Note to Note: My Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (Part 1)

So I'm one of those lucky few who had managed to obtain a device as early as the month of launch. Admittedly I was quite excited to get the device but also sad to let go my prior Note 2. It had been a workhorse for me till today but we need to move on right ?

As I got hold of the device for the first time and performed my own reset (yeah, the maxis folks just run through the setup for me earlier to check for dead pixels), the first thing I notice is the vibrancy of the screen. With QHD display 2,560 x 1,440 resolution, the screen is like popping up onto your face with all the vibrant colors and clarity you ever known exist! While many may argue that the color profile is wrong when viewing photos and such but come on, how many of us would really bothered to check on these details? And of course if I have to park my Note2 against it, it would be quite a bit of difference in terms of visibility and clarity...

You can tell the difference instantly if you can bring both devices together and compare them side by side

The size dimension and shape also differs from Note2. Perhaps it's more like a Note3 in terms of shape and bezel size but then again if you're about to buy a device called "Note" from Samsung, do expect something that is of this kind of dimension and size (Note4 screen size is 5.7 inch compared to Note2 of 5.5 inch)

Back (White color is Note 2)

And front comparison (White color is Note 2)

After booting up, I'm being greeted with the standard TouchWiz interface (which I never like). The launcher is the least of my favourite and so I took the liberty to customize it to my heart's desire...

 No TouchWiz for me !

 Now I can breathe a bit...

Setup Observation: It may be quite a challenge for the newbies to move from other non Note devices as this guy had so much features packed into it that one would wonder who the heck is going to explore and use every single feature available. (I'm quite sure I'm not the one - for a very good start)

Performance Observation: Once all the apps had been installed and working correctly, the next thing I realised is the speed and fluency of the device. While I am not going to compare the smoothness against the iDevices but I'd reckoned that the 1.9GHz Octa Core Exynos processor had served it's purpose. Running at 1.3GHz in 4 cores in most situations and powering up to 1.9GHz in more demanding scenarios. In most cases, folks may not care or bothered with what's running under the hood but at least I can start boasting that I'm running a 8 cores smartphone in my pocket which is double the cores in my home PC ! Moreover the 3GB RAM is a must when there are so many stuff running all at once - some which you can disable or uninstall while others not...

Battery Charging: Like a little boy, when I got back home, I straight unwrap the Fast Charger and plug in to charge the device. I was told that the device can charge to 50% within 30 minutes. While the claim is not far from the truth but yes, you may actually achieve that if you're charging with the screen turned off. But if you're as excited as me - poking the device as and when there are still juice left, call it about 40% increment for half hour charge (which I happily accept it as well !). On top of that, the battery size and capacity is also different now... Its more rectangular in size but with higher capacity compared to stock battery

3220 mAh with rapid charging VS 3650mAh 3rd party battery without rapid charging... Hmmm...

Camera: One of the main reason of choosing this device over Xperia Z3 was the camera. I was watching a fair bit of YouTube and sites on comparison between Note4, Xperia Z3 and iPhone 6 camera quality. Here's what I noticed... As and when I power up the camera (it starts within 2 seconds), there are a few pre-set modes which I can make use for the regular camera shooting of standard single point and click photos. Exploring a bit, I figured that I also can hit the Samsung App Store to download more camera function mode ! This is quite a great addition to the features of the device as you can continue to "upgrade" your camera functionality without having to change the hardware altogether (at least for me). Of course, if you're one person who wants a higher pixel camera, I would suggest you to look at the Xperia Z3 or Nokia 1020 for their 20 and 40 megapixels shooter :-)

Download more camera features please

And if you ask me which mode I would like the best ? It's definitely the BOKEH mode (Or known as "Selective Focus"). Basically you can blur the background and focus the camera onto the object which is of interest. It sorta like brings out the vibrancy of the object and somewhat like a 3D feel on the photo itself

After taking a photo, you still can choose the object of focus

Not bad eh ? (Nope this is not taken using my Panasonic Lumix MFT camera)

S-Pen: Ever since the beginning of evaluating Samsung Note devices, I had always been sold on the S-Pen features and functions. This is the other reason why I had chosen to stick with a Galaxy Note device after reviewing on so much good stuff about the Xperia Z3. With Note4, the pen sensitivity had increased and the S-Note application had been enhanced with camera capturing feature. Basically it means you can capture all the drawings in a whiteboard into S-Note and then convert it into editable forms where you can erase or continue to annotate on the contents. I see that it would be very useful for folks like me who is faced with a whiteboard every now and then - to share and convey information between myself and customers and/or peers...

This is a photo...

Using S-Note, you can capture the contents of a photo and make it editable

And voila ! I got a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (Really huh ?)

Multitasking: The multitasking now can easily be setup without having to go through the stupid multi-window bar at the corner. Basically you need to bring up the recent apps list and click on the button on the top right side of the app which you want to put in as multitask. Moreover, the multitasking goes by Windowed mode instead of Tiled mode earlier. This gives you more room to play with multiple apps within the screen itself. One point to highlight is that NOT ALL APPS support this kind of windowed mode. It's more of a hit and miss for most applications 

Task manager is enhanced for you to pick which app you wish to use as multitasking

Multitasking at work. This looks like Windows 3.11 ? Now where's the WINDOWS->TILE VERTICAL ?

I'll stop for now... over the next few days I am going to go through various different tests like SmartWatch and BT Headset connectivity, Chromecast compatibility, Health Features, Fingerprint scanner, Gaming and such. Check back a few days later for more updates ! :)