Five reasons to hold on to your Galaxy Note 4 ( one reason to upgrade)

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 31 Aug 2015

There’s no doubt the Galaxy Note 5 is a looker. th its sleek glass–metal build, gorgeous screen, top-of-the-line camera it’s sure tempting to make it your next phone. 

But boy, is it expensive. That’s more important nowadays, as getting a flagship phone for $199 thanks to carrier subsidies is largely a thing of the past  (AT&T remains the sole holdout, but you’ll pay a lot more per month for a subsidy plan).

If you have a Galaxy Note 4, you’re plagued with the ultimate first-world problem: whether or not to upgrade to the newest model. ile the siren call of the latest–greatest is strong, there are a few reasons you may want to hold on to your current Note.

A removable back SD card slot are super hy

Two of the features that many loved about Samsung phones was the removable battery expansion storage via an SD card slot.

st like with the S6 S6 ge, those are no longer found with the Galaxy Note 5 (same with the S6 ge+).

galaxy note 4 microsd

Say goodbye to the removable back, battery, microSD slot.

rsonally, the loss of the removable battery microSD slot doesn’t bother me. I would rather use a portable charger than keep track of a battery or fiddle with storage settings by moving content to an SD card. so, Samsung’s newest Note supports rapid charging, so you can get your device up to speed quickly if you get a Samsung or third-party Fast Charge pad.

But a lot of Android fans feel differently, for them this is a dealbreaker. So you probably want to hold on to your Note as long as you can until it’s ready to give up the ghost.

The price may drop

Samsung has been on a tear this year with new phones. It seems like just a few months ago that the excellent Galaxy S6  Galaxy S6 ge went on sale. To get jump on the ione, Samsung pushed out the Note 5  Galaxy S6 ge+

th so many new phones, there’s bound to be some give with the price. A few deals have already popped up, such as an unlocked Galaxy S6 for $470. It’s hard to believe there is a strong enough market to sustain four flagship phones priced at $700 or more.

Once the next ione comes out, Samsung may be under pressure to move some more units. Expect either a price cut or some more discount offers from third-party retailers.

The Note 4’s screen is (almost) as good

If you’re going to be “stuck” with your current phone, it may as well have the second-best display on the market.

Displaymate recently gave the Note 5 the “best screen” title, just edging out the previous winner, the Galaxy Note 4. th your current phone still on the podium at the number two slot, you’re probably not gaining that much in clarify for all that extra money.

You really have to stare point out small differences to spot where the Note 5 outperforms the Note 4. It still offers the same excellent 1440 x 2560 resolution with 515 pixels per inch. The screen is still great to look at, so you’re not necessarily making that big of a compromise by sticking with the Note 4.

Samsung is much better at software updates

Samsung used to be the worst at updating its phones. But part of its new religion of glass metal includes a newfound ability to speed up how quickly it gets out the latest Android updates.

Samsung was pretty fast about delivering llipop to the Galaxy S5, it’s been on the ball when it comes to the Stagefright patch. Samsung joined in pledging that it would delivery monthly security updates to its flagship phones.

The only caveat here is that with the exception of the Sprint model, the Note 4 is still stuck on Android 5.0.1. It’s not so much that you’re missing out on a ton of features by not getting 5.1.1, but there were some important bug fixes performance improvements. If that doesn’t change soon, my recommendation may move to one that says, “Get the Note 5 now.”

The camera is still really good

The Note 5 camera is great, but the Note 4’s shooter is still really good. I’ve taken it on several trips been very happy with its performance in a lot of different circumstances.

galaxy note 4 beach picture

The Note 4 takes impressive outdoor pictures.

Dissatisfaction with one’s camera can be a huge driver behind upgrading one’s phone. It’s why I ditched the Nexus 5 for the Note 4. As much as I loved stock Android, terrible pictures are a real drag. The Note has really impressed me with low-light performance, though it really shines with outdoor pictures when there’s good lighting. Yes, you’ll get a better camera in the Note 5, but not by much.

OK, maybe you should upgrade

Give Samsung credit for making upgrades in the right places to make the Note 5 rather tempting. ile we noted the new screen has the same resolution as the Galaxy Note 4 it’s quantitatively better, recently earning the title of best smartphone screen from DisplayMate.  

note5 9333

In general, we found the Note 5 to be fast long-lasting in our benchmark test, outperforming the Galaxy Note 4 in many areas. The Note 5 also does that neat camera trick the Galaxy S6 first introduced: double-push the home button to launch the camera then snap away. 

Don’t expect to see this feature in the Note 4. Same thing with those cool themes other UI enhancements: Samsung may update the Note 4 over time with the latest builds of Android, but it’s clearly focused on differentiating its Note 5 other the other new flagships.

In all, however, you can’t go wrong by holding on to your Note for a while longer. t those initial bugs in the new flagship get worked out, decide if some of the tradeoffs (like no expable storage) are worth the slight bump up you’re getting in screen, camera, build quality.