Samsung has announced that U.S. carriers are taking pre-orders for the Galaxy Note 4 as of Friday, September 19th. The phone will begin shipping on on October 17th.We've written about the Note 4 previously. Arguably the best Phablet available this year, the Galaxy Note is obviously the target for the new iPhone 6 Plus. We think, however, that Apple shot well wide of the target. Compared to Apple's 5.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 HD screen, the Note 4 packs a 5.7 inch, 2560 x 1920 Quad HD screen, an S-Pen and a higher capacity, removable battery and removable storage into a case that's nearly the same width, significantly shorter, and only slightly thicker than the 6 Plus. More importantly, the Note 4 comes with the 4th generation of highly-refined S-Pen enabled apps, multi-window support, and true landscape support for almost all apps, while Apple is left to brag about finally offering two-column support in the 6 Plus's email app.DisplayMate, the widely respected display screen testing organization, says the Note 4's display is " the best performing smartphone display [they] have ever tested."
Samsung has not yet announced availability dates for the new Note Edge, but there are indications of production problems that will delay availability and make this initially a very limited production device. Sources in Samsung's supply chain report than Samsung began ramping up production of the curved display in August of this year, but ran into problems producing the plastic substrate that allows the curved screen. Samsung may not be able to produce the display in large enough quantities to supply the demand right now. Without adequate quantities of scale, this display is likely very expensive to manufacture. Whether this translates into very high prices for the device will depend on whether Samsung is willing to accept reduced profits, or no profit, on the Edge in order to create demand.
With the Galaxy Note 4 there are many significant improvements over the Galaxy Note 3 that we tested a year ago, but also with the Galaxy S5 that we tested in March, and the Galaxy Tab S that we tested in June. The most impressive improvements are in the pixels per inch and resolution, the Absolute Color Accuracy, Peak Brightness and screen readability in High Ambient Light, and display Power Efficiency.Based on our extensive Lab tests and measurements, the Galaxy Note 4 is the Best performing Smartphone display that we have ever tested. It matches or breaks new records in Smartphone display performance for: Highest Absolute Color Accuracy, Highest Screen Resolution, Infinite Contrast Ratio, Highest Peak Brightness, Highest Contrast Rating in Ambient Light, and the smallest Brightness Variation with Viewing Angle. Its Color Management capability provides multiple Color Gamuts – a major advantage that is not currently provided by any of the other leading Smartphones. The Galaxy Note 4 delivers uniformly consistent all around Top Tier display performance: it is the first Smartphone display to ever get all Green (Very Good to Excellent) Ratings in all test and measurement categoriesThe iPhone 6 Plus is a very large iPhone, and little more. The Note 4 is the 4th generation of an advanced multi-tasking productivity tool with the best hardware available today. The iPhone 6 really can't compete, and iPhone fans seem to realize that. Early data indicate that the iPhone 6 is outselling the 6 Plus by nearly 6 to 1.With a 2-year contract, the 32 GByte Note 4 will set you back $299 on AT&T and Verizon, the same price as a 16 GB 6 Plus. On T-Mobile, it will run $31.24 per month for 24 months or $750 if purchased outright. Prices on Sprint should be comparable. .
Samsung has not yet announced availability dates for the new Note Edge, but there are indications of production problems that will delay availability and make this initially a very limited production device. Sources in Samsung's supply chain report than Samsung began ramping up production of the curved display in August of this year, but ran into problems producing the plastic substrate that allows the curved screen. Samsung may not be able to produce the display in large enough quantities to supply the demand right now. Without adequate quantities of scale, this display is likely very expensive to manufacture. Whether this translates into very high prices for the device will depend on whether Samsung is willing to accept reduced profits, or no profit, on the Edge in order to create demand.