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My Note 4 thoughts

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.

Why you shouldn't wait for a better phone

Despite every single phone that has came out in the history of cellular phones, not once has a "perfect" phone been created. The logic that people use the majority of the time for holding off on the latest flagship is ALWAYS flawed.
What people need to realize is that its pointless to wait for the next big thing when it comes to cell phones. The features that cell phones have are a matter of designer preference, with input from the population. The problem is that just like anything else, there's going to be a majority, and a minority. The majority get their features, the minority doesn't. People tend to be so hard on these manufacturers for design choices, spec choices, etc., but what they don't understand, you can't please everyone, so why are you expecting them to?
If you are due for an upgrade, and this phone is somewhat appealing to you, just buy it. Spare yourself the months of bitxhing about your current phone while you wait for a new phone. Because I guarantee that when that phone comes out that you think is perfect, a better phone will come out 3-6 months later, and you'll be kicking yourself for jumping the gun.
At the current rate technology is evolving, there is no sense in "waiting around" for a better phone, because there's always going to be a better phone. Get it?
Those who are getting the Note 4, enjoy. You're going to own a powerhouse of a phone.

Galaxy note2 was, and is, a perfect phone.

Bruce lee roy said:
Galaxy note2 was, and is, a perfect phone.
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Please provide me with facts to back this up? Facts that won't be contested by anyone. I'm waiting.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is no way to factually prove an opinion. You can only provide evidence to support your opinion. I tell my wife that I'm the perfect man. I even give her evidence but at the end of the day she points out that everyone is entitled to their opinions. It's just that mine happen to be wrong.

yup..the new nexus is coming..next year we will have the s6, g4 and god knows what else

There is ALWAYS a better tech phone coming soon.
Kicking Deuce on the Beast, Note 3

hello00 said:
yup..the new nexus is coming..next year we will have the s6, g4 and god knows what else
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Try the iPhone 7 :laugh:
6s users will be like, wtf, I should have waited :good:
Then the 7s comes, 7 users will be like,"Man! I should have waited!".
It's a never-ending struggle

The Black Droid said:
Try the iPhone 7 :laugh:
6s users will be like, wtf, I should have waited :good:
Then the 7s comes, 7 users will be like,"Man! I should have waited!".
It's a never-ending struggle
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yup..im getting the note 4 this friday..if the nexus x seems better i will exchange it until another new phone comes out..trying to keep up with the technology :good:

hello00 said:
yup..im getting the note 4 this friday..if the nexus x seems better i will exchange it until another new phone comes out..trying to keep up with the technology :good:
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I'm rocking a Galaxy Nexus. Just a hunch that the Note 4 is a worthy improvement

I trialed using my galaxy nexus in the interim waiting on Note 4 to arrive (sold off my Note 3 early)....I lasted about 3 days before I decided I couldn't handle that old thing. Definitely time to upgrade.

The Black Droid said:
I'm rocking a Galaxy Nexus. Just a hunch that the Note 4 is a worthy improvement
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Lol absolutely. This phone has the best hardware I've ever used. And no doubt the software will get better. And i hope that comes soon with custom recovery being cooked up. I am getting a significant amount of lag. It's bad. I've wiped once and disabled S-voice yet still it lags 10-20% of the time. Especially when using keyboard ( tested on multiple keyboards) There is no way I'm the only one experiencing this lol if anyone has any tips...Please share with me.

The Black Droid said:
I'm rocking a Galaxy Nexus. Just a hunch that the Note 4 is a worthy improvement
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if u are coming from a nexus, why arent u waiting for the new nexus?

johnchad14 said:
I trialed using my galaxy nexus in the interim waiting on Note 4 to arrive (sold off my Note 3 early)....I lasted about 3 days before I decided I couldn't handle that old thing. Definitely time to upgrade.
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In my opinion, it's one of the older ones that still runs decently. Most likely due to all the support from Google.

True the tech is evolving so much, there is a 'better' phone every 2 months. But that doesn't mean note 4 will be classified as old anytime soon. And by the time it does, i am sure most of the people have already switched/thinking about switching their phone.
And I am gonna upgrade from galaxy ace..so a very big upgrade for me:. Maybe my tab will be left almost unused now

hello00 said:
if u are coming from a nexus, why arent u waiting for the new nexus?
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I am pretty business oriented nowadays, and I've always liked the old palm pilots. I'm getting this phone for it's display size and stylus..and, because my Gnex only holds a charge for 10-12 hours tops.

I pretty much agree. If it ain't the camera, it's the battery life, so on and so forth.
Folks have to live with compromise, no way around it. You can wait for the next best one that will upgrade something but you will still live with compromises.

Bruce lee roy said:
Galaxy note2 was, and is, a perfect phone.
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yep i agree. the only reason that i am thinking of getting the note 4 (on pre-order as I have until tomorrow to decide) is because of the Samsung promotion. i might as well get value for my htc sensation (current trade in value is $11) and there will come a time when my note 2 becomes non-functional

I think we've reached a point now where the marginal improvement is going to be lower for each generation.
Moore's Law has ended. The cost per transistor for SOCs is lowest at 28nm. 20nm will mean higher costs per transistor. At the same time, the marginal performance gain per node will probably drop, while the capital costs for the next node are rising. EUV and 450mm wafers are problem plagued. This in turn, limits performance potential. That means only architectural improvements are possible. Perhaps they could make bigger dies, although this might cost more. That said, with margins for smartphones still high at the high end, large dies might be practical.
Cameras are probably at their limit now for reasons of physics. Only way to make them better is to make them bigger, which is what Nokia has done. It will never rival a DSLR though.
There's limited room for improvement in terms of performance too because of heat and battery life.
On that note, one area for potential improvement might be battery life. It will mean transitioning from lithium ion batteries though.
Speakers might be an area for improvement for Samsung (something like what HTC has done), but otherwise there's limited room for improvement.
Internal storage may benefit from 3D NAND, but it seems like SSDs progress is slowing, so it's inevitable that phone progress in this front will too. SD cards will also be affected.
We will probably see some improvement in terms of display technology. Amoled is now high end a pixel density that the Pentile is not a drawback, and perhaps the Blue subpixel will be given more life. Perhaps we will see better daylight visibility too and more efficient Amoled technology. This might improve battery life somewhat. Otherwise, we are near a very good display - high enough PPI not to be annoying, bright enough to be relatively visible in sunlight (according to Displaymate), well calibrated, and with lower power consumption then the previous generation.
64 bit processing might lead to more performance and take advantage of a lot of RAM. It'll be a while though before software takes advantage of it. Heck, most mobile software cannot yet take advantage of all 4 cores on a phone.
I could see some things like water proofing get added as well. But beyond that, what else is there on the horizon?
Bruce lee roy said:
Galaxy note2 was, and is, a perfect phone.
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Click to collapse
I agree to an extent. Perhaps in its day it was arguably the best phone that could have been realistically been built.
Amoled was pretty good for its day, especially in movie mode and the Pentile because it was partial RGB, was not a huge issue despite the low pixel density
Good camera, with only the Nokia camera phones coming out on top
Pretty good battery life Wolfson DAC, providing very high quality audio out
Pretty good speakers
Exynos SOC was the best for its day, although Apple did with its PowerVR series have a stronger GPU
Qualcomm radio was pretty good at holding a signal, as was quality of call.
Only flaw was that Samsung did not release full documentation. The Exynos problems have hampered AOSP development.
No other major flaws (ex: like the Galaxy S and the GPS problem).
For it's day, it was perhaps the best phone that could have been made.

v2.2v said:
Lol absolutely. This phone has the best hardware I've ever used. And no doubt the software will get better. And i hope that comes soon with custom recovery being cooked up. I am getting a significant amount of lag. It's bad. I've wiped once and disabled S-voice yet still it lags 10-20% of the time. Especially when using keyboard ( tested on multiple keyboards) There is no way I'm the only one experiencing this lol if anyone has any tips...Please share with me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You aren't running xposed and are rooted by any chance?
If so install Wanam Exposed and tick the box in the advanced section to fix S-Health, that fixed my lag issues

Just restored my iphone 5 to factory defaults and got it unlocked from AT&T. Now it's time to list it on eBay and wait impatiently for my note 4 to arrive tomorrow! The whole waiting for a better phone, that's why I did the Next 12 plan with AT&T, cause I just might want a new one in a year.

Many different (maybe advanced) questions

Hi, i think this thread will be kinda annoying cause i have many things i need to know if possible.
1. Is there any chance to find out, if they will use the new gen Amoled screens, or the old ones like on the moto X? (S4/Note 3 terrible!)
http://i.imgur.com/a8GpuZd.jpg
2. They say its an IMX 214 sensor, this is better then the one on the G2 , and equal to G3 if i'm not mistaken, so knowing now devs will have access to the camera, and the mods will make this camera flawless, because of the much higher ISP compared to the S800 G2 lets say (combined with mods ofc if stock camera blows) ? i think hardware being amazing, the mods will make this camera alot better is this correct or i'm missing something?
3. Does the gpu, make S805 phones really faster? i mean i know it should push resolution easier, but other then that, does Android as a OS, benefit much from the gpu acceleration? maybe L will have bigger benefits?
4. Would it be possible (with mods/ or even stock sofware) to alter> lower the amps from turbo charging, maybe even turn this feature off? i do not want my phone to be charged at 2A, this will degrade battery life much faster.
5. What do you guys think, about the blue vs white versions, i heard in the past there was not only the color difference, but some other changes in the designs of black vs white Nexus 5, can anyone tell me what was the difference cause i cant recall?
6. Where there some display calibration tool for, S4/Note 4 or even newer models to decease the saturation and make the screen look more balanced/realistic/better? i'm very sensitive to this, and i don't really like Amoleds, so i'm looking for a solution, or at least make it a bit better so i can live with it.
7. When will this phone be available for orders (playstore in EU) i'm not sure what is the date on this.
8. Is it true that Motorola has amazing recpetion/call quality? or this is tight up to the chip it self, (S805 same for all phones who use this chip) would using bad signal LTE networks still drain the battery like mad similar like on S800, or the improvements on the S805 will make this issue go away?
Thanks and sorry for many questions!

Anyone?

dazed1 said:
Hi, i think this thread will be kinda annoying cause i have many things i need to know if possible.
1. Is there any chance to find out, if they will use the new gen Amoled screens, or the old ones like on the moto X? (S4/Note 3 terrible!)
http://i.imgur.com/a8GpuZd.jpg
2. They say its an IMX 214 sensor, this is better then the one on the G2 , and equal to G3 if i'm not mistaken, so knowing now devs will have access to the camera, and the mods will make this camera flawless, because of the much higher ISP compared to the S800 G2 lets say (combined with mods ofc if stock camera blows) ? i think hardware being amazing, the mods will make this camera alot better is this correct or i'm missing something?
3. Does the gpu, make S805 phones really faster? i mean i know it should push resolution easier, but other then that, does Android as a OS, benefit much from the gpu acceleration? maybe L will have bigger benefits?
4. Would it be possible (with mods/ or even stock sofware) to alter> lower the amps from turbo charging, maybe even turn this feature off? i do not want my phone to be charged at 2A, this will degrade battery life much faster.
5. What do you guys think, about the blue vs white versions, i heard in the past there was not only the color difference, but some other changes in the designs of black vs white Nexus 5, can anyone tell me what was the difference cause i cant recall?
6. Where there some display calibration tool for, S4/Note 4 or even newer models to decease the saturation and make the screen look more balanced/realistic/better? i'm very sensitive to this, and i don't really like Amoleds, so i'm looking for a solution, or at least make it a bit better so i can live with it.
7. When will this phone be available for orders (playstore in EU) i'm not sure what is the date on this.
8. Is it true that Motorola has amazing recpetion/call quality? or this is tight up to the chip it self, (S805 same for all phones who use this chip) would using bad signal LTE networks still drain the battery like mad similar like on S800, or the improvements on the S805 will make this issue go away?
Thanks and sorry for many questions!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. We can't know until the phone has been reviewed.
2. It's one of the best Sony sensors available and it's capable of taking great shots. It all depends on how Google decides to implement the camera software. If they handle it perfectly it'll be able to take some of the most amazing photo's of any android device.
3. It might not make it faster swiping your home screen. But it prevents actual stutters that you might have gotten with a slower SOC. Not to mention it'll handle task faster which means it'll lower it's frequency, which again results in better battery life.
4. Possible. It's been done before on previous Nexus models.
5. We can't actually know what the difference is on the Nexus 6 until it's been reviewed. The Nexus 5 had a different ear piece color matching it's back cover. The white and black version also had a different rim with the black one being matte like the back cover, and the white one being glossy black. The white cover also felt different. More plasticy rather than matte.
6. There could or could not be a way to calibrate the screen. It was possible on the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 5.
7. Has not been announced. But it will most likely vary from country to country.
8. Motorola uses some of the best radios in their phone. It's highly likely that they'll use these in the Nexus 6. From my understanding the Snapdragon 805 doesn't have an incorporated radio so a separate one is required. No need to worry about this, Motorola has got you covered. Also not to forget, the metal frame also boosts reception so it'll be one of the best phones when it comes to that.

Аwesome, thanks alot!

Verizon Phone Upgrade: LG G4 or Nexus 6?

Hello all,
I have an upgrade to use with Verizon. Currently on the S5 and can't stand the fact there's no development cause of locked BS Samsung crap. Just wondering if I should get an "older" phone like the N6 or try out the G4 (they tend to get unlocked within a couple months). Want to get away form Touchjizz and Sammy thanks to Verizon. Any comments would be appreciated!

I recently purchased the Nexus 6 on Verizon and I'm extremely happy. I also have an active Note 4 and now never use it. I'm having so much fun flashing ROMs and customizing the device (wood back covers, etc) that being 6 months old doesnt bother me. I'll wait for the next Nexus before upgrading again.
Also, this is the only device that I've purchased from Verizon that came with ZERO bloat. Literally nothing. Even AT&T crapped that up. It doesn't make great use of Verizon's Advanced Calling feature (native video calling) but who cares. VoLTE works.

Obviously get the G4. Nexus devices have subpar battery life

dicecuber said:
Obviously get the note 4. Nexus devices have subpar battery life
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Dude, i have almost never seen a postive comment of you about phones in multiple forums. Why do you always endup with the wrong phones and do you even have a Nexus 6?
That said both devices are awesome but very different. The G4 has a swapable battery, external sd card support up to 2TB, a superb camera wich some find even better then that of the Galaxy S6 and a gorgeous screen. Batterylife will be a bit better than de N6`s but the N6 is a developer phone with many choices of roms, kernels, and mods too choose from. The Nexus 6 has a good screen but in full sunlight sometimes not very clear, the speakers are great, its superfluid with no lags and in daily use a very good phone to use and it kind of grows on you
I recommend the 64GB version as there is no sdcard slot and the battery is not swapable and the speakers are very good imo.
So both have things going for them, best is to play with both in real life in a shop if you can and see wich one feels best for you.

@gee2012, am I lying about the battery life?
Nexus are great besides that and the camera

dicecuber said:
@gee2012, am I lying about the battery life?
Nexus are great besides that and the camera
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I never call other users liars bro, i just noticed your name and it reminded me of the negative comments you used to post about the last years N5 i believe. But enough about that, the batttery gets me through the day and have about 4-4,5 hrs. screenontime wich is sufficient for me. Its not Note 4 and certainly not Ascend Mate 7 figures but enough for me It varies depending on settings and usage per user. The camera shoots pretty descent shots with sufficient light and lowlight with HDR+ isn`t bad either for me, but again not Galaxy S6 or even LG G3 quality.

Dennisg34 said:
Hello all,
I have an upgrade to use with Verizon. Currently on the S5 and can't stand the fact there's no development cause of locked BS Samsung crap. Just wondering if I should get an "older" phone like the N6 or try out the G4 (they tend to get unlocked within a couple months). Want to get away form Touchjizz and Sammy thanks to Verizon. Any comments would be appreciated!
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It depends whats important to you. The newest hardware of the lg g4 or the openness of the nexus 6 software. Most devices by today's standards do not lag or show much stuttering when doing basic tasks such as texting, emailing,calling, surfing the internet, etc. It comes down to what you plan on doing with the phone. Will gaming be an option? Are you looking for a top of the line Camera? Once you figure that out, the choice becomes clear.

backdown00 said:
It depends whats important to you. The newest hardware of the lg g4 or the openness of the nexus 6 software. Most devices by today's standards do not lag or show much stuttering when doing basic tasks such as texting, emailing,calling, surfing the internet, etc. It comes down to what you plan on doing with the phone. Will gaming be an option? Are you looking for a top of the line Camera? Once you figure that out, the choice becomes clear.
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I think that lag is actually a very underrated issue with devices today. The G3 definitely lagged, and my S5 lagged horribly. Even the Note 4 isn't completely lag-free. However it does seem that reviewers haven't noticed any stutter in the G4, which is a good sign.
OP, one other thing to be aware of is that while the CPU in the 808 found in the G4 edges out the 805 found in the Nexus 6 the GPU in the 808 is significantly weaker than that of the 805. Otherwise I'm sure the G4 will be a great device. The camera will certainly be better than the N6's, and battery life should be comparable.

semperfi123 said:
I think that lag is actually a very underrated issue with devices today. The G3 definitely lagged, and my S5 lagged horribly. Even the Note 4 isn't completely lag-free. However it does seem that reviewers haven't noticed any stutter in the G4, which is a good sign.
OP, one other thing to be aware of is that while the CPU in the 808 found in the G4 edges out the 805 found in the Nexus 6 the GPU in the 808 is significantly weaker than that of the 805. Otherwise I'm sure the G4 will be a great device. The camera will certainly be better than the N6's, and battery life should be comparable.
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Can you link any websites showing the adreno 418 being worse than the 420? I did some fast googling and although there's not a lot of info it seems the 418 is as powerful as the 420 if not slightly more edging it out and is also made on a smaller die 20nm vs 28nm.

backdown00 said:
Can you link any websites showing the adreno 418 being worse than the 420? I did some fast googling and although there's not a lot of info it seems the 418 is as powerful as the 420 if not slightly more edging it out and is also made on a smaller die 20nm vs 28nm.
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From Anandtech: "In terms of graphics performance, the Adreno 418 is apparently 20% faster than the Adreno 330...and the Adreno 420 itself is something like 40% faster than Adreno 330"
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7925/...bit-socs-with-lte-category-67-support-in-2015

semperfi123 said:
From Anandtech: "In terms of graphics performance, the Adreno 418 is apparently 20% faster than the Adreno 330...and the Adreno 420 itself is something like 40% faster than Adreno 330"
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7925/...bit-socs-with-lte-category-67-support-in-2015
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Ahh I kept googling adreno 420 vs 418. I should been looking at 418 vs 330. Thank you for this!

gee2012 said:
I never call other users liars bro, i just noticed your name and it reminded me of the negative comments you used to post about the last years N5 i believe. But enough about that, the batttery gets me through the day and have about 4-4,5 hrs. screenontime wich is sufficient for me. Its not Note 4 and certainly not Ascend Mate 7 figures but enough for me It varies depending on settings and usage per user. The camera shoots pretty descent shots with sufficient light and lowlight with HDR+ isn`t bad either for me, but again not Galaxy S6 or even LG G3 quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
backdown00 said:
It depends whats important to you. The newest hardware of the lg g4 or the openness of the nexus 6 software. Most devices by today's standards do not lag or show much stuttering when doing basic tasks such as texting, emailing,calling, surfing the internet, etc. It comes down to what you plan on doing with the phone. Will gaming be an option? Are you looking for a top of the line Camera? Once you figure that out, the choice becomes clear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
semperfi123 said:
I think that lag is actually a very underrated issue with devices today. The G3 definitely lagged, and my S5 lagged horribly. Even the Note 4 isn't completely lag-free. However it does seem that reviewers haven't noticed any stutter in the G4, which is a good sign.
OP, one other thing to be aware of is that while the CPU in the 808 found in the G4 edges out the 805 found in the Nexus 6 the GPU in the 808 is significantly weaker than that of the 805. Otherwise I'm sure the G4 will be a great device. The camera will certainly be better than the N6's, and battery life should be comparable.
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Ed Murray said:
I recently purchased the Nexus 6 on Verizon and I'm extremely happy. I also have an active Note 4 and now never use it. I'm having so much fun flashing ROMs and customizing the device (wood back covers, etc) that being 6 months old doesnt bother me. I'll wait for the next Nexus before upgrading again.
Also, this is the only device that I've purchased from Verizon that came with ZERO bloat. Literally nothing. Even AT&T crapped that up. It doesn't make great use of Verizon's Advanced Calling feature (native video calling) but who cares. VoLTE works.
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Thanks everyone for your input! I would be using the camera more than gaming. Only gaming I do is the occasional w/e game while I'm taking care of business lol. Nexus was thrown in here because of all the development it has right now. I might be leaning towards the G4 just with all the extras it has and the phenomenal camera and it will still be faster than my S5. I own it, and yeah it does have some lag still. Can't stand Touchwhiz anymore and the lack of development thanks to their boost in security. Not sure why the last several Nexuses weren't removable batteries. Just an OCD thing on my part as well as external storage.

Yes Samsung phones have become harder to ROM, root, etc, unless you Go for T-Mobile/international and even then its not great.
If you plan on using the camera often, take it from a Nexus 6, Note 4 user - check out the G4.
That's my suggestion, good luck in your decision
Dennisg34 said:
Thanks everyone for your input! I would be using the camera more than gaming. Only gaming I do is the occasional w/e game while I'm taking care of business lol. Nexus was thrown in here because of all the development it has right now. I might be leaning towards the G4 just with all the extras it has and the phenomenal camera and it will still be faster than my S5. I own it, and yeah it does have some lag still. Can't stand Touchwhiz anymore and the lack of development thanks to their boost in security. Not sure why the last several Nexuses weren't removable batteries. Just an OCD thing on my part as well as external storage.
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Nexus 6 vs Nexus 5X

So I ordered a Nexus 6 for $300 brand new on eBay. I am intrigued by the Nexus 5X as well.
So here's why I think where the Nexus 6 is better than the 5X:
QHD Screen, Dual Front Facing Speakers, OIS in the camera, more RAM.
Here is where I think the 5X is better than the 6:
Better form factor, better processor, fingerprint scanner/Nexus Imprint, better camera (even though no OIS), and better front facing camera.
Now, here is what I prefer, the features like the fingerprint scanner, camera, and better processor.
Here is what gets me though, less RAM means less quality performance, the price for a 32 GB is over $150 more, and the Nexus 5X needs Type C to Type A to be utilized on my MacBook.
So is it worth it for me to get the 5X? I am a little bit budget conscious, but could get the 5X. I have the 6S+ as my daily driver, but want a Nexus device as my main android device. The Nexus software is good and will pair up nicely with my Moto 360. Suggestions?

I wouldn't say that the 808 is a better processor than the 805. The 64bit aspect is more marketing than practical, since you don't actually use a phone for tasks that benefit from 64bit. Those tasks are handled by dedicated hardware blocks. So what the 808 has, are 4 *weak* A53's, and 2 *power hungry* A57's. The 805 has 4 *strong/fast and power efficient* Krait 450's.
In fact, the 805 has been put against the 810 and actually came out VERY strong. In many cases, exceeding the 810.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/snapdragon-810-benchmarks,4053.html
*** note that in that article, it is important for you to recognize TWO very important facts about the tests;
1) They are comparing an MDP810/t (development tablet with massive internal heat dispersion plates) to a Nexus 6,
2) The Nexus 6 is running factory on-CPU full disk encryption, whereas the 810 is using special crypto instructions.
Both of those facts are to the benefit of the SD810, yet the only conclusion possible given the outcome, is that even WITH those points hurting the 805, it is still holding up against the 810.
And the 808? Basically just cut off two cores from the 810 and call it an 808.
As far as the rest of your points comparing the two phones...
1) The 5x has a MUCH better screen. While it is true that the claimed resolution is lower, the Nexus 6 has an RGBG AMOLED, which cheats on the resolution (it is only full resolution in GREEN, red and blue are only 2560x720). The differences are pretty obvious under a magnifying glass. The 5x, while only 1080x1920, is an HONEST 1080x1920. I would go so far as to say that I would choose a 6 inch 1080x1920 over this. And its not just about the visible artifacts, which yes, *are* hard to see.. but half the number of pixels to drive, the graphics *performance* will be a lot higher with the lower resolution screen.
2) Speakers... Nexus 6 speakers suck real bad as loudspeakers. As a headset, its fine (i.e., at lower volume pressed against your ear). The second speaker on the front is really quite pointless.
3) OIS? I can't tell the difference. It still blurs when you shake it during a picture.
4) More ram... yep, it does have a bit more ram, but, android knows how to manage ram very well, so you really shouldn't be able to tell a difference in device performance. Realistically, anything over 1 GB is adequate. Anything over 2 is just marketing fluff. At least for now.
5) 5x better form factor.... its the same form factor, rectangle. Maybe you are referring to the size?
6) 5x better proc... nope, as already discussed.
7) fingerprint scanner? Well, that may be useful for people with clean smooth soft fingers, but for the rest of us, fingerprint scanning is more trouble than its worth.
8) I don't get it with phone cameras. This race to super megapixels is idiotic when the two adjacent pixels bleed into each other. Phone cameras suck. All of them. We have a fairly cheap point and shoot digital camera, but through sheer lazyness, my wife got into the habit of using the phone. Couple of weeks ago she picked up the cheap point and shoot, and was blown away by how good the pictures were that came from it. Seriously... phone cameras ALL SUCK. There is nothing you can do to overcome the physical limitations when dealing with having to maintain a THIN phone. You just don't have the space to put in a decent lens. Every new phone that you get has claims of having a better camera than the last phone, yet phone after phone, I still can't tell the difference, they still suck.
9) USB type C. Yeah, it is kind of expected that during this period of transition, you will end up needing to get the cables that connect from the old to the new. The good news though, is that you don't need expensive powered converter boxes, its just a matter of the plug itself. Eventually, you are going to have to pick the first device to upgrade to the new plugs.
Here is my take on this;
I own a Nexus 6, and while it is a bit bigger than I like, I would NOT buy a 5x or a 6p. Neither offers a substantial benefit over what I already have. If they were a little bit more substantial, like having the snapdragon 620 and 820 like rumors and logic suggested, then they would be very tempting, but even then, its hard to say. I'm kind of glad that they didn't make them with the new chips though, since that temptation to upgrade now doesn't exist, so I can happily wait until next year and get something that is *actually* better than what I have now.
And I tell you, snapdragon 820 is really going to be something.