Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to Launch on Friday October 17th 2014 – Pricing, Colours are a Diwali Festival of Lights for a Blackberry Passport Contender

While all the hoopla is certainly about the upcoming launch of the Apple iPad, once cannot forget the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which is set to launch on Friday October 17^th 2014 in the United Kingdom as stated in the article “Samsung Galaxy Note 4 UK launch delayed to October 17”, published 09 October, 2014, GSM Arena.

Apparently it was supposed to have launched on Friday October 10^th 2014 in the UK, but it failed to launch. Oddly, it’s launching in India, a Developing World Country but a very large, affluent and rapidly growing market on Tuesday October 14^th 2014, based on invitations that have been sent out for the event as stated in the article “Samsung to launch Galaxy Note 4 in India on October 14”, published Oct 9, 2014, 04.57PM IST by Anupam Saxena, Times of India.

This launch is occurring days ahead of the Diwali Festival of Lights which falls on Thursday October 23^rd 2014. Coincidentally Samsung plans to take another shot with Tizen OS even after the dismal failure in Russia back in August 2014 as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Samsung Z running Tizen OS fails to enter Russian Market hints at Caribbean and Latin American Launch”.

This with the launch of the Tizen OS based Samsung Z9000 ZEQ smartphone in India during the Diwali Festival of Lights to boost its presence in that market even as they face having to report 60% decline in Profits for the Third Quarter of 2014 to shareholders as reported in my blog article entitled “Samsung’s declares 60% Profit and 20% Sales decline - Tizen OS Response needed as India’s Diwali may Light a Path in November towards Future Prosperity”.

So based on the interest, I guess I’m a tad late in doing a quick review on the Samsung Galaxy 4, being as it’s really launching Friday October 17^th 2014, a day after the Apple iPad Air 2 and the Apple iPad Mini 3 as reported in my blog article entitled “Apple iPads launching on Thursday October 16th 2014 - Apple No. 2 in Gold with Touch ID as Chinese Tablets, Phablets, Microsoft Surface and Google Chromebook Competition grow”.

And yes dear reader, as my article implies, the Samsung Galaxy Note, being a Phablet, is potentially a competitor to Apple’s shaky Tablet throne that’s showing signs of crumbling. So what Big Guns is the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 packing?

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – Traffic for the Samsung Galaxy 3 alerted me to its coming

I do admit, I ignored the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, due to my personal bias against forced-fed Phablets and the smartphones craze in general as noted in my blog article entitled “The Reason why I don't like Smartphones - Location Privacy and How to disable Location Services on Android and iOS”.

I became aware of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 when I noticed an awful amount of Traffic coming to my blog from persons Googling the words “Samsung Galaxy Note 4”. Very hard to ignore spikes in blog traffic like this!

Googlers were apparently bumping into my Samsung Galaxy Note III review I did last years as detailed in my blog article entitled “Samsung Galaxy Note III is an excellent alternative to the Apple iPhone - Phablet competition from the HTC One Max and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra signals long lasting trend”, hoping to find news on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 .

Take note people!

I’d done an article about its possible debut at the Samsung Unpacked Event which took place on Wednesday September 3^rd 2014 as I’d chronicled in my blog article entitled “Samsung Unpacked 2014 Event coming September 3 2014 - Samsung Galaxy S6 with a dash of Note 4, Tizen OS and Samsung Galaxy Glass”.

During that time, Samsung revealed the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Apple iPhone 5S Clone, the Samsung Galaxy Alpha as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Samsung Galaxy Alpha with Metallic Band - Last of the 5” smartphones with decreased Battery Life as the Luddite Camp gets Larger”.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – Samsung Galaxy Note III and Samsung Galaxy S5 had a Child

The specs of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 are surprisingly similar to those of the Samsung Galaxy Note III, with a few improvements, mainly in the Processor and the Screen.

The screen is now a 5.7” QHD (1440x2560p) in Note 4, upping the ante from the Full HD (1080x1920p) in Note 3 and just 0.2” bigger than the Apple iPhone 6 Plus as noted in the article “Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has quad HD 5.7-inch display, 16MP camera, faster Snapdragon 805 chip (hands-on)”, published September 3, 2014 6:30 AM PDT, CNET News.

The overall dimensions are small for a Phablet but with dimensions of 153.5mm by 78.6mm by 8.5mm (6” by 3.1” by 0.34”) and weighing in at 176g (6.2 ounce), it’s a contender that won't spoil your look, so long has you have pants with really large pockets!

The Indians got luck for Diwali as their erosion of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has an octa-core Processor with a choice of 1.9GHz quad-core + 1.3GHz quad-core, compared to the international version which only comes with a 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 Processor. 3GB of RAM complements either version nonetheless, with the standard 32GB of RAM and expandable 64GB microSD slot for increased storage.

Interestingly it's running Samsung's TouchWiz interface on top of Android 4.4 KitKat, which is the same OS configuration that the Samsung Galaxy S5 currently runs. This makes me wonder if the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is the Spiritual Child of the Samsung Galaxy Note III and the Samsung Galaxy S5, that is, if smartphones could have children of course!

Selfies are now a big thing, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is firmly on that bandwagon. 3.7 Megapixel front facing camera capable of taking 120 Degree angle photos definitely eats the Apple iPhone 6 Plus 1.2 Megapixel Front Facing Camera as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - No Sapphire Screen but 128GB Storage and NFC-powered Apple Pay in Apple's Biggest iPhone Launch”.

The Rear Facing camera is double that of the Apple iPhone 6 at 16 megapixels, albeit the 8 Megapixels Apple iPhone 6 Plus iSight Camera performs much better based on DxO's DxOMark Mobile scores released Tuesday September 23^rd 2014 as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 6 and Plus with 128GB Storage and Apple Pay is Biggest iPhone Launch”

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 interface is reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy S5 as described in my blog article entitled “Introducing the Samsung Galaxy S5 – 16 Megapixel Camera with Fingerprint Scanner and Fitness Tracker is Improved Fun Experience in a better Business Suit”.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 features a Fingerprint scanner in the Home key and an oddly placed LED Laser based heart rate counter on the back. It's now a weatherman with a built-in barometer and can detect proximity to magnetic fields with a Hall Effect Sensor.

In terms of hardware, it’s a mix of both its predecessor and the Samsung Galaxy S5. Improved multitasking is very obvious with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, with a neat new trick borrowed from the Samsung Galaxy S5 of minimizing Apps to floating widgets when not in use.

The S Note App finally gets its own widget which is accessible using the S Pen Stylus. The floating widgets combined with better text selection and ability to take screenshots of the sections of the screen using the S Pen Stylus makes the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 perfectly optimized for multi-tasking.

Rounding out this well balanced multi-tasking Phablet is the battery life, which has improved over its predecessor by 20mAh to 3,220mAh battery. That extra 20mAh, Samsung claims, delivers 7.5% more battery life. Coupled with their latest fast-charging technology that can get the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 from 0% to 50% in 30 minutes, Samsung has a serious contender for Corporate and Enterprise workhorse on their hands.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Prospects – Pricing, Colours Diwali Festival of Lights Blackberry Passport Contender

This, dear reader, is a Phablet that can get work done.

The Apple iPhone 6 Plus has no stylus and thus may not have that level of productivity built in, save of course for Microsoft Office 365, which is on the Apple iPad and on the Apple iPhone as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Microsoft to introduce Office to Apple iPad on Thursday March 27th 2014”

The Blackberry Passport, which is also in India, may need more than synching messages from other devices and a swipe-able physical keyboard as noted in my blog article entitled “US$500 Blackberry Passport Launched - How Blackberry Blend Remote Access may trump Apple Pay Wallet in the US of A” to woo the Indian Crowd after the Diwali Festival of Lights is over

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 comes in the following colours which are a quiet nod to the Apple iPhone 5S and current Apple iPhone 6:

1.      Black

2.      White

3.      Gold

4.      Pink

Most likely it'll be priced at US$600 unlocked, an increasingly popular option for Americans with cash to splash and Jamaicans interested in buying the smartphone for relatives back home as noted in my blog article entitled “Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act makes Cellphone Unlocking Legal again - President Barack Obama upholds DMCA”

That's US$100 more than the Blackberry Passport. With all those features pack into the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, the Price is Right for the Diwali Festival of Lights!