Anyone else still planning on keeping their Note 4 awhile longer?

[Coraya]

What are the chances Samsung builds another note that has the durability that leaves you unafraid of dropping when you take it out of your pocket? One that doesn't have a silly curved screen? One that truly looks completely different when its sitting next to it's S series counterpart. They've leaned far on the side of the apple and their iPhone. Making all their devices look generally the same.

I was on a plane a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't tell if the guy next to me had a Note 8 or the S8+. I would have even went with a Note 5 over the 8 if it had a darn SD card slot.

Rant over. To sum it up, and I'm sure I've said this a million times on the forums... I would have kept my Note 4 if it stopped giving me SIM card errors, random reboots so on and so forth. When the Note 4 worked. It freaking worked.

 

[natehoy]

Well, I'm back on the Note 4. My wife's S7 Edge battery had degraded too much in the year and a half she used it, and I decided not to spend a bunch on wireless chargers so I could set it down on a charger every time I set it down. Despite the not-as-good camera, slower processor, larger size, inferior fingerprint scanner, and missing features - the Note 4 is still the right phone for me, I guess. LOL

 

[Sammuel1973]

Well, I'm back the Note 4. My wife's S7 Edge battery had degraded too much in the year and a half she used it, and I decided not to spend a bunch on wireless chargers so I could set it down on a charger every time I set it down. Despite the not-as-good camera, slower processor, larger size, inferior fingerprint scanner, and missing features - the Note 4 is still the right phone for me, I guess. LOL

As you know, I am back with my N4 from the N8, although I may give the N8 another try. I recently did a TMobile warranty exchange on my old N4, and my "new" N4 is pretty snappy, just as good overall as my N8. Too bad the N8 doesn't has the swappable battery, cuz I really like that phone...but what's good about a phone when it runs out of juice? I just hate the idea of being tethered.

 

[starbuckk]

I had to choose between replacing a perfectly good Note 4 with a $954 Note 8, or an aging barely functioning Note 10.1 Tablet with Tab S3. I'm sending this message from the Tab S3 while the reliable little Note 4 with a battery replaced a few months ago recharges .

 

[rj7500]

Definitely keeping my Note 4 for at least another year or so. I don't see any major improvements in the new model.

 

[Coraya]

If the Galaxy Note 9 isn't foldable, that fingerprint sensor is going to move to the center if not in the screen itself. The Note 8 finger print sensor location seems like the designers and engineers got together and agreed to the words "that'll do" and moved on. Seems to me that the Note 7 debacle may have hurt them temporarily but the complacency lingered with the development of the Note 8

 

[agaskew]

Mine's rooted and running Android 7.1.2 AKA LineageOS. If you can do without the Pen, it runs like a champ. I also have an S8, to which the rooted Note 4 compares very favourably for performance.

 

[MomoMilky]

Note 4 stays until I somehow break it ;] I can't have a glass back / edge phone (not the type to baby my phones, haha). My poor Note 4 has been through too many drops and smacks but still has no cracks. Removable battery is a must. I recently noticed my battery was getting bad... so I just bought a new one and popped it in. Voila! Problem fixed. The only gripe is I wish the battery was a bigger capacity.

Not willing to spend $1000+ for a phone that will be outdated within a year.

 

[natehoy]

The only gripe is I wish the battery was a bigger capacity.

Well, another big advantage is that you don't have to replace the battery with a stock-sized one, provided you are willing to put up with a bigger, heavier phone. And for the days when you aren't willing to put up with that, you can use the stock battery and back.

One of my earliest Android phones was an HTC Thunderbolt. The battery life on that thing was TERRIBLE (it supported simultaneous voice and data on Verizon by having two separate radios that were both on at the same time, and in weak signal areas that meant double the drain). But the back came off and the battery could be replaced with a double or triple capacity battery very easily. I got used to the size and weight soon enough.

 

[dlcpa]

I use my phone a lot on some days and I have noticed batteries swelling. Right now I have the screen brightness as high as it can go and sometimes certain programs initiate location services and that draws a lot of power. Some of my Note 4 batteries are beginning to swell and belly. What would happen 2A thinks battery that has no room to expand or you can't just throw it out and put another one in. I think this problem will exist especially with smaller batteries that they're putting in especially if you have location services and you like to have the display very bright.

I just got my phone fixed by Samsung but if they weren't going to do it I was going to get an LG v20. I can't see any reason why it's worth spending $1,000 for a Note 8 vs $300 for an LG v20. I have used the pen and I have had a Note 2 and the Note 4 since 2012 but quite frankly it's not that important for me and I don't use it that often. Perhaps if I used it more I would get better at it but I just don't love it and certainly that's not worth $700 to me.

 

[agaskew]

Having now replaced the Note 4 battery with an Anker one, battery life on my Note 4 is as good, or better, than the S8. I also prefer the slightly wider screen format to the slimmer S8.

As said before, if you can manage without the Note 4 Pen, except as a stylus pointer, then I must recommend rooting your Note 4 and installing Lineage OS - its basically stock Android without the Samsung stuff like Touchwiz on top. There are many guides on how to do this, especially on YouTube. The UI is really smooth.

I've done some side-to-side comparisons of app loading with the rooted Note 4 and the S8, there isnt much difference. The S8 is definitely a faster device, and has a brighter screen. But for a three year old device, the Note 4 acquits itself very well - its totally usable.
Its just a pity that the Note 4 appears slow or obsolete because of the stock software running on it, but rooting and installing a custom ROM shows how capable it is. This undoubtedly applies to other, older devices.

NOTE: If you choose to root your handsetand install a custom ROM, of course you do this at your own risk because you do risk bricking your device.

 

[Sajag Dattani]

I am planning to keep my Note 4 for another year as my Note 4 does all I need it to do and I have played with Note 8 in my local Samsung store I didnt see the need to spend £870 on it as i personally still think Note 4 was the best note they made.

 

[nahoku]

There's nothing the newer Note offers me that my Note 4 can't handle. I too messed around with the new Note just to see what the hoopla was all about. It was nice, but I wasn't so much impressed enough to even think about it. It's all personal use for me and not so much having a new thing year after year. I've been lucky to have had my Note 4 since a few months after release and it still runs like it did when I bought it. It's still on Kitkat 4.4.4 too!

I also own a practically brand new spare Note 4 purchased about a year ago. Got a good deal on it and originally intended to use it on T-Mobile. That never materialized, but that's ok as I'll just hold on to it for now. It's just sitting the box right now. The way my daily is running, I tend to wonder if I'll ever pull it out!

i personally still think Note 4 was the best note they made

I tend to agree with you 100% on this! The Note 4 is the last "real" Note before Samsung went all silly!

Haven't posted in a very long time, but just couldn't help my Note 4 fandom!

 

[jgutteter]

Went back to my note 4 after a year with an iPhone..missed the customization, battery, IR, screen, removable storage.....you name it. I won't upgrade until it's dead or not being supported becomes an issue. Not going back to apple that's for sure.

 

[electroman365]

Other than the fact that Note 4 is the last real Note (with all the options that are missing in the newer ones), other than the fact that my Note 4 functions and looks like brand new, other than the fact that there's really no logical reason why I should "upgrade" when my phone does exactly -if not more- what newer Notes do, I really really really hate to be forced (by the greedy manufacturers) to spend my money on devices that don't even give me what I want so they can line up their pockets while laughing at us. $1000+ for a god damn phone that will only last a couple of years before it becomes "obsolete" and they force us again to buy the next "upgrade".... NO THANKS.
I don't see myself buying another phone unless my N4 stops working. Other than that, I don't see even one reason why I should. I'm a practical guy, not like most people who turn into walking zombies and are willing to kill to get their hands on the next stupid new phone. What is wrong with people ?
And, unless Samsung -or whoever- comes up with a phone that's similar to the N4, my next phone will be another Note 4.

 

[natehoy]

Well, I played with the S7 Edge for a while, and loved it, but I'm BAAAAAACK on the Note 4. Battery anxiety was too much of a thing, and I missed S-Pen!

 

[nahoku]

Well, I played with the S7 Edge for a while, and loved it, but I'm BAAAAAACK on the Note 4. Battery anxiety was too much of a thing, and I missed S-Pen!

You sure this time, natehoy! LOL!

I won't even try/buy anything else! Just bought 2 "supposedly" OEM batteries from ebay... so far so good. Availability of batteries are probably going to be the demise of this phone for me. Unless of course VZW drops it like they did my old HTC... which by the way forced me to buy my Note 4.

 

[natehoy]

You sure this time, natehoy! LOL!

I'm never sure. LOL

 

[Doug Moffat]

When I misplaced my S8+ for a week I activated my Note 4 rather than 5. Enuf said.

 

[nahoku]

I just bought a new one off ebay for my sister to replace her S5 with a badly cracked screen.

I can tell you this... the Note 4 is still relevent today! Gorgeous functional phone that's still so hard to beat!