The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Review
by Joshua Ho on October 15, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Android
- Mobile
- Galaxy Note 4
WiFi Performance
While the Galaxy S5 LTE-A Broadband had a Qualcomm Atheros solution (QCA6174), the Note 4 moves back to Broadcom's WiFi solution. In this case, we see the BCM4358, which is a revision of the BCM4354 that was first seen with Samsung's Galaxy S5. This shouldn't have any major differences outside of improved Bluetooth coexistence but antenna design can and does change between revisions. In order to test this, we use iperf and Asus' RT-AC68U router to try and achieve maximum performance.
As one can see, the Galaxy Note 4 has a strong showing in this test, easily surpassing every other device we have available for testing.
GNSS
At this point, it really goes without saying that the GNSS solution of choice is the one built into Qualcomm's modem. This allows for fixes based upon initial location and time data that the modem has, and therefore in practice every GPS fix is a hot fix and takes around 5 seconds for a lock in good conditions. In the case of the Note 4, with airplane mode on and no assistance data I saw that it took around 50 seconds to achieve a lock, but this is strongly dependent upon environmental conditions. Once locked, I found that the Note 4 had quite a strong lock and quickly went down to 10 foot accuracy level without issue.
Misc
Similar to the new Moto X we see a Cypress CapSense solution in the Note 4 but this is likely used for the capacitive buttons rather than any impedance-matching antenna tuner. The UV sensor appears to be a Maxim design win, although there's no information on the specific part. The battery's fuel gauge is also a Maxim part, as is the speaker amplifier and pulse sensor. The NFC chip used is NXP's PN547, so host card emulation should be supported and therefore Google Wallet's tap and pay system should work as well.
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BPB - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Where are the final comments?JoshHo - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Apologies, things were a bit hectic in order to meet the embargo. The conclusion is done but some aspects are still incomplete. I should be finished within the next hour.Try-Catch-Me - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Anand would never allow this.CoreDuo - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Except it did happen even when Anand was around. In a few GPU reviews by Ryan Smith and when Brian Klug wrote the smartphone reviews, they did on occasion go up incomplete when there was not enough time between when they got the products to review and the embargo date. They have always been finished within 24 hours of publication though.Try-Catch-Me - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
Relax. I'm just making a joke like how people kept saying "Steve would never allow that".kron123456789 - Thursday, October 16, 2014 - link
LoL. Turns out, that New Exynos 7 Octa and Exynos 5433 in Note 4 are the same SoC))http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconduct...
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, October 17, 2014 - link
They just decided to market the 5433 as a Exynos 7 series, however there are more in the 7 series (7420) coming out as pointed out in my article.noelbonner - Tuesday, November 11, 2014 - link
There are a number of higher rated phones, I recommend seeing http://tinyurl.com/p7dujj9 among others.windycity23 - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link
Or better yet, check out one of these http://tinyurl.com/qzz8a8y - quick and easy to read.Ramon Zarat - Monday, October 20, 2014 - link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter
A joke you say? Don't quit your day job just yet to become a comedian because I don't see any joke here as I failed to get the humor and I'm not laughing either. Next time, put a smiley or something so we can decipher your cryptic intentions: ;)