Is your Note 4 the best phone ever?

[Sammuel1973]

I have had all Galaxy flagship phones since S2, and I must admit the N4 is by far my most favorite phone. As a tech enthusiast, I always get the "latest and greatest", but after 3 weeks, I always revert to my N4, despite having had the S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, N2, N3, N5, and N7. The N4 is the most complete phone for me, like wearing a pair of old shoes. It has an IR blaster, removable back for swappable battery, SD card, great size display, perfect one handed mode, great SPen, Hot Keys, etc...so versatile. The build quality is not like the other Galaxy phones after it, but once I put on a case, it's just as good. I will get the N8 upon launch, but I may have to hold onto my N4. Just recently though, I got my new replacement, and it works perfectly like my original N4. Almost after 3 years with the N4, it's still my favorite phone.

 

[Aquila]

lol, no. Glad you love yours though!

 

[Golfdriver97]

I think mine would be the Moto X 2013. Glad your Note is still up and running though.

 

[Aquila]

I think mine would be the Moto X 2013. Glad your Note is still up and running though.

I'd be strongly inclined to agree.

 

[pr3jker]

Yep, Note 4 is my best ever, and still will be for 1, 2 years.

 

[Jay Sacks]

Kinda sucks... Keep waiting for a good reason to replace it.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

Favorite phone design, but I prefer the newer software.

 

[anon(5719825)]

I still have mine and keep my batteries charged. I don't use it as a phone anymore but I do use it as a remote control for my TV/stereo/cable box.

It's still fast enough to use but I have a few more updated phones that I prefer to use such as my S7 Edge and my S8+. Some day you will have to move on to more updated hardware. There won't be too many more security updates for the Note 4 and there sure won't be any new software features added.

 

[natehoy]

I keep looking at other phones from time to time, and I could upgrade at subsidized pricing any time I want, but the Note 4 still does everything I need and really want in a phone. I thought about jumping ship a year ago, but given how abusive I am on batteries I'd probably be back on the Note 4 by now anyway if it was something with sealed ones - so I just drop $12-20 every 8-12 months or so for that "new phone battery life" feeling and call it good. LOL

I would love a more recent version of Android and some of the new features, but it does all I need and most of what I want, it's paid for years ago, I'm not tied to a contract so I went with a cheaper plan, and AT&T is still delivering the monthly security patches (not very timely, but they are delivering them in the month they are released, which is acceptable in my book for a phone this old).

 

[MomoMilky]

Note 4 is by far the best phone I've owned! I don't want a glass back phone and non-removable battery, nor do I want a curved screen. All I want is a durable phone with a large screen that can withstand drops and a removable battery. Camera on Note 4 is fantastic as well, not to mention also has IR blaster which I use whenever I can't find my remote.

The only thing I wish the phone had was a bigger battery. Luckily I have a battery pack (with fast charge input/output) to solve this only flaw

 

[LuxuryTouringZone]

Having a removable battery is definitely a feature that most overlook or call useless, until they realize that the battery is the component that wears the fastest. It's too bad everyone, even LG now is chasing the sealed, unibody, non-removable battery trend.

 

[anon(5630457)]

The Note 4 was the best phone ever for like the four months after it came out. Many phones quickly became so much better after that.

 

[Aquila]

The Note 4 was the best phone ever for like the four months after it came out. Many phones quickly became so much better after that.

Not even sure I'd go that long. I think the Moto x 14 released before it, so IMO the x and Nexus 6 were both better or equal.

 

[anon(5630457)]

Not even sure I'd go that long. I think the Moto x 14 released before it, so IMO the x and Nexus 6 were both better or equal.

Touche.

 

[AXEL314]

love it but because I do a lot of driving, I've got some screen burn in from Google maps

 

[RadeonHD4250]

If I didn't root it and get the new software on it, no.
But since I did, I'd have to say yes. Perfectly capable of even running the S8 Touchwiz.

Such a testament to the power of the Note 4. Apple phones get worst with each update. My Note 4 has gotten BETTER, every single time. It's a shame it isn't natively supported through Samsung because this thing is a beast on the latest Touchwiz.. (Erm, Samsung Experience)

 

[PsychoKilla666]

Yes, easily the best phone of all time.
I would argue the longest range of time potential of any phone I can think of and I have owned quote a lot.
The fact that you can instantly replace the battery on a phone with a 2560x1440 AMOLED screen with memory card, wireless charging, Pen features, physical buttons and better video aspect ratio plus potential root and unlocked bootloader for infinite updates.
I truly do not believe there can be anything better.
I've owned the N6, Moto X & X2 mentioned here and many others and S7E recently and all that I miss from Moto X is always on dedicated voice processing. But Android Auto has mostly replaced my need for that too.
I would love to hear more elaboration why some people disagree, because objectively from features and longevity I don't see how it can lose.

 

[Sanjay Ramoutar]

Yup, best phone I've ever had and up to this day I really don't know what can replace it.

 

[krauster]

Thought I'd write a little something about my Note 4 that I am still using. I was just browsing looking for the release date of a new Note which I would probably buy if there was something compelling but I don't know yet what that would be.

I like my Note4 because I can swap out the battery. If I end up with a phone that goes dead during the day or is not functional for the next full day because I forgot to charge it at night I am not going to be happy but I'll end up having to carry around battery power packs, and I will adapt to that.

The issue of being able to add memory I thought was going to be important to me when I bought the phone a few years ago, but now I keep photos in the cloud and stream music. I found that the phone seemed slower with the memory card so I took it out and it's sitting in a drawer. The only function that seems to use large amounts of memory are the podcasts that I like to have local. But even that I guess could be streamed like music.

As for size. i guess I could get used to a little larger phone than the Note4. Seems that's human nature and front pocket size, which is almost at the limit, but could handle a little more.

But the thing that is actually a turn off might be the bezel less infinity glass. I assume that is to extend the screen real estate to the edge of the phone. I have had my Note4 for a few years now and have never damaged the screen until last month when travelling I took it out of the wallet/portfolio case to clip it into a selfie stick to take a picture. I was distracted and didn't clip it well and it fell out of the stick and cracked the screen. It's only one tiny 1/4" long crack, but right across the selfie camera lens. So selfies aren't looking too good but I rarely take selfies, and when I do its to take pics with my wife in them so we'll use her phone instead. So I don't intend to repair the phone. But anyway, over the years I've dropped the phone often but never cracked the screen probably because of the type of case I use. I don't need nor want an infinity glass phone because I'm assuming the screen image would go under the plastic border needed for attaching the phone to the case and giving drop protection. I like a phone with a border.

What's the one thing that would draw me toward a new phone? I want really good sunlight performance. A breakthrough in the e ink technology that looks good in daylight but would do color and video would be a game changer, not insanely more pixels or super wide color gamut, not cool curvy shiny glass.

 

[br77494]

Manufacturers could take some valuable lessons from the great success of the Note 4. Probably one of the best smartphones of all time.

Great big screen, reasonably fast, removable battery, SD card, NFC, great camera...the list goes on. We had 3 in my family. Only one is operable now and is used as my back up phone. Removable batteries should be required on all phones just for safety reasons alone.

PLEASE! Just update this phone - put in an SD 845, redesign the fingerprint reader just a bit, upgrade the camera, and keep the headphone jack - AND I'D BUY THIS PHONE ALL OVER AGAIN. And no glass backs! I might actually be tempted to use the phone without a case if I wasn't so worried about completely busting the phone - front and back. But Samsung has completely lost me - a long time flagship customer of theirs - when they abandoned common sense and changed so much with the Note 5. I went with the Huawei Mate 9 and kept everything but the removable battery .

You'd think that Samsung would have learned their lesson after the huge expensive mistake with the Note 7. Planned obsolescence via a sealed battery in order to sell a just few more phones per year is apparently worth more to them than safety of their customers, and the huge expense of a recall (Samsung AND Apple).