What's so great about the Note 4? I've had one for a week and it's been average

[holden j caufield]

Everyone raves about it and I'm sure there are a lot of features that make it great that I don't know about but I have the Tmobile version and the wifi calling is very spotty, I actually have to turn the wifi calling off and then back on sometimes when I re enter my house and get in the wifi range. Also in my other phones when wifi calling was turned on the modem was turned off, it seems for the note 4 both the wifi calling is on and the cell modem is on.

The fingerprint scanner is awful, I'm about 10% success rate, and when I switched to the pin lock screen, I'll enter the pin, hit ok and there's lag before it goes to my home screen (nova launcher, but I think touchwiz had the same lag).

I've wiped the cache partition multiple times and have done a factory reset but still run into these issues. The battery life is also avg. My G2 battery is very good.

 

[Oyeve]

We raved about it 10 months ago. I still love mine, I just am over it. Its still a great device and has a fantastic screen.

 

[gorcorps]

Samsung's finger print scanners are indeed awful.

I love most of the Note 4 though. I've heard that the T-Mobile version has it's own issues though, so I can't be sure I'm seeing everything you are either.

 

[blankslate]

The reviews I've seen that raved about the Note 4 were pretty much on the unlocked version of the device.


....

 

[lsd]

Yes the finger print scanner does suck but I love my att note 4. I use pattern unlock so I don't care. Coming from a tmobile gs4 the battery life has been awesome. I can go to work for a 10 hour shift and spend about 2 hours browsing, streaming music and with multiple phone calls and still come home with >50% left.

 

[darkswordsman17]

The G2 had exceptional battery life. In fact it seems like it typically has consistently much better battery life than just about any other smartphone other than the Droid Maxx in the past what 3-4 years? The Note line gets pretty good battery life but I don't think it could really compete with the G2.

And yeah the fingerprient scanner they used on it sucked. The S6s is supposedly much better and I'm guessing the Note 5 will follow suit.

Other than that, it's just a solid good phone. Great camera, very good performance, great display, and a nice design. I see a lot of people trash the Note 3's plastic edge but mine still feels excellent to me but the Note 4's metal edge is a clear step up. Likewise, while the faux leather back looks kinda chintzy it has held up well for me too and I prefer the feel of it to a lot of other phones (iPhone 6 for instance I think feels like a cheap phone even though its solid, it just feels cheaper than it is).

I do think the Note line is a little bit overrated by geeks (for instance on here), although at the same time kinda not. Its been one of the few lines that consistently improves in just about every area, and I don't know that there's been a bad one exactly. That's part of the problem as we've seen most of the other ones stumble in some area or another. The 3 and 4 were particularly good though.

 

[Karl Agathon]

We raved about it 10 months ago. I still love mine, I just am over it. Its still a great device and has a fantastic screen.

^This

 

[Artdeco]

It's still the best phablet on the market, and will continue to be until the Note 5 is released.

 

[holden j caufield]

If anyone knows a better ROM with double tap to wake built into the kernel for a tmobile note 4 let me know. My G2 is probably close to 2 years old and that is ancient but the software on this thing still makes it run silky smooth.

 

[Skurge]

If anyone knows a better ROM with double tap to wake built into the kernel for a tmobile note 4 let me know. My G2 is probably close to 2 years old and that is ancient but the software on this thing still makes it run silky smooth.

Out of curiosity? Why did you get the Note 4 to replace your G2? Seems like you are still happy with your G2.

 

[holden j caufield]

Out of curiosity? Why did you get the Note 4 to replace your G2? Seems like you are still happy with your G2.

Thought I would like the bigger size and the stylus. Turns out I'm 99% a one handed user and the phone is just slightly too big for 1 hand use, and I never use the stylus. Also turns out that you don't realize how much you miss the double tap to wake/close feature until it's gone. Nor did I realize just how good the G2 battery life is still compared to newer devices, it is still tops for me. It's just super snappy even on the original ROM. BTW I sorted out my wifi calling issues, I'll post the link when I can find it again.

 

[dawheat]

Thought I would like the bigger size and the stylus. Turns out I'm 99% a one handed user and the phone is just slightly too big for 1 hand use, and I never use the stylus. Also turns out that you don't realize how much you miss the double tap to wake/close feature until it's gone. Nor did I realize just how good the G2 battery life is still compared to newer devices, it is still tops for me. It's just super snappy even on the original ROM. BTW I sorted out my wifi calling issues, I'll post the link when I can find it again.

I've owned several G2s over the years and the double tap feature is nice for a phone without a physical home button. IMO its just habit you're missing as I went through the same thing the first couple days when I switch phones.

Last fall it stood more above other Android phones as it had the best screen, one of the best cameras, decent build, very good battery life (though not a freak like the G2), and didn't have any real weaknesses. The fingerprint scanner certainly wasn't great but still beat not having one.

Close a year later, I think its still one of the strongest Android phones you can buy. Camera wise only the S6 and G4 have jumped it, and only the S6 has a good fingerprint scanner. So you look around other devices that compete against the Note 4 and except for the iPhone 6 Plus, nothing still matches it is its tier.

The Note 5 with the S6-level camera, longer battery life, and better fingerprint scanner will likely continue to only have competition in the 6S Plus.

However like others have said many times, phones over the last couple years have all been evolutionary. There is nothing that will give you a wow feeling anymore if that is what you were expecting.

 

[zerogear]

Word of caution though, Samsung decided to screw with the ART (Android Runtime) on Lollipop enough that compiled Xposed Framework doesn't work without special modification especially for Samsung ROMs.

Not sure I want to support Samsung with closed kernel source for Exynos and now this.

 

[GTRagnarok]

After all the Lollipop horror stories, I'm sticking with Kit Kat on my Note 4 and seeing how Android M plays out. Tmobile version with ATT sim. Running the FireKat ROM. Froze/crystallized a bunch of system apps. 6+ hours of screen on time. Loving it.

 

[Zaap]

Fingerprint scanner to me is the most useless of useless gimmicks. The whole idea of one on a phone is pure silliness to me, so could care less how 'good' the gimmick is on my note 4.

For me, it's the perfect device,still. Spend $12 or so and add wireless charging and stop fretting over battery life. (Not given a thought to it personally, since with wireless my N4 is always charged.

I say take advantage of the N4's strengths that other phones dont have rather than complain its gimmicks aren't as gimmicky.

 

[dawheat]

Word of caution though, Samsung decided to screw with the ART (Android Runtime) on Lollipop enough that compiled Xposed Framework doesn't work without special modification especially for Samsung ROMs.

Not sure I want to support Samsung with closed kernel source for Exynos and now this.

Well I understand the philosophical concern, but practically it's super easy. I had to flash 2 files in twrp to get xposed working on lollipop with my Note 4. All my mods work fine.

I'm running poprocks v6 (same development as firekat) with xposed and the dark Loco theme which I really like (http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4-tmobile/themes-apps/theme-foreverlocos-lobotomy-stock-t2971462) .

No issues vs KK.

 

[gorcorps]

Thought I would like the bigger size and the stylus. Turns out I'm 99% a one handed user and the phone is just slightly too big for 1 hand use, and I never use the stylus. Also turns out that you don't realize how much you miss the double tap to wake/close feature until it's gone. Nor did I realize just how good the G2 battery life is still compared to newer devices, it is still tops for me. It's just super snappy even on the original ROM. BTW I sorted out my wifi calling issues, I'll post the link when I can find it again.

It's not difficult to use the Note 4 one handed. They've done a lot to make it useable for anyone. As long as you have it enabled, a quick swipe from the right edge of the screen to the center and back to the edge will shrink the screen down to one corner. This makes it so the top left of the display is almost to the center of the screen, which makes it easier to hit. I also use swiftkey and have my keyboard shifted to the right of the screen, so I can text one handed without issue.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I do think the Note line is a little bit overrated by geeks .

That will probably end if the Note 5 doesn't have a removable battery and SD card slot.

 

[thilanliyan]

Samsung's finger print scanners are indeed awful.

The one on my Tab S is not too bad. I've registered it so it recognizes my finger no matter which orientation I swipe my thumb with, and that has helped greatly reduce the number of unregistered swipes.

 

[holden j caufield]

has anyone used a good ROM with the double tap to wake feature on the Tmobile Note 4?

 

[shabby]

has anyone used a good ROM with the double tap to wake feature on the Tmobile Note 4?

Isn't that just a kernel feature?

 

[holden j caufield]

I believe there are some 3rd party apps that do that but they keep the screen dark but still "alive" or they drain battery. Kernel is probably the best implementation.

What do you guys use the s pen for? I have used it once to just to try it out but haven't used it for anything productive.

 

[NetGuySC]

I'm surprised to read the bad reviews about the fingerprint scanner on the Note 4. The scanner works perfectly for me, consistently. I only use it to log onto my phone, and use a fingerprint security app to lock down several apps from my kids, and also log onto my password manager. So far it's really been spot on for me. I love it, it just works.

 

[DefDC]

I believe there are some 3rd party apps that do that but they keep the screen dark but still "alive" or they drain battery. Kernel is probably the best implementation.

What do you guys use the s pen for? I have used it once to just to try it out but haven't used it for anything productive.

I use it fairly often to draw crude dirty pictures and send them to my friends.

Honestly, I don't use it much, but I re-installed "Draw Something" to play with my 8 year old. (boy its popularity screamed upwards and then down just as hard.)

 

[holden j caufield]

What are you guys getting with average temps? I'm about 40 celcius and 60 celcius after watching Netflix (android his punishing me for watching kickboxer).