Ready for now and tomorrow

The Note series of phablets have always been marketed as Samsung’s ‘next big thing’ and in our opinion, they have always been some of the most versatile smartphones for users who love creativity and an overall utilitarian approach towards technology.

And sticking to its yearly update regime, Samsung has promptly unveiled its latest phablet, the Galaxy Note 4, along with a slightly modified form factor of the same, the Galaxy Note Edge. BL Technophile was at the unveil event in Berlin, to get a hands-on experience with the South Korean manufacturer’s new devices. And we are ready to tell you if you should start saving up for these devices, as and when they are launched.

So what’s new on the Note 4, the most important launch from Samsung at IFA Berlin 2014. For starters, the design has been very cleverly refreshed. It carries forward the same curvy edged design philosophy, but there’s much more to the phablet than that. Surprisingly, Samsung has not decided to increase the screen size with this update (as it has always done with each new generation of the Galaxy Note phablet). Instead, the 5.7-inch display is surrounded by a slightly slimmer bezel, and there’s only a negligible increase in weight. This gives the Note 4 better ergonomics than ever.

There’s a noticeable change in the build quality too – the Note 4 comes with a metal frame and a faux-leather back panel, and much to our relief it doesn’t feel plasticky anymore.

In terms of tech and features, the Note 4 is packed to the seams. The processing is now done by the new, top-of-the-line 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 chip from Qualcomm, along with 3GB of RAM. With those specs, the Note 4 is one of the most powerful Android devices around. Unfortunately, the Indian market is likely to get the Exynos processor variant (four high-power cores clocking at 1.9GHz and four low-power cores running at 1.3GHz).

There’s a new 16MP rear-facing camera that impressed us quite a lot in the demo time, but the front-facing 3.7MP camera caught our attention for its selfie capabilities. The latter has a wide f1.9 aperture, and can take panoramic selfies of a group of people too, or ‘groupfies’, as the company stated at the event. There’s also a heart-rate sensor thrown in under the rear-camera now.

The most gorgeous bit, however, is the display. After LG’s G3 and Oppo’s Find 7, the Galaxy Note 4 has also received a QHD display – it’s a gorgeous Super AMOLED display panel with a pixel-packed resolution of 1440 x 2560pixels. This is overlaid with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, and curved edges make using the Note 4 a delightful experience.

The S-Pen gets a lot more tricks now, but we’ll delve deep into that when we do a full-fledged review after the final product is out. Interestingly, Samsung has left out some of the features that we saw and liked on the Galaxy S5, such as the microUSB 3.0 compatibility and water-resistance. There is, however, a new fast-charging mode that works with a special charger.

In terms of basic specs, the Note Edge is identical to the Note 4. The difference, then, is that of the display. The screen curves towards the right, and the edge can actually act as an independent screen. The applications can be many, right from checking notifications without turning the screen on, or when the flip-case is closed, to access music, news tickers and the lot. Samsung will be rolling out the SDKs (software development kits) to the developers soon, and we can wait and watch what happens next.

We were told that this device will be launched only in select markets – and we weren’t told if India is or isn’t a part of this selection. Nonetheless, the Note Edge does bring about a promising paradigm change in smartphone display technology.

Although the end product in the markets might differ slightly, we loved all the upgrades on the Note 4. The build quality has improved significantly, and the device packs in lots of features. The Note 4 will be launched in India in October, and we expect a price tag of around ₹50,000. That’s a hefty sum, and that’s why we think the value for money is a little less considering that the Galaxy Note 4 doesn’t get the water resistance and the USB 3.0 port (considering that this device is promoted for productivity). It is, however, for Samsung old-timers (who are still using Note 2 or Galaxy S3) a worthy upgrade.