The 11 best smartphones you can buy in 2015

By: FAIZAN HASSAN

Manufacturers are continuously evolving to develop new smartphones. It is difficult to determine which smartphone is most comfortable for you. If you’re looking for the best smartphone on the planet then you’ve come to the right place, Read in this article about the best smartphones of the moment:

LG G3:

LG G3

The LG G3 is an Android smartphone with excellent specifications, which can compete with the other top smartphones from Sony, Apple, HTC and Samsung. The device has a Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor that clocks a speed of 2.5 GHz and 2 GB of RAM. That’s about the same as the Galaxy S5, HTC One and Xperia Z2.

The device is made of plastic, but at first glance the frame of polished metal by the finish. The plastic casing allows the unit seem slightly cheaper than its competitors with metal housing. The build quality is fine and further advantage is that the back can be removed to replace the battery and insert the memory and SIM card.

LG G3

The camera application is very minimal, with a tap on the screen to create a picture.

HUAWEI ASCEND P8:

The Ascend P8 is more than just the successor to the stylish P7 from 2014. The new flagship of Huawei should namely to compete with top models like the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Apple’s iPhone 6.

Huawei Ascend P8

The Ascend P8 is without doubt the most attractive smartphone from Huawei to date. The phone combines very decent performance with a stunning 5.2-inch Full HD display, 13-megapixel camera, with 3GB RAM/32GB ROM.

HTC ONE M9:

The HTC One (M9) is a strikingly beautiful handset. The polished metal casing is made from a single piece of aluminum and the screen display looks sharp.

HTC One M9

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5:

At first glance, the Galaxy S5 looks quite like its predecessor from 2013. But with the Samsung Galaxy S5 put plenty on biometrics. But is this enough to cope with the fierce competition from HTC, Apple and Sony?

Samsung Galaxy S5

If you have the Galaxy S5 and puts Galaxy S4 side by side, you will see little difference initially. The format is pretty much the same, although the Galaxy S5 slightly bigger, thicker and heavier.

If you owned the unit have, you notice that the stiff plastic back makes the smartphone perfectly in the hand. Crazy difference from the Galaxy S4 is that the built-in thermometer just missing again on the Galaxy S5. Yet you do not feel you have a unit of about 700 euro in hands. This is mainly because the plastic finish that particularly in the silver edge kitschy happens. Quite a difference with the HTC One M8, which is made ​​entirely of metal and therefore comes across much more durable.

NOKIA LUMIA 1520:

Smartphones are getting bigger and bigger. The market for so-called ‘phablets’ picking up, and more and more manufacturers move to a screen larger than 5 inches. Similarly, Nokia. Namely they bring one of the largest smartphones currently on the market: the Lumia 1520.

The device has a screen of up to 6 inches. Fortunately, the Nokia Lumia 1520 modest, given thin edges. The rounded side edges are approximately six millimeters wide, the device still has a very slim appearance. The screen seems a little to lie on the device, making it protrudes slightly. Fortunately, the display features Gorilla Glass and you do not have to worry too much about scratches.

The new Lumia is nice slim: only 8.7 millimeters thick. This makes it easier to carry the device in your pocket. The weight can be somewhat limiting Nokia. It weighs 200 grams and a spacious leaving behind other phablets as the HTC One Max and Sony Xperia Z Ultra behind.

Nokia Lumia 1520

SONY XPERIA Z3:

If you have the Sony Xperia Z3 first gets into your hands, do you look twice the difference between this and the previous Z2 to discover. Sony has chosen to adapt little to the design. There is nothing wrong with that, the device is namely beautifully designed.

Sony Xperia Z3

Sony Xperia Z3 features like its predecessor, has a 5.2-inch full HD IPS display. The display is as good as identical to that of the Z2, Sony but nevertheless has a small difference to bring in to know. This is in the brightness. The Z3 contains according to Sony their brightest screen so far.

As you would expect from a device at the top end , he really runs like a charm. Each application opens quickly and run smoothly. Multi-tasking is obviously not a problem. The processor is the same as that in the Z2, but the clock rate is slightly stepped up from 2.3 to 2.5 GHz. Here you will otherwise continue not notice, because it is both very fast.

LG NEXUS 5:

LG Nexus 5

With the introduction of the new Android version Lollipop, was also released a new Nexus smartphone, the Nexus 5 comes with 5-inch display with a latest version of Android (5.1) and a price tag of 350 euros.. An affordable showcase from both Google and manufacturer LG, and a better deal than the new Nexus 6.

Of course the Nexus 5 comes with the latest version of Android (5.1). Big advantage of Nexus devices is that they get the updates directly from Google and therefore always run the latest version of Android.

The price tag of 400 euros makes the device a middle class, but the specifications can compete with the high-end devices of today. LG has used many components that are also in their G2 flagship smartphone which is more expensive 150 euros. The quad-core processor (2.2 Ghz), GPU (graphics chip) and memory are the same instance.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 4:

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

The Galaxy Note 4 has all the ingredients that we know from the series. A huge screen of 5.7 inch diameter (14.48 cm), bestial specifications remarkably good battery life, excellent camera (literally and figuratively) and unfortunately also a hefty price.

The Galaxy Note 4 is one of the most powerful smartphones we’ve seen so far. In terms of hardware, there is no weak spot in Galaxy Note 4, with a fast processor, sufficient RAM, nice camera, 32GB of storage that also is expandable and an acceptable battery life.

APPLE IPHONE 6:

iPhone 6

During my first hours of testing with the Apple iPhone 6, it soon became clear that Touch ID is more than nifty a gimmick. The scanner takes the entire iPhone user experience to a higher level. By placing your finger on the home button, the device will be unlocked (in approximately one second). Also set Touch ID you are able to purchase in the App Store to confirm, so you do not always enter your password. Delicious!

Apple introduces the iPhone 6, as expected, its best smartphone to date. The iphone 6 is also 50x faster then the previous iphone 5s, The design is also stunningly beautiful, and new features like Touch ID, full 4G coverage and rapid A8 chip mean a big step forward. In addition, there are nice features added to the camera.

In addition, the Retina HD display belongs to the most beautiful displays of the time, the battery life is more than fine.

ONEPLUS ONE:

Ever since the first rumors about the OnePlus One I’m skeptical. This new brand is not known, and it looks like a phone that is meant for lovers of Android . OnePlus promises that it is a true “flagship killer”, but the unit can make this promise true?

OnePlus One

It is a phone without limitations of telephone companies, and it contains the latest hardware; it offers a lot of customization and is also extremely affordable, starting at 269 euros for the 16GB model, while most phones with similar hardware cost double!

If you’re looking for a powerful phone without restrictions of providers, and with a beautiful screen, much customization and software supported by a dedicated team of developers, it is certainly worth considering in relation to any other Android device , It is simply a wonderful device.

HTC DESIRE EYE:

HTC Desire Eye

Maybe it’s the name, but I expected that HTC’s Desire Eye would be less expensive. “Desire” is finally the name HTC normally used for its mid-range phones, and adjust the Desire Eye seems there with its plastic body.

Credit: http://newstactics.com/mobile/the-11-best-smartphones-you-can-buy-in-2015/2719/2015/04/07/

Dabbling in the future of payment: A week of Apple Pay and Google Wallet

By Nicole Lee

On Monday last week, Apple finally launched Apple Pay, the company's mobile-payment system that only works with the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and the latest iPads. (Though you can't use iPads for in-store payments.) Even though mobile payments have been around for several years now, Apple Pay is seen by many as a key step toward making paying-by-phone more mainstream due to all the increased attention. Seeing that I have an iPhone 6, I decided to use Apple Pay every day this past week to pay for everything from my groceries to a hot dog at AT&T Park during the World Series. Just to see how they would compare, I also tried using Google Wallet installed on a Samsung Galaxy S5 and a regular ol' credit card in the same locations.

The verdict? Well, the future of mobile payments is looking brighter than ever, but that doesn't mean I'm getting rid of my wallet. Let me tell you why.

Both Apple Pay and Google Wallet are very similar in a lot of ways. For starters, they both work in any store that accepts mobile payments. Apple made a big deal about partnering with certain stores like Whole Foods and McDonald's when it launched Apple Pay, but in reality any location that has an NFC-enabled point-of-sale system will work with Apple Pay. Google Wallet, of course, has worked with such systems for a little over three years.

Yet, Google Wallet doesn't seem to have caught on, most likely due to slow carrier adoption (many of them preferred to push Isis/Softcard, their own mobile wallet solution, instead) and the fact that many phones require that you download the Wallet app. Apple Pay, on the other hand, works with Passbook, an app that's preinstalled with every new iPhone. Google also recently mandated that only Android phones running 4.4 KitKat or higher can take advantage of Wallet's tap-and-pay functionality, which leaves certain phones out in the cold. Still, the same goes for Apple Pay -- older phones are not supported due to their lack of NFC. Wallet is definitely compatible with a lot more devices.

The process of adding a debit or credit card is very similar for both. On the iPhone, simply launch Passbook and you'll see an option to add a debit or credit card. For Wallet, you'll need to get the app first if you haven't already, and then follow the instructions to add a card once you have it. You can either enter in your card's information manually or use your phone's camera to automatically capture your card's number and expiration date. You'll still need to key in your name, address and CVV number, but otherwise it's all pretty easy. If you added multiple cards, you'll need to select one as a default for tap-to-pay, but you can always change to a different card at the point of purchase.

Here, however, is where the first stumbling blocks for Apple Pay show up: It only works with certain cards from certain banks. First, it'll need to be a Visa, MasterCard or American Express (sorry, Discover Card users) and it'll need to be a card from a participating bank. Launch partners include Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo.

And even if your card is from that bank, it's not a guarantee that it's compatible with Apple Pay. Corporate cards, for example, are still a no-go, and a few co-branded cards like Amazon's Chase Visa won't work (Update: Though it didn't at launch, Amazon's Chase card now works with Apple Pay). Google Wallet, however, works with all debit and credit cards. I only managed to add two of my cards to Apple Pay -- a debit card from a local credit union isn't supported -- while Google Wallet accepted all of them.

You can use both Apple Pay and Google Wallet with online purchases and through different shopping apps, but the key for me was to see if I could use it in the real world. So I tried both systems out at different Whole Foods and Walgreens locations here in San Francisco multiple times throughout the week. For Apple Pay, I simply tapped the iPhone on the reader, placed my thumb on the Touch ID sensor, and voila, I was done. There was no need for me to unlock the phone prior to payment.

Google Wallet, on the other hand, requires that you unlock the wallet with a PIN before you can have access to it. That sounds like a pain, but it doesn't have to be. You can select the PIN timeout for 15 minutes, a day or never. So, theoretically, you could just leave your Wallet unlocked all the time, which admittedly compromises its security. Even if you decide to lock it up, entering a PIN really isn't all that difficult. For me, I decided to simply leave the Wallet unlocked.

When I tapped my Galaxy S5 onto a payment terminal, it beeped to let me know it was working -- I didn't have to unlock the phone for this to occur. The terminal then showed a prompt asking me to either enter in a PIN (if I was using a debit card) or simply press the Enter key for credit. After I pressed Enter, it took a second or two for the transaction to go through, and then I was done. Payments made with Wallet definitely require a bit more attention and processing time than Apple Pay, but it honestly wasn't significant enough to matter to me, at least most of the time (we'll get to an issue I encountered with Wallet later on).

I also went to try out Apple Pay at AT&T Park during the World Series. Major League Baseball worked with Apple and MasterCard to trick out both AT&T Park (home to the San Francisco Giants) and Kauffman Stadium (home to the Kansas City Royals) with NFC-enabled terminals mere weeks before the start of the Fall Classic -- AT&T Park was equipped with 114 terminals, while Kauffman Stadium has 226.

The league did this not only to introduce the nascent mobile payment system, but also to show off the tech so that other baseball parks would be open to installing it during the offseason and beyond. Adam Ritter, senior vice president of wireless for MLB Advanced Media, says that it eventually wants you to be able to use Apple Pay to pay for everything from food and merchandise to tickets via Apple Pay and the At the Ballpark app.

As I looked for a stand where I could buy some food, it was immediately apparent that not all vendors were equipped with NFC-enabled terminals. MLB tells us that it's still up to the individual vendor or business to agree to it and that they could still adopt them in the future, but that didn't quite help me last Friday, as I had to go from vendor to vendor to find one with Apple Pay. Once I did, I ordered a $6.75 Polish dog (ouch), and the payment went through as seamlessly as it did with all the other Apple Pay transactions I made before.

An hour later, I returned to the same vendor and tried to pay for an order of nachos with Google Wallet -- after all, MasterCard has said that the terminals should work with most NFC-based payment systems -- but it failed. After the phone beeped, I got an error message that suggested I check with the cashier. The cashier was a little befuddled, so I ended up fishing out my credit card to pay for it instead. Both Google and MasterCard tell me this should've theoretically worked, so my guess is that it was probably a glitch. Still, as far as the ballpark experience goes, Apple Pay (and normal credit cards) won out, at least for this one instance.

Which brings me to my primary sticking point with the mobile-payments concept as it stands today -- it's still only available in a few places. Over 220,000 locations in the US reportedly accept mobile payments, which sounds pretty impressive, but that's still only around 2.4 percent of retailers in the US.

Of course, this will probably change eventually. Since MasterCard and Visa are requiring a transition to EMV credit cards by October 2015, many shops will have to upgrade their systems to support so-called chip and pin technology (which already exists in much of the world), and will likely throw in NFC support as well. But for now, don't expect to pay for stuff at your local mom-and-pop store with your phone. Shopping at just Whole Foods and Walgreens was fine, but not being able to buy a burrito from the Mission (a San Francisco neighborhood famous for their taquerias)? That's just criminal.

Additionally, for the majority of people, the extra step of taking a card out from a wallet isn't seen as terribly tedious. At a number of retailers like Bloomingdale's and Macy's, even if you pay with Apple Pay or Google Wallet, you still need to sign for your purchase if it's over a certain amount (usually $25). Plus, I still need my wallet to carry my driver's license and there are still instances when only cash will do.

And it seems that NFC isn't even the only way to pay with your phone. CVS and Rite Aidmade headlines last week when they disabled NFC on their terminals to push their own in-house payment technology, called CurrentC. A method devised by the Merchant Customer Exchange, of which CVS, Rite Aid and Walmart are a part, CurrentC uses a rather convoluted QR-code scanning system to authenticate purchases.

This supposedly allows retailers to curb the transaction fees typically incurred by credit card companies (Of note, both Apple Pay and Google Wallet get some sort of fee per transaction; Wallet charges the merchants the regular credit card processing fee while Apple Pay charges the issuing bank). The barrier to entry to CurrentC appears to be much higher than either Apple Pay or Google Wallet, so I doubt it'll survive in the long run. But add that to the occasional machine glitch and you can see why most people will still want to clutch on to their wallets.

Still, despite my reservations about mobile payments, I deeply want it to succeed. Using my phone as a way to pay for things was just so freeing. I usually have my phone in my hand anyway, often to fill time while waiting in line in exactly the places where I would use it to pay for something. Having to take out a card from my wallet isn't that much of a hassle, but once I got a taste of paying for stuff with my phone, I couldn't get enough.

Also, mobile payments are arguably a lot more secure. Your actual credit card number is never handed over to merchants. Apple Pay uses a Secure Element chip that encrypts user data and assigns a unique device number to each phone, while Google Wallet transactions are made with a virtual prepaid MasterCard that's different each time. Mobile payments could therefore be the answer to the ever-present threat of data breaches and identity theft.

But until we can get it accepted at every merchant and figure out a way we can use the phone to securely carry our ID as well, it simply isn't going to replace your wallet.

Yet.

Credit:http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/week-apple-pay-google-wallet/

How Tight Is Smartphone Market? Xiaomi Joins Samsung, Apple in Top 3 for Only a Few Hours

Only three years after launching its first mobile device, China's Xiaomi leapt to third place in global smartphone shipments, trailing market leaders Samsung and Apple.

Those bragging rights lasted about 8 hours.

The press release from International Data Corp. at about 10 a.m. Beijing time heralding Xiaomi's rise to the top three in the third quarter, after more than tripling shipments in the period, was followed by one at 6 p.m. from Lenovo announcing the completion of its purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google.

Guess what? Closing the Motorola deal makes Lenovo No. 3,according to Lenovo and analysts at IDC and Strategy Analytics.

The back and forth in rankings highlights how competitive the global smartphone market has become. While Samsung and Apple sit at the top, with market share of 23.8 percent and 12 percent, respectively, the next three players were separated by just 0.2 percentage points before Lenovo absorbed Motorola, according to IDC.

Xiaomi had 5.3 percent of the global market in the third quarter, compared with Lenovo's 5.2 percent before taking over Motorola, while South Korea's LG Electronics had a 5.1 percent share. As this chart shows, the three of them -- before the Motorola news -- were practically in a dead heat in this period.

The race is already so tight that researchers can't agree on the rankings beyond the top three. Like IDC, data from Strategy Analytics has Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi in the lead in the third quarter, but rounds out the top five with LG in fourth with a 5.2 percent share and Huawei Technologies in fifth place with 5.1 percent.

Completing the Motorola acquisition should give Lenovo a bit of breathing room. A combined Lenovo and Motorola would have given it an 8 percent share in the period, putting it well ahead of Xiaomi and Huawei, according to researcher Strategy Analytics.

"With the addition of Motorola, the company is now the third-largest vendor globally in terms of smartphone unit shipments, trailing only Samsung and Apple," said Technology Business Research analyst Jack Narcotta. "Motorola’s stable of devices and intellectual property will help Lenovo corral the chaos in emerging markets such as China and India, allowing Lenovo to vault over Xiaomi, Huawei and LG and establish itself as the default choice for consumers seeking an entry-level or mid-tier Android smartphone."

Xiaomi wouldn't comment about its competitors, but Tony Wei, a spokesman, said the company was "proud of our remarkable growth."

One thing is clear. The fight is far from over.

One reason is that China, the world's largest smartphone market, has become saturated, forcing local vendors to look abroad, Lenovo Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing said in an interview.

"If you only play in China, that's not enough," Yang said. "You must win in the global market."

Look for even more volatility in those quarterly global smartphone rankings.

Credit:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-30/how-tight-is-smartphone-market-xiaomi-joins-samsung-apple-in-top-3-for-only-a-few-hours.html

12 of the best new features in Android Lollipop

By Dieter Bohn
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Google’s approach for rolling out the latest version of Android, Lollipop, is a little different. There are the usual things we see every year — a new Nexus phone and a new Nexus tablet — but instead of a big event, the company is posting details in blog posts and on the main Android site. So if you’re tracking the rollout closely, you probably have a sense of what’s new and what’s cool in the OS. If you’re not, though, getting a sense of what Lollipop is actually like and what it actually does isn’t easy.

Luckily, we got a chance to sit down with some Google execs last week to get a walkthrough of the coolest features. We won’t know everything until we actually have a chance to use the final version, but there are some clever additions we saw last week. Here are some of our favorites.

Tap and Go: Android has never been particularly good at transferring your settings and apps from an old phone to a new one. It’s always been a crap shoot as to whether all your apps would actually be downloaded from the Play store, to say nothing of your home screen and wallpaper. That’s partially Google’s fault, but it’s also a difficult problem to solve because of the diversity of hardware and software in the Android ecosystem. "Tap and Go" is a small step towards resolving that. If you have two Lollipop phones, you can pair them with NFC and the old phone will then use Bluetooth to send over all the details of what your phone should have installed over to the new phone.

Ok Google: Several of the enhancements on Lollipop were inspired by Motorola. The first is the ability to say "Ok Google" even if your phone is in standby mode. Your phone will wake and then you can use voice to search, send texts, and more. It requires compatible hardware, though, and so far we only know for sure that the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 support it.

Double tap to wake: Speaking of waking up your Android device, you can just double tap the screen of the Nexus 9 tablet to wake it up. Like the advanced "Ok Google" command, it requires compatible hardware. We also hear it works on the Nexus 6.

NEXUS GETS SOME OF THE BEST FEATURES FROM THE MOTO X

Ambient Display: Another feature that’s made it over from the Moto X is the idea of displaying bits of information on your screen as it comes in without turning the whole thing on. On the Nexus 6, it’s much more advanced — basically you get black and white versions of what would normally be on the lock screen anyway. It requires an OLED screen to work, so for now it seems like this is going to be a Nexus 6-specific feature.

Face unlock: Android’s face unlock feature has never really worked all that well. It’s kind of magical that it can recognize your face, but it’s often slow and usually needs really good lighting conditions to work. In Lollipop, Google has tweaked it so that it starts running silently as soon as you turn on your screen. Since you can interact with notifications on the lock screen now (see below), the idea is that you’d power it on, mess with a few notifications, and by the time you’re done Face Unlock has already kicked in and unlocked the phone.

Lock screen notifications: As with the iPhone, Android Lollipop will put notifications right on your lock screen. But on Android, the notifications on your screen are basically the same as those that appear in the drop-down notification shade. Why does that matter? Because on Android, you get a lot of control built-in to those notifications. You can archive email, tap reply, expand notifications to see more information, and so on. Now, you can do it directly on your lock screen. As a small bonus, if you have apps with sensitive information that you want to see notifications from but don’t want to display their contents, you can set them to be "redacted" when they show up on the lock screen.

Priority Mode: But the best notification enhancement in Lollipop is something Google calls "Priority Mode." It’s a little bit like "Do Not Disturb" on iOS but it seems much smarter here. You can easily choose which apps can still disturb you when in Priority Mode (the rest won’t bug you). Even better, when you set it, Android gives you the option to set a duration before it goes back into normal notifications. That way, you won’t forget to switch it off. There’s also a total silence mode that will turn everything off — including alarms.

Guest Mode: Android has allowed multiple user accounts on tablets for awhile, but in Lollipop there’s a new option called Guest Mode that works on both phones and tablets. The idea is that it creates a clean, safe, and disposable workspace that anybody can use. Your guest can even quickly log in to their account to check email. You or your guest can get rid of the data inside the guest account at any time.

THE NEXUS 9 IS EASY TO HAND TO YOUR KIDS

Pin Apps: Sometimes Guest Mode is too much work, and all you really want to do is launch a game and hand your phone to your kid — but not let them leave that game to mess with your email. Lollipop has a new feature (enabled in settings) that adds a pin to each card in the mulititasking view. When you tap it, that app won’t let you leave without entering a passcode. It’s similar to the "Guided Access" feature in iOS, but a little easier to use.

Improved Quick Settings: Quick Settings have been reorganized again, and they’re a bit easier to figure out now. Plus, the brightness slider you’ll find there is a little bit smarter: by default it responds correctly to ambient light at any brightness level. Speaking of sliders, the volume slider that pops up when you hit the volume key is also smarter: it has the buttons for the various Priority Notification modes right there.

Overview: The multitasking view now has a new name, Overview, and a new Material Design look. Each app is a big card, stacked up, and you can scroll through many more recent apps than you used to be able to. But the best feature is that any app can create multiple "cards." So, for example, when you compose a new email your inbox is still in the overview, so you can switch back and forth between tasks in a single app.

Material Design: The best and most obvious feature in Lollipop comes last. It’s a complete redesign that we already got a good look at this past summer, but there are new designs pretty much everywhere. One example: the contact card. Android adds a dynamically-created color overlay to each photo based on an accent color from the photo itself. Red lipstick, red overlay. Orange sweater, orange overlay. It’s a nice touch.

This article was updated to reflect that double tap to wake reportedly works just fine on the Nexus 6. We regret the original error.

Credit:http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/28/7082875/12-best-new-features-android-lollipop-nexus

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 review: The most powerful phablet yet

By Ravi Sharma

When Samsung launched its Galaxy Note phablet four years ago, everyone scoffed at two of its features, the screen size and the stylus. Of course, the series went on to become a hit, defined by the same screen size and stylus that naysayers were quick to put down.

Fast forward four years and for the first time we see that Samsung has not increased the screen size in the Note series (over the previous year). The Note 4 stylus too performs nearly all of the same functions as the one in its predecessor. In fact, there are only a few differences between the two phablets, but are they meaningful enough to warrant an upgrade? Should this phablet be your next buy at Rs 58,000? Find out in our Samsung Galaxy Note 4 review...

Display

The display has been the biggest selling point of Note phablets since the series' launch, and the situation is no different this time as well. Galaxy Note 4 has a 5.7-inch SuperAMOLED screen, the same as last year; however, Samsung has upped the screen resolution, from Full HD (1080x1920p) in Note 3 to 2K (1440x2560p) in Note 4. This increase in resolution leads to pixel density of over 500ppi; the pixels in this phablet are packed so closely together that it is nearly impossible for the naked eye to set them apart.

However, the pixel density is high enough in Note 3 as well (386ppi), as the human eye cannot differentiate individual pixels after approximately 330ppi. So, even the display of Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is gorgeous, it is pretty much similar to that of its predecessor's. Of course, a few display elements come to life on a 2K display, such as shadows in the Facebook app or markings in certain areas of games etc. But as we have said earlier in our Oppo Find 7 and LG G3 reviews, a 2K display is not necessary right now as the app developers are not making full use of having the extra pixels on the screen.

Moving past the screen resolution, you get a beautiful display that earns top marks on all counts. The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 screen has excellent viewing angles, such that you won't see a change in colours even at the steepest angles. The SuperAMOLED screen performs okay-ish under direct sunlight, and colours appear a little oversaturated sometimes.

Samsung has added a layer of toughened plastic on top of the screen to make it harder to crack when dropped; this is in addition to Gorilla Glass 3. The plastic layer is characterized by a slightly glossy look and a noticeable curvature rising from the sides.

Design

The display covers most of the front panel of Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and leaves room for pretty thin bezels, hardware and soft keys and a bunch of sensors. In terms of looks, there are only a few differences in the design of Note 4 compared to last year's Note 3. In fact, you would be forgiven to mistake Note 4 as Note 3 from a distance. But a closer inspection reveals that there are more than just a couple of changes that distinguish the design language between the two.

The biggest change is the introduction of metal. Galaxy Note 4 features a metallic rim on the sides, making it only the second Samsung smartphone to feature this look. The metallic edge has been given a white paintjob all around, which creates a kind of contrast; in our white review unit, you see the white coloured front/back, then metallic chamfered edge and then the white paint-clad rim. Whether this looks good is pretty subjective, as some in the office like this look while other found it rather unnecessary.

Below the display is hardware Home key, the Task Switcher and Back button. The volume key is on the left side; for right-handed people, reaching the volume becomes a chore while operating the phablet with one hand due to its size. Samsung has used the faux leather back panel design that was introduced with Note 3 in its successor. However, the texture is a little less apparent this time and the widely-panned stitching on the sides is gone.

In terms of size and weight, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is only a hair bigger and heavier than its predecessor. The difference is nominal, so you won't actually feel any substantial change in dimensions and heft while operating the two. Note 4 is, however, a little smaller than iPhone 6 Plus but a lot bigger than LG G3.

Hardware

Galaxy Note 4 is a heavyweight player for Samsung and so gets the latest chipset available in the market today. It is powered by Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon 805 silicon, clocked at 2.7GHz; it is actually the only smartphone in the market to feature this processor. The inclusion of this processor in the India variant is actually quite significant, considering that Samsung has always launched an Exynos variant of its top devices in India, not the Qualcomm-powered iteration. This means that Samsung is betting on proliferation of 4G in coming time.

This processor is coupled with 3GB of RAM. Internal storage maxes out at 32GB, but you can add a microSD card (up to 128GB) to add more data. Samsung provides 50GB of free Dropbox storage for two years as well. A 16MP rear camera and 3.7MP front camera constitute the imaging module.

You get all the standard connectivity options: 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, Infrared and microUSB 2.0. The last one is actually a surprise since Note 3 has microUSB 3.0, which makes Note 4 inferior to its predecessor in this one aspect. The battery capacity of Note 4 is 3,220mAh, just 20mAh more than that of Note 3.

Like Samsung Galaxy S5 and Alpha, Note 4 also has a fingerprint sensor integrated in the Home button and a heart rate monitor on the back, beside the LED flash.

Software

This is where Samsung Galaxy Note 4 sets itself apart from the competition. Note 4 is a productivity device that has a lot of software optimized for just this purpose.

Samsung has tweaked the Android software heavily over the years, adding a number of features to the base OS. Many a times, the approach makes the phone feel cluttered and too confusing for most users; however, there has been a move towards making it a little easier for the consumer to use all the TouchWiz functions. If you are a Samsung user switching to Note 4, you will find the move easy; but if you are using a Samsung device for the first time, the software can be a little too much to handle.

Let's talk about the Note 4-exclusive features here. Last year's Note phablet could recognize contact info you jotted down on the screen; this year's model can recognize the data given on a visiting card and saves it directly in your address book. When we tried it out, this feature could recognize the name, email ID and phone number accurately, but for some reason would not copy the address correctly.

Then there's the feature that lets you copy various type of data, such as web pages and photos, by selecting certain portion of the screen using the S Pen stylus. This is neat function for those who regularly store troves of data for themselves or send it to others; for example, a travel enthusiast can simply copy the details of a tourist destination, pick up images from the web and mail it to anyone within a few seconds. This makes the S Pen another step closer to the mouse we have become used to on the computer.

Samsung's big-screen phones have been able to open two apps simultaneously for quite some time now. But with Note 4, you are not limited to keeping the just two apps open; with this device you can open multiple apps at the same time on the screen by resizing them. You can either open them in a smaller window like the Chrome browser given in the image below or keep them as a floating icon (see the small WhatsApp icon on the left side of the screenshot). You can switch an app from fullscreen view to a small-scale version by swiping from the top left or right corners of the screen.

These are the notable software added by Samsung that are actually useful in day-to-day operations of the phablet. Apart from these, Note 4 has all the software we have seen in previous Samsung devices, like S Health, fingerprint scanning, S Pen functions like S Note, Air Command, Action Memo etc.

Performance

With the best hardware in the market and software that pushes mobile multitasking to the maximum, you can expect tremendous performance from Note 4. The device is a powerhouse and easily the fastest we have seen till date; in fact, the difference between the Snapdragon 805-touting Note 4 and other Snapdragon 801 devices like Galaxy S5, HTC One (M8) etc is apparent to the trained eye.

With the super-fast 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor and 3GB RAM, Note 4 has enough power to handle any task thrown its way. Whether it's the most demanding games or heavy-duty apps, Note 4 can do it all with aplomb. The amalgamation of the software and hardware sometimes feels clunky instead of cohesive, but the feature-set is strong enough to mask this for the regular user.

Battery life of the phone was a concern to us before starting this review; of course we understood that the phablet would easily last a day on one charge, but we wondered if the 3,220mAh battery would be able to deliver more running time than that due to the resource consuming 2K display. As it turns out, Samsung has tweaked the software to ensure that Note 4 lasts at least a day and a half with moderate-to-heavy usage and nearly two days with moderate usage on one charge.

Note 4 also has fast-charging capability, and Samsung claims that it can go from zero to 50% in half an hour. In our tests, the phablet only goes from naught to 40% in 30 minutes, failing to hit the 50% mark each time we tried it.

Multimedia has to one of the strong suites of the big-screen Note 4. Watching videos is an amazing experience on this phablet because of the deep colours and excellent viewing angles. However, the audio needs to improve; the rear-mounted speaker is loud, but it's not clear. There is distortion at high volumes and the quality is just not good for a device that is the most expensive mainstream Android phone. Sadly, while HTC and Motorola have switched to front speakers, Samsung is still stuck with speakers on the back that easily get muffled when the phone is laid on the back.

Camera

The camera of Note 4 is easily among the best we have seen in the past year. As has become customary, the resolution has been increased from 13MP to 16MP, and Note 4 this time has optical imaging stabilization after missing out on the feature last year. Latching on the selfie craze is the 3.7MP front camera.

The rear camera of Note 4 takes photos that capture most of the details of the surroundings. The camera is quick to focus on the subject so that you don't lose shots while making home videos. The white balance in the photos is pretty accurate and shadows don't appear too grainy. OIS makes sure the photos and videos are blur-free even when you move. Lowlight image are actually better than we have seen on most phones.

The selfie camera is pretty feature-laden. You can take widescreen selfies by turning on the panorama-like feature that captures more area by turning the lens sideways. The heart rate sensor on the back can be used as a hardware button to click selfies on this phone. Just put your finger on the sensor and it the screen will show a green circle around your face; remove the finger from the sensor to take the selfie. In terms of photo quality, the selfies taken from this phone are pretty good even under low light, as the noise levels are rather low compared to those on other phones.

Verdict

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is a powerful, powerful phablet that does not falter on any count. Sure, there is room for the software and hardware to work a bit more smoothly, but most users would find that the features are more than sufficient for their requirements. The price tag of Rs 58,300 is pretty high for any gadget, but if you do want the best smartphone (with all the possible bells and whistles) in the business right now, then Galaxy Note 4 is the best choice you can make.

The other new phablet in the market is iPhone 6 Plus, Apple's first big-screen device. Stay tuned for our detailed comparison between Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus.

Credit:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-4-review-The-most-powerful-phablet-yet/articleshow/44967986.cms?