NEW YORK: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is facing it biggest ever competitor in shape of Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus. Smartphone battles won’t get bigger than this. At least for now! Samsung’s Galaxy Note series always ruled the market but now it is challenged by mighty big-screen iPhone 6 Plus.
As we said, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is shorter than iPhone 6 Plus. However, it is wider than the Apple iPhone 6 Plus by a few millimetres, which makes a lot of difference when the phablet is being operated via one hand. Indeed, we found iPhone 6 Plus slightly easier to operate with one hand during our review period.
Though Galaxy Note 4 looks good, we still can’t say that Samsung has nailed the design part. Plus, it is much thicker and slightly heavier than iPhone 6 Plus. Despite its (few) flaws, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is a better fit for those looking at functionality as well as design compared to iPhone 6 Plus.
iPhone 6 Plus sports a sweet 5.5-inch Full HD (1080x1920p) IPS display, but Galaxy Note 4 tops that with a 5.7-inch QHD (1440x2560p) Super AMOLED screen. While the Apple phablet has colder tones, the Samsung phablet shows rather warmer and vibrant colours (that even seem a little oversaturated at times).
Both high-resolution displays are great, offering panels that never concede a single pixel to the naked eye. As we have said before, a QHD display on a smartphone screen is not necessary as the pixel density is high enough with Full HD resolution, and the same holds true for Samsung Galaxy Note 4. We noticed the effect of the QHD panel only in a few apps and games, where textures appear more detailed, but such instances were few and far between.
Both Apple iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 are top-end phablets and offer the best displays despite the widely varying colour tones. The viewing angles are great, so looking at the display from the sides does not distort colours at all. However, Galaxy Note 4’s sunlight legibility is slightly less than that of iPhone 6 Plus when compared side by side at full brightness.
With both Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus sporting excellent display, it is a personal decision to go for the more vivid Samsung display or the relatively colder Apple panel.
Both Apple and Samsung have brought out their big guns with iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy Note 4, respectively.
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 runs on the 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor with 3GB RAM, the best combination available for Android phones in the market right now. In comparison, iPhone 6 Plus’s 1.4GHz dual-core A8 processor and 1GB RAM look like child’s play. But numbers don’t tell the real picture and Apple has never relied on high-end specifications to give great performance.
The hardware-software amalgamation is better in iPhone 6 Plus than Galaxy Note 4. Performing any operation feels more natural and has a fluid feel on the Apple phablet, a result of the closed Apple ecosystem. There is no denying the fact that it is among the fastest devices in the market today, and gives a user experience like none other.
That’s not to say Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is a slouch. It is easily the fastest Android device, and easily matches up to iPhone 6 Plus. In fact, switching between apps and swiping across screen feels faster on the Samsung model; it’s just that apps launch faster on the Apple phablet.
Both Apple and Samsung make great cameras, and this holds true for iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy Note 4 too. In fact, these phablets actually have the best cameras that the two companies have made till date.
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has a 16MP rear camera with LED flash, while iPhone 6 Plus has an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash.
iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy Note 4 are quite different yet very similar. Both have big screens, fast processors, great battery life, excellent cameras, fingerprint scanners and a bunch of health sensors. But the implementation of these features is what sets them apart from each other, as well as other phablets in the market.
In our view, the feature-rich Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is a device meant for those who demand the ultimate productivity gadget. On the other hand, iPhone 6 Plus is a device that is made for people who want a big-screen smartphone that works beautifully but is devoid of bells and whistles. It would suit the Apple aficionados more. Between the two, we would go with Samsung Galaxy Note 4.
