Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 is official; the company revealed the much-anticipated phablet at its Unpacked event in Berlin today, and we've got all the specification details right here. For our first impressions of the handset from our team on the ground at IFA, make sure to read or Galaxy Note 4 review - hands on, but scroll on down if you just want the facts.
GALAXY NOTE 4 DESIGN
The Note 4 takes design inspiration from its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 3, as well as the premium Galaxy Alpha, and throws in a few new visual tweaks for good measure. It has a metal frame, a first for a Note handset, to which Samsung has bonded a 2.5D glass front and removable faux leather rear cover.
2.5D glass is Samsung's name for a slightly bevelled glass front panel, with edges and corners that protrude upwards from the phone to give the impression that what's on screen is floating slightly above where you'd imagine it to be.
The Note 4 will be launching in four colours; frosted white, charcoal black, bronze gold and blossom pink. It doesn't look like the company has plans for a blue version, despite selling a blue Galaxy S5, although that could change in the future.
GALAXY NOTE 4 DISPLAY
The 5.7in AMOLED display on the Note 4 may not be physically larger than its predecessor, but whereas the Note 3 had a Full HD resolution here Samsung has used a QHD, 2,560x1,440 panel. That means a pixel density of over 500ppi, matching that of the LG G3 and going far beyond the point it's possible to see individual pixels with the naked eye.
Combined with the black levels, vibrant colours and incredible contrast you get from an AMOLED panel, and the floating effect introduced by the 2.5D glass, and the results should be jaw-dropping in the flesh.
GALAXY NOTE 4 PERFORMANCE
There was never any doubt that the Note 4 would be a powerful handset, but Samsung has delivered with not one but two different high-powered models. The first uses Samsung's own Exynos 5433 octa-core CPU, with four cores running at 1.9GHz and four cores running at 1.3GHz, while the other handset uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core chip - making it the first Android handset to do so. It runs at a massive 2.7GHz, blitzing the SunSpider Javascript benchmark in around 360ms.
The other major difference between the two handsets is the intenal modem. The Qualcomm model uses the faster Category 6 LTE modem, while the Exynos model has to make do with the slower Category 4 LTE.
The Note 4 uses that power to run Android 4.4 Kitkat, with Samsung's usual selection of Touchwiz UI improvements on top. Both phones have 3GB of RAM and include 32GB of onboard storage as standard. There are reportedly no plans for a 16GB model, but you'll easily be able to add more storage using microSD cards.
GALAXY NOTE 4 CAMERA
Samsung has taken the 16-megapixel camera sensor it used for the Galaxy S5 and added optical image stabilisation technology, meaning the Galaxy Note 4 should be able to shoot clearer, blur-free images even if your hands are shaking. It is paired with an LED flash, and will be able to capture 4K video as well as 16-megapixel still images.
The front-facing camera has been upgraded too. It uses a 3.7-megapixel sensor, with a wide f/1.9 aperture for capturing 60% more light than the Note 3's front-facing camera. Designed with selfie shooting in mind, you'll be able to double tap the HRM on the back of the phone to snap a photo when using the front-facing camera, rather than stretch to reach the on-screen button. There's also a new Wide Selfie mode, which extends the Note 4's 90-degree field of view to 120 degrees through photo stitching - ensuring you and your friends are all in the picture.
GALAXY NOTE 4 FEATURES
As you would expect, the Galaxy Note 4 includes an S Pen stylus for making notes, drawing and navigating through the Android UI. It has been upgraded with 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity (up from 1024 levels in the Note 3) and can now be used like a PC mouse, with a click and drag motion to select any onscreen content.
Smart Select, a new addition to the Air Command menu, lets you select multiple objects for saving to your scrapbook or importing into a different app. You can add to your selection, growing it until you're ready to use it, or send individual clippings from a Smart Selection to different apps for editing.
The S Note app now has a homescreen widget to make it easier to jump into the right part of the app, and includes Snap Note for the first time. This lets you take a photo of any text, be it in a book or on a blackboard, and convert it into an image for editing. It an even capture at an angle, then convert the image to a flat surface for editing.
Touchwiz has been overhauled to support the high resolution display, with Samsung adding more S Pen integration throughout the operating system. The Recent Apps menu, which now looks startlingly similar to the Android L multitasking window, has an icon to launch Multi Window mode on every comptible app, and you can now drag down from the top right corner of the screen to turn a fullscreen app into a floating windowed one.
The Note 4 supports fast charging, reaching 50% charge from only thirty minutes of charge time, and naturally it includes Samsung's greyscale Ultra Power Saving mode for when you're miles away from the nearest plug socket. Interestingly the phone uses the standard microUSB socket, rather than the USB3 port Samsung had added to the Note 3 and Galaxy S5.
Samsung has also added a third microphone to the top of the handset, letting it suppress background noise when recording conversations. Directional recording lets you mute everyone except the person you want to hear, or separate parts of a conversation for selective playback.
GALAXY NOTE 4 RELEASE DATE
The Galaxy Note 4 announcement came and went without any concrete release date. All we know to date is that the phone should launch some time before the end of the year. Based on Samsung's prior form we can expect it to hit retail roughly a month following the announcement, which could mean the first week of October here in the UK, although we won't be holding our breath until Samsung makes it official.
GALAXY NOTE 4 PRICE
Little is known for sure about how much the Galaxy Note 4 will cost. With two distinct models available depending on the region, and the ultra-high end Galaxy Note Edge also launhing alongside it, we're expecting the Note 4 to cost around £550-600 when it finally arrives. That's currently based on leaked pricing information from foreign retailers, so we'll be sure to update this article once Samsung releases an official price.
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