Q4 is always a busy time of year for tech companies, and the beginning to this year’s was no exception, with the launch of two new iPhones –– the
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus ––, the
Samsung Galaxy Alpha,
Moto X 2014 and, of course, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. And this year the Galaxy Note 4 has a tougher job than normal. Not only does it have to take on Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus, but it also has to make up for worse than expected Galaxy S5 sales during the early part of the year and put Samsung back on an upward trajectory.
The Galaxy Note brand first emerged in 2011 with the announcement of the original Galaxy Note. The massive handset, being something of an oddity back then, was met with a fair bit of derision. However, it was also met with plenty of enthusiasm by consumers, rapidly establishing the validity of the phablet concept. Samsung has since followed on with several new iterations and each has sold very well indeed. Other manufacturers have attempted their own take on the phablet idea, but it's fair to say Samsung still leads the way with arguably the most successful phablet launches overall.
“Samsung needs the Galaxy Note 4 to be a hit. It has to make up some of the ground it lost as a result of the relatively poor reception to the all-plastic Galaxy S5 when it was launched in February. Samsung will be hoping the new metal based “Alpha” design language delivers a premium package in the eyes of consumers and does enough to be competitive against Apple’s much anticipated iPhone 6," said Hugo Deacon of CSS Insights.
The Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 5.7in QHD
AMOLED display with a pixel resolution of 2560 x 1440. It has a pixel density of over 500ppi matching up to that of the LG G3. It’s the first Galaxy Note handset to come with a metal frame and there’s a 2.5D glass front and removable faux leather rear cover. The 2.5D glass front is Samsung’s own slightly bevelled front panel, the edges and corners come out from the phone to give the impression the screen is floating.
Samsung has announced two different models for the Galaxy Note 4. The first comes with Samsung’s very own Exynos 5433 octa-core CPU that includes four cores running at 1.9GHz and another four at 1.3GHz.
The second version comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core chip clocked at 2.7GHz.
The phone runs
Android 4.4 KitKat with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI over the top. Both versions of the Note 4 come with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage as standard. There’s also
microSDcard support. But both the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the Galaxy S5 could get the Android L upgrade by late November or early December, according to reports.
The word comes from SamMobile, an often reliable source of Samsung leak details, which cites its own unnamed "insiders" for the information. That makes us think it's fairly legit, although it's worth noting that Google hasn't launched Android L for Nexus devices yet, although we have heard rumours of an October launch for the
platform.
While it might seem like a fast turnaround, Google does seed Android builds to OEMs ahead of launches, so there's a good chance Samsung is working on its builds already.
"Samsung needs the Galaxy Note 4 to be a hit. It has to make up some of the ground it lost as a result of the relatively poor reception to the all-plastic Galaxy S5 when it was launched in February. Samsung will be hoping the new metal based “Alpha” design language delivers a premium package in the eyes of consumers and does enough to be competitive against Apple’s much anticipated iPhone 6,” said Ben Wood, Chief of Research, CCS Insight
The camera on the back has jumped up to a 16MP sensor, the same one we saw on the Galaxy S5. Optical image stabilisation has been added to the mix and there’s the ability to capture 4K video. The front facing camera has a 3.7MP sensor.
The S Pen stylus returns for the Galaxy Note 4 (it wouldn’t be a Note without it) with some worthy improvements. The pressure sensitivity had 1024 levels on the Galaxy Note 3 but the Note 4 comes with 2048 pressure levels, so expect writing and drawing to be more responsive and accurate.
A new Smart Select menu has been added to the existing Air Command menu and it now allows you to select multiple options at the same time.
The Galaxy Note 3 is available in four colours, frosted white, charcoal black, bronze gold and blossom pink. It doesn’t look like there will be a blue version as there was of the Galaxy S5, although we all know manufacturers like adding new variants post-launch.
There’s no word on a release date just yet, but we can be fairly certain it will arrive in time for Christmas. If it follows the same way as the Galaxy Note 3 did it may be with us by the end of the month or the first week of October. The price is also unknown right now, and we are yet to here which processor models will hit which regions. Naturally we will keep you updated as Samsung reveals more.
Galaxy Note 4 Takes On Samsung's Green Screen Problem
Samsung using AMOLED displays is nothing new. In the past some have criticised the colours to have a cold and slightly greenish colour. Samsung realised this is a problem and has been hard at work to try and improve its AMOLED technology. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S Tablet range from earlier this year came accompanied with a new screen mode called Basic that tweaked the display colours to make them look much more true to life.
According to
Phone Arena the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will adopt the same technology in the 5.7in AMOLED display.
It’s not confirmed yet, but looking into some of the information behind the scenes on the Note 4 it seems like Samsung will incorporate the Basic mode into the Note 4’s display. With the new mode the colours are closer to the sRGB standard than on previous Samsung mobile products.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 measured colour temperature is 6596 K (Kelvin). The reference value is 6500 K so it’s going to do the job perfectly. It means the balance between blue and red is great and according to other sources the green isn’t excessive like it has been on previous Samsung AMOLED displays.
All in all, the colours look far superior on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 than on other Samsung smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Release Date & Price
Samsung has officially revealed that its pre-orders will go live from Friday September 19 (tomorrow at time of writing) at Samsung Experience stores. The company stated that online and high street retailers will be taking pre-orders from September 26, including Three and Carphone Warehouse. The handset will be on general sale across the UK on October 17.
"Due to the phenomenal interest and demand for the Galaxy Note 4, the device will now go on sale in the UK from 17 October. Samsung UK is working hard to ensure that pre-orders and sales across all channels can be fulfilled as soon as possible," Said Samsung in a statement to the press.
We now have information from UK retailer Clove.co.uk regarding the Galaxy Note 4's release date and price. It will apparently land with that particular retailer on October 13. You're able to
pre-orderthe handset already, it's only available in one storage model at 32GB, but there are three colour choices (gold, white, black). Clove is selling it for £575 SIM-free including VAT. According to the product page the UK model is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 variant.
UK retailers have confirmed they will be carrying the Galaxy Note 4. O2, Three, Vodafone, and Carphone Warehouse are all confirmed to be carrying the handset.
EE will be offering the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and you can now pre-order the handset in stores and online. Obviously being EE
4G comes into the equation and you can get 2GB of 4G internet, unlimited UK calls, unlimited texts on a 24 month contract for £109.99 up front and £40.99 a month.
If you want to pay a little less up front one contract offers 1GB of 4G internet, 1000 minutes a month, unlimited texts all for £59.99 up front and a monthly cost of £45.99.
Samsung released its latest Galaxy Note series handset, the 
