one else has a screen and camera this excellent and few others can match the fit and finish but the world hasn't Stood Still in the nine months since the note 4 launched so it obviously doesn't feel as fresh or fancy as it used to one of the note 4's biggest distractions comes from Samsung itself in the form of the Galaxy s6 and s6 edge the new flagships completely regrew samsung's design language using curved metal and glass and the changes were well-received to say the least while the note 4 is absolutely the best looking and feeling Galaxy Note to date it's chamfered aluminum sides and leatherette backplate can't help but feel a little well not dated but seasoned as we foretold in our full review last year the exposed metal is also quite susceptible to scratching from keys or coins this particular review device has only been in our pocket for a week and it's already showing signs of wear the note 4 also feels decidedly less futuristic without the built-in wireless charging or Samsung pay hardware of the s6 and it's older swipe-based fingerprint scanner is almost laughably awkward compared to its siblings precedent forget it pad but as we saw in our s6 vs. Note for comparison older doesn't always mean worse the note 4 retains a removable battery and micro SD card slot making it easier to repower and swap storage on-the-go its display is absolutely stunning in sharpness and color reproduction its spec sheet is still more than solid for 2015 and the phone itself is remarkably slim and lightweight considering its capabilities take a look at the comparatively clunky competition to see what I mean in a hardware sense the note 4 has aged very well as you might expect the story's a little different in software here again Samsung's both its own worst enemy and its own biggest cheerleader where the note 4 is concerned the latest version of the TouchWiz interface on the galaxy s6 is lighter cleaner and fully customizable in making the older heavier clunkier version on the note 4 feel even worse by comparison Samsung is rumored to bring its new interface to the note 4 with the android 5.1 update though when that might land is unclear especially given carrier approval delays here in the States honestly the update can't come soon enough though we worried in our note 4 review that the software would age prematurely and yeah that's pretty much played out animations occasionally stutter switching between apps often involves reloading them into memory despite the huge chunk of RAM and the UI packs all the frustrations of yesterday like unintuitive widgets a sluggish my magazine and the cloying guinea-pig bloop noise on every tab what's worse it can be unstable we've had the phone freeze for up to 10 seconds when doing something as simple as taking a photo it doesn't happen often and if you followed our trials and tribulations with Android lollipop this won't come as a surprise but it's still mighty frustrating especially considering the update we're running 5.1 was supposed to contain a lot of bug fixes if you're more concerned with raw capability over fluidity you'll be happy to know that all the stuff that makes the note so powerful remains like dual window and that S Pen Stylus each of which is still the best possible example of its respective category retesting the note 4 on Verizon Wireless for a week the day to day performance was up and down LTE coverage seemed somewhat anemic compared to competitors in Greater Boston and one voice call had an echo problem that required a redial to solve as with most Android 5.0 phones our battery life was also underwhelming not terrible at about 4.5 hours of screen on time per charge but also not as good as it should be with such a big battery on the brighter side you do have Samsung's adaptive charging for a quick replenishment and also the note 4 launched with one of the best Android cameras around and the 16 megapixel optically stabilized sensor has certainly held its own in the time since despite the aging viewfinder software and the recent release of cameras with wider apertures on competitors the note 4 shooters still outperforms almost anything you can find on Android at the sunlight the display has a purplish tint in daylight but its ability to overpower its illumination to overcome direct sunlight is hugely useful plus its large canvas combined with a low light mode makes it an outstanding nighttime reading companion and if you own a gear VR headset the high resolution of the screen makes it very well-suited for virtual reality when its inches from your eyeballs finally don't count out its Snapdragon 805 processor just because it's from 2014 the note 4 still runs graphically rich games with a plum so on the whole the note 4 is held up pretty well but if Samsung follows its established pattern the Galaxy Note 5 will be announced at Aoife 2015 in early September just three months from now given that and the possibility of the next-generation note barring some next-generation styling and software you'll probably want to hold off on picking up a note for this summer even if the four turns out superior in some ways to whatever the five ends up being you'll almost certainly get a better deal on the older phablet once the newer one hits shelves so if you don't have one already we're gonna recommend you wait a bit if you do you can still feel good about owning the most capable phablet there is for more on the Galaxy Note 4 check out our original review video comparison with the s6 and the in-depth s-pen lesson all here on youtube visit us at pocketnow.com at the link in the description below and if you enjoyed this episode of after the buzz let us know by giving us a thumbs up till next time this has been michael fisher with pocket now captain to phones on twitter going back to using that gear VR for a while because man that's that's pretty cool see you next time