Back to the Note 4!

[bassplayrguy]

A lot of users don't want to "learn" how to use the Note 4 camera correctly as you describe. I gave up the Note 4 for the same reasons. 99 % of the pictures I took were completely blurry and unusable. I never had to think of how to use the camera on the Iphone 6 that I have and every Iphone before that. As a point and shoot camera, which in my opinion most people want it to work that way, it is miles ahead of the Note 4. I never get blurry photos on it or unusable pics.

The Note was a great phone otherwise. I still experienced lag on it as well compared to the iphone though. Camera was definitely the deal breaker for me especially if you have kids running around and want to snap a quick shot.

I've the exact opposite experience with mine. Picture are brilliant. Moving objects, low light, bright light, etc. In comparing with the iPhone 6 someone else in the house has, they are not even close. Alot of it has to do with where you focus as to what lighting you will get. As stated earlier, just a little bit of research and trial and error goes a long way, but then again the Note is just too much phone for some.

 

[LegalAmerican]

I really wanted to like it. I really did. I do love the customization and that gorgeous screen. It just didn't do it for me.

Oh we know you did. You can always tell that someone wants to love something when they stick with it for a solid 3 hours. It's like Hollywood marriages. Kris Humphries really wanted to make it work with that Kardashian girl.

 

[manni1to]

14 days is enough time for me to realize I didn't like the device. Hence being able to return it.

 

[21stNow]

This thread is useless anyway, as a person switching from a 6+ to a note 4 was hoping op would give some meaningful input but he lost me when he claimed the note 4 too blurry pictures and battery.

I have both and though I strongly prefer my Note 4, I have to agree with the comments. I have had a problem with blurry pictures on my Note 4; my Note 3 took much better pictures. The batteries on both phones have been comparable when I use the phones, but the iPhone has better standby time.

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

No Removable battery is a non issue. Plenty of portable power banks to solve that problem.

But what about a micro SD card? Without both, why would I not switch to a Nexus device? (Iphone is a non-issue for me)

 

[Will6371]

This is why someone else said "This is an Android phone, not an iPhone". Did you spend any time researching how is improve lag, etc. It took me all of 10 minutes to figure out what someone else suggested. Use the Nova launcher. Secondly, enable Developer options and change the 3 animation related settings from value 1.0 to either 0.5, or 0, and your lag will disappear. As for the camera, take it from someone who has had many phones, including what is still the best camera phone in the market photo quality wise, the Nokia Lumia 1020, the Note 4 is better than the iPhone in the camera dept in pretty much every comparison ever written. You need to invest a tiny amount of time learning how to use it. Hope this doesn't come across as offensive, I'm a gadget nut, and have used iPhones, Android phones and Windows Phones extensively, and I think the iPhone is heavily over rated. What is very good about it is that it just works. It doesn't need any research or changes in launcher, etc. So for people who are not willing to invest a few hours researching, its great. For everyone else, its overpriced, and no where near as feature rich as some of its competitors.

Posted via the Android Central App

I have both the Note 4 and an iPhone 6 and for me with both in auto mode the note 4 is far better especially in low light. I also have a few Nokia phones, 925, 1020 and a 1520 and while the 1520 is very good it is not quite as good as the iPhone 6 which is in turn not as good as the Note 4 but they are all blown into the weeds by the 1020

I also have an Oppo Find 7 with ColorOS 2.0.6 and the camera on that is on a par in bright light with the Note 4 but when the light goes down so does the quality of the photos. I'm not sure how people are getting blurry photos with the Note 4, this may seem like a stupid point but do you have shaky hands?

 

[GregMargie]

I guess for whatever reason I haven't had any issues with the camera. It has worked for me flawlessly every time. I actually didn't spend any time trying to learn how to use it. I assumed you guys were having issues because of some setting. But honestly it just works great for me. Not a single blurry picture so far.

Posted via the Android Central App

I too get really Great pictures from the Note 4 without fussing with it!

 

[t1328]

I have both and though I strongly prefer my Note 4, I have to agree with the comments. I have had a problem with blurry pictures on my Note 4; my Note 3 took much better pictures. The batteries on both phones have been comparable when I use the phones, but the iPhone has better standby time.

Not to sound stupid, but for the first few days of using my Note 4, my photos were fuzzy. Then I discovered that there was a very difficult to notice clear label on the lens. Once I removed the label, the pics became excellent. Again sounds stupid or obvious, but it wasn't so easy to see and it happened to me, so I thought I'd suggest checking just in case.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[t1328]

Not to sound stupid, but for the first few days of using my Note 4, my photos were fuzzy. Then I discovered that there was a very difficult to notice clear label on the lens. Once I removed the label, the pics became excellent. Again sounds stupid or obvious, but it wasn't so easy to see and it happened to me, so I thought I'd suggest checking just in case.

Posted via the Android Central App

Actually not such a stupid suggestion after all. If you look a bit further down on other threads, you'll see one about being unable to focus with the camera. At least 3 other people also missed that the protective sleeve was still on the lens.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Will6371]

Not to sound stupid, but for the first few days of using my Note 4, my photos were fuzzy. Then I discovered that there was a very difficult to notice clear label on the lens. Once I removed the label, the pics became excellent. Again sounds stupid or obvious, but it wasn't so easy to see and it happened to me, so I thought I'd suggest checking just in case.

Posted via the Android Central App

I thought of that as well but then I thought would people really not think to check it.

 

[gpo1956]

Its amusing to me how defensive people get about their freaking phones!! The Note 4 is a very good phone, but it is not, contrary to what most on here want to force down our throats, perfect. To me, its ok. Would I buy it again? Probably not. Regardless, I'm not goiong to lose any sleep over it. I think we all pretty much know deep down inside; if you want a phone that just works, get the iPhone. If you want to tinker with it, change it, root it and otherwise personalize it, buy the Android. Quit keeping score.

 

[Jde2466]

I switched to the Note 4 a little over a week ago and it is the best phone I have ever used hands down. I came from the Moto X and liked it a lot. For business use it is very hard to beat it given the screen size and S Pen functionality. I did the same thing with the plastic over the camera. Since I figured that out pictures have been great.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[t1328]

Its amusing to me how defensive people get about their freaking phones!! The Note 4 is a very good phone, but it is not, contrary to what most on here want to force down our throats, perfect. To me, its ok. Would I buy it again? Probably not. Regardless, I'm not goiong to lose any sleep over it. I think we all pretty much know deep down inside; if you want a phone that just works, get the iPhone. If you want to tinker with it, change it, root it and otherwise personalize it, buy the Android. Quit keeping score.

To be fair, this thread is in response to a user who switched from an iPhone to a Note 4, switched back to an iPhone after a few hours. I think it's reasonable to reflect on the positives. I don't think that many people here think the Note 4 is the only great phone out there. Every high end phone has its strenghts and weaknesses. However, if someone highlights the camera as a major issue when for everyone else, and in ever review, the camera is rated top notch, we'd be remiss if we didn't correct that. I think for anyone with an Apple infrastructure, ie. Macbook, iPad, Apple TV, etc. IPhone 6 probably makes sense. But I also think that it's not as great as everyone makes it out to be. Three simple but infuriating examples:

1. Only with iOS 8.x did Apple finally let you join/chain contacts together. Until then you'd have the same contact listed 5 times from each account you're synching with, making it very time consuming to simply find someone in Contacts and call them.
2. Even today, the favorites in iPhone only allows you to add a single number for a contact. So if I want to add my wife's home number and mobile number, that takes up two slots in favorites, and favorites doesn't have pics of contacts, making it difficult to quickly contact my favorite contacts, or impractical to have more than 5 or so favorites. Add to that the inability to create a Contact Widget or tile (wp) and simply calling people is a lot more time consuming.
3. The iPhone's lack of a physical or virtual back button on the bottom of the screen means you have to reach all the way up to the top left corner to go back in settings and other apps. The double tap to bring down the screen helps, but day to day, after you've used either an Android phone or a Windows Phone, this can drive you bonkers.

So while the iPhone is easy to just use OOTB, and if I'm buying a phone for someone who is not tech savvy, and older, I may recommend it despite my clear bias against it, it's not a panacea of ease of use that Apple and it's fan boys claim it to be. Neither is Android, but then Android fan boys don't tout it's easy of use as it's biggest benefit.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[21stNow]

Not to sound stupid, but for the first few days of using my Note 4, my photos were fuzzy. Then I discovered that there was a very difficult to notice clear label on the lens. Once I removed the label, the pics became excellent. Again sounds stupid or obvious, but it wasn't so easy to see and it happened to me, so I thought I'd suggest checking just in case.

Posted via the Android Central App

It's not stupid; I had that problem on the Note 3 (or some other phone) and removed the protective cover when I first got the Note 4.

 

[manni1to]

To be fair, this thread is in response to a user who switched from an iPhone to a Note 4, switched back to an iPhone after a few hours.

Posted via the Android Central App

Where do you live in the world that 2 weeks equals a couple hours. I waited the entire allotted return period before I made my choice to switch back. Time keeping is not a strength of yours? Or maybe it's the crappy calendar on your android device..

 

[berdinkerdickle]

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3. The iPhone's lack of a physical or virtual back button on the bottom of the screen means you have to reach all the way up to the top left corner to go back in settings and other apps. The double tap to bring down the screen helps, but day to day, after you've used either an Android phone or a Windows Phone, this can drive you bonkers.
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I used an iPhone for the first time for about 5 days. This issue you mention was an instant bother.

 

[t1328]

Where do you live in the world that 2 weeks equals a couple hours. I waited the entire allotted return period before I made my choice to switch back. Time keeping is not a strength of yours? Or maybe it's the crappy calendar on your android device..

LOL. Sorry. I thought you returned after 3 hours. My bad. 2 weeks is a lot more time to review. Generally if you don't like it after 2 weeks, it's not for you. Having said that, the one thing I am still wondering is if the camera issues you had were due to the very well hidden lens protective cover mentioned earlier. Anyway, enjoy your phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[fjd726]

I removed my lens cover and still had the same issues. If you look at that cover prior to removing it, you would notice that it has a hole cut out for the camera and therefore does not make a difference if you keep it on or off. I have noticed most photos here are of bright daylight. There are slim to none in low light pics. This is where the blurry photos come in. The iphone kills this phone especially in low light and moving objects.

 

[t1328]

I removed my lens cover and still had the same issues. If you look at that cover prior to removing it, you would notice that it has a hole cut out for the camera and therefore does not make a difference if you keep it on or off. I have noticed most photos here are of bright daylight. There are slim to none in low light pics. This is where the blurry photos come in. The iphone kills this phone especially in low light and moving objects.

In my case, before I removed that cover, all of my photos were blurry. My cover also did not have a hole in the middle. You may have a valid point about low light shots, although the difference is not as huge as all that overall. See CNET's comparison http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-galaxy-note-4-camera-shootout-versus-iphone-6-plus-lg-g3/

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[McPlot]

I love my Note 4. But my fear is that Samsung will do away with the removable battery and microSD options, like they've done with the S6 and S6 Edge. IMHO these were two of the best (most desirable) options about Samsung devices. What difference does it make to have up to 128GB of internal memory if you can't remove it to transfer it to a new (or extra) phone or other device??? And with these large, high output screens, I'd rather carry an extra battery around than have to carry around a charger (and look for a place to plug it in). Yes, there are plug-in battery packs available, but I don't want the extra unwieldy bulk of trying to use my phone with something plugged into it while it's charging. So I (and I'm sure just about all other Note 4 users) hope that these options remain on the upcoming Note 5.

I think they did it because Apple Zealots kept yelling "cheap plastic" as they couldn't come up with any reason why Apple was better than Android and Samsung. It is easier to make a metal phone that does not have a removable back than it is to make one that does. No removable back means no removing the battery or having a microSD slot. The phones are too thin to allow a SD card slot in the side. Samsung tried to shut up the Apple Zealots and still have the removable battery and SD by doing a plastic/metal hybred, such as the Note 4. But it didn't work. But nothing ever will. I would rather have a polycarbonate phone than a metal one at the thickness phones are now. I know about Aluminium and that there are many different formulations for it, and some are stronger than others. Like how a polycarbonate is a type of plastic, but it not the cheap and weak plastic used in pop bottles. The aluminum used in the phones are not the same aluminum used in pop cans. But it is still aluminum and in any formulation, aluminum isn't very strong at the thickness used in current cell phones.