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
CPU Performance
For those unfamiliar with the Snapdragon 805, I would refer back to our previous posts regarding this SoC. This is Krait’s final hurrah in a high-end SoC, and is likely to be the best smartphone SoC available for the next 4-6 months as it’s built on TSMC’s 28HPm process, which has strained silicon and high-k metal gate at the transistor level in order to improve performance and reduce power. In order to test the CPU and general CPU-bound performance, we turn to our standard test suite of browser benchmarks. As said before, I’m not quite happy with the state of this suite but for now it can work to provide a decent relative comparison.
Overall, the Snapdragon 805 performs about as well as one might expect, although the benefit from higher clock speeds is generally quite minimal.
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KPOM - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
It looks like they focused on the design and the display this time. I like the trend away from over saturated displays.mkozakewich - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
No, they used movie mode. I didn't catch if they went there from where they were.Really, though, a larger gamut is a strength. All we need is for OEMs to create profiles so that we don't have the weird problems we had. They can create an sRGB profile, and an AdobeRGB profile, too. Then, when Android finally supports proper colour systems, they'll be able to introduce that immediately.
Wolfpup - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Disappointed that this isn't waterproof like the Galaxy S5 and S5 Active. I'd get the S5 just because of that.Samus - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Waterproof phones have never proven a big hit with consumers. The Kyocera Hydro and Galaxy S5 have a lot of inconvenient plugs and gaskets, with harder to press buttons. Then there is the added weight of the Active. There is always an Achilles heel to mil spec implementation.But it's good consumers have the option of waterproof devices, I just don't think the Note 4 being waterproof would be a compelling feature. I mean, if you drop the thing in the urinal its so big chances are the toilet cake would prop it up...and it's probably not on every sailors list of devices to have something so big.
Hrel - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
There's also the fact that it's not very important to most people, if you'll be by water on a boat or something a $10 bag/case will do. Or hell, even a ziplock bag really. If it's a major concern for you then you're probably willing to spend the $100 on micro-sealing.petar_b - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
I see waterproof feature it more like investment into protecting the investment rather than a feature. I would pay $100 on micro-sealing - just to be sure: if I am walking on the rain (following GPS), or phone accidentally falls in a puddle, or my kid accidentally drops it in the bath that it would survive. And protection bags are ugly, can't go on meeting with that, can't put on/off all the time. Additional frames to protect the screen or side sealing do reduce GPS signal; so no after market solutions.darkich - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
I think the lack of water resistance is actually the result of the stylus slot. I could be wrong, but it seems somewhat logical that waterproofing such design would be difficultTams80 - Thursday, October 16, 2014 - link
I don't think so, unless the plastic of the stylus slot couldn't be impermeable (something to do with thickness?). It uses Wacom Penabled technology, so it should be possible (the Fujitsu Q584 has some water resistance with such a AD stylus).darkich - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
I think the lack of water resistance is actually the result of the stylus slot. I could be wrong, but it seems somewhat logical that waterproofing such design would be difficultrobinthakur - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Disappointing really, not much wow factor here even if the materials have improved it just looks like a large Galaxy 5 with even less items of interest. Guess I will stay with the iPhone 6 plus.