Samsung officially announced Wednesday the details surrounding its next highly-anticipated smartphone, the Galaxy Note 4, at the company’s IFA conference in Berlin. The new phablet will be larger in every way, from physical appearance to software capabilities. Instead of a massive overhaul of the previous Note 3, however, the Note 4 will mainly address the earlier version’s shortcomings without huge physical changes to the design. The company also announced a special edition version of the phone, dubbed Note Edge. Both versions will be available in October.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new specs announced Wednesday:
Design
The Galaxy Note 4 will be similar to that of the Galaxy 3, with a few sleek updates. The phablet will weigh 176 grams with an 8.5-millimeter-thin body and a 5.7-inch screen. A curved glass screen will be made stronger to help users avoid shattering and scratching, while a metal frame and soft texture back cover have also been added. The device will be available in white, black, gold and pink.
Changes to the interface of the phone will create a more user-friendly experience. Transparent widgets will be added for the consumer to see their customizable background through the home screen, and a built-in UV sensor was also added. As the push toward health monitoring on mobile devices continues to get more popular, the Note 4 will be the first to let you know when you’re getting too many UV rays and warn you to step out of the sun.
Large Screen and Multitasking
The size of the screen for the Note 4 is the same as its predecessor at 5.7 inches, but will sport a ‘Quad HD’ display with a 550-pixel-per-inch resolution. This gives a sharper, more detailed image to the user than what was seen on the Note 3.
Multitasking is another big step up for the phone. A feature dubbed “Multiwindow” will be easier to find and use than on other Galaxy devices, allowing users to minimize and view multiple screens at once. With Facebook’s change of its messaging feature to a separate app, for example, users will be able to keep their messenger feature minimized on top of the Facebook app display.
The Note Edge, also announced, will have a banner display along the edge of the phone to house popular apps and up to seven pages that the user can swipe through without opening the full screen display on the phone.
S Pen
The Note line of Samsung’s smartphones has been known for its use of a stylus rather than strictly the user’s fingers, and the fourth generation device will be no different. The S Pen is revamped with 2,048 levels of pressure sensing — double that of the Note 3 — which will give a sensation of writing with an actual pen and more precise responses. Two fonts, calligraphy and fountain pen, will be available, making it easy to take notes or sign a digital document.
The stylus will have Smart Select capabilities, meaning a user can select several pieces of information at once and send them in bulk to another person. Per the conference example, if you’re planning a trip and want to share multiple pieces of information with your travel partner, Smart Select allows you to easily crop and snap a picture from multiple websites and then drag and drop the entire group of pictures into an email or text to send at once.
The feature also allows users to take a picture of notes on a whiteboard and turn the entire image into editable text. Students will now be able to simply snap a photo of a college lecture and write their own notes on the side of the screen.
Camera and Audio
With camera quality at the forefront of concern for phone buyers, the Note 4 steps up the ease of use of its cameras. The device has both a front and back camera with 3.7Mp and 16Mp, respectively. A bigger aperture on the front camera makes the device 60 percent brighter than the Note 3, which will provide better photo quality in dim settings.
Another key change is seen in the 90-degree viewing angle of the front camera, up from a previous 77 degrees. This was made to perfect the “we-fie,” a selfie taken of an entire group. If your group is extremely large, however, don’t fear; there’s now a 120-degree panoramic option for all your wide angle needs.
As for the audio quality, the voice recorder was enhanced to include three microphones that will record sounds from eight different directions. The user can edit the recordings to pick up only one or a select few of the voices as well.
In addition to these improvements, overall battery life will be increased. The new battery, Samsung announced, will be able to charge to 50 percent with only a half hour of juicing up, as opposed to the one hour it took on previous models.
Samsung has proved to be a major contender in the smartphone arena, and the Note 4 and Edge place the company as a major contender for the best new phablet. The smartphone market will continue to heat up this month, however, with Apple’s new iPhone 6 announcement coming on September 9.
Images via Phone Arena
