User:LouBisson/sandbox

[2016-10-11] On it's initial release, I was a bit sceptical about the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, because it removed random menu features such as EXiF-information viewing in the Gallery, some features which were introduced in the S4 (AirGestures, self-capacitive touchscreen layer, sensors) and S5 (e.g. the Toolbox), some camera features from the S5 such as remote viewfinder, and even more. I was also dissatisfied about the fact, that the camera application now allowed eight times digital zoom, whereas it should limit the user to lossless digital zoom instead. And the burst shots were still limited to thirty shots in row. Slow motion was not recorded with sound. And the white background in the settings menu instead of the former light-on-dark color scheme, one of the first things I noticed, was undesirable due to increased AMOLED power consumption and eye strain. There was no physical shutter button like on GT-i8000 and Sony (formerly: Ericsson) Xperia. The one-handed usage mode has no app/contact launcher like S5. The heart-rate monitor can just be used for self-portraits and only, if a face is visible, and not for the rear camera. The face-detection uses circles instead of squares. The S5 had GridView, ListView and Tabbed view. Note 4 missed grid view. Additionally, the USB-3.0 and Water-Protection from the S5 was gone. I also expected it to bring 4 GB RAM.

The 2.5D-glass looked like it was barely able to survive a face-off drop. That protective metal frame from the S5 and Note 3 was almost gone. In drop-tests, the Note 3 actually was slightly better than Note 4, and pretty much as good as Note 7.

What I did also not like about the Note 4, is, that Samsung quickly stopped producing the Galaxy Note 3, which I also still really miss. Only a few features (e.g. a little piece of stuff inside of the Keyboard and Gallery) were removed, and many features were added. I also expected the lockscreen and the homescreen to support horizontal view. The Note 4 was actually the last phone to support horizontal view in telephone application of Samsung TouchWiz. I also expect tablet-mode (would allow viewing YouTube like this on the phone, with the comments and related videos in a second side column). In my subconciousness, I slightly mocked it, as I noticed any small change, because, I guess, that my mind is partially eidetic.

I did not see the bright side of it. A very beautiful and comfortable faux leather design, which is very robust, and uses the same design language (especially the metal frame), as Galaxy Alpha. It's design looks really luxorious and elegant. The screen's minimum brightness is really dim. The S-Finder was gone from the AirCommand. But it was moved to a much better place: the notification bar. It is the ONLY well-known device with an ultraviolet ray detector. I expected a 20MPx-camera with a bigger image sensor. But shouldn't I have insanely celebrated the new lens, which included optical image stabilization? That's the only time so far, when the Galaxy Note of the same year was superior by hardware in comparisson to the Galaxy S of the same year. The camera of the 2013's Galaxy Note 3 was just superior because the chipset is powerful enough to record videos with 1080p@60fps and 2160p@30fps. It was the last phone, which followed most of Samsung's history guidelines. The Galaxy S6 removed so many things (#HyunYeulLee). MHL, MicroSD, USB 3.0, user-replaceable battery, and much software functionality. The Galaxy Note 4 had a sharper screen, where small letters of text appear in a clearer way. It had 1440p video recording, which is a perfect balance between being superior to FullHD (1080p) and space storage consumption (2160p). It also allowed the S-Pen-Button to select text in a similar way to a computer mouse, and even multiple parts of a text, separated from each other. The multitasking was significantly upgraded. I know, the minimum window size is more restricted on the Note 4 than Note 3, and you're limited to five applications. But now, S-Pen-Window (including the minimizing to an icon in a circular frame, which has got thinner on the Note 4, but that's not really importnat.) and split screen have been merged into one feature. And there's even more to that: because the Galaxy Note 4's multitasking has that legacy tray, which can be opened

Legacy tray and pop-up/splitscreen in one mode + camera-application in pop-up view? ONLY ON NOTE FOUR‼

The Note 4 was the only phone EVER to be able to run the camera application in pop-up-mode, which was even mentioned in a German review: http://www.computerbild.de/fotos/cb-Tipps-Handy-Galaxy-Note-4-Tricks-11021327.html

Actually, the Galaxy Note 5 was not shipped in some countries, and the Galaxy Note 7 died in a disaster. So, as of 2016, the Note 4 is still the most recent Galaxy Note with S-Pen.