Crazy pills! Note 4 vs pixel xl?

[bable]

I just scored an available pixel xl 128 in black, which made me pretty stoked since apparently I can't keep my note 7. After watching 900$ disappear from my bank account and finally tackling the question of "can I do my job without an spen?" I decided to compare specs with my favorite Swiss army phone, the note 4.

Note 4 is slightly thicker, but shorter and the same diameter as the pixel xl.
Same resolution amoled screen, but note 4s screen is bigger despite a smaller footprint
Processor is much "slower", but I know how snappy a good note 4 feels
Camera is generations behind, but I know that it takes great pics that never left me wanting
Pixel has a smidgeon bigger battery by 200mah, 8 grams lighter, and worthwhile fingerprint scanner

Note 4 gets me an sd card, ir remote, removable battery, more durable form, and spen while Pixel gets me... software? I feel like years of conditioning to want the newest toys is hitting a hard wall with my stubborn need to have good tools. Luckily the pixel preorders are so behind that I have a month to debate this, unless my note 7 kills me first. Does it weird anyone else out that a 2 generation old device is this competitive?

 

[Ktrek]

Well, after returning my second Note 7 I reactivated my Note 4 because I can't find another phone that has better features. I'll be waiting for the Note 8 or possibly the S8 Plus or whatever they will call it. I like having the stylus but it's not a necessity for me. I really liked the lower profile edge on the Note 7 and the screen was awesome. Best phone I ever owned. Too bad about the battery issue but it wasn't worth risking burning my house down.

 

[Kilroy672]

Well, after returning my second Note 7 I reactivated my Note 4 because I can't find another phone that has better features. I'll be waiting for the Note 8 or possibly the S8 Plus or whatever they will call it. I like having the stylus but it's not a necessity for me. I really liked the lower profile edge on the Note 7 and the screen was awesome. Best phone I ever owned. Too bad about the battery issue but it wasn't worth risking burning my house down.

How did you like your N4? Was it updated to Marshmallow?

 

[Ktrek]

How did you like your N4? Was it updated to Marshmallow?

I liked it a lot until I had a Note 7. Now it just seems big and bulky. And yes it does have Marshmallow. I think Marshmallow was a good update. My phone stopped lagging after that release and is pretty zippy overall.

 

[Kilroy672]

I liked it a lot until I had a Note 7. Now it just seems big and bulky. And yes it does have Marshmallow. I think Marshmallow was a good update. My phone stopped lagging after that release and is pretty zippy overall.

Thanks. I had the N4 last year with 5.1.1 on it and I'm sure it's improved with marshmallow. I remember how the back seemed a bit big. But I like the s-pen and I need a replacement phone at a low price. And the N5 is too much now.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

6.0.1 fixed a lot of what was wrong in 5.1.1 in the Note 4.

The only fault I find in the Note 4 from 5.1 in 6.0.1 is the Finger Print Lock Screen has this weird bug that makes the phone heat up and drill through battery life when Encrypted, I have therefore moved to PIN Lockscreen which has stopped all that, so the phone is fast and gets good batt life.

 

[Kilroy672]

6.0.1 fixed a lot of what was wrong in 5.1.1 in the Note 4.

The only fault I find in the Note 4 from 5.1 in 6.0.1 is the Finger Print Lock Screen has this weird bug that makes the phone heat up and drill through battery life when Encrypted, I have therefore moved to PIN Lockscreen which has stopped all that, so the phone is fast and gets good batt life.

Thanks. But how smooth and the screen response? Doesn't N4 have gorilla glass 4?

 

[nahoku]

Does it weird anyone else out that a 2 generation old device is this competitive?

Doesn't weird me out at all. The Note 4 was the last in the series of Notes to have everything that made the Note line popular. It's very tough to beat even being 2 years old. No phone out there even grabs my interest... not the Note 5, the late Note 7, or even the Pixel.

gets me... software?

This most of all is not important to me right now... as evidenced by my phone still being on Kitkat.

 

[rushmore]

Note 4 with Marshmallow, stock reset and new battery is like a Note 4.5. Battery life is similar to the Note 7 due to better signal reception and the GPU actually performs smoother overall than the 808 due to less throttling.

Very happy with my former backup Note 4.

 

[Brew Swayne]

The S Pen is the only reason I have the Note 4. Since they pulled the Note 7 from the market I haven't even considered another phone. So I'll just wait for the Note 8 to come out next year. If I decide for some reason that I no longer need or want the S Pen, then I'll either get an S7 or just go back to iPhone.

 

[natehoy]

In the end, you gotta go with the phone that will serve your needs and wants the best. Many of the features that made the Note the productivity superbeast it is *for me* were abandoned in the Note 5 and only a handful of them came back in the Note 7 - not enough of them to get my money. The camera pales in comparison to some of the newer ones (my wife's S7 Edge can run circles around my Note 4 in the camera department). It's a bit laggy there and there. Ignoring the replaceable battery, the battery life is only marginally impressive (but will STAY marginally impressive every time I feel like dropping $20 on a new battery). The screen burn-in is really starting to show. So it's not everything I could ever possibly want in a phone. But it does everything I need and most of what I want.

I look at relative costs (Note 4 = feed it a battery every year, anything else = hundreds of dollars and plan on replacing it in a year or so) and features, and there's really not a whole lot out there that appeals to me more than keeping my Note 4. The V20 looks nice, but I want to see some real-world use (especially signal strength comparisons since the Note 4 is my first phone that has no dead zones on my drive home) before I seriously consider it. Maybe in January I'll look at that again. Nothing really has the combination of large screen, good signal strength, high-functioning stylus, durable build, and replaceable battery. If the Note 7 had included a replaceable battery that would probably have been enough to sway me.

I'm on AT&T Premier and I can change phones at full subsidy as often as I like - they'll happily sell me a Note 5 for $250 or an S7 Edge for $300 or an iPhone 7+ or V20 for $320 - and I'm as surprised as anyone else by the fact that after 20 months I haven't taken advantage of that. My Note 4 still runs all the software I need to run without complaint, and while a new phone may be a little faster here and there I really don't notice any lag that affects my workflow. About the only think I'm really hankering for is a better camera, and I'm not completely convinced I want to give up a few hundred bucks and S-Pen for that (not to mention potentially giving up a replaceable battery).

 

[eshropshire]

I liked it a lot until I had a Note 7. Now it just seems big and bulky. And yes it does have Marshmallow. I think Marshmallow was a good update. My phone stopped lagging after that release and is pretty zippy overall.

I am with you. I was considering jumping to the Note 7. Glad I waited, I am not into having the latest and greatest. I like my Note 4 on Marshmallow. I don't see any other phone on the market right now I would want to own. I am at a complete loss as to why people are excited about the Pixel phones. No expandability and very expensive.

 

[gietek]

Why Pixel XL? It has no removable battery, no microsd card. I'd go for LG V20. It seems like a natural progression from Note 4 since Note 5 and 7 are not worthy upgrading from 4.

 

[rushmore]

V20 battery life and display though are let downs in comparison. Note 4 is better in both regards IMO. Fact though for battery life, especially after MM update and new battery.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Thanks. But how smooth and the screen response? Doesn't N4 have gorilla glass 4?

Its quite smooth and on 6.0.1 the response is up to par with more recent Androids.

UPDATE on Finger Print Scanner, its not the one that was causing issues in my Note4, Skype For Android was the one causing all the battery drain and performance issues! I cannot believe I did not realise it until TODAY! The Samsung Smart Manager App popped up with a Notification today claiming it found an app that was reducing performance, when I tapped on it showed Skype with 11 errors in the last 3days, I then set Skype to Power Save, and Force Closed it, BOOM, my Note 4 is running better than ever

I've had Skype installed for +/-9months together with Encryption due to work Exchange email, after the 6.0.1 update I noticed a weird little issue every now and then where the phone would heat up and get a bit slow, then I'd switch to PIN Lockscreen and it would happen less, so that had me thinking its the FPS Lockscreen. I am going to monitor performance, over the next month, but so far the battery is draining slower than ever and phone running quite snappy.