I figured it might be a good idea to share my thoughts on the Note 4, since I always put a lot of research into smartphone buying and someone might find it useful There are some of you that are still leaning toward different flagships all of the time (like I did!), so I hope this helps.
First of all I would like to mention that about a month ago I made up my mind to give up my LG G2 and switch to a new smartphone.
The Xiaomi mi4 came up first.
I liked the design, UI, price, specs. Everything about the mi4 is just above average, but thats about it. It didn't have that even slightest "wow factor" that I needed to push me to buying one. It's a very good phone, but the warranty would require me to send the phone far into the unknown in case something was wrong, I wasn't sure If I would pay tax as well. Nobody had the 64 gb model either (16gb and no card expansion, really?!). I decided that this would probably be a wise choice but it didn't offer anything more than what I already had on the G2, and in some cases, it was worse (camera). I passed.
My second choice was the LG G3.
So like always, I started researching, checking out different variants and prices, digging through the specs, looking for its strong sides and flaws. I liked the quad hd display at first, the SD 801 SoC, good camera with laser autofocus. The UI was a nice upgrade from the LG G2's cartoonish look. The 32 gb model seemed a good option with its 3gb of ram (although I didn't like the design as I wanted something different from the G2).
As I started to dig deaper though, I noticed that the display isn't all that awesome, as there is more to it than just resolution. I think they might have made the phone much better if they sticked to a 1080p panel and focused on other aspects like color reproduction, brightness, power consumption. I found out that the 801 chip is stretched to its limits (even over them..) with that display, which caused overheating, throttling and lagging in demanding tasks and games. I believe a smartphone should be able to handle anything you throw at it so I dumped the G3 from my plans.
Then the Z3 came up.
So again- researching, digging, looking at the cons and pros. I liked the design a lot better than the G3 (besides the plastic corners, although I can justify the reason they used them for). The display was beytter than the Z2, with very good brightness and color reproduction after making some adjustments to the stock settings. The audio quality is superb as well, the whole phone is waterproof and its battery life was very well above the current smartphones.
The camera in the Z3 is top of the line, but I didn't like how it overheats. Making the phone thinner wasn't necessary in my opinion and sony might have thought about the component allocation in the device, as putting everything in the top part of the phone wasn't too smart of a choice. The UI was something that I didn't like the most though. I know I could throw a custom ROM at it in a while, but I wasn't sure how that would work with the camera, battery life and other features sony offered in the stock ROM.
I almost made my mind up on the Z3, as it had everything I wanted and I could live with its cons but then the price came into my mind: 515 pounds including tax.
Thats the part the note 4 came into play.
I watched the Note 4 presentation: the phone impressed me in overall, I liked the design, UI, hardware etc. So I started digging again.
I've always wanted the best out of my phone, no matter if I was going to use all of the functions it had or not. I used my phone for calling, texting, making notes in google keep, gps, playing games, listening to music, browsing the web, taking pictures. Usually I endep up rooting it and putting a stock like ROM on it (although I used the stock LG G2 ROM all the way). The design of the phone was always important for me, thats why I had an iphone 4s and 5 for a month before ditching it cus of the awfully simple and boring OS.
The Note 4 seemed to be a very good phone that offered what I wanted and much more beyond that:
1. The display
It's resolution could have been not increased. Samsung could have stayed with a 1080p panel. But thats not whats important about this panel. This is what the DisplayMate test results are:
"The Galaxy Note 4 delivers uniformly consistent all around Top Tier display performance: it is the first Smartphone display to ever get all Green (Very Good to Excellent) Ratings in all test and measurement categories (except one Yellow for a Brightness Variation with Average Picture Level) since we started the Display Technology Shoot-Out article Series in 2006, an impressive achievement for a display. The Galaxy Note 4 has again raised the bar for top display performance up by another notch. "
The display is a window through which you interact with your phone, and it is a component that must be top of the line. There should be no compromise here. Samsung exceeded my expectations in this matter.
2. Performance
There are 2 variants of the Note as most of you know. I'm still having a hard time with both of them. At first I thought the Snapdragon is an obvious choice considering it was superior to all of the other chips last year.
But then the 64-bit affair came into place. Anyone would like their phone to be futureproof, and a 64-bit SoC would be a wise choice. The exynos and snapdragon chips offer pretty much the same performance. I tried looking at the benchmarks, real world usage, gaming, but one outpaces the other in different things and it is very hard to tell the difference. I believe the fluidity of the UI and overall performance must be taken into consideration the most, as I believe both chips will handle anything you throw at them when apps and games are optimized. The choice is either taking the 20nm exynos and hope for better battery life and 64-bit support OR the snapdragon one and expect better dev support.
I wanted the Exynos for the wolfson chip, as I like good quality music from my phone. I'll be using good headphones and PowerAmp so I figure I wouldn't notice much difference anyway. At least not enough to pay extra and import the exynos variant.
I'm pretty much set on the Snapdragon 805 as I believe the battery life should be good on both (the andreno 420 is powerful with lowered power consumption). Like I mentioned earlier I might change the ROM after a while if something good comes out. It's a matter of personal taste- NOT performance of the chips. Thats my opinion on the matter.
3. User Interface
Touchwiz was out of the question for me up until I saw the Galaxy S5 UI. I actually liked the flat style and functions it offered. The note 4 UI is pretty similar. I really like the S-Pen experience, it should be a great change for people who haven't used it before. I love taking notes and I'll use it often. I like the functions it offers, the selection in different UI elements, the ease of copy/pasting, more precise touch input.
Touchwiz has a lot of useless apps that I might not like, but I'm sure it will be possible to get rid of the ones you don't like later on, the dev community in here will surely help. I could go on about the stamina mode, multi-window, the ability to resize apps etc, but you've all seen that on videos. The most important fact for is that touchwiz had been improved, it is eye pleasing, smoother and faster than ever. It is the best custom android OS you can get atm.
4. Camera
On paper both of the cameras looked really good to me, but I wanted to wait and see the real world results. I wasn't disappointed. there were some early comparisions done, but some of them were pictures or videos not taken with the note 4, so getting a correct view at the performance was quite hard. We have these results now and the note camera is a top notch performer. I find day pictures top of the line, the details are there, colors are popping, OIS helps as well. 4k shooting isn't all that important to me but its a nice addition. The camera seems to be very capable and will perform great in a day-to-day user's hands as well in an experienced person ones.
You may find the night shots worse than of the lumia or z3, but thats just terribly trying to find a flaw to me. Come on- who the hell is going to photograph a piece of paper in the dark of the night!? insane. There are pictures taken with the note at night, i like how the lights aren't blurred and everything seems very crisp and detailed. Do remember what you'll be using the phone camera for, and the Note 4 delivers more than I want in those terms.
5. Battery life
Many people find this very important. I thought the Note 4 might get bad results cause of that screen so I checked out some vids of the LTE-A Galaxy S5 with the higher res display. The results were the same as the standars S5.
I am not sure if its the chip that is more power efficient, some power saving changes in the OS, or the screen, or maybe all of these at once, but the results people are having on the Notes they recently picked up are very pleasing to me.
Final words
I probably shouldn't, cause its so ridiculous, but I'll mention the gap gate as well- I don't give a crap about it. I wont even notice it. Especially with the case I'm going to put on the phone. And its something that samsung probably addressed already in the new batch of phones. There are other things I should maybe mention, but these 5 are most important for me. I really like the performace of the Note 4, its UI, functions, metal frame design, micro SD storage expansion, camera, battery, IR blaster and everything else that seems to be a full package that many will find good enough to put their money on. I surely will. On the black one of course
You have really done some good work digging up info and comparing them.
Just to add couple points to OP's excellent write up:
The battery life concern in #5 is actually addressed in already mentioned DisplayMate article, right towards the bottom it clearly states that the new screen, despite having larger number of pixels is more power efficient than 1080p screen of Note3 (0.05W for 50% and 0.2 W for 100% brightness), about 5 to 10% more efficient and Note 3 has proven itself to have very good battery life already.
The gap between screen and frame around might be by design, due to combination of plastic, glass and metal having different expansion rate due to temperature changes. My thinking is that if the phone was brought from very warm room into very cold outside, metal frame would cool and shrink much faster than the rest and could even possibly crack the glass, doing so. The gap possibly allows for contraction/expansion without doing any damage. Either way, outside of aesthetics, it doesn't affect anything and it's a non issue. Probably blown out of proportions as an attempt to shift attention away from bendgate.
pete4k said:
The battery life concern in #5 is actually addressed in already mentioned DisplayMate article, right towards the bottom it clearly states that the new screen, despite having larger number of pixels is more power efficient than 1080p screen of Note3 (0.05W for 50% and 0.2 W for 100% brightness), about 5 to 10% more efficient and Note 3 has proven itself to have very good battery life already
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I think he was referring to the increased GPU load due to the higher resolution which is a valid concern.
But as it has already been said, even the S5 LTE-A with its Snapdragon 805 and QHD resolution has the same battery life as the regular S5 with Full HD and Snapdragon 800.
Still, it would be interesting to see the battery life on a Snapdragon 805 device with only a Full HD display.
I would prefer the note 4 to have a 1080p panel with the same characteristics. But how many people actually use their head before buying a phone? It's a spec war for android phones..
han4mi said:
I would prefer the note 4 to have a 1080p panel with the same characteristics. But how many people actually use their head before buying a phone? It's a spec war for android phones..
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Normally I would agree that FHD 1080p would be more than enough. However, since the GN4 is going to host the Gear VR, with magnifying lenses, I'm happy it went for the QHD
Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk
Audio Quality
Thanks for taking the time for the write up.
One area I would really like to know about is the quality of the rear speaker.
The sound quality is much more important to me than the placement (and sometimes the rear placement actually helps when you put it on a flat hard surface). I ruled out the Note 3 because its speaker was worse than the Note 2 which is still my current phone. The Note 2's speaker is actually pretty decent if the 4's is equal or better I would be thrilled.
Any input?
ymmp said:
Thanks for taking the time for the write up.
One area I would really like to know about is the quality of the rear speaker.
The sound quality is much more important to me than the placement (and sometimes the rear placement actually helps when you put it on a flat hard surface). I ruled out the Note 3 because its speaker was worse than the Note 2 which is still my current phone. The Note 2's speaker is actually pretty decent if the 4's is equal or better I would be thrilled.
Any input?
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I have the same question, ´cause I am afraid, that speeker-quality will be on low level and I am used to fantastic stereo sound of my current htv one m8.
I think, the price for Note 4 ist extremly high. Meanwhile Samsungs flagships are playing in the same €-league with the latest iphons. So I want to hold it in my own hands first before buying it. In center of Europe the Note 4 will be available in about 2 weeks.
Maybe the new Nexus 6 has a better balance between price and specs. We´ll check it out.
Just read Phone Arena's review. Here's a quote:
"Unfortunately, the audio portion of the media experience isn't so spectacular. The single speaker of the Galaxy Note 4 is rather quiet and lacking any depth, making it sound thin and weak. It's not too bad, but it's far from the best we've heard"
How disappointing! The new Moto X is supposed to have an amazing front speaker. I just wonder if it is more like the Note 2 or 3.
I believe the speaker will be good enough to play the ringtone I choose. I prefer earphones+ Poweramp for my music. Like I said, it depends what you're expecting to use the phone for. The Note 4 meets my demands in key aspects and thats why I'm going for it. I don't want THE BEST PHONE. Such a phone does not exist. All of the flagships have their strenghts and weaknesses and a smart person would take the one with the most personally suitable set of features.
Related
I am thinking about upgrading from S2, can someone with both phones compare - what advantages (if any ) / disadvantages Note has over S2 ?
Obviously Note has bigger screen - but screen aside - did you notice any other area where Note triumphs S2 ? (GPS, wifi, battery life with screen turned on, sound quality, camera, sotware issues...) How about heat problems ? S2 can get pretty hot under high workload, is Note any better ? (afaik it basically runs the same chip just clocked higher which makes me wondering)
Also regarding the screen - are the colors / brightness / outdoor visibility etc. the same and the difference is only in size / resolution / ppi ? And finally: is there someone who tried both and actually preferred S2 ?
They're almost the same. For me the major difference is battery life and spen ... I love to sketch. So I switched. Battery is superb.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
I don't own either, but from what I've seen the battery is way better on the Note than basically any other Android phone. Colors will be slightly less vibrant because it's not a SAMOLED+ display, it's just SAMOLED. But honestly, who cares? It's 720p!
Yumunum said:
I don't own either, but from what I've seen the battery is way better on the Note than basically any other Android phone. Colors will be slightly less vibrant because it's not a SAMOLED+ display, it's just SAMOLED. But honestly, who cares? It's 720p!
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The colors are amazing. I find them just as vibrant as the S2. The only real difference is the pentile display, but the dpi is so high you can't even tell. I find the screen to be far more useful than the S2 with the extra size and resolution.
Battery life wasn't great at first but once I turned off latitude and froze a few samsung apps it got MUCH better. Oh, and using minimum brightness is a major factor too. I wasn't too happy about turning the brightness down but after a day you don't notice it. I just have a widget on the desktop so I can quickly turn up the brightness if I need to.
After using the phone for a bit more, the Note is better in some ares:
-GLONASS satellite system allows it very fast lock in and response, although its not as precise as GPS, maybe 5-10ft off, but realky isn't an issue at all.
-Better PPI, but can see grains if eyes 6" from the screen.
-Screen is slightly brighter.
Cons: Can't operate it one handed at all due to size.
Sound quality is the same, not bad but not great. Same camera I think. Both can get pretty warm, but a case helps.
battery life: qualitatively it seems note lasts longer.
sound quality: equally good but note louder esp on speaker.
heat: i suppose any phone will heat up under stress e.g. video, charging but by and large i have never felt much heat from either.
camera: this is one area note is better than S2. S2 had weird pink hues but this is less noticeable in note. the screen seems to respond better in camera mode for note too.
in short, unless size and portability are major concerns, note is a better get. hope this helps!
comrad said:
I am thinking about upgrading from S2, can someone with both phones compare - what advantages (if any ) / disadvantages Note has over S2 ?
Obviously Note has bigger screen - but screen aside - did you notice any other area where Note triumphs S2 ? (GPS, wifi, battery life with screen turned on, sound quality, camera, sotware issues...) How about heat problems ? S2 can get pretty hot under high workload, is Note any better ? (afaik it basically runs the same chip just clocked higher which makes me wondering)
Also regarding the screen - are the colors / brightness / outdoor visibility etc. the same and the difference is only in size / resolution / ppi ? And finally: is there someone who tried both and actually preferred S2 ?
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Allrighty.
I currently own both, and can help you out with answering a few things.
I'll start off with something that I haven't seen many if any even, touch base on:
Typing is a dream. I used the stock Gingerbread keyboard on my Galaxy SII as it was the most comfortable one for me, but found it a tad cramped at times and landscape was just too wide to type anything on naturally. On the Note using the same keyboard, I personally had fewer mistakes and found that my typing speed had stayed near dead on to my thumbing on the smaller brother. I'd say it hits that sweet spot for completely comfortable portrait typing.
The sound quality in call is right on par with that of the GSII, dare I say even a little bit better. In any of the time I've spent talking on it, I haven't had an issue and it's clear on the other end.
Battery life is most certainly better. It's not worlds better, but I have no worries that I won't kill my battery come the end of my day and get home, whereas there were days were I was cutting it too close for comfort on the GSII. I'm a light to moderate user, with locally stored music playback anywhere from 1-7 hours, screen on time around 3-4 hours, bluetooth always on (for MBW-150), and no wifi every day.
I've found the software for the camera to be improved. It's not Nexus-fast in terms of snapping off a photo, but it's easily much faster at taking a photo on the Note than the GSII. Image quality and detail is on par with the GSII's snapper.
The Note is the same as the SII in terms of heat. That hasn't changed, but this is only if you're actually working it by playing games or watching HD video. Likewise, it stays cool with regular use, as does the SII.
Screen saturation is almost that of the SII's screen, but not enough to fret about. I've found the colour on the Note's screen to be a touch warmer, but that could very well be because it's a newer screen with less on time than my GSII. Outdoor visibility isn't an issue, at my usual screen brightness of 25% I have no problems making out what's on the screen throughout the day, even in near direct sunlight. This was the same case with it's smaller sibling, so no real differences here.
As a note about the Note's screen (pardon the pun), the screen is fantastic. Flat out. Text, images, and video are easily more crisp and enjoyable to view on the Note than the SII. Because of the high pixel density, you can't even make out the sup pixels while reading unless you bring the phone less than 6" away from your face and even then it's difficult.
I absolutely love my Note. Everyone I've showed it to has had the same reaction: "Wow. It huge!". So it most certainly stands out if that might matter to you. There are times where I miss the GSII for it's size and general 'feel'. It's definitely been tamed and feels a touch more responsive while moving through the OS, and the light weight was always a plus. There have been times where my hand was slightly fatigued from holding the Note, but again this really is a two handed device.
To sum it all up, I bought my Galaxy SII in August. I just got my Note about a week ago, never handling or seeing one in real life and I feel it was a worthy enough upgrade. My reasoning is of course biased for my wants in the device, but chances are if you're looking into getting this device, you'll surely be impressed.
It is interesting to see different experiences with SGS2 and Note. I own both, and here is my quick comparison.
Screen - I like the bigger format ( I love the bigger format) but the screen is not as bright as SGS2. White is little bit grayish. Colors are pretty much same, I don't see the problem with RGB or pentile display. So Note: 1 point.
Sound - I absolutely love the sound, all notifications are louder, in call volume louder, speaker louder and more bass. Note: 1 point
Wi Fi signal: I tested SGS2, Note, Galaxy Tab and my wife's Iphone 4G wifi signal strength in my house, I have latest Linksys router, super fast cable internet with latest modem capable up to 100 mbps, in real I am getting 54 mbps. Note performed worst of all of them. Around 16 mbps versus 22 for SGS 2 and iPhone. Very dissapointed with wi fi signal strength as well, loosing signal in places where SGS2 and iPhone still works ok. Note: 0 points, SGS 2 : 1 point.
Camera: oh boy, much much worse than SGS 2, I couldn't believe how bad this camera is. I will post later side by side pictures from both phones with same settings, you will be surprised. Not focusing as quickly as SGS2, white balance off, takes ages refocusing between light area and dark area, etc... SGS 2: 1 more point here.
Stylus: since SGS2 doesn't have it, Note gets 1 more point here, because I find this feature very useful for my business and it was one of the main reasons I bought this phone. (screen and Stylus)
Scrolling between home screens is little bit laggy, much more noticeable than SGS2. Stock browser scrolling is jerky, not iphone smooth as SGS2. Wake up screen delay is 1.5 sec from pressing any button ( home or power) compared to almost instant screen on with SGS2.
Both phones running stock firmware, SGS2 is on UK unbranded 2.3.4 rooted, Note is on 2.3.6. German firmware not rooted.(yet)
Using it on USA AT&T carrier. Phone signal more less same,somewhere SGS2 performs better, somewhere Note has better signal, but I am satisfied with both phones performances.
Overall I prefer Note right now, it may be because of it's novelty versus my "old" SGS2, but it will be very hard for me to go to smaller size screen phone after using Note. Probably the best phone I ever had so far. I bought Note without seeing it in real from Amazon.de and I am not dissapointed with the purchase.
enjoy it, life is short.
Well thanks everyone, my general impressions from what has been said are:
1.) Screen is much better
2.) Battery is much better
3.) Pen is a potential advantage (I almost forgot about the pen)
4.) Experience with remaining features can vary (probably due to manufacturing differences ?) but overall they are all more or less comparable to Galaxy S2
5.) With one exception being GPS, at least based on this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=arOYNNux_mg
it seems the Note's GPS should be quite superior (it may be the best GPS in any phone yet ?)
So if screen, battery life and GPS are improved over S2 then it's probably good enough for me. However it would be much cleaner cut if there would be more horsepower under the hood as well I'd love some faster CPU, 32GB of storage and faster stock sd cards. (Actually I'd love to see some SSD on it You can put SSD into a netbook so why not to a phone ? )
Also one thing I would probably prefer is to have 16:9 (720 height instead of 800) display and about 4.8 - 5" big, slightly more portable and less funny looking while making a call. Maybe they've opted for Note's aspect ratio as to give better support for note taking ?
ive had my galaxy note for a month. just picked up a free galaxy s2 today on vodafone AU's $29 cap. personally, i think i'll stick with the note. everything about the note is just more convenient for me. bigger screen makes portrait keyboard awesome, higher res makes everything look better. battery life is only better on the note with gaming and video watching, both are on par for web browsing battery life due to the weakness of samoled.
gps is much much better on my galaxy note. locks down fairly well when im indoors whilst the s2 cant even lock after running it for half an hour in navigation mode.
as for the screen ratio, samsung havent made a phone that uses 16:9 screen ratio for a fair while (if they have made any at all, cant seem to think of any). the slightly wider/taller (depending on how you look at it) makes portrait keyboard useful, but i must agree, the extra pixels are wasted on videos. if you want a 16:9 screen ratio, look towards the lg nitro hd and galaxy nexus.
one thing the galaxy nexus has that these phones dont seem to have is the correct positioning of the 3.5mm socket. the galaxy nexus has it positioned on the bottom, like my old n900. this is the perfect place for the socket since it means you can pull your phone out of your pocket when headphones are plugged in and it will be the right way up. it also means if youre plugging it into anything in your car, it wont have any silly cables coming out the top. its one of those little things that are nice and much appreciated. but im digressing a bit here.
overall, the phones will be similar, with the screen being the main difference and the unique advantage of the note will be the S pen. but that may be a bit of a downer in terms of update speed. for the galaxy s2, all samsung need to do is refine the experience, add touchwiz, and its all ready. for the note, they need to add touchwiz and then modify the S-Pen apps to run correctly as well. shouldnt delay the release of ICS for the note by too much considering samsung should have gained experience with ICS when working with the galaxy nexus, but its still a bit of a delay.
and i dont think SSDs will be needed on phones for a fair while. honestly, when will you need a read speed faster than 20mb/s? or a write speed faster than that? its only really useful when transferring files to and from a PC, but as to actual device usage, it has little impact. videos are encoded at what? 17mbps? thats still only 2-3mb/s of write speed needed. theres very little on the device that could take advantage of the added speed of an SSD. its just something that will drive up the product cost with very little benefit in realworld usage. apps load quickly enough so i dont think samsung would bother to consider an SSD for phones anytime soon.
Souai said:
and i dont think SSDs will be needed on phones for a fair while. honestly, when will you need a read speed faster than 20mb/s? or a write speed faster than that? its only really useful when transferring files to and from a PC, but as to actual device usage, it has little impact.
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Faster than 20MB/s - yes it's mainly for data transfer. But note also that while most android apps are small, some (especially games which can have couple of hundreds of MBs) should benefit from faster storage. And if you bench seq. write speed of S2 it's nowhere near to 20MB/s. It's more like 5-7MB/s - very slow for large data transfers (I don't know if Galaxy Note is any better). The internal memory of S2 is of course optimized for fast random reads/writes rather then seq. speeds. But if we can have high capacity USB3 sticks with read / write speeds above 100 MB/s and still very good random read/write speeds (e.g. 64GB flash for about 100€) then maybe to have phone with 32GB-64GB internal memory and 50/30MB/s and USB3 etc. could be done for similar price (which would be very fine with me).
Note seems to be well suited for video playback but with typical 720p movie at about 5GB I find the 12GB internal + 32GB external SD cards quite limiting in capacity as well as in transfer speeds (esp. considering that I need permanently at least 16GB for my music collection and lot's of free space for 1080p video recording) Surprisingly most netbooks have comparable RAM capacity and CPU speeds (at least for non floating point tasks) to those of highend smartphones, yet the storage capacity and seq. transfer speeds on netbooks is order of magnitudes higher.
I got it today ! It's very big AND unfortunately the side panel has annoying squeaking problem. It's only on one place - below the volume button, exactly where I tend to leave my fingers. Anyone else with the same problem ? Never had any squeaking problems on SGS2.
Is there a possibility that the back cover has not been clicked in place properly? I get squeaking too when that happens.
I have both phones.
When I got the Note I wanted to sell the S2, even had a buyer for it.
But after I used the Note for a day I start to have serious second thoughts.
The S2 is so much smoother ... Honestly, in this respect the Note is much closer to SG1 than SG2.
Hey mates
I have both of these phones myself, and I'm just wondering is there any possibilities to move memos from SGS2 to note??
Chagrim said:
Hey mates
I have both of these phones myself, and I'm just wondering is there any possibilities to move memos from SGS2 to note??
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With the backup feature on the PC, with syncing them to google, with the option to back them up with MyBackup, there are a lot of options Probably the easiest would be go into the options of your SGS2 Memo app and sync it to google, and then just redownload them on the Note. I like everything OTA. I dislike having to plug everything in to get stuff done.
zkyevolved said:
With the backup feature on the PC, with syncing them to google, with the option to back them up with MyBackup, there are a lot of options Probably the easiest would be go into the options of your SGS2 Memo app and sync it to google, and then just redownload them on the Note. I like everything OTA. I dislike having to plug everything in to get stuff done.
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Ok, now I feel myself really dumb! Thanks for that
holgalee said:
Is there a possibility that the back cover has not been clicked in place properly? I get squeaking too when that happens.
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That's not possible because I tripplechecked (by removing and putting back) the cover prior to asking here.
But there is more to Note than that: I saw videos of Note compared to S2 etc. on youtube I saw pictures in reviews etc. but nothing could prepare me to how big it actually is in real. I will be probably in minority here but I can't avoid thinking that it's actually too big - for calling it a phone at least. At the same time I could live with larger screen and res than S2 (mostly for comfortable video watching) So I think if I could spec and ideal phone for me, based on interpolation between S2 and Note it would have display comparable to Galaxy Nexus (1280x720 ~ 4.7" - 4.8", 120g - 140g) that should be a perfect balance between display usefulness and overall portability. Too bad they've crippled Nexus with missing SD slot and missing flash support. Hope that Galaxy S3 will hit it all right (I already can't wait ) Btw any chance Note's awesome GPS making it to other Samsung phones ? (can it be put to any phone regardless of it's size ?) As far as GPS goes the difference is stunning (basically a toy like implementation vs. state of the art awesomeness)
Now I have hard time deciding what to do with Note: I should probably return it but then the screen is so awesome that it's very tough to just return it, even when I don't need it Btw about the screen and pentile vs. non-pentile debate: there were only few occasions when I noticed there was some grain on the Note without looking for it, e.g. the red birds in Angry Birds Rio and orange balloon in Samsung demo video (from 0:36) On galaxy2 I never noticed any grain (even when looking for it), so yes Superamoled Plus would be even nicer but for 99% of practical cases it doesn't matter to me.
Where are those comparsion photos that someone mentioned. Has anyone had the camera perform poorly?
I own both, well I gave the S2 to the missus when I got the Note.
The Note is equivalent too, or better then the S2 in everything. I would find it impossible to have an S2 as my main phone now after having used the Note for almost a month.
You will hear a lot of negativity about the size of the Note, I kept hearing it is too big, it is uncomfortable to carry etc etc. Nonsense. It took me a day (max) to get use to the size, it fits in all my pockets comfortably and is very portable. Dare I say it I think it could even be a tad bigger, maybe 5.5" All other phones now seem tiny to me, and this has become the standard. I don't think I will be able to go back to a small(er) phone after using this.
I have found the camera and video recording similar to the S2. GPS on the Note is amazing, I get a lock in seconds, it beats every other satnav/phone I have ever owned. The screen... wow. One month on and it still impresses me. Games, Videos, Satnav, Internet Browsing even Ebook reading is all a joy on the Note, it is the ultimate all in one device imo.
There seems to be plenty of people moaning about what they don't like, there is a Note 4 Let Down Thread, so I wanna read some positive comments about what we DO like about the Note 4 in General, it doesn't matter which model you got, but if you feel happy about it please share your positive thoughts.
-Personally I Like the style of the phone.
-I also like the fact that its made from metal (well most of it) except the battery door which comes always in handy and its another pro about this phone, the access to the battery and micro sd card.
-Of course it runs on Android which I love.
-I like the screen which is amazing
-I like the camera, both, the front camera and rear camera.
-I like the S-pen and yes I use it everyday when I go to the gym, I keep track of my workouts, weights, reps, all in one place, I have a phone, a music player, a great camera shooter, and a notebook, and we all must thank Samsung for this, if not go back and read about what people though about the first Note device.
-I like the fact we still have the LED for notifications, which a lot of manufactures still forgetting about it.
-I like the battery life, yes I know, I have read about all the complains, but its not in my case, yes I have 90% of Samsung bloatware turned off, I just use what I like and what I need.
- I like how easily I can access a hard drive or any external storage via OTG.
-I like the IR Blaster, which not a lot of devices have it, and they should.
-I like the S Health app, and yes, i use the heart rate monitor, im into fitness, and yes this app help me track all my workouts, ive even improve in my diets.
Of course there are plenty of stuff I just forgot right now, but I hope you guys help me to remember them by commenting your positive thoughts and everything you like and what makes you feel good and special about the Note 4,
IF YOU WANT TO COMMENT COMPLAINS AND NEGATIVE COMMENTS PLEASE SEARCH AROUND THERE ARE PLENTY OF THREADS, NOT HERE, THANKS
I love my note 4. I like it's size, the display is beautiful, the battery life is far better than my note 2. It has more space. I like the way it feels in my hand. I paid cash for it so I don't owe tmobile a dime lol...
Overall I love my note 4 and I'm extremely happy with my purchase. I don't have any complaints and I haven't at all since I've had it
It's a hulk, which for my Neanderthal-esque hands helps out a ton.
The screen is gorgeous
The camera is top notch and helps me, who happens to be one of the worst picture takers of all time, take good pics.
I use S-Note in my meetings every day.
Build wise it feels great in the hand without a case.
Eventually I can pick up an additional battery pack.
One day it will get an update that stops the ferocious lag lollipop has at times.
Dat screen doe.
Overall, 9/10
It's better than my previous iPhone 6
ixon2001 said:
It's better than my previous iPhone 6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Comment your reasons...cheers:fingers-crossed:
I've only had my Note 4 since 4/30 but I've yet to find anything that I don't like.. Running stock 5.0.1 using the TouchWiz launcher, and only have the Google apps that don't have a Samsung equivalent enabled! Love this thing!!
mistah_mumford said:
I've only had my Note 4 since 4/30 but I've yet to find anything that I don't like.. Running stock 5.0.1 using the TouchWiz launcher, and only have the Google apps that don't have a Samsung equivalent enabled! Love this thing!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please post everything you like specifically, everything you use, thanks, cheers:fingers-crossed:
I like the battery, the screen size and that is Amoled, Touchwiz features, and that it fits ok in my hand because it's thin. Also I like Samsung is okish with software updates compared to other manufacturers.
Everything the OP said, plus now that we're on Lollipop I can use my MicroSD card properly again with Solid Explorer and other properly updated apps (without rooting). Also like the battery life, regularly 20-30% left at the end of the day with normal usage. Finally, I'm on the N910C with the Wolfson DAC which is giving great sound paired with my Sennheisers - so much so that I just sold my trusty old Sony Walkman on eBay! The sound with PowerAmp, to my ears, was as good if not better. Best smartphone I've owned to date by a long shot. Oh... and the IR, getting that set up now
Forgot that it's also my remote control for every room I visit. I watch whatever I want at the bar now
Best phone ever, I like every single thing about it! It's such a powerful, flexible, customisable phone that can do it all, looks and feels great and I never have to worry about the battery before the end of the day!
Like the metal, is gorgeous to hold. Love that battery and Sim are accessible - wish for nicer back cover though, or at least a larger selection.
Multitasking is fabulous, very effective.
Excellent screen!
Stylus.
Sent from my SM-N910H using XDA Premium HD app
best phone ever
It's the best phone I've ever had hands down, I like the way it feels in the hand, I use a case during the day, but I can't wait to get home to take the case off. That shiny metal rim is the best.
I use public transportation to get to work, and I have caught people reading the news with me.....That screen is just awesome. I have even downloaded 4k videos just for show.
And dont get me started on the stylus.... How did I ever get by without it?! I use it at work to jot down orders, phone numbers, reminders...
The camera experience has probably impressed me the most: from the responsiveness of the camera app to the quality of the photos and videos and finally viewing them on that gorgeous 5.7 inch screen.
Overall since I prefer the 5.7 screen size and like the S-pen features I think the Note 4 is still the best smartphone and will remain so till the Note 5.
Note 4 has been the best phone I've owned bar none.
I just wished there was a way to get updates and not rely on the carrier.
I have an att phone. The only way I can get updates is to borrow an att chip and then I can update my rom.
Totally sucks since I'm on another carrier.
Anyways, enjoying the note 4 experience thus far.
Camera the best.
Lollipop over all is a great experience on the note 4
before i was going to buy a new mobbile i was looking for good looking phone, excellent outdoor brightness, great camera ... developers support good audio ..... big screen..... so i got xperia z3 with big screen compromise but it was way better looking and water and dust proof and front firing speakers and very slim ..... after buying i regretted because there was abbsolutely no developers support..... almost negligible ...so then i got note 4 ....i like it alot ... becauser .. back cover is removable ...... amoled screen ..... super bright ..... developers support is good.... but touchwiz is bad and on aosp roms brightness is very low....
z3 over note 4- had better sound of speakers, better looking, battery life way better , very thin
note 4 over z3- has better brightness , better developer support, back cover removable...i put a leather one on the back ... battery removable, camera is better, screen is bigger. its an amoled which i love because of deep blacks and saturated colors. i love popping colors , the best thing is fast charging.
Hmmm, where do I start?
-That screen is unbelievably good. Bright, vibrant, and there's no way you'd notice the subpixels without a VR headset. Makes me wish we had AMOLED PC monitors on the market already.
-None of that screen space is wasted with onscreen buttons, either! As much as people complain about the physical Home button and all, I actually prefer it and wish the other two buttons were physical like the S Active/Sport line.
-Wacom digitizer support in OneNote and Clover Paint is excellent. The Note 4 even boasts tilt sensitivity!
-I wasn't expecting Gear VR to be immersive due to the obvious performance limitations the Note 4 has compared to a gaming PC, but it's actually astounding how it keeps up with my head movements. Cardboard apps aren't even close, they're a blurred mess by comparison.
-I shouldn't have to bring up microSD card slots of all things as a selling point against the competition, but that's what it's come down to after the S6. They're great for mass media storage and Nandroid backups, since you don't want those backups taking your internal storage space! Too much risk of getting wiped if you're a flashaholic.
-Batteries that can be removed without a heat gun also shouldn't have to be a selling point, but are now. The battery life's plenty for my purposes, but if that's not enough, I can just pop in a second battery or install an extended battery! Phone freezes up or gets wet? Pop that battery! Cells degrade to the point of uselessness after a few years (and they will)? Swap 'em out for some newly-manufactured ones instead of paying some service center to get the dead weight outta your phone!
-Adaptive Fast Charge/Quick Charge 2.0 has spoiled me rotten now. Dead battery to a usable charge in just 30 minutes, near-full charge in an hour? I don't even have to leave the Note 4 on the charger overnight now!
-Sprint doesn't lock the bootloader, so rooting's easy if you don't mind a tripped Knox bit. I don't.
-The camera's good enough, as long as I never have to zoom in.
Thus far, there isn't any other phone on the market I'd rather own, and I'll be more than happy to keep the Note 4 for another two years! All I hope for is that the next two Note generations don't throw out microSD slots and removable batteries like the S6 did, otherwise I might be using that Note 4 longer than anticipated.
I have two things that really make a difference for me and those are the great battery life and finally being able to work from my phone. I get sent contacts and I can edit and sign them on n the phone. There is no need to involve my laptop anymore. This makes commutes by train really productive.
Note 4 on KK is fantastic. Very fast, lots of storage, excellent screen, fabulous battery, glorious smooth glass, the hard metal body feels great, one handed use (just) and it's magnificent S-Pen.
There is just nothing like this phone. I wish Samsung didn't make is users feel second best. I've been messing around with the S6s.... After a while I came running, RUNNING back to my Note 4.
I'm so sorry baby. I'll never let you go again.
*smooch*
Sent from my SM-N910H using XDA Premium HD app
1 - Display
2 - Performance
3 - Sound through earphones
4 - Camera
5 - Build quality
6 - Support (from people here)
7 - Storage
8 - Physical buttons (hate onscreen waste of space)
9 - Removable battery
10 - Its beauty
Hi, I need some advice on which device I am going to buy. I'm going to use this I guess 3 to 5 years as I dont replace my phone that often so this thread will help A LOT. I'm basing on some reviews, speed tests, but the two seems to be on par with each other. Price is/may kind of an issue here as I would love to use some of the money (if I buy the OP5) for the after sales and some personal stuff. However if the Note 8 is really "bang for the buck" then I'll gladly go with it. I also tried to search some issues. Here's what I found so far:
One Plus 5:
GPS Issue
Bluetooth Issue
Overheating issue
Jelly Effect in screen
Note 8:
Red tint in a lot of device
Light leak (lights leaking on the side of the phone not much of an issue for me)
If you have some issues with the phone, please feel free to reply. It would be appreciated a lot!
I also created Pros and Cons that might help me but I ended up more confused what to buy. Haha.
Pros for One Plus 5
Performance
Price
Dev Community as I love to mod my phone
Fingerprint Scanner placement + the scan speed is so fast
I've seen a lot of people who still uses OPO or OP2 which means that this device last long
The toggle above the volume like in iPhones
Customizable hardware buttons (I really love this one)
Cons for One Plus 5
Issues above as I really need the GPS and bluetooth, and I play heavy games.
No waterproofing
No Micro SD slot (I guess 128gb is enough but I would love to have the option of expanding more)
Pros for Note 8
SPen
Camera
Performance (but I've read OP5 has better. The 8gb ram may be the reason. But please feel free to correct me)
Display is a plus
Iris Scanner and Face Recognition (Is it accurate?)
Cons for Note 8
Samsung phones tend to slow down after months/years of using it.
Price
Body build is somewhat easy to crack due to glass body + curved edge
Samsung is a little bit strict when it comes to flashing Custom ROMS and I dont know if the SPen functionalities will be affected. (Please correct me here)
Fingerprint Scanner placement
I may be wrong with some of this but I've researched and this is what I've seen.
If this is a point to consider, I'm coming from a Xperia Z3Compact which didn't last long (I hated sony to the hell because of this) because of the digitizer issue. However, I enjoyed tweaking that phone. Now I'm forced to use my iPhone5s with jailbreak.
Note: Just to be clear, the devices in comparison are OP5 8gb/128gb and Note 8 6gb/64gb Exynos
Note: I'm posting this to each respective forum to have a fair discussion for each phone. I hope this is allowed. I also hope to help some people that have the same options with me.
Note 8 Thread: Link Here
OnePlus 5 Thread: Link Here
Thank you guys. After a long comparison, I'm going for the OP5 even with the rumors of OP5T. I just hate the back fingerprint scanner placements which is the trend now. And regarding with the bezels, I'm more into those phone with bezels on top and bottom for landscape usage. I've been trying the S8+, and some games that I play doesn't maximize or utilize the whole screen which leaves some part of the screen blank. However, the screen in the Note 8 is A1 dont get me wrong, but I'm more into the performance and the OP5's screen is enough. Thank you guys!
For me would have gone oneplus 5,cause that thing is crazy fast. However the jello, jelly put me right off. And the fact that oneplus 5,would not until now come out in the open about it, really bugged me and beggars belief!. You can see the problem as soon as you pick the device up, so that reason I went note 8 and it's been an amazing experience. I haven't played games on it yet, still enjoying just browsing, multimedia, taking photos of my munchkins etc.
I had the oneplus 5 like 4 phones ago and it was great. No issues whatsoever, no jelly or any of the other issues you mentioned tbh. Bang for bucks it is the best phone you can get. Great for flashing and whatnot. That being said the note 8 has so much more added value and the exynos has a dev community that should keep you flash happy for years to come...
marvi0 said:
For me would have gone oneplus 5,cause that thing is crazy fast. However the jello, jelly put me right off. And the fact that oneplus 5,would not until now come out in the open about it, really bugged me and beggars belief!. You can see the problem as soon as you pick the device up, so that reason I went note 8 and it's been an amazing experience. I haven't played games on it yet, still enjoying just browsing, multimedia, taking photos of my munchkins etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes, the jelly effect. I've also heard it too and seen it in facebook. That thing also prevents me in purchasing this device. However, some owners claimed that their device has small to no signs of jelly effect in their device. So I think they have fixed it now, I wish. Thank you for your comment
mrnovanova said:
I had the oneplus 5 like 4 phones ago and it was great. No issues whatsoever, no jelly or any of the other issues you mentioned tbh. Bang for bucks it is the best phone you can get. Great for flashing and whatnot. That being said the note 8 has so much more added value and the exynos has a dev community that should keep you flash happy for years to come...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. I heard that Snapdragon version is more strict in terms of tweaking than the Exynos version. Thank you for you reply!
lazygeniuslanz said:
Hi, I need some advice on which device I am going to buy. I'm going to use this I guess 3 to 5 years as I dont replace my phone that often so this thread will help A LOT. I'm basing on some reviews, speed tests, but the two seems to be on par with each other. Price is/may kind of an issue here as I would love to use some of the money (if I buy the OP5) for the after sales and some personal stuff. However if the Note 8 is really "bang for the buck" then I'll gladly go with it. I also tried to search some issues. Here's what I found so far:
One Plus 5:
GPS Issue
Bluetooth Issue
Overheating issue
Jelly Effect in screen
Note 8:
Red tint in a lot of device
Light leak (lights leaking on the side of the phone not much of an issue for me)
If you have some issues with the phone, please feel free to reply. It would be appreciated a lot!
I also created Pros and Cons that might help me but I ended up more confused what to buy. Haha.
Pros for One Plus 5
Performance
Price
Dev Community as I love to mod my phone
Fingerprint Scanner placement + the scan speed is so fast
I've seen a lot of people who still uses OPO or OP2 which means that this device last long
The toggle above the volume like in iPhones
Customizable hardware buttons (I really love this one)
Cons for One Plus 5
Issues above as I really need the GPS and bluetooth, and I play heavy games.
No waterproofing
No Micro SD slot (I guess 128gb is enough but I would love to have the option of expanding more)
Pros for Note 8
SPen
Camera
Performance (but I've read OP5 has better. The 8gb ram may be the reason. But please feel free to correct me)
Display is a plus
Iris Scanner and Face Recognition (Is it accurate?)
Cons for Note 8
Samsung phones tend to slow down after months/years of using it.
Price
Body build is somewhat easy to crack due to glass body + curved edge
Samsung is a little bit strict when it comes to flashing Custom ROMS and I dont know if the SPen functionalities will be affected. (Please correct me here)
Fingerprint Scanner placement
I may be wrong with some of this but I've researched and this is what I've seen.
If this is a point to consider, I'm coming from a Xperia Z3Compact which didn't last long (I hated sony to the hell because of this) because of the digitizer issue. However, I enjoyed tweaking that phone. Now I'm forced to use my iPhone5s with jailbreak.
Note: Just to be clear, the devices in comparison are OP5 8gb/128gb and Note 8 6gb/64gb Exynos
Note: I'm posting this to each respective forum to have a fair discussion for each phone. I hope this is allowed. I also hope to help some people that have the same options with me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I a solution for you to avoid those listed "issues" if you decide to buy a Note 8.
Just find a open box or used one and inspect it fully before handing over the money.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
marvi0 said:
For me would have gone oneplus 5,cause that thing is crazy fast. However the jello, jelly put me right off. And the fact that oneplus 5,would not until now come out in the open about it, really bugged me and beggars belief!. You can see the problem as soon as you pick the device up, so that reason I went note 8 and it's been an amazing experience. I haven't played games on it yet, still enjoying just browsing, multimedia, taking photos of my munchkins etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Limeybastard said:
I a solution for you to avoid those listed "issues" if you decide to buy a Note 8.
Just find a open box or used one and inspect it fully before handing over the money.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read that solution too haha. And that's a good one. But is there any reason to consider Note 8 for OP5?
lazygeniuslanz said:
I've read that solution too haha. And that's a good one. But is there any reason to consider Note 8 for OP5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't answer that question as I don't have any experience with the OP5, to be honest.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
lazygeniuslanz said:
I've read that solution too haha. And that's a good one. But is there any reason to consider Note 8 for OP5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a personal decision. Only you can weigh the pros and cons of each phone... and you seem to have done a great job of listing them.
The SD card is the dealbreaker for me. I carry about 200 GB of hi-res music. At this point, that's difficult to replicate any other way that doesn't involve paying even more for music I already own.
I've had the oneplus5, now currently have the note 8.
The reasons that made me return the oneplus 5 were as follows
- The jelly screen ....once you see it, it'll bug you forever
- The camera in my opinion wasn't all that..the lack of OIS was really annoying. Videos were shaky as hell! (It was improved with software stabilisation, bit it wasn't anything compaired to realtime optical stablisation
I really wanted to like the phone, it's so cheap for what you get and I love how oneplus allow you to root and mod away.
You need to decide what you'd want from your phone
Thanks but.. some of your "CONS" are off. You didnt go with the majority. On some cons.
note 8- tons more features
one plus- easier to mod
its just that simple; YOU decide whats important to YOU
In 3 or so years you probably won't want a phone with all that bezel. I'll venture out and say if you want a phone that won't feel obsolete sooner than later do to design get the note 8 hands down (or s8+).....imo
Sent from my SM-N950U using XDA-Developers Legacy app
louforgiveno said:
In 3 or so years you probably won't want a phone with all that bezel. I'll venture out and say if you want a phone that won't feel obsolete sooner than later do to design get the note 8 hands down (or s8+).....imo
Sent from my SM-N950U using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the Note 8 has a higher chance of being obsolete. Reason being the 8GB RAM of the OnePlus 5; it will probably become standard on all devices in 2018 or 2019.
It's not like all that extra screen gives you extra functionality that you won't have if your device has bezels. So I don't see why a device with bezels would become obsolete.
Design is really the last thing you should look at when making your decision. You're gonna use one of those devices, not stare at it and admire its design. You're probably gonna put a case on it anyway, so that whole design aspect flies out the window.
Pwnycorn said:
I think the Note 8 has a higher chance of being obsolete. Reason being the 8GB RAM of the OnePlus 5; it will probably become standard on all devices in 2018 or 2019.
It's not like all that extra screen gives you extra functionality that you won't have if your device has bezels. So I don't see why a device with bezels would become obsolete.
Design is really the last thing you should look at when making your decision. You're gonna use one of those devices, not stare at it and admire its design. You're probably gonna put a case on it anyway, so that whole design aspect flies out the window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I respect your opinion but I think you're off a smidge. If design were not important there would be no iPhone X. Expect large bezels to be frowned upon in the 2 years. Bezels will get smaller that's just a fact. 8gb is overkill how will OEMs justify the 8gb when Apple does wonders with 3. 6gb will remain the maximum and 4gb the standard. We might see 8gb again but it sure won't become the norm.
Now I know that I referred to Apple as a reference for both arguments but for better or for worse Android sets trends and they cement it. It's just facts.
Design is the reason why many great devices were overlooked this year IE HTC U11 and Sony Xperia Zx1 or whatever (Saw it, laughed, moved on) I agree with you that in the end, Greater scheme and all, it doesn't matter as beauty is subjective but...
8gb standard? Maybe for Chinese OEMs. Bezels? They're flying out the window as we speak ?
douger1957 said:
That's a personal decision. Only you can weigh the pros and cons of each phone... and you seem to have done a great job of listing them.
The SD card is the dealbreaker for me. I carry about 200 GB of hi-res music. At this point, that's difficult to replicate any other way that doesn't involve paying even more for music I already own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thats a lot of music you have there. I can't even fill my 32gb from my z3c hahaha. Thank you sir!
Ry2mkk said:
I've had the oneplus5, now currently have the note 8.
The reasons that made me return the oneplus 5 were as follows
- The jelly screen ....once you see it, it'll bug you forever
- The camera in my opinion wasn't all that..the lack of OIS was really annoying. Videos were shaky as hell! (It was improved with software stabilisation, bit it wasn't anything compaired to realtime optical stablisation
I really wanted to like the phone, it's so cheap for what you get and I love how oneplus allow you to root and mod away.
You need to decide what you'd want from your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the camera in OP5 kinda sucks at videos. I've watched many camera reviews against Note 8 and boy that OP5 videos are shaky but I think they can do better after software updates. However the stills from OP5 looked good that it made the OP5 worth it atleast at good lighting. Don't get me wrong, the Note 8 outputs are better but I guess it doesn't justify the price differences.
Zeblade said:
Thanks but.. some of your "CONS" are off. You didnt go with the majority. On some cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you means sir?
wase4711 said:
note 8- tons more features
one plus- easier to mod
its just that simple; YOU decide whats important to YOU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, thank you sir!
Pwnycorn said:
I think the Note 8 has a higher chance of being obsolete. Reason being the 8GB RAM of the OnePlus 5; it will probably become standard on all devices in 2018 or 2019.
It's not like all that extra screen gives you extra functionality that you won't have if your device has bezels. So I don't see why a device with bezels would become obsolete.
Design is really the last thing you should look at when making your decision. You're gonna use one of those devices, not stare at it and admire its design. You're probably gonna put a case on it anyway, so that whole design aspect flies out the window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mrnovanova said:
I respect your opinion but I think you're off a smidge. If design were not important there would be no iPhone X. Expect large bezels to be frowned upon in the 2 years. Bezels will get smaller that's just a fact. 8gb is overkill how will OEMs justify the 8gb when Apple does wonders with 3. 6gb will remain the maximum and 4gb the standard. We might see 8gb again but it sure won't become the norm.
Now I know that I referred to Apple as a reference for both arguments but for better or for worse Android sets trends and they cement it. It's just facts.
Design is the reason why many great devices were overlooked this year IE HTC U11 and Sony Xperia Zx1 or whatever (Saw it, laughed, moved on) I agree with you that in the end, Greater scheme and all, it doesn't matter as beauty is subjective but...
8gb standard? Maybe for Chinese OEMs. Bezels? They're flying out the window as we speak
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey you guys calm down haha I agree that the design may be obsolete but I think I value the performance than the design itself. I don't want to use a good design phone but stutters or lags even a bit specially when its priced in an almost 1k. But good points guys! :good: :fingers-crossed:
Thank you guys. After a long comparison, I'm going for the OP5 even with the rumors of OP5T. I just hate the back fingerprint scanner placements which is the trend now. And regarding with the bezels, I'm more into those phone with bezels on top and bottom for landscape usage. I've been trying the S8+, and some games that I play doesn't maximize or utilize the whole screen which leaves some part of the screen blank. However, the screen in the Note 8 is A1 dont get me wrong, but I'm more into the performance and the OP5's screen is enough. Thank you guys!
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Samsung galaxy note 20 ultra
Yes this is great phone i already using it great company
So far I have to say this phone is on its way to becoming the New GOAT. Build quality is stellar, i don't mind the camera bump, small sacrifice for a better shooter. Plus I always rest my finger against it. But that being said, it's pretty much the perfect phone IMO.
The display, the smoothness, the cameras. If I can get 6h + SOT on top of that it'll definitely become my GOAT Samsung phone. Dethroning the Note 7 who dethroned the Galaxy S4 Google play edition but I digress.
I don't see myself moving to another phone any time soon.
Sent from my SM-N986W using XDA Labs
Initial thoughts after final setup:
Going from a A20 ultra to a Note 20 ultra, I think this phone just looks and might even perform better. The feel in the hand, the fingerprint reader, everything seems to run smoother. I'm loving it so far.
My main concern is the battery life with heavy use. I've tweaked the settings a bit, so I guess I will have a better idea after a few days of use. But so far so good! :good:
I just received and configured my Note 20 Ultra. It's so similiar to Note 10+ but faster. Software looks almost the same. I already have 1 software update with security patch from 1st of August
edit: what is annoying is that pen is from the other side it's inconviniet if you are using right hand to operate and hold your phon in your left hand
It's an incredible phone. So much smaller than my first mobile phone 35 years ago. How far we have come since Palm first put a PDA and mobile into the same unit. Luv, Luv, Luv.
PS. The Beans are wonderful. So nice to not have a bud sticking into my ear canal.
PPS. Now I have to wait all over again for my Tab S7+.
advocate2 said:
It's an incredible phone. So much smaller than my first mobile phone 35 years ago. How far we have come since Palm first put a PDA and mobile into the same unit. Luv, Luv, Luv.
PS. The Beans are wonderful. So nice to not have a bud sticking into my ear canal.
PPS. Now I have to wait all over again for my Tab S7+.
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Click to collapse
Lol, I remember those. My first phone was a brick phone with a battery that lasted an hour if you were lucky, and a hand calculator sized screen. Times have changed indeed. It's amazing.
a Lefty's dream!
duchian said:
I just received and configured my Note 20 Ultra. It's so similiar to Note 10+ but faster. Software looks almost the same. I already have 1 software update with security patch from 1st of August
edit: what is annoying is that pen is from the other side it's inconviniet if you are using right hand to operate and hold your phon in your left hand
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I have waited on the Note series for a while. What finally took my commitment was finding out the s pen is on the left. As a lefty, this is the most convenient placement I can imagine.
Anticipate that the placement will change back to the right in the next iteration after feedback from rightys.
If the s-pen was on the right, it would be perfect. Fingerprint scanner is brilliant now, screen is unreal, battery life is phenomenal, speed is beyond belief... Perfection. Good luck topping this, Samsung
Love this phone! It's definitely my favorite phone ever. It just barely beats my love for the OnePlus 8 Pro. I like the form factor of this phone better with less display curves. Plus all the tons of software features. However the colors and brightness on the OnePlus 8 Pro are better.
AndroidPurity said:
Love this phone! It's definitely my favorite phone ever. It just barely beats my love for the OnePlus 8 Pro. I like the form factor of this phone better with less display curves. Plus all the tons of software features. However the colors and brightness on the OnePlus 8 Pro are better.
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Can you elaborate further on the brightness? Everything I've read says the Note 20 Ultra has a brighter screen than the OnePlus 8 Pro, and the rated nits value is quite a bit higher. It might only go up to highest brightness in adaptive mode and being outside? IDK, but you're the first person I've seen say this.
Roland Deschain said:
Can you elaborate further on the brightness? Everything I've read says the Note 20 Ultra has a brighter screen than the OnePlus 8 Pro, and the rated nits value is quite a bit higher. It might only go up to highest brightness in adaptive mode and being outside? IDK, but you're the first person I've seen say this.
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==========================
This is the best way I have of describing my N20U screen brightness.
On a no cloud sunny day, I can take my phone out and see the screen perfectly. No more having to turn to use my body for shade and my hand to see the screen.
I am 69 with mild Adult onset Macular Degeneration. This phone is fantastic for me with auto brightness enabled.
I hope that helps.
duchian said:
edit: what is annoying is that pen is from the other side it's inconviniet if you are using right hand to operate and hold your phon in your left hand
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Click to collapse
Couldn't agree more. After owning note 2,3,4,7,8, and 9 with the pen on the right it will take some getting used to.
Battery life is also a bit meh coming from a Poco F2 Pro but it's good enough to get me to the end of the day so I can live with it.
Apart from those two factors I love this thing. Even at 60hz the screen is very bright and vibrant. It's very responsive, plenty quick enough for day to day tasks, and I've got the inferior Exynos model since that's all my country gets.
Camera is also beast. Low light isn't quite as good as my P30 Pro but it's still pretty impressive compared to a lot of smart phones out there. One thing it does have over the p30 is that it's much faster to grab focus so much better for quick snaps.
great phone, super screen, great that the diagonal has become larger, very convenient !!!
I bought note 20 ultra it is most bs phone i ever use it
No complaint in the overall experience
I've had Note 1, Note 3, S7, S10+ and now N20U from HK with Snapdragon. I've only had it two days, but I'm very happy with the phone. Big £ savings vs UK Exynos are icing and a cherry on top of the cake.
Having pre ordered the phone and having used Notes 3,4,7, 8 and now the 20 Utra 5G with 512gb internal storage; I wanted to wait to make a judgement call but I can say while there are things I like about the phone, I don't think it is what I expected and I am done with Samsung products.
I mean they have tried un-successfully to get rid of the micro sd card slot so then they go after the head phone jack. They skimp on the 120Hz display at full resolution. I mean there are a number of things for a flag ship $1549 phone that just say crap. I was interested in a watch and a tab s7 also. but that isn't going to happen.
I've owned a number of Samsung devices in the past, including Notes 8 and 9 as well as an S10e provided by my company. The Note 9 is, to me, an icon and the last no holds barred, everything but the kitchen sink, no compromises, Note. I do a lot of mobile photography and have always gravitated toward devices that had impressive camera/audio/video capabilities as well as feature-filled in other areas. I wanted to get my hands on the Note 20 Ultra but wasn't willing to relinquish my still pristine Note 9 for the pre-order trade in discount. So I waited for the software problems to get sorted out and the prices to come down. I regularly scanned the Offer Up and Swappa websites until I was able to a factory unlocked 512GB model from a good seller at a great price. This device is a juggernaut of power, form, function, features and fun. I found it not to be too much larger than my Note 9 which fits oh so nicely in hand in its Caseoloy Paraxell case. The camera and video set up is a mobile photographer's dream. I've utilized Google Pixel software apks (GCam) on all of my devices going back to my LG V20 and the stock cameras work so well that I have found no need to port one this time out. This is just overall a top notch piece of tech that does so many things and does them well. It is a quality, powerful, feature-filled piece of technology that will fulfill your needs, whether it's mobile photography, work productivity or content consumption/creation and everything in between. I'm glad I added it to my lineup.
Hardware is great ! With a few greed related exceptions, ( Like Non-Removable Battery, No Audio Port,etc... ) Scamsung's Locked Bluetooth codec really burns my ars !
It could Do/Be so much more/better if they would just fix the Hardware/Firmware lockdown BS.
Coming from a Rooted Note3, this is a really bad experience trying to do anything with this thing, Nothing works without agreeing to some sort of sketchy user agreement. No one is making any usable apps any more, Most of the Best Developers have quit bothering with Android. Even simple widgets don't even work anymore
I DO NOT OWN this over priced phone, They Do ! And they do/steal what ever they want to/from it !
They forced Assdroid 11 in the middle of the night with a corrupt image, I was forced to send it back to them to get it re-flashed. Now None of the apps I was using on version 10 will work on ver. 11.
I will NEVER buy another assdroid, scamsung again. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.
Sad that almost all the hardware/software makers are using these creepy/greedy tactics to spy,steal & dictate what you should do. No other choices out there any more ...
Soon you will have to log in just to wipe your ass ! & they Will be counting your turds.
Opinions are like a-holes, so I thought I'd stay in character & post mine.
This is my first Samsung. Until now, 9 of 10 phones I've owned have been Moto - I used to work for the company and got stuck on them (even when they went to Google then Lenovo). All phones have been rooted since 2010 when I got my first Droid Razr. It's been about 6 years since I've been cutting edge - my last phone was so incredibly reliable I got stuck on it. I've never owned an iPhone & never will. This past December my house decided to overhaul our devices, so I got the s21 Ultra for ~850 USD after discounts. I've been on Verizon since 1999.
My primary uses for owning a mobile device are directly related to the Windows & Linux experiences I have in my life. I want something with maximum horsepower, something I can lock down the best I can, tweak, web/text/data etc., a cutting edge camera, quick & easy 24/7 webdav, and seamless connection/configurability to my NAS. I don't play games (yet) and don't use any social media apps. My machines have to do exactly what I say, quickly, and look good doing it.
There are plenty of people here who could flesh out the technical better than I, but the reason I wanted to share my thoughts here is because I absolutely love this phone & cannot stop talking about it. I love the feel of it, the weight, the screen, the speed & the camera. When I take the few extra seconds to frame & configure a shot, the photos/videos dust the iPhones everyone else uses in my house. One of the things I don't hear many talk about with this phone is how it feels in your hand & on your face when you're actually on a call. Never have I held such a quality device - it's less like a slab and more like a monolith. Anyone who has spent that extra money on say, a car, can attest to this. I really believe I got what I paid for and that's such a terrific feeling I seldom feel anymore.
So when I got the phone I flashed it out of the box to A12 XAA 4BUKF before I even simmed it. Because root was not available, I used ADB AppControl (phenomenal software) to tweak & script the changes I made. I am one of the lucky ones who was able to run 12 with minimal issues. After reading some of the thoughts on 12, I flashed back to A11 XAA 4AUJ7 to test it. Here are my general thoughts on Android 11 vs 12.
Quick notes: I do not use Bixby, I kept only the Samsung apps I ended up liking such as Gallery, Camera, Calculator, Keyboard & Voicemail. I ditched all the rest. I use Signal for texting, Edge for browsing and a few older misc. apps/widgets for everyday stuff.
FunctionEdgeCommentsData SpeedsTie80-150mbps 5G in the NW suburbs of ChicagoCall QualityTieBloatTieBoth are loaded with garbage. If for whatever reason I was restricted in my abilities to adb into this phone, I would not own it.Camera12• The stock camera app produces superior pictures on 12 imho, but both require manual iris intervention before every shot.
• If memory serves me right, the stabilizer "click" when you tilt the phone is not present like it is on 11. Can someone on 12 confirm this?Processing Speeds1111 is smoother and slightly faster.OneUI12• Real close but 12 edges out 11 because of the 85% charge option & ability to add an image to the peek/always on screen.
• Again I am one of the lucky ones as both were equally stable
*** As a new Samsung user, I'm floored by the customizability of OneUI and I love it. I could write pages about the changes I made in here. Bravo Samsung.Battery11Distant first place. The battery on 11 feels nearly twice as good. I get just at/under two days on a 100% charge with moderate use.Overall Personal Preference12But I am staying on 11 for now because of the battery, unfortunately. There is just no comparison.
*** Flashing this phone has been a seamlesss experience and not once has it *****ed at me about a single thing.
After weeks of research, attached are the apps I've frozen which produce no drain. I went much further than this, but reverted back to this in the end due to some perceived drain. Here are some pictures & a video I've taken with the stock app just for giggles - view settings can be changed to thumbnails using the icon on the top right of the page. These are untouched outside of the phone.
Outstanding phone, best I've ever owned, and I'm going to keep it for years. I would love to hear some counterpoints on what I've listed here.
Hi, thanks for the detailed review. Is that Exynos or Snapdragon?
ssj100 said:
Hi, thanks for the detailed review. Is that Exynos or Snapdragon?
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Totally. Snapdragon.
@burnxtc the one counterpoint that helps null Android is Samsung's going chintzy and removing the SD card slot. That combined with the new Google Android OS's new forced encryption and scoped storage the S21U is more Apple than Android.
Samsung hasn't been firing on all cylinders for way over a year. The N10+ was the last homerun flagship release Samsung made... in my opinion.
burnxtc said:
Totally. Snapdragon.
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Click to collapse
Interesting that you also notice the "processing speeds" to be a bit slower with 12. I definitely noticed it with the Exynos here (have owned it since pretty much release). Since 12, I've also observed issues with:
Picture in Picture, Split Screen etc - Refresh Rate drops to 60Hz (EXYNOS)
Hi there, I'd not noticed this before the Android 12 update, but refresh rate appears to drop from 120Hz to 60Hz when using Picture in Picture or Split Screen views. Can anyone else reproduce this please? You can confirm this by going into...
forum.xda-developers.com
And certainly animation "jitteriness" not infrequently has suddenly become noticeable where it didn't really exist on 11.
ssj100 said:
Interesting that you also notice the "processing speeds" to be a bit slower with 12. I definitely noticed it with the Exynos here (have owned it since pretty much release). Since 12, I've also observed issues with:
Picture in Picture, Split Screen etc - Refresh Rate drops to 60Hz (EXYNOS)
Hi there, I'd not noticed this before the Android 12 update, but refresh rate appears to drop from 120Hz to 60Hz when using Picture in Picture or Split Screen views. Can anyone else reproduce this please? You can confirm this by going into...
forum.xda-developers.com
And certainly animation "jitteriness" not infrequently has suddenly become noticeable where it didn't really exist on 11.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The refresh rate stuff is definitely something missing from my review. I am all eyes when I've read about it on this forum and learning much more about it.
ssj100 said:
Interesting that you also notice the "processing speeds" to be a bit slower with 12. I definitely noticed it with the Exynos here (have owned it since pretty much release). Since 12, I've also observed issues with:
Picture in Picture, Split Screen etc - Refresh Rate drops to 60Hz (EXYNOS)
Hi there, I'd not noticed this before the Android 12 update, but refresh rate appears to drop from 120Hz to 60Hz when using Picture in Picture or Split Screen views. Can anyone else reproduce this please? You can confirm this by going into...
forum.xda-developers.com
And certainly animation "jitteriness" not infrequently has suddenly become noticeable where it didn't really exist on 11.
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Click to collapse
The forced encryption maybe but certainly the scoped storage is sucking away cpu cycles for nothing. It's like air drag on a jet fighter, you can jam in bigger engines but the drag is still there slowing it down and burning more fuel.
For what? I like my Androids fast and loose.
burnxtc said:
The refresh rate stuff is definitely something missing from my review. I am all eyes when I've read about it on this forum and learning much more about it.
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It's a big problem on all variable rate displays. All suffer from reduced color rendering to a greater or lesser degree.
Display reliability has also dropped it seems. That's a big reason I decided on buying a second N10+, probably the best display out there for color rendering, still. It slaughters the Apples too.
Still waiting for the newest model reviews but don't expect the color rendering index to increase much or at all; variable refresh rate displays are extremely hard to color calibrate, just too many variables. They are smooth but eat power. My SOT is 7-12%@hr with a 4300 mAh battery using 35-50% manual brightness. Ram usage almost never exceeds 5.3gb so it's snappy. The memory is roughly 20% less efficient than what you have.
So where's all the battery going on the newer models?
So pick your poison. For me it was choosing a phone over 2 years after it was first released. I have 2 N10+'s, the oldest will be 2.5 yo in March.
A Snapdragon variant 512/12gb running on Pie.
Current load will be 2 yo in June, still fast and stable, security isn't an issue. Only repair was a battery replacement back in April 2021. It looks and runs like new, zero detectable display degradation in this heavily used device. It's a beast. The reliability, display quality, battery life (trade offs: no 5G, variable refresh rate, and slower cpu/memory), form factor (7mm thick), SD card slot, the device is just stunning, and fun to use are some of the factors that made me go with a second one. I have twins...
blackhawk said:
It's a big problem on all variable rate displays. All suffer from reduced color rendering to a greater or lesser degree.
Display reliability has also dropped it seems. That's a big reason I decided on buying a second N10+, probably the best display out there for color rendering, still. It slaughters the Apples too.
Still waiting for the newest model reviews but don't expect the color rendering index to increase much or at all; variable refresh rate displays are extremely hard to color calibrate, just too many variables. They are smooth but eat power. My SOT is 7-12%@hr with a 4300 mAh battery using 35-50% manual brightness. Ram usage almost never exceeds 5.3gb so it's snappy. The memory is roughly 20% less efficient than what you have.
So where's all the battery going on the newer models?
So pick your poison. For me it was choosing a phone over 2 years after it was first released. I have 2 N10+'s, the oldest will be 2.5 yo in March.
A Snapdragon variant 512/12gb running on Pie.
Current load will be 2 yo in June, still fast and stable, security isn't an issue. Only repair was a battery replacement back in April 2021. It looks and runs like new, zero detectable display degradation in this heavily used device. It's a beast. The reliability, display quality, battery life (trade offs: no 5G, variable refresh rate, and slower cpu/memory), form factor (7mm thick), SD card slot, the device is just stunning, and fun to use are some of the factors that made me go with a second one. I have twins...
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That is absolutely incredible, I had no idea the N10+ was that right on the money - "Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect." No wonder they're still fetching that price.
Curious, did you do the battery replacement yourself & was there any degradation to the "structure" after you got it done? I've done batteries on a dozen phones/tablets, but taking my Samsung apart looks really daunting.
burnxtc said:
That is absolutely incredible, I had no idea the N10+ was that right on the money - "Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect." No wonder they're still fetching that price.
Curious, did you do the battery replacement yourself & was there any degradation to the "structure" after you got it done? I've done batteries on a dozen phones/tablets, but taking my Samsung apart looks really daunting.
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I like it's square display corners, only the N20U has those too but that damn cam hump. In person the square corners look so much better.
Being raised on CRTs, I'm sick of rounded corners
The Zizo Bolt case mates perfectly with the 10+ making it easier to use and has great drop protection... so I knew casing the second one be easy. These corner hitters need a case. The spen's Smart Capture and bt shutter release are hard to live without once you use them. Deciding took some time.
It was between the N10+ and the N20U as the SD card slot is mandatory for me. In the end the trouble free and snappy fun nature of the 10+ won out. Never thought I would have done that in 2019, thought for sure I be wanting the next Samsung flagship in 2022. Ummm, thanks Samsung?
Had a shop do the replacement as I was intimidated too. I watched and learned. Use a little anhydrous isopropyl in a syringe to help loosen the double sided tape on the rear cover (and heat) and battery. Not bad if you take your time and have the right tools... easy does it, no rush.
Get the OEM rear cover seal or a good aftermarket one. Lol, never test if it's water tight even with the factory done one.
In the end I realized I could do a better job myself, but that in person demo really helped a lot. And yeah, I was a menace, asking questions... got my money's worth