If large-screen phones have a royal bloodline, its Samsungs Galaxy Note brand. The Note was the first real phablet — a smartphone with a big enough screen that it was almost a tablet. Samsung has greatly improved the line over the last three years, culminating in the impressive Galaxy Note 4. The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 ($299.99 with a contract from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint; 24 monthly payments of $31.24 from T-Mobile) isnt just a state-of-the-art phablet. Its also Samsungs flagship smartphone, technically superior to even the Galaxy S5. The transfer of the crown from Galaxy S to Galaxy Note makes sense given how consumers have responded to large-screen phones. Everyone wants a bigger screen, it seems — so much so that even Apple jumped into the fray with the iPhone 6 Plus. It would be easy enough for Samsung to just respond to the rise of phablets with a bigger phone (and it has — the Samsung Galaxy Mega exists for people who really want a tablet-size phone), but its actually exercised healthy restraint. The Note 4 has the same-size screen as last years Galaxy Note 3, a 5.7-inch SuperAMOLED display thats still plenty big. What makes the Galaxy Note 4 really, well, notable is the resolution of that display. Its the first Samsung phone to have a Quad HD display, meaning it’s crazy sharp with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 — that’s more pixels than an iPad, and basically the same resolution as a 27-inch iMac. There’s no way you’ll ever see a pixel on this screen unless you hold it right up against your eye (which youll actually do when using the Note 4 with the Gear VR headset, but thats another story). Occasionally, the display will betray the fact that few developers are considering such a high resolution when building their apps. The intro screen for Dots, for example, has very tiny text. Android typically does a good job of scaling, though, and most apps look at least normal, and many look fantastic. The tables in Zynga Poker have never looked sharper. Design, noted The Note 4 has a better design than last years model, too. The Note 3 had a metallic frame, but Samsung decided to put a grooved pattern on it reminiscent of finer watches. I liked the design, but it struck many as too retro, and Samsung made a course correction with the Note 4: the frame is still metal, but its smooth with beautiful chamfered edges. Samsung continues its obsession with faux leather with the Galaxy Note 4s backside, although it ditches the stitching along the sides this time. Its actually a great choice — the texture is perfectly grippable, and its on the classy side without being showy. Like most Samsung phones, the back is removable, revealing slots for microSD (capable of augmenting storage up to 128GB) and the microSIM card.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 08:00:00 +0000
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