Samsung doesn’t seem to catch a break as far as their batteries are concerned. Last year, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 was recalled after the smartphone’s battery randomly started overheating and catching fire. Samsung is again on the radar as Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall on certain Galaxy Note 4 batteries. The CPSC fear that these batteries might have a tendency to overheat, posing a risk of burns and fire hazards.
Although Samsung has had a past with faulty batteries, the same might not be the case with the recalled Galaxy Note 4 batteries. It has been reported that the affected batteries were found in refurbished Note 4s which were distributed by particularly FedEx Supply Chain as replacement phones for an AT&T’s insurance program. It was further revealed that the faulty batteries were not genuine Samsung parts. Though the device was launched in 2014, the affected batteries were distributed between December 2016 and April 2017.
A company spokesperson said,”FedEx Supply Chain has recalled a batch of lithium batteries that were installed in the mobile devices,” and “As some of the batteries may be counterfeit. We are closely engaged with our customer to make sure all of these lithium batteries are safely and quickly returned, and will replace those lithium batteries free of charge for consumers.” CPSC estimated a recall of approximately 10,200 faulty batteries, unlike the Galaxy Note 7’s 3 million recalled complete devices.
Post the Note 7 recall, Samsung has been taking extra measures to ensure safer batteries and has even instituted an eight-point battery check . Considering the upcoming launch of the Note series successor, the Galaxy Note 8, on August 23, these steps seem wise and somewhat mandatory. Regardless, the current scenario (definitely not an ideal one), may not be what Samsung hoped for just a few days before the Note 8’s crucial launch.
The new addition to Note series was first unveiled at this year’s IFA Berlin and it arrived in India a month back. Here’s a first look at Samsung’s new flagship, watch the full video here:
The cards have been dealt, and now the markets all around the world are ready to choose between the latest offerings from the two giants of the smartphone business. Apple and Samsung will be taking on each other with their flagship offerings. Samsung’s behemoth will take on the first big screen outing from Apple’s stable. Flagship battle doesn’t get bigger than this. So without wasting a beat, let’s get into it.
Design
The Galaxy Note 4 takes on the usual Samsung design patterns but with edgy design features. The phone gets a metal frame to strengthen the device. The massive display has always been the Note series’ USP. But this time they take it much further by introducing the 5.7 inch Quad HD Display with a pixel density of 515 ppi. This display is stunning, and high-quality content on it looks mesmerising. Note’s unique feature, the S-pen also gets some considerable improvement over its predecessors.
The Note 4 Flaunts its metal frame based design and Super AMOLED Quad HD Display.
Apple’s iPhone 6, on the other hand, comes with a 5.5 inch 1080p HD display with a pixel density of 401 ppi. The phone has an Aluminum body which was recently in the news for its bending issue.
Hardware
The innards on the Note 4 are top of the charts. The phone is powered by a Quad-core 2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 processor. It comes with 3 GB of RAM. The internal storage on the device is 32 GB and has options for expandable storage up to 128 GB. Along with the massive QHD display, the Note 4 is a mobile multimedia powerhouse.
The bigger iPhone comes with a new generation Apple A8 processor clocked at 1.4 GHz along with 1 GB. But we found that even with the seemingly low specifications the phone brings out a smooth and zippy performance. The phones come in three storage options of 16/64/128 GB.
Camera
The Galaxy Note 4 sports a 16 MP camera on the front with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). On the other hand, the iPhone 6 Plus gets OIS too on its 8 MP camera. This device will be loved by selfie enthusiasts. Not only does it give a 90-degree selfie, but using its wide selfie feature you can get an even wider 120-degree selfie which is great for a “Groupfie/Weefie”.
The camera on the iPhone 6 Plus offers amazing shooting features like Time-lapse and slow motion capture.
iPhone’s features such as time-lapse shooting, Slow motion capture and superior burst mode give it an edge over Note 4’s bigger sensor. Using the multiple features you can almost shoot a professional looking film using the device’s camera.
Battery
Both companies have put focus on making these devices with mammoth screens to give more efficient battery backup. Note 4 sports a 3220 mAh battery which tries to quell the hunger of the massive QHD display. Samsung has also added some internal tweaks to make the phone more juice efficient.
Both phones deliver a good battery backup even with their massive displays.
Samsung’s unique Ultra Power Saving mode is a standout feature for the phone. Using the feature you can use limited features on the phone and extend the life of the phone to multiple days.
The iPhone 6 Plus comes with a slightly smaller 2915 mAh battery. The phone churns out a good battery backup over the previous outings. It provides a talk time of 6+ hours on LTE networks and 7+ hours on 3G networks, with a switch to 2G we saw upwards of 8 hours. The display consumes the maximum juice on this phone.
Price
Note 4 will come to the market at a price of Rs. 61,500 which like in the past may go down even further in a few weeks.
The iPhone 6 Plus doesn’t come cheap. The base 16 GB variant will start at Rs. 62,500 which considering the lack of expandable storage is a rough deal. If you are a multimedia enthusiast, the 64 GB and 128 GB variants are quite a hefty buy.
Special Features
The S-pen, of course, is the feature that sets the Note as a different smartphone species. Samsung has upgraded the feature of the pen with this outing. With better touch sensitivity and handwriting recognition, the pen will become more of a handy utility than just a gimmick. With options of using calligraphy pens, it brings a more native writing experience.
Note 4 Stylus come with improved upgrades making it more efficient to use for everyday use.
Apple though is flaunting its new Apple Pay feature which works using an NFC radio and the Touch ID Sensor on the phone. The single hand mode will also make a lot easier to use the phone and will free the other hand for your tasks. The landscape options also offer good multitasking options. The system will take some time to come to India but till then you can us the sweet camera on the device to make some great feature style home videos with cool time-lapse and slow motion.
Conclusion
The Diwali season will see and enthusiastic rivalry between the two tech giants. Samsung will leave no stone unturned to reach out to new consumers; Apple will have to match up to Samsung’s marketing if it wants to entice the Indian market during the peak spending period in the country. Both phones offer some unique features which cannot be compared but they seem like winners in each of their segments. Now its all up to the market to decide the real winner because only the market has the right to choose that. In the words of the Grail Knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Choose Wisely.
Samsung unveiled its latest phablet Galaxy Note 4 in India at the price of Rs.61,500. This new addition to Note series, was first unveiled a month back at this year’s IFA Berlin. It has finally arrived in India and will go on sale at midnight on October 17th. Along with that, the company announced the partnership with Vodafone to give 2GB Data free for the users for 2 months.
Galaxy Note 4 is now the company’s flagship phablet, which comes with a 5.7 inch QHD display. Samsung claims that despite the higher resolution, the Galaxy Note 4 will deliver 7.5% more battery life; it features a 3220 mAh battery with fast charging technology. Meanwhile, under the hood, the Galaxy Note 4 is powered by quad core, Snapdragon 805 chipset clocked at 2.7 GHz, It comes coupled with 3GB RAM. It offers 32GB internal memory with support for expanding the memory to upto 64GB.
Along with smartphone today, Samsung also launched Gear S for a price of Rs. 29,000. The Gear S features a 2-inch curved Super AMOLED display with a 360×480 pixel resolution. It comes with 4GB of inbuilt storage and is backed by a 3000mAh Li-ion battery, rated to deliver 2 days of charge with typical usage.
The IP67-certified dust and water resistant Gear S shows notifications from text messages, social networks, calendars and other applications independently without the need to access the smartphone.
Samsung launched its flagship, the Galaxy Note 4 in India today. Along with a sleeker design and an updated metal frame, the Note 4 features a Quad HD display.
With the likes of Sony, Apple, Xiaomi, LG and HTC setting their own benchmarks in the flagship race, lets see how much mettle the latest Galaxy Note 4 has in this never ending battle for supremacy. We’ve decided to put all flagships for a quick comparison, at least in terms of figures.
So without further adieu, here’s a comparison between the Galaxy Note 4, iPhone 6 Plus, LG G3 and the Galaxy S5.
Specs
Samsung Note 4
Sony Xperia Z3
iPhone 6 Plus
LG G3
Galaxy S5
Display
5.7 inch QHD
5.2 inch Full HD
5.5 inch Full HD
5.5 inch QHD
5.1 inch Full HD
Processor
2.7GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 805
2.5 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 801
1.4 GHz Dual-core A8 chipset
2.26 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 801
2.5 GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 801
RAM
3 GB
3 GB RAM
1 GB
3 GB
2 GB
Storage
32 GB
16/32 GB
16/64/128 GB
16/32GB
16/32GB
Expandable Upto
64 GB
128 GB
–
128 GB
64 GB
Main Camera
16 MP
20.7 MP
8 MP
13 MP sensor
16MP sensor
Front Camera
3.7 MP
2.2
1.2 MP
2.2MP sensor
2 MP
Battery
Removable 3220 mAh
Non-removable 3100 mAh
Non-removable 2600mAh
3,000mAh
2,800mAh
Operating System
Android 4.4.4
Android 4.4.4
iOS 8
Android 4.4.2
Android 4.4.4
Price
Rs.61,500
Rs 51,990
Rs. 62,500 for 16 GB variant
Rs.44,100
Rs.37,000
From the table, its quite evident that the latest Galaxy Note 4 is one beast when it comes to specs. Powerful internals, QHD display, better design, an S-Pen and future proof connectivity, it has all the ingredients of a superior device. There are also reports of a superior blend of Samsung’s Touch Wiz UI with Android has been achieved to perfection.
The device will be available for pre-orders in India soon after its unveiling today and goes on sale from October 17th. However, We’d advise you to wait for our in-depth review of this beast of a machine.
Samsung may have ganged up along with other phone makers to ridicule iPhone 6 Plus’ bending incidents but now it has its own issue. Some of the users of Samsung’s latest flagship are complaining about a gap in the frame.
The metal frame was one of the most flaunted design features from the company. It marked the company’s departure from excessive plastic use on their smartphones. The phone went on sale in Korea and is being sold at a premier price of 957,000 Korean Won (about Rs.55,000).
According to the images posted by the iTToday in South Korea, the gap is big enough to fit in a business card. It’s not yet sure if it’s a bigger issue or a problem with select devices.
Samsung though has firmly rejected the claims. An official spokesperson from the company said the issue does not impact the functionality or quality of the Galaxy Note 4. They told TrustedReviews that “We assure our customers that all Galaxy Note 4 units meet our strict manufacturing and quality control standards.”
Though Samsung says it’s not a big issue, we’d love to see other companies take on the gap gate. It’s about time someone gave Samsung a taste of their own medicine. It will at least make for good entertainment.
Samsung pulled off a big show yesterday and introduced its star flagship, the Note 4. The device comes with an updated design with a metal frame and sleeker design. It also brings the device in the 2K display race. Along with Samsung came Sony, who brought the Xperia Z3 along with some innovative devices.
So we decided to check out how these new flagships standup against the best flagship performers of this year. We are pitching the Note 4 and the Xperia Z3 against Oneplus One, Xiaomi Mi 3 and the metal-bodied awesomeness of the HTC One M8. Let’s see how they stand up against each other.
Looking at the specs, Note 4 shows the might to take on its competition. It is one mammoth of a device in terms of functionality and is unmatched by any other device in the market. Coming out with just one storage variant of 32 GB is an advantage for the Note 4. It makes no secret that it is a premium device and will be priced as such.
It is expected to come around the first week of October and we can’t wait to get our hands on this package of goodness.
The season of big ticket releases has been kicked off by Samsung in an optimistic fashion. The company flaunted an assortment of products at its pre-IFA event in Berlin. The company finally unveiled the Galaxy Note 4 which gets quite a few upgrades over its predecessor both on the hardware, as well as the software front.
The presentation was done by three presenters who were well prepared for the show, though it got a bit annoying when they tried to over-reach. Most of the features presented were affirmative of the leaks.
Looks
Image Credit: The Verge
The new generation Note flagship comes with a 5.7 inch Quad HD Super AMOLED screen. It has a thickness of 8.5 mm and weighs 176 gm. The device is LTE category 6 ready.
On the looks front, the device borrows the design language from the Samsung stable while going for an edgier design. The device is built on a metal frame which strengthens the device to minimize damage from dropping of the device. It has a soft textured back cover.
Camera
The cameras on the Note 4 get a lot better. Image Credit: The Verge
The Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 16 MP camera on the back with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS.) With the OIS, Samsung claims, you’ll get professional quality HD videos with minimum jitters.
The company has gone out of its way to bring a superior selfie experience, and it was truly innovative of them. The 3.7 MP front camera has a wide f/1.9 iris which will ensure brightness of the image. To make selfie taking more convenient, the Note 4 utilizes the heart rate sensor on the back as a shutter release. To take a selfie all you need to do is hold the heart rate sensor and release, when you are ready for a click. For taking a wider selfie or a “Weefie” with multiple people, the device offers a wide 90-degree frame. There is also an option for Wide Selfie that lets you take an even wider 120-degree selfie by moving the phone till everyone is in view. The presenters took the photo of the entire auditorium using the feature.
The camera also has an extremely useful feature called the Snap Note through which you can take an image, and the phone will extract the data from it. So when sitting in a classroom you can simply click the photo of the board, and the phone scan the image and will take the information out. You can then add annotations to the information and have an easy learning experience.
S-Pen
The S-Pen also gets upgrades and added functionalities. The pressure sensitivity has been increased to give a more natural pen-like feel. The pen now also acts as a mouse with features like click and drag which lets you select multiple files at once.
The Smart select feature lets you select text and images from multiple sources and lets you bring them all together. It also lets you easily share them on the internet.
Audio Recorder
The audio recorder on the device has also received some really handy and functional upgrades. The device can now track voices in 8 distinct directions so it great for getting quality sounds in multi-people environment. The interview mode on the device cancels out the unnecessary ambient noise and hence gives a clearer audio output.
Multi-Windows
Using multi-window gets easier with the new device. You can now access the multi-window feature through the recent apps menu. It has become a lot easier to resize, relocate or minimize the screens during multi-window usage.
Note 4 comes in four color options: White Black, Gold and Pink. It also provides customizability with 4 covers. There is the S-View, Flip wallet, S-view Flip wallet and LED cover which reminds of the Dot case by HTC. The device also comes with a back panel encrusted with Swarovski Crystals.
The device is sleeker and edgier than the Note 3. Image Credit: The Verge
Battery
The device gets its juice from a 3220 mAh battery which is a slight increase over the predecessor. Samsung claims that with advanced optimization of their product, the battery will last longer than before. They have also brought the ultra power saving mode from the S5 onto this device.
Mont Blanc
As the phone flaunts its USP of a writeable screen, it was only natural for them to partner with a writing instrument manufacturer sooner or later. So Samsung has partnered with Mont Blanc to bring stylish writing instruments for the Note 4. The pens have multiple usability as they come with interchangeable refills for the paper and the screen. They also offer several nib options for different needs. The pen is connected with the device using a chip that lets the user have a fulfilling writing experience on the device’s massive 5.7 inch screen.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 comes with 50 GB of Dropbox storage for two years. The phone will be available in the market in the month of October.
Samsung has done well on its presentation, and this will help calm some of the criticism that it has been facing for a while. The Note 4 is without a doubt a new era for the company. This was a good launch event, and we’ll be updating you when more information surfaces.
Misery strikes at the worst possible time. Samsung executives responsible for Note 4 release are going to have a terrible day. All the prominent specs for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 4 have been leaked online and boy, are they impressive!
The leak happened on benchmarks app AnTuTu. First of all, the biggest expectation from Samsung was the introduction of a 2K screen on the Note 4 and Samsung didn’t disappoint. The phablet will sport a massive 5.7 inch, 1440 x 2560 QHD Super AMOLED display.
The device is expected to run Android KitKat 4.4.4 right out of the box. The leaked Antutu device has an Exynos 5433 octa core processor which comes with an updated Mali GPU. If Samsung follows its usual plan of action, one can expect a Snapdragon 805 variant to come in select markets.
The Device is also expected to take a departure from the faux leather back panel.
The camera on the device is a 16 MP shooter with optical image stabilization. It also has features like dual shot and simultaneous HD video and image recording. The front camera on the device is 2 MP selfie camera capable of shooting 1080p at 30 FPS.
Considering the massive price point of the Note 4, the company can easily provide a 32 GB and 64 GB variants and the icing on the cake will be expandable storage upto 128 GB, as per the specifications from GSMArena, this seems to be true.
The Note 4, officially will be unveiled September 3rd at an event scheduled to take place simultaneously in Berlin, Beijing, and New York.
The Galaxy Note 4, successor to the Note 3 which was the bestselling phone from Samsung’s stable, is around the corner. Note 3 was a benchmark on which most of the future premium devices were designed, like the Galaxy Tab pro.
So here we give you a roundup of all the things we know about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 3. (more…)
