Galaxy Note 4

Galaxy Note 4 is one of the best smartphones in 2014. There are still no no real rivals for the unique and promising S Pen (stylus) in the smartphone market.  iPhone 6 Plus can only compete in size and bulkiness.

However, after using Galaxy Note 4 a few days, I realized several obvious Galaxy Note 4 defects.  Most of them actually should have not been presented  in such a successful product of its 4th generation.

These defects  reflect the confusion and lack of confidence in the positioning of Galaxy Note devices.

Galaxy Note 4 Defect  #1:  downgrading the support from USB 3.0 to USB 2.0

Samsung showed its leading position in Android market by introducing USB 3.o support in Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5.

USB 3.0 is not a new technology. You can find the blue USB ports in most PC and laptops today.  Most of external drives are also using USB 3.0.

USB 3.0 provides not only faster file transfer speed (theoretically 5 Gbit/s compared to 480Mbit/s for USB 2.0), but also the stability.   Although most devices cannot reach the theoretical transfer rate, the file transfer is always faster with USB 3.0 than that with USB 2.0.

Another issue many smartphone users may experience is the “not responding” message when you try to  transfer a large quantity of photos from your phone to the PC through a USB cable. With USB 3.0, this should seldom happen.

Galaxy Note 3 probably is the first Android phone with USB 3.0 support.  File transfer with PC is really fast if you choose USB 3.0 option.

Galaxy S5 also supports USB 3.0. But interestingly, in the package, Samsung gives a USB 2.0 cable. As USB 3.0 is backward compatible with USB 2.0, you can use the USB 2.0 cable (utilizing the larger half of the USB 3.0 port) on Galaxy S5 to enjoy USB 2.0. Of course, if you want to get the benefits of USB 3.o, you have to get a USB 3.0 cable.

This puzzled a lot of people. However, the reason is very simple: to save cost. USB 3.0 …

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Galaxy Note 4 was finally announced on September 3, 2014.  Samsung will very likely start to ship Galaxy Note 4 as early as the 4th week this September in selected regions, although in the event, October was confirmed for global release of Note 4. In most other regions, you will be able to get Galaxy Note 4 in October.

So, before deciding whether you should get the Galaxy Note 4, let’s compare Galaxy Note 3 vs Galaxy Note 4 to find out what the new features/improvements are.

Update: Galaxy Note 4 User Guide is available here.

1.  Galaxy Note 4 vs Galaxy Note 3:  Quad HD  display

Rumors always are trustworthy in tech world. As stated in the  Galaxy note 4 specification rumors post, Galaxy Note 4 comes with QHD (Quad HD,  2560*1240). This is a major upgrade from Galaxy Note 3’s full HD (1920*1080) display.

The size of the screen is almost identical to Galaxy Note 3: about 5.7″.   So, the resolution of 2560* 1440 display gives you  a whopping 515 ppi.

Of course, the screen is super AMOLED, the standard display in Samsung flagship phones. This is same as Galaxy Note 3.  But Samsung got one year time to further improve and polish the technology, especially in color accuracy.

2.  Galaxy Note 4 vs Galaxy Note 3:  New S Pen has 2048 pressure levels

If you don’t use S Pen, you are wasting half of your Galaxy  Note devices. Plain and simple.

The new S Pen in Galaxy Note 4 now has 2048 pressure levels, which are sufficient t for 99% artistic jobs. As a comparison, Galaxy Note 3 got a 1024 pressure-level S Pen, which is decent for most designer jobs.

3. Galaxy Note 4 vs Galaxy Note 3:  Smart Select with S Pen

Samsung introduced so many “smart” features in the past and most of them are useless or half-baked. In recent release of Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5, Samsung learned the lessons  and tried to  polish the features when releasing them.

One of the two smart features in Galaxy Note …

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