Thinking Of Switching To The Note 4 - Pros and Cons, Please

millerwa76

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As the thread title states, I'd like to solicit feedback from Note 4 users. I currently have the Galaxy S5 and my experience with it has been pretty meh. Decent phone, but very glitchy and temperamental from time to time. Personally, I think I preferred my old iPhone 4S to the Galaxy S5 (other than screen size).

I use my phone heavily throughout the day for personal and professional use. I'm especially drawn to the multitasking functions, which the S5 has, but I find using the split-screen feature more troublesome than just bouncing back and forth between apps.

I'm not a heavy gamer, I mostly just play simple, mind numbing games when I have a few minutes of downtime here and there.

I do stream movies/video somewhat frequently.

I do a moderate amount of photo/video editing with my phone.

Lots of email and professional use like docs/sheets, calendar and appts, etc.

And then all the other common uses....mobile banking, facebook, news and sports info, amazon/ebay, etc, etc.

I'm also a non-rooted user, so any extra perks that come from rooting the device likely won't apply to me.

So please take a few moments to give your pros and cons on the Note 4. Thanks.
 
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bassplayrguy

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As the thread title states, I'd like to solicit feedback from Note 4 users. I currently have the Galaxy S5 and my experience with it has been pretty meh. Decent phone, but very glitchy and temperamental from time to time. Personally, I think I preferred my old iPhone 4S to the Galaxy S5 (other than screen size).

So please take a few moments to give your pros and cons on the Note 4. Thanks.

It really depends on what you are looking for in a phone. If you are looking for something to just make calls and txts and bump around facebook, Iphone will serve your purpose. They are simple but work. If you are into tweaking and having functionality in your phone to take notes, help organize your daily routines, play games, multi task, and create a custom experience, then the Note will provide all of that and then some. Cons for Iphone is its simplicity and lack of customization, cons for the Android phone is just the time you will invest in doing just about anything you want with it. Oh wait, that should be in the pro category.
 

Kelly Kearns

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As the thread title states, I'd like to solicit feedback from Note 4 users. I currently have the Galaxy S5 and my experience with it has been pretty meh. Decent phone, but very glitchy and temperamental from time to time. Personally, I think I preferred my old iPhone 4S to the Galaxy S5 (other than screen size).

So please take a few moments to give your pros and cons on the Note 4. Thanks.

Well first, I had the Note 3 and previous Notes, went to the S5 from the Note 3.

The screen size was a good thing for me, I like the large screen.

The S5 being only 16 gb of memory and 2 gb of RAM, was an issue for me, as was battery life.

The S5 was laggy for me, didn't handle resources well and I could basically only ha e one app open at a time.

I've used an iPhone 4S, 5C and 5S and I am strictly an Android girl. I do not like the Apple OS so the part is hard for me to address with you.

The N4 just really can't compare to the S5. If the big screen isn't an issue for you, then I would go for it.

A big thing I missed with my Note when using the S5, was pulling out the spen when talking and being able to make a note with a phone number, appt time, address, etc. It can automatically pop up a blank note for you when talking and that was a big thing I used.

Battery life and handling resources, can't compare to the S5. I can look at recent apps and have 10 apps open and it doesn't affect performance. Even the other day, I had 74 tabs on Chrome open, because I never closed any and it wasnt even noticeable to me.
 

Kelly Kearns

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Screen size is the only con I can think of. It is a large screen. The con with that is just simply putting it in your pocket. I am a woman with small hands and never have an issue with operating it.

Now that said, I am biased with the Note series, but only because I love it. I've had the Note, Note 2, Note 3 and Note 4.

I don't use the spen a lot, but I want to get into learning more about the spen.
 

Kelly Kearns

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Thanks. I edited the OP to describe the way I use the phone.

Looking at your edited OP.. Editing, videos and games.. You can't do better than the Note series for that.

I'm a Zelda and Final Fantasy type RPG lover and the big screen on the Note, the major processors, make all the difference in the world.
 

millerwa76

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One other question I want to ask is how the phone has been since switching to Lollipoop. It's been a real pita on the S5 and I hope that I'd have a better experience with it on the Note 4.
 

Clocks

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One other question I want to ask is how the phone has been since switching to Lollipoop. It's been a real pita on the S5 and I hope that I'd have a better experience with it on the Note 4.
I've had an s5 on lollipop and a note 4 on lollipop. Also used the note 2, 3, and gs3. The note 4 has its **** together much more than the gs5. Battery life can't be beat, otherwise the software experience is identical (but less laggy) plus the spen. I would choose the s5 screen size with all of the note 4 features if I could, but the size is easy to get used to.
 

bluemoongreg

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I'll echo Kelly, for the usage you describe the GN4 seems like a really good fit.

No bugs to speak of on my device after the Verizon Lollipop update, though nothing really improved either. Performance & battery life seem the same as on Kit Kat. Most of my apps had material design long before the OS update, so it didn't feel like a huge change.
 

Bravesga1972

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I vote for the N4. It has completely eliminated my need for a tablet. Love watching baseball and movies on this device! I've had it since launch, and am on AT&T.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

srkmagnus

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I vote for the N4. It has completely eliminated my need for a tablet. Love watching baseball and movies on this device! I've had it since launch, and am on AT&T.

Posted via the Android Central App
How are you liking the S Pen? Anything you would suggest to the OP to help with the decision of getting the Note 4?
 

Bravesga1972

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I honestly have never used the s pen. I haven't found a need to. I like knowing that I "could" use it someday though. I would have bought the N4 (because of screen size) even if it didnt come with the pen.My husband also has a N4 and does use his s-pen to take notes and make lists. Hope that helps!

Posted via the Android Central App
 

trekk

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Amazing battery life
Amazing screen
Amazing camera

Touchwiz is horrible
Speaker is not good
Long wait for updates

Overall it's a great device

Posted via the Android Central App
 

Slantize

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the only things about the note 4 that i like better than my iphone 5 are the display (size, resolution and color accuracy) and battery life. it's otherwise just different, some things on the iphone were a lot better and other things on the note 4 are better. i like how open android is, but i'll probably be back to the iphone on my next go-round.

i've never used an s5, but i'm not confident it's different enough for you to notice. if you don't like the s5, i would look elsewhere.
 

Kelly Kearns

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the only things about the note 4 that i like better than my iphone 5 are the display (size, resolution and color accuracy) and battery life. it's otherwise just different, some things on the iphone were a lot better and other things on the note 4 are better. i like how open android is, but i'll probably be back to the iphone on my next go-round.

i've never used an s5, but i'm not confident it's different enough for you to notice. if you don't like the s5, i would look elsewhere.

The S5 isn't even close to the Note 4. Totally different phones.
 

millerwa76

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Thanks for all the feedback. Much appreciated.

Re: TouchWiz not being good.

Is that to say that it's terrible on the Note 4 in comparison to other Samsung phones? Or just that it's a boring launcher that doesn't allow much customizing?

I used TW for the first couple of months I had my S5. Thought it was just fine but I eventually jumped over to Nova because I wanted more options to personalize the phone to my liking.

As long as Nova works fine, then I'm not too concerned with how TW operates.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

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