The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review
by Joshua Ho on October 15, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Android
- Mobile
- Galaxy Note 4
Video Performance
In terms of video, the Galaxy Note 4 mainly benefits from the newer Snapdragon 805/APQ8084 SoC, and the addition of OIS. For the most part, there aren't any new video recording modes on the Note 4, as we see 4K30, 1080p60 and 1080p30 video available to the user.
For 1080p30 recording we see a 17Mbps bit rate with an H.264 high profile encoder. In practice I didn't really see any issues here, although on the exit sign at the end of the video there's noticeable aliasing
In 4K30 recording mode we see a 48Mbps bit rate with the same encoder as the 1080p30 setting. There's a significant increase in visible detail when compared to 1080p, but it seems that this mode is capped at a maximum of five minutes for video length and videos where temporal resolution is more important than spatial resolution will generally see relatively little benefit. EIS/video stabilization is also disabled for 4K recording, so OIS becomes quite critical for even casual video recording in 4K.
In 1080p60 mode we see a 28 Mbps bit rate with the same encode as in 1080p30. I don't really see visible detail degradation in this mode, and temporal resolution is clearly better than any of the other modes. This mode, as with 1080p30 supports EIS/video stabilization although using such a mode will reduce the field of view when compared to video with EIS off. One constant throughout all of these videos is the noticeably jerky nature of the OIS. It's hard for me to tell whether this is the result of an inability to damp certain motions due to the magnitude of the change or the OIS resetting itself during recording, but I suspect that this is a limitation of OIS that would require electronic image stabilization to compensate.
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nerd1 - Thursday, October 16, 2014 - link
So again anandtech use Chrome browser to do web testing and not showing any multi core benchmarks at all. LOLtralalalalalala40 - Saturday, October 18, 2014 - link
don't take the phone so seriously. default browser is fatally flawed, have to use chrome.Krysto - Thursday, October 16, 2014 - link
You should review the Exynos one, too.nerd1 - Thursday, October 16, 2014 - link
Wow, I was totally dumbstruck to read the camera comparison. I actually spend some time to download original image of Note 4 and iPhone 6+, and although N4 is VASTLY better than 6+ (6+ image is totally desaturated and looks like phone camera image) this review says "while it is better than galaxy s5, iphone 6+ still has better detail" WHAT THE F***?akdj - Thursday, October 30, 2014 - link
I think you're the first I've read to exclaim 'VASTLY better' --- both have made two signfificant strides. OS and faster, wetter focusing. With the two, better low light photography.Some well regarded photography sites, mags and forums that have, too, sung the praises of the new optics and IP. Continuing to refine an 8 mpxl cam seems to make sense with a 6+, perfectly optimized '4K' sensor for shooting video (as quixk as these read/write speeds have gotten!)
jerrylzy - Thursday, October 16, 2014 - link
I believe the daylight scene of camera test is at UCLA.pjcamp - Friday, October 17, 2014 - link
So the Xperia Z3 was released before this device -- is there a plan to review it in the near future?sgmuser - Friday, October 17, 2014 - link
Galaxy Note 4 is a killer product from Samsung. I have a Ipad mini Retina and I hate when i have multiple tabs and it keeps on refreshing when switch tabs. Low Sunspider score never matters if this keeps on refreshing tabs, its annoying, I tell you. We need more RAM! Better graphic scores are not for every day use! Avid games himself only uses 20 or 30% of his time in gaming if not he plays in his gaming system or PC. Now with bendgate, I am moving away from apple. Lets be realistic and choose wisely and spend wisely. I am looking at G3 and Note 4 and both impresses! Esp N4 in the top of the list.tralalalalalala40 - Saturday, October 18, 2014 - link
meh, if all you do is browse the web then choose android. ios is for productivity apps. would say that reloading of tabs isn't that big of a deal since the reload is faster than app switching on the note, even with 4x the ram.DaveMo - Sunday, October 19, 2014 - link
Ugh. I also can't stand the browser tabs always reloading.