I made an honest mistake in saying the #GalaxyNote3 was 16gb for the base model! I must have been thinking of the #GalaxyS5 and an annotation has been added.
If you can still edit you also said (in an annotation) it has an Areno GPU Erica Griffin. Wasn't sure if u had noticed yet, so wanted to let u know... Great review BTW👍👍
I figured I'd leave a comment on my video so people who are wondering can see it. I am indeed working on the full review right now. I have started filming it. Please be patient though because I have caught the flu and have laryngitis. Good times. Trying to recover.
So what you are saying is as expected the display color accuracy is not perfect. However it is extremely accurate and fairly evenly calibrated. More accurate than even most LCD'S tend to be. So the claim that it is basically the most advanced smart phone display and very accurate in basic mode is true. Having a small gamma error of 0.2 and at points 0.4.
I'm very much surprised at the lacking of such reviews. Not only do the comparisons barely exist, but exynos reviews are also few and far. I'm also very interested to see a battery comparison of both of them before and after the update. I'm surprised at the lacking if this as well. Most people that even touch these subjects are not presenting it in a very informed way. Though I was surprised to find that the adreno 420 had a lead over the mali t760. I thought that was much more powerful. Though it is not a large lead and obvious the Exynos cpu cores are the real winners and should fair even better if they get 64bit enabled in android l
Yin Bunhay Yes and no. Technically the Exynos has a better cpu. And the GPU is only a tad behind. And MOST LIKELY the Exynos will open up 64bit when Note 4 gets an Android L update and then it will perform even better over time. And on the small chance it does not there is a decent chance a hack might. But the Snapdragon has somewhat better app support sometimes. And it generally has much better hack/developer support. And the Gpu is a little stronger. As far as battery life goes I assume the Exynos is a little better, but I cannot factually back that up. Though I'm sure they are similar.
PeanutFTW AVA No. Many people do. I appreciate both aspects. But many people as well like accurate colors. Plus as someone who studies displays and is factual with her stuff, plus adding in that in the past the claimed accuracy was still quite high in gamma...it's an important thing to point out. But you are far from alone. The best part about it is that you get your way no matter which you prefer. Very saturated or very accurate. A gamma error of 0.2-0.4 that she described is actually very small. Colors in that mode are only very minutely saturated and I'm sure it's only some hues more than others. Plus the near spot on white balance. Most LCD's intentionally have a higher gamma setting than that. And even the Iphone has a small gamma error and a less accurate white balance. So basically the Note 4 is the most saturated or accurate to the users liking. Plus it's also basically is the best in sunlight next to the Nokia 8o8 PurView. Only when you put it in auto brightness and it's in bright light though. The maximum brightness the user can set it to without auto brightness is 100-300 nits away from it's actual full brightness depending on how bright it is outside. Plus it uses up to 40% less power than even most 1080p 5 inch LCD displays.
I love it haha my note 2 was super saturated naturally and I even set that phone to dynamic and the greens and reds burned your eyes they were so saturated haha it wowed people back then
***** I agree. I tend to stick to standard for most things. But Dynamic is best out doors and makes some content looks dramatic. But for skin tones and some content it's nice to see what they really look like.
Wow, this is the first review I've ever seen from you, and I was blown away! After reading the comments I was again blown away at some (very few) comments stating they didn't like you going in depth about screen uniformity... That's because I loved that you went there! Thank you, as I like to know what to watch out for with any device I may buy, and screen uniformity is something that I am a geek about. Thank you for the wonderful review, and you definitely have a sub here!
I think the one of the best aspects of the Note 4 is the matching S-View case. Just the facts that you can call, answer calls, take a picture and shoot video etc without needing to open the case is phenomenal. I think if you were to do a full review with the case, it would open many people's eyes as to why the Note 4 is very impressive.
Amazing smooth video while walking with any camera was pretty much impossible a few years ago. I remember how unwatchable iphone video was when they added 1080p and that was standing still. The Note 4 stabilizing 4k is a pretty monumental achievement and works great IMHO
Nice. Thank you for this video. I love how your "Initial review" or "First impressions" video is like double the length of the "full" reviews of most reviewers on YT and even now already provides a ton more relevant information instead of just reading a spec sheet on camera. Can't wait for you "All you need to know" video on the Note 4. Thank you Erica Griffin
I have seen plenty of Note 4 reviews and none discussed it as pleasantly detailed as yours. So hands down you are the best tech reviewer! Your detailed review made me wanting the Note 4
Hands down best review of the note 4 I've seen, and I've been watching a bunch lately.. Rlly interested in this phone now. You have a knack for noticing the fine details that a lot of other reviewers omit. I think you've found a great niche in doing that. Keep up the great work.
Erica Griffin I just love your screen analyses and overall deep analyses of the phones you review. You are my first goto TH-camr when I am to buy a new phone.
That's why I prefer the GoPro Hero 4 over the galaxy note 4's camera for recording video and taking photos. I wouldn't mind using the galaxy note 4 for still images though.
Erica you rock. That's it. You are the best in depth reviewer on TH-cam in my opinion. I love your 30 plus minute initial take lol. Can't wait to see the actual review.
Had to say I love your commentary. Funny but informative. Easy for even us old folks to follow. Very practical info mostly cause you give it that down to earth feel. That really useful and real life feeling. I don't feel like you are like so many that seem to be speed reading. Take care.
I had been watching so many Note 4 reviews during the last couple of weeks, but yours definately is the one I was looking forward to and as always, I am not dissapointed. You are awesome at what you do! I hope you get a chance to review the Xperia Z3 soon.
Dude you just have to disable flipboard briefing and the one handed mode works just as normal. Works exactly like the note 3 on my note 4 at least. Never noticed a difference. The Note 3 windowed mode I sort of just had a button that launched the window right from the homescreen without the pen. But i agree, the new way is far FAR improved. Smart select tip: collect your flight reference info from the email app, collect your hotel contact info, adress and booking reference from the browser, go into Maps and find your hotel there, grab the nearby area and jot down things directly on the map you want to visit nearby or just to make it easier to find, like circleing that church for a reference point, then grab the weather info from the web for the duration of your stay, then open S Note, and just drag it all down there, arrange it as you want, send it as a PDF to your fellow travellers and have them print it out or whatever. Additionally, from the multitasking bar (hold backbutton) and the recent apps carousel you can launch windowed mode versions instead of multiwindow versions by pressing instead of dragging in the multitasking bar, and for the carousel you just drag it to the homescreen. Just a quick tip.
Hi Erica, I really appreciate how thorough you are in your reviews. You go into a lot more details than ANY OTHER REVIEWERS. You discuss sound quality and clarity in calls which is really important to me. Thanks again . Greg Joplin PS To other people that complain about parts of your review or the whole review. If you don't like it DON'T WATCH!!!!!!!!!!
To much stuff doesn't necessary make it better... I tried the Note 4 and after a few days I notice most of the stuff I do not use and it just get on the way for the phone to function at its best. And I also notice that yeah..the Note 4 was "Note 4 me'
I want your eyes Erica. Damn. I love your reviews. Very in depth( loved the addition of an iphone 6 in this video for good measure) Finally videos with PERSONAL OPINION. Jeez. Tech specs are one thing but you bust out some mad human specs on this. Thanks!
thanks for putting out this first impressions video. was definitely anticipating your review of the note 4 over any other youtube reviewer. you really get into all the important details especially the displays on devices; all the stuff i really want to know before making a purchase. i like that you are willing to point out the flaws, and critique the shortcomings of devices, as consumers we need to know the cons and be able to weigh them between devices. i got a note 2 based on your review and i am probably going to get a note 4 eventually. thanks for the discerning and detailed reviews!
Really like Erica as a tech reviewer. She's as indepth as DetroitBorg but adds a interesting point of view on her opinion. She's on my top list of tech reviewers.
You rock, Erica. Your piece is one of the few thorough reviews out there that I've seen. Thank very much. Keep up the great work. I can't wait to see your comparison of this to the iPhone 6 or 6+.
Ah ! Erica Griffin ...the screen nerd. We don't care about the gamma,gamut,sub-pixels,contrast,SRGB and all that shizzle. Do a review , not a screen review
comedyman112 Who are you to tell her what to do or how to do her reviews? Jut because you don't care, it doesn't mean nobody cares. Don't care about some part, skip it! Easy, no? Instead you here with an attitude trting to tell her what to do. How about appreciating the fact that she takes the time to cover these things so those who care about it are happy. Go watch other reviewers who all just repeat eachother and read ome spec sheet and just call almost every phone "amazing" if you want that.
Vader...You Seek Vader! if i need a good display in my next phone i search for high ppi ...not all those white levels, black levels, blue levels, contrast in dark movie scenes, etc. For crying out loud, you guys are too picky today. All phones that have 1080p or above produce wonderful colors and video.
It's only a Initial Review :-) but over a half hour and .... typical excellent work Erica. You're the one presentation girl on web :-) I need that app-window mode without the s-pen on my Note3. I wait for a custom rom whitch build this in .... I like my note 3, perfect for my with a custom rom and kernel.
Hi Erica Griffin , great review ! Sincerely ! I just want to say that you can cross the finger to the screen to make resize it. You just have to enable from settings. I waited for a long time to see on your channel a review to Note 4 because you explain better and you analyze everything. Sorry for bad english.
When is the full review coming out? It's been about two months since the phone came out and I'm still waiting for you to do the full hour-long review! Really love your one hour reviews :D
Nice video Erica. Some things I would like to see covered are as follows. First and foremost, application launch times. One thing that drives me insane with the note 3 is how long some things take to launch, ie the dialer. I would love to see a side by side comparison with say the iPhone or moto x. Another thing would be speaker performance, both db levels and tone as compared to phones like the iPhone/m8/s5/moto x. If possible some measurements from the DAC, but an objective overview as compared to other phones would be nice(using a nice pair of headphones). Just my thoughts, your reviews are by far the best on the web. I look forward to your analysis. Thanks.
Stickbo I heard for some that the dialer took an extra second to open. For the Note 4 though overall it is very snappy. It even ties and beats the iphone in most speed comparisons. The speaker is definitely one of the loudest. It is measured between 82 and 85 decibels depending on the review. There was a video on youtube comparing it to the Note 3's. Both at level 10 volume. The Note 4 was a lot louder and cleaner. Even when the Note 3 was raised to level 12 the Note 4 was still a louder and a lot cleaner. Some people say the Note 2 still had better bass though. I don't know. However even though it is much more clear than the Note 3 and much louder the video said it still had the same range....just cleaner in those ranges. Some people say at that loudest setting it has a bit of distortion, but I'm sure that will depend on what you are playing and you can easily turn it down one or two notches and then still have great volume and clarity. The M8 and Z3 reach around 72-76DB. I don't know the exact. They are actually fairly evenly matched. most give a slight edge to the M8 in the volume and sound. Which is impressive for the Z3 comparing it to the Z2 and that it still retains the water proof membrane covering the speakers. Obviously they provide deeper sound for having two speakers. And I think that they more than likely have a little more bass. I don't know which has better range of the three, though the Note 4 takes volume, while the other two take deeper sound. For headphones....We know the M8 is basically a top performer and the Note 4 seems to be very close behind. Followed by Z3. I don't know the true full specifics of the headphones especially and also am waiting for such a comparison and would love to know more about the DAC capabilities. Especially the Exynos with Wolfsan.
darkangelss6sic6 I am struggling to find answers to this basic question about loudness. Probably like you,Ive been to many sites reading reviews trying to nail down the overall loudness of the "ringing" portion of the note 4. It seems many reviewers are very complacent in differentiating the difference between sound quality and loudness.I have a job where noise levels are higher than say,your average office type environment.I am looking for a phone that when an incoming call comes in,rings quite loudly to cut through the ambient noise. GSM arena rated the Note 4 @ 81.6db..which earned an excellent rating..however on Phone Arena it earned a n 85db rating!!!..thats a HUGE difference.Also,some reviewers are saying that the ringer level loudness is low??? Can you see my frustration? Im set to pick this phone up in the next week so maybe i wont get a good ,solid answer?
Leo Smites Jesus Christ your comment...it's embarrassing . I never owned an apple product,but even if I did it is irrelevant. The reason some apps take a while to launch compared to a Nexus 5 for example,is the bloated and badly optimized Touchwiz interface ...it eats ram like a hog. No wonder the market responded and Samsung took quite a blow (their CEO halved his salary ,but it's just a gesture because his compensations and stock options remain the same). So before you label anyone as sheep take a hard look at yourself.
Erica Griffin You can still enable the feature of swapping inward then outward to activate the one handed feature that was in the galaxy note 3. From: Settings -> display and wallpaper -> one handed operation -> reduce screen size.
Yes, and I showed how to do that. It's just that samsung changed how to activate it. Under reduce screen size help area it says that you have to swipe to the middle and outward. That wasn't the case before. You could swipe inward even near the bottom on the Note 3 like I showed.
you can swipe your thumb down sideways for the finger print scanner. I have done it. I agree that it is not as good as the iPhone but it works for me good enough for me to use it. I use my right thumb when holding it in one hand, my right index finger for holding it in my left hand (two hands useage) and my left index finger for when it is in the holder in the car
Thank you Erica. I appreciate your review. I am a new owner (2 days) of a lovely Note4. I'm glad I found your video. Finding you was like a breath of fresh air AND I understand you. The world needs more Nerdy Females!! hats off to you Angel from the Bay
This is what cracks me up about these reviews and Erica is clearly a fan of most of these android phones. First there is just all the issues right out the gate. Fingerprint scanners only sort of scan. The display is pentile and the various elements of it are just tolerable to terrible depending upon the attribute. The camera has the potential to perform but often seems to have features and elements fighting against each other. Why would someone who losses a feature or two on a spec sheet but has a phone that just works be seen as the dim one in such scenario?
Thanks for going in depth about the OIS vs EIS especially for video. You're the only reviewer that's mentioned it and video is one of most important smartphone functions to me. I have a 6+ right now and I was thinking of switching to the Note 4, however the Hyperlapse app on the iPhone is making it really hard to switch, especially knowing that it might not ever come to Android because of Google's API access not allowing for it. Hopefully that'll change. Then all phones can have amazing video stabilization and time lapses:)
Gonna be honest, after a great developer on XDA came up with an S5/Note 3 TW hybrid ROM for the Sprint Note 3, the display is greatly improved on my device. No idea why but it is better than stock TW and is preventing me from moving to the Note 4 for now. The colors are better and images are crisp and much cleaner than even TW based ROMs. Maybe the N3 just needed a little tweak to get a better looking display since, of course, the hardware cannot change. Thanks for the honest insight.
concerning the finger print scanner you don't have to swype ur finger vertically...u can swype it in a diagonal/inclined way...depends on how u register ur fingerprint...and actually it works better diagonally
Hi Erica, if you want to disable the flip board briefing, do this while at the main screen, press and hold the recent apps button, > home screen settings > then untick flipboard briefing box. Maybe that would help you with the one handed mode too. On default settings I got 8 hours screen on time, for 15 hours before needing to charge the note 4 again, Nice vid btw.
The back isn't gross, it's not as nice as the OnePlus One but it doesn't attract dirt or fingerprints like most phones out there. (well, the black version anyway)
Always enjoy your vids Erica! I am loving the note 4 as well. I upgraded from my note 2 which i loved but the Note 4 is just so much better! The screen and camera alone are outstanding! Love the new premium look as well. Awsome device! I also have the black version.
Thanks for uploading this, you definitely helped me make the right choice in choosing the Note 4 as my next phone. Great Videos Look forward to your new ones !!!
That side menu feature is useful! I hope they port that to the Note 3. In my Note 3 I'm always accidentally triggering the small screen feature all the time while I'm using the Swype keyboard, which uses similar gestures
Hi Erica, I love your reviews and think you're the best! My question is. Have you ever made the IN DEPTH video on the LG G3? I love my G3 and have been looking forward to your review! I've seen all your comparison videos and FIRST IMPRESSION videos on the G3 but I haven't seen your final FULL review. I apologize if I've just missed it! Love the Note 4 and will probably be my next phone! Thank you for all you do!
Was really feeling confident about ordering this phone before watching this, but now I'm worried that the camera is not as great as other videos touted it to be. The camera performance is very important to me.
So, coming from Note 3, in brief: I don't like the "white gradient", I don't like the task button instead of the menu button. Camera is nicer, the launcher is dull as always (that's why I use TSF shell 3D). Higher resolution is nice but I have to see it. The 5 connectors on the back are interesting (2 are for inductive charger coil). I think this is not enough to upgrade from my Note 3 which I love. A refresh lacking screen quality (that white/yellow/green gradient is awful!). Oh, and I love you, Erica.
I've been asking all the people I'm subscribed to and nobody answers,hopefully you do.i was wondering why does the note 4 not let you see youtube in 1080p let alone ultra hd ?
Good work nerd :). You are the one that i should watch before buying a phone. Because i do care allot about these little details and i check the phone exactly like you. My s4 used to has the same screen problem one side was warmer than the other and when i show it to people no one could notice the difference so i hated the phone and sold it. So great job
You can turn off Flipboard(and you need to if you don t use it) or even if you use it you can open it by a shortcut so one handed use activation is not a deal even with the note 3 s method. Just pinch out, go to home screen settings and there it is.
It sounds like from your review referencing the S Pen you have no practical use for its features either. I discovered the same thing when I purchased the Galaxy Note 10.1 hoping to have a use for the S Pen. As much as I try, for the life of me I cannot see a reason to use any of the features other than as a novelty. I don't think I will be buying the note 4 for the same reason. Thank you for the honest initial review of Samsung's latest flagship offering.
I usually hate Samsungs, but this time I'm actually impressed. I particularly like the design (coming from an HTC guy), guess I'll just have to wait for Cyanogenmod to be available on this thing and see.
Flashing CM would defeat 2 of the best features in the Note's touchwiz, S-Pen and Multitasking. I'd stay with Wanam and use Nova Launcher or something, or look into another phone (New Nexus line?) if you don't really care about the above. Or somebody could make a ROM with the features but slimmer.
Kevin C I agree. But some people do just like plain Android better. I would myself never be able to use cyanogenmod on a Note happily again. Modified Touchwiz with wanam and xposed for me too. I'm waiting for a true bridge of both. We are getting there bit by bit.
Kevin C There is a way to make the S-Pen work on Cyanogenmod, losing the awesome multitasking would suck, but it's not that big of a deal since I don't see how I would be using this feature too often. If you don't really need the S-Pen *features* there is no reason not to switch to Cyanogenmod, it's hard to beat the stock Android experience (unless it's HTC's Sense that we're talking about, it's absolutely incredible and it's definitely up there, well, at least in my opinion), and Cyanogenmod is pretty much stock Android with some stuff.
Jesus Christ The way I see it, if you don't really care about Touchwiz's features on the Note 4, then there are other, cheaper phones with big screens on the market, and that can likely be flashed a bit easier.
yay!! space needle!!! (great land mark) is there anything in the phone that effects the colors in a picture taken with the camera when seen on a different device? like a lap- or desk-top computer, or when printed? i meen, for instance, if i take a picture of a (white) cloud, or a snowy mountaintop, will it show up blue-ish in print too, or just on the note 4's display? thanks for a great review, Erica. looking forward for the full one.
loving the review and the Note4 . i noticed the white one doesn't have the faux leather feel like the black model but not exactly a deal breaker considering im coming from a Note2 and the Note4 is leaps and bounds better from what i had. battery life , screen , camera etc. definitely a good upgrade for those considering it . thanks again for your awesome reviews and call them like you see them .
Good luck in finding one with a uniform display. I gave up after three attempts. Although I must confess, the current one I have is slightly better. In reference to the pink and yellow hue on white backgrounds. First one was pink top right handside seconds was lower half pink and third one that I sent back was pink lower half but also very yellow on top half.
thankfully my whites are the same temperature throughout. I just exchanged my note 4 today because of the gap issue. The note 4 I had previously had a huge gap and I was able to fit a business card in it, plus all kinds of gunk and dust were getting stuck in the gap. Luckily my new model is perfect so far. Very happy, but it really bugs me that these devices aren't tested for ever little defect. That's just me though I have OCD so I expect everything to be perfect.
Thanks Erica for the awesome review! Stellar as usual. Only other comment is perhaps release the video earlier? I watched this video on my note 4, which is rather ironic :P If it hurts the awesome quality of your videos, don't bother Could you make some sort of tutorial for figuring out all these new features? I don't think anyone else has done a video like that.
![Megan Thee Stallion - Neva Play (feat. RM) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpYTyAaTRts/mqdefault.jpg)
I made an honest mistake in saying the #GalaxyNote3 was 16gb for the base model! I must have been thinking of the #GalaxyS5 and an annotation has been added.
* #GalaxyNote4
It happens. :)
I'm not ashamed I made a mistake. =) It really must have been my S5 I got pissed with for filling up so quickly with video.
Oh the humanity!
If you can still edit you also said (in an annotation) it has an Areno GPU Erica Griffin. Wasn't sure if u had noticed yet, so wanted to let u know... Great review BTW👍👍
I figured I'd leave a comment on my video so people who are wondering can see it.
I am indeed working on the full review right now. I have started filming it. Please be patient though because I have caught the flu and have laryngitis.
Good times. Trying to recover.
Take it easy! The last thing we want is for you to strain yourself and not have fun making these :3
GWS! Though same with me! :(
Hope you get well soon
Erica Griffin hope you get to feeling better, no way to be working and most of all talking on a video. Wish you a speedy recovery though!
Saw your that you having a cold, wish you get well soon. From the other side of the planet.
Hey everyone, the white balance of the camera and the lights makes the whites of my display appear a little pink at times. It's not actually pink.
Can u compare between Snapdragon and Exynos ? which is better ?
So what you are saying is as expected the display color accuracy is not perfect.
However it is extremely accurate and fairly evenly calibrated.
More accurate than even most LCD'S tend to be.
So the claim that it is basically the most advanced smart phone display and very accurate in basic mode is true.
Having a small gamma error of 0.2 and at points 0.4.
I'm very much surprised at the lacking of such reviews. Not only do the comparisons barely exist, but exynos reviews are also few and far.
I'm also very interested to see a battery comparison of both of them before and after the update. I'm surprised at the lacking if this as well.
Most people that even touch these subjects are not presenting it in a very informed way.
Though I was surprised to find that the adreno 420 had a lead over the mali t760. I thought that was much more powerful. Though it is not a large lead and obvious the Exynos cpu cores are the real winners and should fair even better if they get 64bit enabled in android l
It mean that Exynos is better than Snapdragon?
Yin Bunhay Yes and no.
Technically the Exynos has a better cpu. And the GPU is only a tad behind. And MOST LIKELY the Exynos will open up 64bit when Note 4 gets an Android L update and then it will perform even better over time.
And on the small chance it does not there is a decent chance a hack might.
But the Snapdragon has somewhat better app support sometimes. And it generally has much better hack/developer support. And the Gpu is a little stronger.
As far as battery life goes I assume the Exynos is a little better, but I cannot factually back that up. Though I'm sure they are similar.
A girl like you is impossible to find ...
Geekness overload
xD
yeah and she is cute too...
haahhaha
Erica Griffin how do you turn the dialer shortcut on the lockscreen. I cannot seem to find the setting for that.
Am I the only one that actually likes the over saturated colors on my device?
PeanutFTW AVA No. Many people do. I appreciate both aspects. But many people as well like accurate colors. Plus as someone who studies displays and is factual with her stuff, plus adding in that in the past the claimed accuracy was still quite high in gamma...it's an important thing to point out.
But you are far from alone.
The best part about it is that you get your way no matter which you prefer.
Very saturated or very accurate. A gamma error of 0.2-0.4 that she described is actually very small. Colors in that mode are only very minutely saturated and I'm sure it's only some hues more than others.
Plus the near spot on white balance.
Most LCD's intentionally have a higher gamma setting than that. And even the Iphone has a small gamma error and a less accurate white balance.
So basically the Note 4 is the most saturated or accurate to the users liking. Plus it's also basically is the best in sunlight next to the Nokia 8o8 PurView. Only when you put it in auto brightness and it's in bright light though.
The maximum brightness the user can set it to without auto brightness is 100-300 nits away from it's actual full brightness depending on how bright it is outside.
Plus it uses up to 40% less power than even most 1080p 5 inch LCD displays.
I love it haha my note 2 was super saturated naturally and I even set that phone to dynamic and the greens and reds burned your eyes they were so saturated haha it wowed people back then
matthew clouser HAHAH me 2.. I love dynamic,I dont know whats the point of having boring colors .. I LOVE Samsung screen
***** I agree. I tend to stick to standard for most things. But Dynamic is best out doors and makes some content looks dramatic.
But for skin tones and some content it's nice to see what they really look like.
i love it! It looks so vibrant unlike the dull Ips displays!
Wow, this is the first review I've ever seen from you, and I was blown away! After reading the comments I was again blown away at some (very few) comments stating they didn't like you going in depth about screen uniformity... That's because I loved that you went there! Thank you, as I like to know what to watch out for with any device I may buy, and screen uniformity is something that I am a geek about. Thank you for the wonderful review, and you definitely have a sub here!
I think the one of the best aspects of the Note 4 is the matching S-View case. Just the facts that you can call, answer calls, take a picture and shoot video etc without needing to open the case is phenomenal. I think if you were to do a full review with the case, it would open many people's eyes as to why the Note 4 is very impressive.
Amazing smooth video while walking with any camera was pretty much impossible a few years ago. I remember how unwatchable iphone video was when they added 1080p and that was standing still. The Note 4 stabilizing 4k is a pretty monumental achievement and works great IMHO
Nice. Thank you for this video. I love how your "Initial review" or "First impressions" video is like double the length of the "full" reviews of most reviewers on YT and even now already provides a ton more relevant information instead of just reading a spec sheet on camera. Can't wait for you "All you need to know" video on the Note 4. Thank you Erica Griffin
I have seen plenty of Note 4 reviews and none discussed it as pleasantly detailed as yours. So hands down you are the best tech reviewer! Your detailed review made me wanting the Note 4
Great as always. You know it's insane in-depth when your initial review is over 30 mins.
Man, this Note 4 is built like a tank!
the only youtuber that actually can tech the viewers how to use all the features on their devices. thanks for the breakdown
Hands down best review of the note 4 I've seen, and I've been watching a bunch lately.. Rlly interested in this phone now. You have a knack for noticing the fine details that a lot of other reviewers omit. I think you've found a great niche in doing that. Keep up the great work.
Erica Griffin I just love your screen analyses and overall deep analyses of the phones you review. You are my first goto TH-camr when I am to buy a new phone.
That's why I prefer the GoPro Hero 4 over the galaxy note 4's camera for recording video and taking photos. I wouldn't mind using the galaxy note 4 for still images though.
Erica you rock. That's it. You are the best in depth reviewer on TH-cam in my opinion. I love your 30 plus minute initial take lol. Can't wait to see the actual review.
you're so thorough with these reviews and for some reason you do the best close-ups. dunno why but for me it just is the case with the close-ups.
whoa that HDR mode makes the video looks so beautiful
Your review is so much better than the geeks who simply quote the manufacturer's specs and wave the phone around without really showing it in use.
I don't care about the review I just want to see your beautiful face
Hjalmar Nyman On top of her great nerdiness and well informed reviews she is a very beautiful woman and has a lovely singing voice.
darkangelss6sic6 sexy
Hjalmar Nyman Indeed
Creepy.
BOB COTTRELL lmao
Had to say I love your commentary. Funny but informative. Easy for even us old folks to follow. Very practical info mostly cause you give it that down to earth feel. That really useful and real life feeling. I don't feel like you are like so many that seem to be speed reading. Take care.
32 mins of Erica. My day is complete.
In my opinion the best review so far; enjoy your superb device it's absolutely aww
I had been watching so many Note 4 reviews during the last couple of weeks, but yours definately is the one I was looking forward to and as always, I am not dissapointed. You are awesome at what you do! I hope you get a chance to review the Xperia Z3 soon.
William Lasgorndalf My thoughts exactly. Her's and Gsmarena for me.
darkangelss6sic6 They are really good too. I visit their website almost everyday. Though I just simply love how Erica goes so in depth.
William Lasgorndalf ^_^
I hope she does the xperia z3 indept review as well .
I have the Note 4 and I love it. You showed me some options I didn't know about... Thanks..
The 3 finger tangent in the review was hilarious and just so adorable! I know it has nothing to do with it, but I loved it.
Dude you just have to disable flipboard briefing and the one handed mode works just as normal. Works exactly like the note 3 on my note 4 at least. Never noticed a difference.
The Note 3 windowed mode I sort of just had a button that launched the window right from the homescreen without the pen. But i agree, the new way is far FAR improved.
Smart select tip: collect your flight reference info from the email app, collect your hotel contact info, adress and booking reference from the browser, go into Maps and find your hotel there, grab the nearby area and jot down things directly on the map you want to visit nearby or just to make it easier to find, like circleing that church for a reference point, then grab the weather info from the web for the duration of your stay, then open S Note, and just drag it all down there, arrange it as you want, send it as a PDF to your fellow travellers and have them print it out or whatever.
Additionally, from the multitasking bar (hold backbutton) and the recent apps carousel you can launch windowed mode versions instead of multiwindow versions by pressing instead of dragging in the multitasking bar, and for the carousel you just drag it to the homescreen. Just a quick tip.
Hi Erica,
I really appreciate how thorough you are in your reviews. You go into a lot more details than ANY OTHER REVIEWERS. You discuss sound quality and clarity in calls which is really important to me.
Thanks again .
Greg Joplin
PS To other people that complain about parts of your review or the whole review.
If you don't like it DON'T WATCH!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent review of all the multi tasking abilities that the Note 4 has. This phone has so many features that it requires a detailed study.
To much stuff doesn't necessary make it better... I tried the Note 4 and after a few days I notice most of the stuff I do not use and it just get on the way for the phone to function at its best. And I also notice that yeah..the Note 4 was "Note 4 me'
04:58 no you wrong 2.0 usb will fit in note 3 . just plug it in the right hole
Glad to find you regarding the"Note 4". I reviewed your blog in dept regarding the "Note2" before I bought it & am now considering the "Note4"..
I want your eyes Erica. Damn. I love your reviews. Very in depth( loved the addition of an iphone 6 in this video for good measure) Finally videos with PERSONAL OPINION. Jeez. Tech specs are one thing but you bust out some mad human specs on this. Thanks!
Wait, 32 minutes and this isn't your full review? I'm not complaining though, your videos are in depth and excellent.
thanks for putting out this first impressions video. was definitely anticipating your review of the note 4 over any other youtube reviewer. you really get into all the important details especially the displays on devices; all the stuff i really want to know before making a purchase. i like that you are willing to point out the flaws, and critique the shortcomings of devices, as consumers we need to know the cons and be able to weigh them between devices. i got a note 2 based on your review and i am probably going to get a note 4 eventually. thanks for the discerning and detailed reviews!
Really like Erica as a tech reviewer. She's as indepth as DetroitBorg but adds a interesting point of view on her opinion. She's on my top list of tech reviewers.
Erica, did U know U could set the finger scanner to read your thumb swipe sideways.?? Another reviewer did that. Its just easier to operate.
As always GREAT review. Wait.. This isn't the FULL review? Good gosh Erica! What else is there? You already have sold me on getting the Note 📝 4
You rock, Erica. Your piece is one of the few thorough reviews out there that I've seen. Thank very much. Keep up the great work. I can't wait to see your comparison of this to the iPhone 6 or 6+.
Ah ! Erica Griffin ...the screen nerd. We don't care about the gamma,gamut,sub-pixels,contrast,SRGB and all that shizzle. Do a review , not a screen review
comedyman112 Who are you to tell her what to do or how to do her reviews? Jut because you don't care, it doesn't mean nobody cares. Don't care about some part, skip it! Easy, no? Instead you here with an attitude trting to tell her what to do. How about appreciating the fact that she takes the time to cover these things so those who care about it are happy. Go watch other reviewers who all just repeat eachother and read ome spec sheet and just call almost every phone "amazing" if you want that.
I care actually. I learned a lot of displays with her. In fact it made me chose AMOLED
Vader...You Seek Vader! if i need a good display in my next phone i search for high ppi ...not all those white levels, black levels, blue levels, contrast in dark movie scenes, etc. For crying out loud, you guys are too picky today. All phones that have 1080p or above produce wonderful colors and video.
She is the only one that talks about screens and I find her reviews amazing
That's just how she rolls man. You can always skip past it anyway.
It's only a Initial Review :-) but over a half hour and .... typical excellent work Erica. You're the one presentation girl on web :-)
I need that app-window mode without the s-pen on my Note3. I wait for a custom rom whitch build this in .... I like my note 3, perfect for my with a custom rom and kernel.
Hi Erica Griffin , great review ! Sincerely ! I just want to say that you can cross the finger to the screen to make resize it. You just have to enable from settings. I waited for a long time to see on your channel a review to Note 4 because you explain better and you analyze everything. Sorry for bad english.
Hi Erica, when are you going to upload the full review of the Note 4? Can't wait for it.. Love you
Just had notification to say you uploaded your review. Made my Saturday night :)
The review I have been waiting for . Thanks
You and Flossy Carter makes the best reviews
Love your reviews. You're always the most thorough of any reviewer, by a mile.
Slight error there in the review: there was no 16GB version of the Note 3, all of them had at least 32GB of onboard storage.
When is the full review coming out? It's been about two months since the phone came out and I'm still waiting for you to do the full hour-long review! Really love your one hour reviews :D
Nice video Erica. Some things I would like to see covered are as follows. First and foremost, application launch times. One thing that drives me insane with the note 3 is how long some things take to launch, ie the dialer. I would love to see a side by side comparison with say the iPhone or moto x. Another thing would be speaker performance, both db levels and tone as compared to phones like the iPhone/m8/s5/moto x. If possible some measurements from the DAC, but an objective overview as compared to other phones would be nice(using a nice pair of headphones).
Just my thoughts, your reviews are by far the best on the web. I look forward to your analysis. Thanks.
Stickbo I heard for some that the dialer took an extra second to open.
For the Note 4 though overall it is very snappy. It even ties and beats the iphone in most speed comparisons.
The speaker is definitely one of the loudest. It is measured between 82 and 85 decibels depending on the review.
There was a video on youtube comparing it to the Note 3's. Both at level 10 volume. The Note 4 was a lot louder and cleaner. Even when the Note 3 was raised to level 12 the Note 4 was still a louder and a lot cleaner.
Some people say the Note 2 still had better bass though. I don't know. However even though it is much more clear than the Note 3 and much louder the video said it still had the same range....just cleaner in those ranges.
Some people say at that loudest setting it has a bit of distortion, but I'm sure that will depend on what you are playing and you can easily turn it down one or two notches and then still have great volume and clarity.
The M8 and Z3 reach around 72-76DB. I don't know the exact. They are actually fairly evenly matched. most give a slight edge to the M8 in the volume and sound. Which is impressive for the Z3 comparing it to the Z2 and that it still retains the water proof membrane covering the speakers.
Obviously they provide deeper sound for having two speakers. And I think that they more than likely have a little more bass. I don't know which has better range of the three, though the Note 4 takes volume, while the other two take deeper sound.
For headphones....We know the M8 is basically a top performer and the Note 4 seems to be very close behind. Followed by Z3.
I don't know the true full specifics of the headphones especially and also am waiting for such a comparison and would love to know more about the DAC capabilities. Especially the Exynos with Wolfsan.
darkangelss6sic6 I am struggling to find answers to this basic question about loudness.
Probably like you,Ive been to many sites reading reviews trying to nail down the overall loudness of the "ringing" portion of the note 4.
It seems many reviewers are very complacent in differentiating the difference between sound quality and loudness.I have a job where noise levels are higher than say,your average office type environment.I am looking for a phone that when an incoming call comes in,rings quite loudly to cut through the ambient noise.
GSM arena rated the Note 4 @ 81.6db..which earned an excellent rating..however on Phone Arena it earned a n 85db rating!!!..thats a HUGE difference.Also,some reviewers are saying that the ringer level loudness is low???
Can you see my frustration?
Im set to pick this phone up in the next week so maybe i wont get a good ,solid answer?
I have the Note 3. Dialer is not leggy ? Opens almost instantly. What are you talking about ?
Maybe it's your phone. Duh...
Leo Smites Jesus Christ your comment...it's embarrassing . I never owned an apple product,but even if I did it is irrelevant. The reason some apps take a while to launch compared to a Nexus 5 for example,is the bloated and badly optimized Touchwiz interface ...it eats ram like a hog. No wonder the market responded and Samsung took quite a blow (their CEO halved his salary ,but it's just a gesture because his compensations and stock options remain the same).
So before you label anyone as sheep take a hard look at yourself.
Erica Griffin What are your thoughts on the Galaxy Note Edge? Will you be unboxing and reviewing that as well?
I really enjoy your reviews. They're very thorough.
I like Erica's reviews & they frustrate me at the same time.
Erica Griffin You can still enable the feature of swapping inward then outward to activate the one handed feature that was in the galaxy note 3. From: Settings -> display and wallpaper -> one handed operation -> reduce screen size.
Yes, and I showed how to do that. It's just that samsung changed how to activate it. Under reduce screen size help area it says that you have to swipe to the middle and outward. That wasn't the case before. You could swipe inward even near the bottom on the Note 3 like I showed.
you can swipe your thumb down sideways for the finger print scanner. I have done it. I agree that it is not as good as the iPhone but it works for me good enough for me to use it. I use my right thumb when holding it in one hand, my right index finger for holding it in my left hand (two hands useage) and my left index finger for when it is in the holder in the car
Thank you Erica. I appreciate your review. I am a new owner (2 days) of a lovely Note4. I'm glad I found your video. Finding you was like a breath of fresh air AND I understand you. The world needs more Nerdy Females!! hats off to you Angel from the Bay
This is what cracks me up about these reviews and Erica is clearly a fan of most of these android phones. First there is just all the issues right out the gate. Fingerprint scanners only sort of scan. The display is pentile and the various elements of it are just tolerable to terrible depending upon the attribute. The camera has the potential to perform but often seems to have features and elements fighting against each other. Why would someone who losses a feature or two on a spec sheet but has a phone that just works be seen as the dim one in such scenario?
Time coding on videos??? Brilliant! Continue to blow my mind with the great reviews and videos!!
On the finger scanner you should be able to side swipe to unlock. Does not need to be straight up and down.
Damn Erica you're tuff, that optical image stabilization looks fantastic to my eye.
Thanks for going in depth about the OIS vs EIS especially for video. You're the only reviewer that's mentioned it and video is one of most important smartphone functions to me. I have a 6+ right now and I was thinking of switching to the Note 4, however the Hyperlapse app on the iPhone is making it really hard to switch, especially knowing that it might not ever come to Android because of Google's API access not allowing for it. Hopefully that'll change. Then all phones can have amazing video stabilization and time lapses:)
Love how action memo syncs instantly to my Evernote account.
Gonna be honest, after a great developer on XDA came up with an S5/Note 3 TW hybrid ROM for the Sprint Note 3, the display is greatly improved on my device. No idea why but it is better than stock TW and is preventing me from moving to the Note 4 for now. The colors are better and images are crisp and much cleaner than even TW based ROMs. Maybe the N3 just needed a little tweak to get a better looking display since, of course, the hardware cannot change. Thanks for the honest insight.
The greatest reviewer on this planet earth.
concerning the finger print scanner you don't have to swype ur finger vertically...u can swype it in a diagonal/inclined way...depends on how u register ur fingerprint...and actually it works better diagonally
Hi Erica, if you want to disable the flip board briefing, do this while at the main screen, press and hold the recent apps button, > home screen settings > then untick flipboard briefing box.
Maybe that would help you with the one handed mode too. On default settings I got 8 hours screen on time, for 15 hours before needing to charge the note 4 again, Nice vid btw.
The phone looks so huge on your tiny cute hands haha. It's an awesome phone tho besides the gross back plastic. :)
Its not cheap plastic. It feels good on your hand and u can remove the battery!
Claroboy911
It's my opinion. I rather use a metal case covering the side & back and make the phone look awesome.
***** I know it was your opinion 😊
The back isn't gross, it's not as nice as the OnePlus One but it doesn't attract dirt or fingerprints like most phones out there. (well, the black version anyway)
***** some people prefer to have removable batteries and expandable storage...
Always enjoy your vids Erica! I am loving the note 4 as well. I upgraded from my note 2 which i loved but the Note 4 is just so much better! The screen and camera alone are outstanding! Love the new premium look as well. Awsome device! I also have the black version.
Thanks for uploading this, you definitely helped me make the right choice in choosing the Note 4 as my next phone. Great Videos Look forward to your new ones !!!
Yes if you could elaborate more on the speakers an camera would give me a better understanding. Thanks for you help, Erica
That side menu feature is useful! I hope they port that to the Note 3. In my Note 3 I'm always accidentally triggering the small screen feature all the time while I'm using the Swype keyboard, which uses similar gestures
Are you going to review any Sonys anymore? Even the Z1 Compact and Z2 reviews are missing.
Hi Erica, I love your reviews and think you're the best! My question is. Have you ever made the IN DEPTH video on the LG G3? I love my G3 and have been looking forward to your review! I've seen all your comparison videos and FIRST IMPRESSION videos on the G3 but I haven't seen your final FULL review. I apologize if I've just missed it!
Love the Note 4 and will probably be my next phone!
Thank you for all you do!
Was really feeling confident about ordering this phone before watching this, but now I'm worried that the camera is not as great as other videos touted it to be. The camera performance is very important to me.
So, coming from Note 3, in brief: I don't like the "white gradient", I don't like the task button instead of the menu button. Camera is nicer, the launcher is dull as always (that's why I use TSF shell 3D). Higher resolution is nice but I have to see it. The 5 connectors on the back are interesting (2 are for inductive charger coil). I think this is not enough to upgrade from my Note 3 which I love. A refresh lacking screen quality (that white/yellow/green gradient is awful!). Oh, and I love you, Erica.
Oh you're alive. Finally 1 review. haven't seen you lately:-) :-)
I've been asking all the people I'm subscribed to and nobody answers,hopefully you do.i was wondering why does the note 4 not let you see youtube in 1080p let alone ultra hd ?
My question is about syncing information from this device to your computer has it improved since the note 3?
Good work nerd :). You are the one that i should watch before buying a phone. Because i do care allot about these little details and i check the phone exactly like you. My s4 used to has the same screen problem one side was warmer than the other and when i show it to people no one could notice the difference so i hated the phone and sold it. So great job
Erica , you can make Fingerprint Scanner better if register your finger from different angles in that 10 steps it takes to register .
You can turn off Flipboard(and you need to if you don t use it) or even if you use it you can open it by a shortcut so one handed use activation is not a deal even with the note 3 s method.
Just pinch out, go to home screen settings and there it is.
I just love the way you review these devices - so detailed and well argumented! =)
The task switcher can also be used for a menu button with a long press.
Yes! I have been waiting for you to make a note video!
I'm getting my note 4 Monday can't wait.
It sounds like from your review referencing the S Pen you have no practical use for its features either. I discovered the same thing when I purchased the Galaxy Note 10.1 hoping to have a use for the S Pen. As much as I try, for the life of me I cannot see a reason to use any of the features other than as a novelty. I don't think I will be buying the note 4 for the same reason. Thank you for the honest initial review of Samsung's latest flagship offering.
When is the full review coming? ??? Erica Griffin
I usually hate Samsungs, but this time I'm actually impressed. I particularly like the design (coming from an HTC guy), guess I'll just have to wait for Cyanogenmod to be available on this thing and see.
Flashing CM would defeat 2 of the best features in the Note's touchwiz, S-Pen and Multitasking. I'd stay with Wanam and use Nova Launcher or something, or look into another phone (New Nexus line?) if you don't really care about the above. Or somebody could make a ROM with the features but slimmer.
Kevin C I agree. But some people do just like plain Android better.
I would myself never be able to use cyanogenmod on a Note happily again.
Modified Touchwiz with wanam and xposed for me too.
I'm waiting for a true bridge of both. We are getting there bit by bit.
Kevin C There is a way to make the S-Pen work on Cyanogenmod, losing the awesome multitasking would suck, but it's not that big of a deal since I don't see how I would be using this feature too often. If you don't really need the S-Pen *features* there is no reason not to switch to Cyanogenmod, it's hard to beat the stock Android experience (unless it's HTC's Sense that we're talking about, it's absolutely incredible and it's definitely up there, well, at least in my opinion), and Cyanogenmod is pretty much stock Android with some stuff.
Jesus Christ The way I see it, if you don't really care about Touchwiz's features on the Note 4, then there are other, cheaper phones with big screens on the market, and that can likely be flashed a bit easier.
Kevin C Well, yeah, there are, but I mainly like this phone for the design, specs and the screen. It just offers a complete package the way I see it.
I use the Galaxy Note Edge and absolutely love it!
I took my Note 4 to Moscow & St. Petersburg - very impressive camera, and a very nice phone
yay!! space needle!!! (great land mark)
is there anything in the phone that effects the colors in a picture taken with the camera when seen on a different device? like a lap- or desk-top computer, or when printed?
i meen, for instance, if i take a picture of a (white) cloud, or a snowy mountaintop, will it show up blue-ish in print too, or just on the note 4's display?
thanks for a great review, Erica.
looking forward for the full one.
What's your opinion about the note 4 and iphone 6 plus I'm thinking of upgrading but don't know which one or should I just wait for the nexus 6?
Love your in-depth reviews. You cover everything about the device. Thumbs up!
P.S...I love your hands, they're SO DAMN CUTE!! :P
loving the review and the Note4 . i noticed the white one doesn't have the faux leather feel like the black model but not exactly a deal breaker considering im coming from a Note2 and the Note4 is leaps and bounds better from what i had. battery life , screen , camera etc. definitely a good upgrade for those considering it . thanks again for your awesome reviews and call them like you see them .
Good luck in finding one with a uniform display. I gave up after three attempts.
Although I must confess, the current one I have is slightly better. In reference to the pink and yellow hue on white backgrounds. First one was pink top right handside seconds was lower half pink and third one that I sent back was pink lower half but also very yellow on top half.
Great review Erica. I particularly liked the video lowdown. I presently have a Note 3.
thankfully my whites are the same temperature throughout. I just exchanged my note 4 today because of the gap issue. The note 4 I had previously had a huge gap and I was able to fit a business card in it, plus all kinds of gunk and dust were getting stuck in the gap. Luckily my new model is perfect so far. Very happy, but it really bugs me that these devices aren't tested for ever little defect. That's just me though I have OCD so I expect everything to be perfect.
thank god ur back!! :) wait for that review a long!
Thanks Erica for the awesome review! Stellar as usual. Only other comment is perhaps release the video earlier? I watched this video on my note 4, which is rather ironic :P
If it hurts the awesome quality of your videos, don't bother
Could you make some sort of tutorial for figuring out all these new features? I don't think anyone else has done a video like that.
Thanks for a very robust initial review! When do you think you'll have the final review uploaded?