Note 4 instead of Ipad

[rcjordan]

I'm going to try leap-frogging from a dumb flip-phone to a phablet --Samsung Note 4.  My thinking is that once you enter the full-size smartphone arena (Galaxy S5, Iphone) they are so cumbersome that they are a PITA to carry ...so I might as well opt for the HUGE size as it is really only about an inch wider and 1.5 inches taller.  And the phablets stand a good chance of largely replacing the ipad2 I use in the house and will reduce equipment needed when traveling.  And the Note 4 has a stylus, which I use constantly on my ipad.

I've been on it for 6 hours, deleting crapware and customizing my screens. The screen is just barely large enough to accommodate browser desktop mode, even in gmail (except compose).   I've got it feeling very much like my ipad setup.  Love the stylus.

[Brad]

I looked up the Note 4:

http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-galaxy-note-4/   Sounds like a very nice phone. 

>>stylus

Ahh, reminds me of my Palm Pilot days.  Stylus can be handy for navigating a small screen UI (better than big old fingers) or just writing.  I was always afraid I would lose the stylus.

How is the battery life?

[rcjordan]

Didn't ship with Lollipop, but that update should be soon.  The cpu specs are supposedly the same as the Nexus 6 which is being touted as the fastest out now.

As these things go, the crapware and provider branding (Verizon) weren't too bad. Most of the initial time spent customizing was due to my unfamiliarity with smartphone UI.  That said, the ipad UI has been creeping toward the phone for some time now, so the leap wasn't really directly from dumbphone to superphone --ipad provided a stepping stone.

>battery

All reviews say it should go a full day.  But this thing has the new-ish 9v-5v dual charging mode -Adaptive Charging is the hyped marketing lingo- which (with special chargers *AND* micro-usb cables) charges the phone in around 30 minutes.  Extra chargers & cables aren't overly expensive, except for the 12v car charger ...that was $40. The forums love this new hi-speed charging and I can see why.

[rcjordan]

<added>

>stylus

The phone has all sorts of monitoring to be sure the stylus stays with the phone, including haptic feedback.  I went from cell to wi-fi while holding the stylus at arm's length and the phone flashed/vibrated a big notification/alert telling me that I was leaving without the stylus docked.  Like I mentioned, I've become addicted to the hi-quality stylus I bought for the ipad and have kept it for about 18 months now, so a stylus is part of my UI unless I'm on a real keyboard.

[Brad]

>Lollipop

Lollipop is running on my Nexus 7 and 10 tablets.  I get a lot more full OS crashes and restarts with it than with previous versions of Android. Before I'd get app crashesbbut not full restarts.  Other than that it has been good.

[rcjordan]

Note 4 is still on ver 4.4, but even this version shows snippets of gmail and texts in the Notification bar.  For UI minimalists like me, this is really a great feature.  A good percentage of my incoming are simple alerts & reminders requiring no reply. I can read and delete them without going any further than notifications.  I believe I read that this was added as a new feature in v4.

[rcjordan]

Verizon Note 4 is getting Lollipop currently. I'm in the midst of the download now.  Don't really know enough about the android ecosystem to know what new gee-whiz stuff to expect. 

[Brad]

Some observations about lollipop here:
http://th3core.com/talk/hardware-technology/nexus-9-tablet-google-goes-straight-at-ipad/

I agree with Rooftop it is not faster. Just hides it better.

[rcjordan]

Keeping in mind that I lean toward spartan environments, I'm going to be happy if they just don't fuck up the UI I'm accustomed to by packing on creeping elegance.  So far, the notifications aren't impressing me ...seems like I have to do one extra click.  But they hit me at a good time for an OS upgrade, I haven't used the phone enough to really settle in yet.

Oh Boy! We get VoLTE  ....pfffffft!

http://www.droid-life.com/2015/04/02/verizons-galaxy-note-4-is-getting-lollipop-starting-today-includes-volte/

[rcjordan]

<added>

>battery life

I'm in an different environment than most other devices on this.  My Note 4 already goes 24 hours on a charge most days and 16 on more-than-average use days. Coupled with the new fast-charging capability, I don't even plug it in at night because it'll fully charge in the morning while I'm having my coffee(s).

[Brad]

RC are you still liking the Note 4?

I'm getting itchy for a big @ss phone and I'm trying to decide between Note 4, LG G4 or any other Android or go with iPhone 6 Plus.

[rcjordan]

>still liking the Note 4?

**REALLY** like it. Does everything I need it to do.

>iwhine6

I wouldn't lock into the apple app ecosystem for phones. Because of my assorted semi-tech/mech hobbies and projects, I like the availability of specialty apps in android.  Vehicle OBD-II dongles and reader apps would be an example.  Or using the phone screen for a borescope monitor.

[Brad]

The thing making me lean towards Android is I can customize it. Apple won't let me fiddle around with it.

Thanks for the update.

[rcjordan]

the swype keyboard voice-to-text input conversion is excellent, btw.  this and the stylus are very nice features,

[Brad]

"No battle plan survives intact, first contact with the enemy."

I walked into T-Mobile.

Long story short, I ended up with a 5.5" LG G4.
http://www.lg.com/us/mobile-phones/g4

It was $150 cheaper plus came with a free 32GB SD card and extra battery free. Not as good looking as the Note 4 but I was not sure how often I would use the stylus.

http://www.cnet.com/products/lg-g4/#!

I'm using my spare time to get it configured.  Part of that is installing Yahoo Aviate Launcher which so far I like.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2467063,00.asp

More on this as I have a chance to test.