Samsung (and some other companies like HTC) should think about reissuing some phones (maybe as a 10 years anniversary) - just as they originally looked, but with today's hardware.
Its not the looks. Samsung "Security" ecosystem getting worse. Popularity of samsung devices pushed 3rd party modding support, but in response they locked it down hard.
I got it back in the day and was so happy with the phone, but the camera performance - one of if not the most important part for me - was so bad compared to other phones I sold it two weeks later. Trying to remember what I switched to, but I'm not sure...
The 2017 A series is crazily underrated. They were some of the first samsungs with usb c and had full metal and glass build like S series counterparts. In the 2024 a series only the A55 has a glass and metal build.
@@satsumagt5284 The A35 and A55 have water resistance, as did the 2017 a3 and a5. But A35 has a plastic back. I'd say the A0x A1x and A2x are the modern equivilants of the J Series
For me manufacturers removing the headphone jack is the worst decision they made. The main reason why I only stay now in mid range phones is because I need that headphone jack
@@mistabrown830 Yeah, I bought Tecno Pova 6 Pro for this reason. It also has 60 fps video recording. No other phone does these all at the same time anymore.
The difference between Samsung then and Samsung now: Then: Top of the line hardware. No compromise. Now: Cost cutting even with Galaxy S line. Running hardware from 3 generations ago.
Exynos this exynos that, have y'all looked at the camera specs and then compared them with what some call 'cameraphones' like the xiaomi 14 ultra or the vivo x100 ultra? Because it becomes clear enough that samsung is way behind the curve, sure they have a 200mp main camera but all camera phones have proven that having a bigger 1" sensor is better and vivo for example has shown that if you instead pair a 200mp sensor with a periscope lens you get the best telephoto camera on a phone to date. Also the battery, we have silicone carbon or whatever batteries now with greater capacities some going above 6000mah, meanwhile samsung has been sticking with a 5000mah battery for like 3 or 4 years now.
The Note4 has a powerful processor even today. There is a video where a guy from Argentina wrote a version of Blender for Nokia N95, and surprisingly it works. Remember the HTC HD2 smartphone from 2012, which managed to install Android up to 8. That's why vendors doesn't want to support old devices so that we constantly spend our money.
the N95 version for blender is definitely nothing like the PC version, it was optimised to work with the N95. Usable and powerful are 2 different things, I can use my Nokia 5610 just fine, but factually with today's standards it is not that powerful
The Note 20 Ultra is probably the better successor to this phone. And probably the best Note to date. Only thing missing on that was the headphone jack but otherwise, the best modern, designed Note.
I think what keeps a select group of people attached to these phones is the removable and replaceable batteries and storage. Not necessarily the designs if you get what I mean
I'd say that Note 9 is true successor to this phone. It's the last phone with no compromises (aside the non removable battery) that had a lot of features in software, hardware and even accessories in the box. No new phone could topple Note 9.
The “best Samsung ever” title would go to the Note 9, for me. It had EVERYTHING the 4 provides and more; the only category in which the 4 would be at an advantage (and a relative one at that) is the removable battery; relative because I had the Note 9 for 4+ years and I never experienced degraded battery performance. On the flip side, the Note 9 gave me: * DeX * Wireless charging * USB C * Water resistance * two cameras It was the last great Samsung before they started removing features
Note 9 has everything but the removable battery which is a big loss admittedly. And I guess I would have liked to Matte design but you know that's getting real picky. But on the plus side it's a lot bigger than the Note 4 so it would be easier to handle the modern chips with decent thermal efficiency ideally.
It just needs to be the 64bit model with the superior Exynos 4533 chipset. The original software didn't take advantage of it. But the Custom Rom scene basically fixed this with the likes of Android 5.1 on Resurrection Remix.
The following year Samsung introduced the Galaxy S6/Note 6. And while there were some slight improvements to the screen, camera, water resistance...... well, they got rid of the microSD slot and the User Removable Battery. These major downgrades, along with higher prices, were not enough to override the positives. Basically being the updated software and notably better Exynos 7470 chipset. At least the following year it was worth it. Particularly with the Samsung S7+ Active variant. This introduced a big chipset upgrade with the Exynos 8890, a huge camera upgrade, guaranteed IP67 protection, and the return of the microSD slot. An even more enticing offer came with the ZTE Axon 7. It offered a slower, yet still competitive QSD 820 chipset, a better design, software support, for half the price. And it arrived 6 months earlier. Overall, 2014 marked the end of User Removable Battery, and the trade-off with IP67/68 ingress protection. There was the brief moment with the LG G5 and LG V20, which had IP66/IP67 resistance and a User Removable Battery. But they were recalled due to the infamous bootloop error. 2017 marked the end of competitive phones. As each manufacturer downgraded features progressively each year. We soon lost IrDa Blaster, then Aluminium hardware, then Flat Screens, then to Notches, then microSD slot, and then the 3.5mm aux port. The last "okay" device was the Samsung S10+ with the QSD 855 chipset. If you were patient, you eventually got the bootloader unlocked, root, updated rom with debloat. It's not quiet the optimised way of EvoX Rom on the international model, but that Exynos 9820 was not a good chipset. On top of this, with the S10+ you still had the microSD slot and 3.5mm aux port, and you also got the fantastic Razer JungleCat controllers. The nearest best, is a side-grade to the QSD 778 model in the Late-2021 Samsung Galaxy A53-S model. But all other Samsung's, nay, all other phones beyond here have all those feature sacrifices mentioned above. Poor a drink for our hommies
This video just took me back to my childhood. Just one look at the thumbnail and I instantly recognized it as the Note 4. I used to borrow this from my aunt just play the ant squashing game that was popular at the time, as well as taking lots of weird pictures and videos. Thanks for covering this, it just made me reminisce about better times.
I had the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and it was the best phone I ever owned. The display was phenomenal but it stopped working after 8 years. So I had to upgrade to a pixel.
I was using it for 7 years. It was my last Samsung phone. Even as I switched to other brands in 2015, I continued to use it until 2021. The reason I switched to other brands was because after it Samsung have used curved screens in their flagship phones.
@@DavidNgo86 They did, but their most premium ones have curved edges. I was with Samsung from the S1, then S2. Then switched over to the Note series and I had every Note up to the Note 4. It's just not the curved edges as well that made me switch. I briefly had a Note 5, but I sold it and switched to LG G4; I accidentally compared the screens to my Note 5 then and a cousin's G4 and found that my screen had this yellowish tint that won't go away. It gets more pronounced when I am displaying white on the screen. I found that the blue subpixels on AMOLEDs actually decompose faster than the red and green subpixels, causing that yellowish tint on every AMOLED or any OLED screens even now. Yes, AMOLEDs has true blacks, but it effs up every other color with yellowish tint that gets worse as the device ages.
I'm not sure how many subscribers you get from East Africa everyday. I've Been watching these videos without subscribing all that time. These Time Machine videos trigger a lot of Nostalgia. They're totally worth a subscription.
The phone was excellent and will always hold a special place in my heart. I used it until it could no longer turn on. Its specifications were impressive and remained so for years.
I miss my Samsung Galaxy Note 4; I saved for one in my college years and purchased 2nd hand for just over £200. I loved the note-taking features and used that phone to design my final major project. I do have an S24 Ultra now but even so, I do wish there was SD card functionality.
I bought a Note4 used not to long afte my Note2 died on me. The seller tricked me because not long after the battery died fast. This was around the time the Note7 came out. I had the phone for a few months, cant remembered how long. On work the battery did not last longer by lunch time. My coworker begged me to sell it to him after i told him i want to sell it but im not sure if i want to. Because we work in the same truck together, i told him at the end of day i would consider selling it to him. Crazy enough, the battery lasted all day with no charging while playing music in the truck through Bluetooth. That part shocked both of us. Honestly i did not really missed the phone when i sold it. But it was a really good phone
2014 was when I really got into tech and this was the one of the first pieces of tech I wanted so bad. The Note 4 Edge also because to me it was so cool like what other phone had a curved display. Ended up getting the normal Note 4. I love that phone. It lasted me awhile and I still have it. I remember watching MKBHDs video on it and other tech youtubers. To me it was a huge powerhouse phone with good battery for the time. Even could do wireless charging. Other notable phones in 2014 were the HTC One M8 and the LG G3.
Agreed. I wish phones nowadays retained the slightly curved back, especially towards the left and right sides like how the Note 4 did it (back curves towards the front, not the screen towards the back), as that just makes it much more ergonomic and comfortable to hold. Case designs would follow that design so even with a case it would still make a difference.
A triple fold that fully contains the soft 'glass' on the inside would be a start. Alternatively, a roll up phone like the one in 'Earth final conflict' with a powerful zoom camera in the tube...
My Note4 got destroyed beyond recognition in a car accident. It wasn't worth saving, and I think it couldn't even be saved. But all these years later I still have the broken pieces safely stored in my desk drawer. I've never loved any phone ever as I loved that one.
At a time my brother really love this phone because the camera of this phone before is stunning compare to other. And he loves editing even the small details or cropping that he find hard using his fingers so the S-pen is really really helpful.
I love these retro-reviews. One thing I think would help understand how ahead of their time they were would be comparing with phones of their year, in this case with iphone6 which had much poorer display, sound, camera battery, etc.
Exynos is unaffected but Samsung implemented anti rollback so you can't downgrade the firmware whereas the international Snapdragon models you can downgrade
So what about the Note 10+ because I believe that was the perfect product of refinement and innovation in 2019. Be it's in box content, 120 Hz display, cameras, 45 W charging for the 1st time. I want to hear your thoughts 😊
3:00 i use my phone right handed. Use the spen with my left. What a dealbreaker when i got my s24 ultra! I also have the note 4. Is the pen tip supposed to have a lot of "give" when you write with it?
The reason why the S Pen was on the right side is because it's the Note series and with the S series it's on the left so people can see that it's not the same phone and differentiate with it
Spen is on the left side because of the battery, vapor chamber and cameras but I never had any problem accessing the spen, you’re the one holding the phone in a weird way. We have spare batteries, it’s called a power bank it cost 10 bucks and charge about everything. Earphone with cable are still a thing, just use the usb port.
I did love my note 4. It made me realise the power of the android platform as emulation started kicking off. Sadly my unit was made wirh faulty ram or something because it would crash regularly and go into a soft bootloop and only properly recover every 1/6 restarts.
What a delightful time to be alive. The Note series always got weird looks cause of it's stupid size lol. I may have taken my Bio notes with either this device or the previous gen.
My current phone has a 1440p display (Nokia 8) and still it works after 7 years. I don't think I'll find a replacement for this phone for ages to come.
I’ve always owned Samsung Notes since the SGH i717 AT&T. I lost interest in line up when the Note 10 was released. I came back and still have my N20U. The Note 4 was a beloved model.
I do have a Note 4 with the original battery. It is still working. The drain is fast from 100% to 0% but man it is 10 year old phone. This phone was my second smartphone after the Galaxy S4. To be honest sometimes i just turning on and i use it for average things, camera, youtube, facebook etc. And they back in time in the box gave me a charger and earphones and i still using the earphones. Sound amazing. I love my Note 4❤
I had 2 of these phones and they were prefect. But they both eventually suffered the same fate when high power draw would cause the phone to restart and eventually fail due to a faulty component on the motherboard. It had something to do with increasing power to the cellular radio when signal was weak because it started doing it in certain spots on my daily commute and every time I got in an elevator. The 2nd one I saved before it got too bad and now I just use it on wifi to control stuff at home.
I miss square corners on screens. It sucks that we can only have 1 design at a time, i wanna go back to phones with enough space at the top and bottom to include all the sensors, camera and maybe even powerful speakers.
These days I love the look and feel of oldschool Touchwiz since everything else feels lifeless and colorless, but yeah the performance hit was quite noticeable. But with OneUI its still the same mind you, its just that modern phones have way more headroom
Make one for LG v30 , That phone had a real 6p glass lens when everyone else was one plastic ball It could record in log format , something we're just beginning to see normalizing
The Nokia 8 also deserves a honorable mention. Last ever phone with an aluminium unibody, last ever flagship with a 1440p QLED, last ever global flagship with a 16:9 display, first ever phone with 3D spatial sound recording with audio zoom and first mainstream phone with USB 3.1 by default.
@@minukarodrigo Nokia 8 was an AWESOME phone , I daily-ied it for a year . The thing they had with multiple camera lenses to capture one picture, we saw a real evolution of that in Nokia 9 but sadly it came a day late and a dollar short on performance with a year old chip that couldn't handle all that processing but the results were mightly impressive in the end. I WISH it wasn't abandoned As I remember LG G2 had Audio Zoom, I don't know who was first at this though ... LG G4 had a Quantum LED Diplay waaay before that and that was impressive with it's oled llike high contrast and deep blacks with brightness levels and color accuracy unreachable by oleds of the time
@@abdullahzafar4401 agree, there's a reason why I specified that it was the last ever 1440p QLED phone with a 16:9 display! They used some of LG's parts to create something entirely new. The Nokia 8 was technically the first phone with 3D spatial audio recording with 3 microphones, while the G2 did audio zoom via just 2 microphones. Also, the Nokia 9's prowess is unmatched, and they could've delayed it to the point that the chipset could at least handle the camera processing seamlessly. Btw, why do you no longer use the Nokia 8? Its audio capabilities are simply unmatched from other brands till date.
@@minukarodrigo Ok, let me tell you ... First I bought a Nokia 8 in Silver color, It was the prettiest and boldest looking phone, NO Copying any other brand's design language but it had some issue and I sent it to warranty, I think it was it's usb. Instead of waiting I bought another one with glossy blue color, thinking I would give the old one to my mother The glossy blue one had water damage(my fault), warranty wouldn't recover it and I was phone less ... that was alot of waste They replaced the old one with another matt-finish blue one, It wasn't a head turner as the other two were but it was a SOLID phone and was used alot by everyone at home for years. little brother was pubg champ when it was cool (realizing how long ago that was). It was among the best snapdragon 835 performers with lasting battery. It had a relatively less mah battery but battery life was really good on it It's still here somewhere with a broken screen, otherwise it's fine I still think maybe I can buy a silver chassy and screen and repair that thing for the keeps ... It'd still look like a premium beast with that silver color
@@minukarodrigo I'm not an audio geek but I do take photography/videography on phones seriously and that's where I think LG was soooooo AHEAD of the Game with it's HDR Cine Effects, Awesome Manual controls, Graphy and it is just awesome. I use LG G8 as of now, been using it sinse 2021. Second Best Phone Ever, the ABSOLUTE BEST was LG G2 🥲
I want the bezels back. It was the perfect design to watch videos, to reach everything with your thumb and not all phones were f*cking huge like nowadays. All phones are huge and heavy now. It's really bullsh*t.
Fantastic video! I truly value your consistently honest and well-explained videos. I ceased buying Samsung flagship phones when they removed the headphone jack and expandable storage features tbh. Currently I use a Samsung A25 as my secondary device, which offers a headphone jack, an impressive 120Hz display and a micro SD card slot. Keep up the excellent work! Greetings from Romania!🙂
I think the S3, S7 Edge and Note 4 are the Trio that were peaks for Samsung. Personally, I like the S7 Edge the best of the three. It had everything I could want in a phone.
Mine still work solid. The 4k video recording is pretty neat for 10 years old phone. The audio is surprisingly good, use Wolfson DAC same as IPod classic video
Had the pretty budget phone from this era, a j3, was a absolute tank, took all the drops with ease, kept doing the basics and more all the way from when i started high school, was an amazing phone, really well built, cant say this at ALL about modern budget samsung devices, they cant even run their own ui without lagging hard, my a7 lite cant compete with the similar priced tab a from 2017, such a shame!!! And its flmsy
yes This was one of the best smartphones samsung has ever put out, I bought a redmi note 5 and then exchanged that with the note 4 as it was too expensive at that time, Now i have a note 9 and it works perfectly fine till this day..
I've been using Samsung since Galaxy S3, stopped at Galaxy S21 Ultra after I had a bad experience, bad battery life and laggy software, got the iPhone 13 Pro max and it's over 3 years old and honestly I still don't see a reason for upgrade, it is truly an amazing phone, still solid battery and top notch performance and photos.
@@TechPark-v1jnever used iOS in my life, I don't think Apple products are worth the high price, but the animations are smother than most (not all) Androids
Sadly, back in the day I couldn't afford this amazing phone (for it's time), so I went with the Note 3 instead. Note 3 was also a great phone back in 2014.
Check out the S4, the eye detection sensor that allows scrolling and ability to control phone functions without touching it... i boight one and it remains amazong
I've kept my Note 4, and though the battery doesn't hold a charge anymore, I'm not getting rid of it. I've always been a Note user, since the 3. And yes, I also hate the placement of the stylus to the left of the phone!
Really love your videos, Ryan. I had an off-topic question I hope you can help me with, I am confused between buying the pixel 8 and galaxy s23 (both are new) which phone would you personally pick? Will be switching from an iPhone 12 mini, really love this thing but unfortunately it has a lot of issues so I sadly will have to switch.
s10? maybe note 10? no that's just nostalgia nothing's in a note 10 is better than in the current s24 ultra, literally the same phone but slower dimmer but with an SD-card slot...
I had Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Note 4 - best phones Samsung ever made. Then switched to OnePlus 5 - IMO best Android phone. OnePlus 5 is still on my list on the 1st place - great UI, everything WORKED flawlessly ( compared to Poco or Asus ). Now I have Asus Zenfone 10 - one of the worst Android experiences - UI doesn't work properly ( functions that are on doesn't work ), AI on camera makes photos worse and so on.
I have a galaxy s5, I would still be using it as my daily driver if the Australian government had allowed it to keep functioning after the 3G shutdown, it is a 4G international variant with the correct CSC flashed, but the firmware wasn't updated to allow emergency calls using Voice over LTE (VoLTE)
Note 4 having 1440p Amoled display on 2014 was peak.
1440p it's mostly useless, on my s7 I use 1080 for better battery
1440p is as useless as 120hz , it makes screen look better in certain scenarios and most people can't tell difference@@namesurname4666
@@namesurname4666 that's not useless if you seek flagship performance and image quality
Forgot lumia 950 and XL having best resolution
that's for sure
Samsung (and some other companies like HTC) should think about reissuing some phones (maybe as a 10 years anniversary) - just as they originally looked, but with today's hardware.
cool idea , i would definitely buy a note 5 or s7 edge but updated hardware
@GEM-eq9zj yea I would love a s7 edge with a snapdragon 8 elite
Its too expensive to design modern features for old devices.
Its not the looks. Samsung "Security" ecosystem getting worse. Popularity of samsung devices pushed 3rd party modding support, but in response they locked it down hard.
It wouldn't sell
I didn't remember that Note4 was such a loved phone. Pictures taken with Note4 aren't as bad as I expected.
I got it back in the day and was so happy with the phone, but the camera performance - one of if not the most important part for me - was so bad compared to other phones I sold it two weeks later. Trying to remember what I switched to, but I'm not sure...
my best friend had it, beat to shit. Still worked like a champ. Solid quality.
The 2017 A series is crazily underrated. They were some of the first samsungs with usb c and had full metal and glass build like S series counterparts. In the 2024 a series only the A55 has a glass and metal build.
And they had IP68 water resistance.
Today’s A series are more similar to the old J series, I’d say
@@satsumagt5284 The A35 and A55 have water resistance, as did the 2017 a3 and a5. But A35 has a plastic back. I'd say the A0x A1x and A2x are the modern equivilants of the J Series
i had a 2017 a5, the phone felt just like a S7 and the battery life was amazing on that thing
@@NCHLTA35 has a glass back and plastic frame
@@NCHLT not to forget that the 2016 A series started the very premium build, and 2018 A8 was actually an A5 (model number was A530F)
For me manufacturers removing the headphone jack is the worst decision they made. The main reason why I only stay now in mid range phones is because I need that headphone jack
Don't forget the sd card slot
@@mistabrown830 Yeah, I bought Tecno Pova 6 Pro for this reason. It also has 60 fps video recording. No other phone does these all at the same time anymore.
Just buy earphone with usb man
You can buy high end phones from Sony those still have it.
@@invinsible1987 IMO, that's worse than wireless ones.
The difference between Samsung then and Samsung now:
Then: Top of the line hardware. No compromise.
Now: Cost cutting even with Galaxy S line. Running hardware from 3 generations ago.
If you mean Exynos, yes.
Exynos is better
Exynos this exynos that, have y'all looked at the camera specs and then compared them with what some call 'cameraphones' like the xiaomi 14 ultra or the vivo x100 ultra? Because it becomes clear enough that samsung is way behind the curve, sure they have a 200mp main camera but all camera phones have proven that having a bigger 1" sensor is better and vivo for example has shown that if you instead pair a 200mp sensor with a periscope lens you get the best telephoto camera on a phone to date. Also the battery, we have silicone carbon or whatever batteries now with greater capacities some going above 6000mah, meanwhile samsung has been sticking with a 5000mah battery for like 3 or 4 years now.
The Note4 has a powerful processor even today. There is a video where a guy from Argentina wrote a version of Blender for Nokia N95, and surprisingly it works. Remember the HTC HD2 smartphone from 2012, which managed to install Android up to 8. That's why vendors doesn't want to support old devices so that we constantly spend our money.
the N95 version for blender is definitely nothing like the PC version, it was optimised to work with the N95. Usable and powerful are 2 different things, I can use my Nokia 5610 just fine, but factually with today's standards it is not that powerful
The Note 20 Ultra is probably the better successor to this phone. And probably the best Note to date. Only thing missing on that was the headphone jack but otherwise, the best modern, designed Note.
I think what keeps a select group of people attached to these phones is the removable and replaceable batteries and storage. Not necessarily the designs if you get what I mean
I'd say that Note 9 is true successor to this phone. It's the last phone with no compromises (aside the non removable battery) that had a lot of features in software, hardware and even accessories in the box. No new phone could topple Note 9.
I'd actually say it's the note 10+ with the curved screen and 45 watt charging and the SD card support
Nah the S24 Ultra is the best Note to date
Hated mine, battery sucked on sd855 and smaller battery than s20 ultra
The “best Samsung ever” title would go to the Note 9, for me. It had EVERYTHING the 4 provides and more; the only category in which the 4 would be at an advantage (and a relative one at that) is the removable battery; relative because I had the Note 9 for 4+ years and I never experienced degraded battery performance.
On the flip side, the Note 9 gave me:
* DeX
* Wireless charging
* USB C
* Water resistance
* two cameras
It was the last great Samsung before they started removing features
I agree it has everything except for the removable battery
My go-to would always be the note 5.. Forget the dismal battery life, that was the sexiest phone ever created.
@ I had it. Beautiful phone for sure. But I still hold the 9 in a higher esteem; I’ve never had a phone that I could do SO MUCH stuff on. I miss it
I would group the Note 4, 9, and 20 Ultra as my favorite phones.
Note 9 has everything but the removable battery which is a big loss admittedly. And I guess I would have liked to Matte design but you know that's getting real picky. But on the plus side it's a lot bigger than the Note 4 so it would be easier to handle the modern chips with decent thermal efficiency ideally.
The last good Samsung phones was from the DJ Koh era S10 and Note 10!
The S10e is my favourite S series, side mounted fingerprint scanner, 5.8" screen, headphone jack, SD card and the last great small phone imo
Samsung still makes the Xcover 6, which has a headphone jack, SD card slot, and swappable battery. It is an excellent product.
It was the last no-compromise phone.
- brightest display
- sharpest camera
- fastest processor
- lomgest battery life
- best software
- most features
It just needs to be the 64bit model with the superior Exynos 4533 chipset. The original software didn't take advantage of it. But the Custom Rom scene basically fixed this with the likes of Android 5.1 on Resurrection Remix.
The following year Samsung introduced the Galaxy S6/Note 6. And while there were some slight improvements to the screen, camera, water resistance...... well, they got rid of the microSD slot and the User Removable Battery. These major downgrades, along with higher prices, were not enough to override the positives. Basically being the updated software and notably better Exynos 7470 chipset.
At least the following year it was worth it. Particularly with the Samsung S7+ Active variant. This introduced a big chipset upgrade with the Exynos 8890, a huge camera upgrade, guaranteed IP67 protection, and the return of the microSD slot.
An even more enticing offer came with the ZTE Axon 7. It offered a slower, yet still competitive QSD 820 chipset, a better design, software support, for half the price. And it arrived 6 months earlier.
Overall, 2014 marked the end of User Removable Battery, and the trade-off with IP67/68 ingress protection. There was the brief moment with the LG G5 and LG V20, which had IP66/IP67 resistance and a User Removable Battery. But they were recalled due to the infamous bootloop error.
2017 marked the end of competitive phones. As each manufacturer downgraded features progressively each year. We soon lost IrDa Blaster, then Aluminium hardware, then Flat Screens, then to Notches, then microSD slot, and then the 3.5mm aux port.
The last "okay" device was the Samsung S10+ with the QSD 855 chipset. If you were patient, you eventually got the bootloader unlocked, root, updated rom with debloat. It's not quiet the optimised way of EvoX Rom on the international model, but that Exynos 9820 was not a good chipset. On top of this, with the S10+ you still had the microSD slot and 3.5mm aux port, and you also got the fantastic Razer JungleCat controllers. The nearest best, is a side-grade to the QSD 778 model in the Late-2021 Samsung Galaxy A53-S model.
But all other Samsung's, nay, all other phones beyond here have all those feature sacrifices mentioned above.
Poor a drink for our hommies
My sister is still using that phone..only thing she changed was battery last year..she loves this phone i guess..
This had better be the note 4. That phone was PEAK
My man talked about the Note 4 and left out the IR BLASTER!!!
This video just took me back to my childhood. Just one look at the thumbnail and I instantly recognized it as the Note 4. I used to borrow this from my aunt just play the ant squashing game that was popular at the time, as well as taking lots of weird pictures and videos. Thanks for covering this, it just made me reminisce about better times.
In my opinion, the last great Samsung phones were the S10 for the S series and the Note 10 for the Note series.
Basically their 2019 flagships, and I fully agree. That was peak Samsung.
The note 20 ultra was fantastic. And it was the last time have expandable storage.
I had the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and it was the best phone I ever owned. The display was phenomenal but it stopped working after 8 years. So I had to upgrade to a pixel.
The IR Blaster was great too!
Phone companies should be made to make battery replacement available to us again
The removable battery is the best part.
I was using it for 7 years. It was my last Samsung phone. Even as I switched to other brands in 2015, I continued to use it until 2021. The reason I switched to other brands was because after it Samsung have used curved screens in their flagship phones.
They had a flat and edge models until 2017. Didn't need to switch
@@DavidNgo86 They did, but their most premium ones have curved edges. I was with Samsung from the S1, then S2. Then switched over to the Note series and I had every Note up to the Note 4. It's just not the curved edges as well that made me switch. I briefly had a Note 5, but I sold it and switched to LG G4; I accidentally compared the screens to my Note 5 then and a cousin's G4 and found that my screen had this yellowish tint that won't go away. It gets more pronounced when I am displaying white on the screen. I found that the blue subpixels on AMOLEDs actually decompose faster than the red and green subpixels, causing that yellowish tint on every AMOLED or any OLED screens even now. Yes, AMOLEDs has true blacks, but it effs up every other color with yellowish tint that gets worse as the device ages.
That was the S line tho, the notes were all curved by then
@@DavidNgo86
S24 is the first step in a Form over Function Samsung, very sad.
@@TechPark-v1jafter the s20
Still have my Note 4, and the only thing that made me upgrade it was the Note 9...now THAT was a great do-it-all phone.
If only they gave it a 64-bit firmware update for the exynos model
Just like the 64 "brick"update for the Snapdragon😅
They implemented anti rollback on the Exynos models after the COJ5 update or Marshmallow.
I'm not sure how many subscribers you get from East Africa everyday. I've Been watching these videos without subscribing all that time. These Time Machine videos trigger a lot of Nostalgia. They're totally worth a subscription.
The phone was excellent and will always hold a special place in my heart. I used it until it could no longer turn on. Its specifications were impressive and remained so for years.
I'd also say the Note 9. It literally had EVERYTHING a phone could ask for, back then.
I miss my Samsung Galaxy Note 4; I saved for one in my college years and purchased 2nd hand for just over £200. I loved the note-taking features and used that phone to design my final major project.
I do have an S24 Ultra now but even so, I do wish there was SD card functionality.
I bought a Note4 used not to long afte my Note2 died on me. The seller tricked me because not long after the battery died fast. This was around the time the Note7 came out. I had the phone for a few months, cant remembered how long. On work the battery did not last longer by lunch time. My coworker begged me to sell it to him after i told him i want to sell it but im not sure if i want to. Because we work in the same truck together, i told him at the end of day i would consider selling it to him. Crazy enough, the battery lasted all day with no charging while playing music in the truck through Bluetooth. That part shocked both of us. Honestly i did not really missed the phone when i sold it. But it was a really good phone
2014 was when I really got into tech and this was the one of the first pieces of tech I wanted so bad. The Note 4 Edge also because to me it was so cool like what other phone had a curved display. Ended up getting the normal Note 4. I love that phone. It lasted me awhile and I still have it. I remember watching MKBHDs video on it and other tech youtubers. To me it was a huge powerhouse phone with good battery for the time. Even could do wireless charging. Other notable phones in 2014 were the HTC One M8 and the LG G3.
Same
I have the Edge
Great video mate. Hope you get to 100k. Love your down to earth engaging approach
Agreed. I wish phones nowadays retained the slightly curved back, especially towards the left and right sides like how the Note 4 did it (back curves towards the front, not the screen towards the back), as that just makes it much more ergonomic and comfortable to hold. Case designs would follow that design so even with a case it would still make a difference.
A triple fold that fully contains the soft 'glass' on the inside would be a start. Alternatively, a roll up phone like the one in 'Earth final conflict' with a powerful zoom camera in the tube...
My Note4 got destroyed beyond recognition in a car accident. It wasn't worth saving, and I think it couldn't even be saved. But all these years later I still have the broken pieces safely stored in my desk drawer. I've never loved any phone ever as I loved that one.
My first samsung device was the Galaxy Note 5 and that was the best phone i have ever had hands down
At a time my brother really love this phone because the camera of this phone before is stunning compare to other. And he loves editing even the small details or cropping that he find hard using his fingers so the S-pen is really really helpful.
I love these retro-reviews. One thing I think would help understand how ahead of their time they were would be comparing with phones of their year, in this case with iphone6 which had much poorer display, sound, camera battery, etc.
So seeing that your model seems to be working, do the exynos models not get cooked even after updating to marshmallow?
Exynos is unaffected but Samsung implemented anti rollback so you can't downgrade the firmware whereas the international Snapdragon models you can downgrade
What game is that at 7:26?....
What's that wallpaper at 1:12 on the S24 Ultra?
Backdrops app
i had a note 4. absolutely loved this phone. the massive display was the best things ever
So what about the Note 10+ because I believe that was the perfect product of refinement and innovation in 2019. Be it's in box content, 120 Hz display, cameras, 45 W charging for the 1st time. I want to hear your thoughts 😊
3:00 i use my phone right handed. Use the spen with my left. What a dealbreaker when i got my s24 ultra!
I also have the note 4. Is the pen tip supposed to have a lot of "give" when you write with it?
Glad that I've stumbled upon your channel! Love ur videos
I had galaxy note 3 neo back in 2014. It was such a remarkable device!!
The reason why the S Pen was on the right side is because it's the Note series and with the S series it's on the left so people can see that it's not the same phone and differentiate with it
Spen is on the left side because of the battery, vapor chamber and cameras but I never had any problem accessing the spen, you’re the one holding the phone in a weird way.
We have spare batteries, it’s called a power bank it cost 10 bucks and charge about everything.
Earphone with cable are still a thing, just use the usb port.
I have no idea if it's just me but the pictures you took still look really good and even the video does if the awful stabilization is ignored
Mans channel is finally blowing up. Remember when this was called failtech!!!
This was my second Galaxy Smartphone ❤ fond memories with this beast
GraceUX was my favorite skin for android on the samsung phones so far, nothing could top it, even oneui
I did love my note 4. It made me realise the power of the android platform as emulation started kicking off. Sadly my unit was made wirh faulty ram or something because it would crash regularly and go into a soft bootloop and only properly recover every 1/6 restarts.
What a delightful time to be alive. The Note series always got weird looks cause of it's stupid size lol. I may have taken my Bio notes with either this device or the previous gen.
All I remember is when TH-camrs used to complain about removable battery and plastic back.
I remember having a note 4 loved that phone
The thing i want most is 1440p screens back
My current phone has a 1440p display (Nokia 8) and still it works after 7 years. I don't think I'll find a replacement for this phone for ages to come.
@@minukarodrigo that’s the thing, almost all new models are simply just downgrades
I’ve always owned Samsung Notes since the SGH i717 AT&T. I lost interest in line up when the Note 10 was released. I came back and still have my N20U. The Note 4 was a beloved model.
I do have a Note 4 with the original battery. It is still working. The drain is fast from 100% to 0% but man it is 10 year old phone. This phone was my second smartphone after the Galaxy S4. To be honest sometimes i just turning on and i use it for average things, camera, youtube, facebook etc. And they back in time in the box gave me a charger and earphones and i still using the earphones. Sound amazing. I love my Note 4❤
I had 2 of these phones and they were prefect. But they both eventually suffered the same fate when high power draw would cause the phone to restart and eventually fail due to a faulty component on the motherboard. It had something to do with increasing power to the cellular radio when signal was weak because it started doing it in certain spots on my daily commute and every time I got in an elevator. The 2nd one I saved before it got too bad and now I just use it on wifi to control stuff at home.
Those old Samsung camera was just natural
I miss square corners on screens. It sucks that we can only have 1 design at a time, i wanna go back to phones with enough space at the top and bottom to include all the sensors, camera and maybe even powerful speakers.
I miss 16:9 displays 😢
These days I love the look and feel of oldschool Touchwiz since everything else feels lifeless and colorless, but yeah the performance hit was quite noticeable. But with OneUI its still the same mind you, its just that modern phones have way more headroom
Yes especially the Touchwiz on the international models. Best representation of Samsung software of that era.
Owned it at launch (thanks to being in telecoms at that time), by far the phone I regret selling most to this day.
dude the quality of the video is so fire! why do you have 70k SUBS DUDE? YOU DESERVE 100MILLION
Make one for LG v30 , That phone had a real 6p glass lens when everyone else was one plastic ball
It could record in log format , something we're just beginning to see normalizing
The Nokia 8 also deserves a honorable mention. Last ever phone with an aluminium unibody, last ever flagship with a 1440p QLED, last ever global flagship with a 16:9 display, first ever phone with 3D spatial sound recording with audio zoom and first mainstream phone with USB 3.1 by default.
@@minukarodrigo Nokia 8 was an AWESOME phone , I daily-ied it for a year . The thing they had with multiple camera lenses to capture one picture, we saw a real evolution of that in Nokia 9 but sadly it came a day late and a dollar short on performance with a year old chip that couldn't handle all that processing but the results were mightly impressive in the end. I WISH it wasn't abandoned
As I remember LG G2 had Audio Zoom, I don't know who was first at this though ... LG G4 had a Quantum LED Diplay waaay before that and that was impressive with it's oled llike high contrast and deep blacks with brightness levels and color accuracy unreachable by oleds of the time
@@abdullahzafar4401 agree, there's a reason why I specified that it was the last ever 1440p QLED phone with a 16:9 display! They used some of LG's parts to create something entirely new. The Nokia 8 was technically the first phone with 3D spatial audio recording with 3 microphones, while the G2 did audio zoom via just 2 microphones. Also, the Nokia 9's prowess is unmatched, and they could've delayed it to the point that the chipset could at least handle the camera processing seamlessly.
Btw, why do you no longer use the Nokia 8? Its audio capabilities are simply unmatched from other brands till date.
@@minukarodrigo Ok, let me tell you ...
First I bought a Nokia 8 in Silver color, It was the prettiest and boldest looking phone, NO Copying any other brand's design language
but it had some issue and I sent it to warranty, I think it was it's usb.
Instead of waiting I bought another one with glossy blue color, thinking I would give the old one to my mother
The glossy blue one had water damage(my fault), warranty wouldn't recover it and I was phone less ... that was alot of waste
They replaced the old one with another matt-finish blue one, It wasn't a head turner as the other two were but it was a SOLID phone and was used alot by everyone at home for years. little brother was pubg champ when it was cool (realizing how long ago that was). It was among the best snapdragon 835 performers with lasting battery. It had a relatively less mah battery but battery life was really good on it
It's still here somewhere with a broken screen, otherwise it's fine
I still think maybe I can buy a silver chassy and screen and repair that thing for the keeps ... It'd still look like a premium beast with that silver color
@@minukarodrigo I'm not an audio geek but I do take photography/videography on phones seriously and that's where I think LG was soooooo AHEAD of the Game with it's HDR Cine Effects, Awesome Manual controls, Graphy and it is just awesome. I use LG G8 as of now, been using it sinse 2021.
Second Best Phone Ever, the ABSOLUTE BEST was LG G2 🥲
No. Note 4 had terrible battery and heat up horribly. I was an owner of multiple note 4.
I want the bezels back. It was the perfect design to watch videos, to reach everything with your thumb and not all phones were f*cking huge like nowadays. All phones are huge and heavy now. It's really bullsh*t.
Fantastic video! I truly value your consistently honest and well-explained videos. I ceased buying Samsung flagship phones when they removed the headphone jack and expandable storage features tbh. Currently I use a Samsung A25 as my secondary device, which offers a headphone jack, an impressive 120Hz display and a micro SD card slot. Keep up the excellent work! Greetings from Romania!🙂
I think the S3, S7 Edge and Note 4 are the Trio that were peaks for Samsung. Personally, I like the S7 Edge the best of the three. It had everything I could want in a phone.
I am still using one. I know what you mean :)
Time flies..I remember them old days.
The note edge was released a month after. That was a great phone too!
I still own this phone till date along with my note 10 lite. It's an amazing phone I love it so much
Love the classic phone video series. Dusted with nostalgia. 😊
Mine still work solid. The 4k video recording is pretty neat for 10 years old phone. The audio is surprisingly good, use Wolfson DAC same as IPod classic video
The Note was such a brilliant phone. Too bad about the self-corrupting eMMC killing the phone after a few years of use.
Subs done! Let's go 100k!
Had the pretty budget phone from this era, a j3, was a absolute tank, took all the drops with ease, kept doing the basics and more all the way from when i started high school, was an amazing phone, really well built, cant say this at ALL about modern budget samsung devices, they cant even run their own ui without lagging hard, my a7 lite cant compete with the similar priced tab a from 2017, such a shame!!! And its flmsy
yes This was one of the best smartphones samsung has ever put out, I bought a redmi note 5 and then exchanged that with the note 4 as it was too expensive at that time, Now i have a note 9 and it works perfectly fine till this day..
THE best phone they did , when it was still enjoyable to buy such a phone
I still have mine... and used it back in 2020 when in between phones... i nearly switched back to it but unfortunately the gps stopped working
When we talked about word legend there has to be HTC and LG. Those were the class leading in innovation.
I've been using Samsung since Galaxy S3, stopped at Galaxy S21 Ultra after I had a bad experience, bad battery life and laggy software, got the iPhone 13 Pro max and it's over 3 years old and honestly I still don't see a reason for upgrade, it is truly an amazing phone, still solid battery and top notch performance and photos.
After my S24 broke on me, I also switched to iOS. Also going great so far.
@@TechPark-v1jnever used iOS in my life, I don't think Apple products are worth the high price, but the animations are smother than most (not all) Androids
My most loved phone is Note 10 plus, it was nothing but a beast❤ and the most beautiful phone ever designed by samsung
the ip ratings replaced the removeable back feature
Sadly, back in the day I couldn't afford this amazing phone (for it's time), so I went with the Note 3 instead. Note 3 was also a great phone back in 2014.
Note 3 was a good phone, but still a far cry from the Note 4.
@@SweBeach2023 I know. I wish I had more money back then.
Check out the S4, the eye detection sensor that allows scrolling and ability to control phone functions without touching it... i boight one and it remains amazong
I've kept my Note 4, and though the battery doesn't hold a charge anymore, I'm not getting rid of it. I've always been a Note user, since the 3. And yes, I also hate the placement of the stylus to the left of the phone!
best phone i owned!
I remember when I had the note 4 everyone thought it was a ridiculous phone because it was so big! Almost considered small compared to today's phone 😂
Really love your videos, Ryan.
I had an off-topic question I hope you can help me with, I am confused between buying the pixel 8 and galaxy s23 (both are new) which phone would you personally pick? Will be switching from an iPhone 12 mini, really love this thing but unfortunately it has a lot of issues so I sadly will have to switch.
S10, Note 10 was peak Samsung. I switched to iOS after my S24 Ultra broke on me, seems to be going great so far.
Edit: Why are people harassing me
Samsung is always superior to apple
the worst decision :D
s10? maybe note 10? no that's just nostalgia
nothing's in a note 10 is better than in the current s24 ultra, literally the same phone but slower dimmer but with an SD-card slot...
Downgrade 😂😂
Honestly id say s9/note 9 were peak samsung
It's a decade and screen tech isn't gone anywhere.We just got 120hrtz and lager display and that's it
It went from LCD to oled to amoled
And much faster refresh rates as well
This phone had higher pixel density than the newest 16 Pro Max, and not even that is running at 1440p.
I had Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Note 4 - best phones Samsung ever made. Then switched to OnePlus 5 - IMO best Android phone. OnePlus 5 is still on my list on the 1st place - great UI, everything WORKED flawlessly ( compared to Poco or Asus ). Now I have Asus Zenfone 10 - one of the worst Android experiences - UI doesn't work properly ( functions that are on doesn't work ), AI on camera makes photos worse and so on.
Cant lie I wanted the Note Edge over Note 4. the Edge display was so cool! lol
I knew it! Last one I "owned" despite on loan! Between TA partition & knox, the last samsung I had was S7, ditched asap.
Still working. Wish they provided updates even if paid.
I have a galaxy s5, I would still be using it as my daily driver if the Australian government had allowed it to keep functioning after the 3G shutdown, it is a 4G international variant with the correct CSC flashed, but the firmware wasn't updated to allow emergency calls using Voice over LTE (VoLTE)