Samsung announces Galaxy Note 4

Samsung has made the Galaxy Note 4 official at IFA 2014, revealing what looks like a defined version of the Galaxy Note 3. The announcement came with other bits of hardware, like the Gear VR, Galaxy Note Edge and the Samsung Gear S.

The Galaxy Note 4 has the same 5.7-inch screen, but it comes with a QHD display instead of full HD. The processor is now a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, 3GB of RAM sit inside and Samsung has added a new 16MP camera with OIS.

Design wise, the front looks identical to the Galaxy Note 3, but Samsung has swapped the faux metal sides with real metal and the faux stitching has been removed. Samsung has kept the soft-touch back, but is not trying anything fake this year.

This does make the hardware look and feel extremely better than last year, it might be the first time we can say Samsung’s hardware is on part with some of the better manufacturers in the industry, even if it still needs a bit of work.

The Galaxy Note 4 will introduce the fingerprint sensor and heart-rate monitor to fans of the phablet line. The Galaxy S5 was the first smartphone to have these sensors, but it looks like Samsung wants to broaden the features to more phones.

Little updates to the S Pen improve the sensitivity and Samsung has added new features to the software. The software running on the Galaxy Note 4 at launch will be Android KitKat 4.4.4, under the familiar cloak of TouchWiz.

Overall, the Galaxy Note 4 looks like a really interesting device, compared to last year, it still has the same look on the front and not much has been changed in terms of ergonomics, but small improvements have made this a top class phone.

Galaxy Note Edge

Samsung announced a second “Galaxy Note” at IFA 2014, the Galaxy Note Edge. This phone shares most of the characteristics with the Galaxy Note 4, but Samsung has added a three sided display, with the display spilling off into two edges.

The two edges should be used as settings, removing the need for a volume and lock button. Samsung has been working on flexible displays for a few years now, this looks like the second attempt from the South Korea company.