Samsung Note 7 vs Note 4

[Scotwight]

Note 7 is new and costs a lot more than the Note 4.  Note 7 does not have an IR blaster like the Note 4.  Note 7 does not have a removable battery so SOL if you run out of power (Note 4 just pop in another charged battery).  You can upgrade both with memory and the screens and cameras and OS are the same or about the same.  You can make calls in the rain with the Note 7 or during SongKran with the Note 4 stay in the bar to call.  If you want a burglar to steal your eyes to get into your phone the retina scanner on the 7 is for you.   My watch keeps my phone open so no need for me to have a scanner retina or fingerprint.  All in all I'd say the Note 7 is 10,000 baht for not much and if you are like me and have 12 remotes at home the 7 is a no go and I like the ability to change batteries in a second instead trying to get a jump for my phone from a tuk tuk.  

[2008bangkok]

Just the removabale battery and a IR blaster means you should stick with the Note 4 but it depends if you are a person that needs the latest and greatest, for me the older i get the less i care about the newest and its price and features which are higher priorty, specs mean shit especially when you consider the latest greates  Iphone 6s plus still doesnt have specs as good as a Note 3.

[Scotwight]

My first Note 4 was a refurbished one el cheapo.  I really liked it.  There is a free program available on Android to verify the phone and if it is new or refurbished.  I bought another one this time new.  I figure it will last me a couple of years and by then Samsung will have hired some people who have a clue again.  Or Nexus will decide to actually produce a phone to compete.  I gave up on apple cause I'm not flouncy enough or liberal enough to have any idea what they are on about.  I buy Asus and Sony accessories to go with the Note 4 and everything is working fine.  You'd think one company would want my money but I guess not.  I'm not a majority of customers but I'm a substantial minority.  I don't care about price.  I would have bought a new Note for 20,000 more baht if it was better than the 4 but they have not produced one yet.  If I worked for Samsung and read this post I'd call me up and offer me a job to tell them what us tech savvy old folks want in a phone.   Although they'd have to listen to my truth telling mouth and that would probably be too much for them.

[Digitalbanana]

I'm sticking with my Note 2 until I get a phone with a larger screen.

[SheungWan]

Which model I think depends on your war chest. Removable battery not so important these days and the 4 has the annoying placement of the speaker on the back rather than the base of the phone. One important thing to note is that the 5 and 7 have now migrated to nano sim cards. For the record I have a Note 3. I think one can expect the later models to have a better camera.

[mtls2005]

You can get a Note 7 for 25,900, or maybe even 24,500, or maybe even less, as the three mobile service providers all have post-paid promotions (which require a prepayment, and/or a 12 month commitment).

 

The Note 7 supports VoLTE. The Note 4 may support it (variant dependent I think?).

 

The Note 7 has 6.0.1 with Nougat/7.0 committed soon.

 

Some benchmarks show 2X performance for the 7 vs. the 4.

 

You can do a side by side on a site like gsmarena.

[Henryford]

I have a Note 4 which i think is a great phone but have ordered the Note 7 as well.  There is no doubt it is a better phone and why not have both? The pre orders deals were good as well, 27,900 for the phone plus 5,000 off from True, plus free back case charger, plus wireless charger unit, plus free Samsung Gear VR, plus free data cable, plus free 1 year insurance. My only regret is no blue colour in Thailand.

[mtls2005]

It looks like the Note 7 also supports LTE A (Advanced aka CA, carrier aggregation), which AIS, DTAC and TrueMove H all seem to support (or plan to support). In theory this means that the phone can combine two (or even three) separate radio channels into a 2X/3X pipe. So speeds of 300/450 Mbps. Obviously a lot of things would have to be working.

 

Some promos have a free GearFit2 smart watch.

[Scotwight]

On 8/25/2016 at 7:56 AM, SheungWan said:

Which model I think depends on your war chest. Removable battery not so important these days and the 4 has the annoying placement of the speaker on the back rather than the base of the phone. One important thing to note is that the 5 and 7 have now migrated to nano sim cards. For the record I have a Note 3. I think one can expect the later models to have a better camera.

Note 4 16 MP camera     Note 7 12 MP camera

[WorriedNoodle]

Anyone know if the Note 7 sold in Thailand will be dual SIM? My older version isn't. The GSMarena global site says the unit is "Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)" whatever that means?

 

Why would a phone costing so much not have dual SIM? Are there advantages to having single SIM? I think I need dual SIM as I travel a lot.

 

Appreciate any thoughts please?

[Henryford]

WN i thought the Note 7 could take 2 SIMs if you use the micro SD card slot for a second SIM.

[dominique355]

The feature I like most in Note 5 and again in Note 7 is the "Action Memos", which allows you to use the stylus and write a memo on the black screen, without turning on the phone. The memo is saved and can be edited at any moment.

The fact that I cannot replace an empty battery is of no importance to me. Nowadays there are powerbanks, which can recharge your phone several times.

I got my Note7 with 64GB but have not yet transferred data from my Note5.

 

 

[Scotwight]

29 minutes ago, dominique355 said:

The feature I like most in Note 5 and again in Note 7 is the "Action Memos", which allows you to use the stylus and write a memo on the black screen, without turning on the phone. The memo is saved and can be edited at any moment.

The fact that I cannot replace an empty battery is of no importance to me. Nowadays there are powerbanks, which can recharge your phone several times.

I got my Note7 with 64GB but have not yet transferred data from my Note5.

I use Smart Switch.  A few minutes from one Samsung phone to another.  Almost everything is transferred.  I assume it will work Note 5 to Note 7.

 

Note 4 my screen is always on because my watch is a trusted source and when you remove the pen it asks you if you want screen write so I don't see any difference for me between the 7 and 4.

 

I've never seen a power bank anyplace I go in Thailand.  The extra battery is small and fits in the case that I carry my phone in.  I have 3 days of my average usage with me at all times.

 

Note 7 also does not use Marshmallow's "Adoptable storage" like the 4 does.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Scotwight

[Scotwight]

On 8/29/2016 at 8:39 AM, Henryford said:

WN i thought the Note 7 could take 2 SIMs if you use the micro SD card slot for a second SIM.

If you have two sims you can't have a memory card.

[WorriedNoodle]

Thanks guys, so the SD card slot takes a second SIM as well. That's sounds useful. I'll probably buy :-) 

[mtls2005]

http://www.samsung.com/th/consumer/mobile-devices/smartphones/galaxy-note/galaxy-note7/?cid=th_ppc_google-search-modelfeature-homepage_hhp-note7-alwayson_20150802

 

I think Samsung Thailand sells the SM-930FD version here, the D means DUOS or dual-SIM. I think the standard version is SM-930F?

 

 

[SheungWan]

On 28/08/2016 at 1:02 PM, Scotwight said:

Note 4 16 MP camera     Note 7 12 MP camera

 

I would be careful judging a phone's camera just based on the pixel count. Reports on the Note 7 camera is that it is excellent.

[Scotwight]

I just discovered a decision making point of difference.  The battery on the Note 4 in addition to being removable does not explode.  Samsung is recalling all the Note 7's because of

exploding batteries. 

Edited September 2, 2016 by Scotwight

[WorriedNoodle]

Yes, I wouldn't be into exploding batteries either. That is the worst news and a Note7 killer for me.

 

* On a similar point, I have a Note 2 with removable battery. On one or two occasions per month or two I have no option but to remove the battery to reboot it when something has hung and no button pushing fixes the locked on screen hung phone mode. If the Note 7 or any phone for that matter has no removable battery how to get around a hung phone that won't reboot, or do anything without removing battery?? Surely a removable battery is a good idea for all phones?

[Scotwight]

2 hours ago, WorriedNoodle said:

Yes, I wouldn't be into exploding batteries either. That is the worst news and a Note7 killer for me.

 

* On a similar point, I have a Note 2 with removable battery. On one or two occasions per month or two I have no option but to remove the battery to reboot it when something has hung and no button pushing fixes the locked on screen hung phone mode. If the Note 7 or any phone for that matter has no removable battery how to get around a hung phone that won't reboot, or do anything without removing battery?? Surely a removable battery is a good idea for all phones?

My power went out yesterday in the middle of a construction project.  Heavy phone usage and no way to re charge.  I just slipped in a new battery in my New Note 4.  

[mtls2005]

An external power bank is usually more than adequate for charging a phone, in those cases where AC is unavailable. I've had three phones exclusively (Nexus 4 , Nexus 5, Nexus 6) with non-removable batteries; I have replaced the batteries on both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5; relatively simple procedure. Never been a challenge, not having a removable battery.

 

Most phones can be re-started, and/or re-booted into Recovery mode, from a "hung" situation; on the Note 2 that might be Volume UP, Home and Power. Removing a battery to restart a phone is an unnecessary option.

 

I do agree that the Note 7 recall might be a significant reason to consider buying another make/model, although 35 cases in 2.5 million units sounds like decent odds? (The issue, as I understand it, is that this is more of a battery supplier QC/spec issue, than some over-arching design flaw. 

[Henryford]

I am keeping my Note 7 order, they have just offered more freebies for pre orderers. I will take a one in 71,000 chance.

[BKKdreaming]

31 minutes ago, Henryford said:

I am keeping my Note 7 order, they have just offered more freebies for pre orderers. I will take a one in 71,000 chance.

 

these odds are also in the first 1-2 weeks they have been out ,  

 

if you put that over the life of the phone 3-4 years then  maybe the odds are not so good !

 

and its not like you can take the battery out yourself , the phone is glued together like an iPhone

[Scotwight]

Note 7 Lazada is 34,000 baht and the Note 4 is 15,000 baht.  Note 4 does not have an exploding battery option in the Lazada catalog.  

[Henryford]

19 minutes ago, Scotwight said:

Note 7 Lazada is 34,000 baht and the Note 4 is 15,000 baht.  Note 4 does not have an exploding battery option in the Lazada catalog.  

 

I got my Note 7 for 26,9000, with discount. Plus a free value pack worth 3,000, a free Gear VR worth 3,000, free wireless back pack charger worth 3,000, free one year insurance worth 1,000?, plus 5,000 baht off via True. Net cost = 12,000 cheaper than a Note 4.

[Aussie69]

I hear there having a fire sale on Note 7's at present

[WorriedNoodle]

According to this link, there have now been 3 replacement Note 7 now gone up in flames already.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/9/13215728/samsung-galaxy-note-7-third-fire-smoke-inhalation

 

Looks like my next phone won't be a Samsung brand at all, let alone a Note 7.

[SheungWan]

4 hours ago, WorriedNoodle said:

According to this link, there have now been 3 replacement Note 7 now gone up in flames already.

 

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/9/13215728/samsung-galaxy-note-7-third-fire-smoke-inhalation

 

Looks like my next phone won't be a Samsung brand at all, let alone a Note 7.

 

I very much doubt if this situation is going to affect my upgrade from a Note 3 to a Note 4 next year.

[dave2]

8 hours ago, SheungWan said:

I very much doubt if this situation is going to affect my upgrade from a Note 3 to a Note 4 next year.

 

but it might #### my upgrade from my note 4

 

to the 7 ..... when i can get my hands on one

thats not going to explode ?

 

dave2

[SheungWan]

50 minutes ago, dave2 said:

 

but it might #### my upgrade from my note 4

 

to the 7 ..... when i can get my hands on one

thats not going to explode ?

 

dave2

 

.....well I guess either hold on to the Note 4 for another year or settle for a Note 5. I think the Note 7 is now... 'er, toast.

Edited October 10, 2016 by SheungWan