Should I upgrade from Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to Note 4?

I have been using Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for the past year and I am very happy with the phone. Hence when Samsung Galaxy Note 4 came out, I asked myself: “Should I upgrade from Note 3 to Note 4?”. Hmm….

After testing the phone for a week, below are my five reasons why I should upgrade to Note 4.

1. The Display Screen - Both uses Super AMOLED touchscreen (16M colors). However Note 4 has approximate 515 ppi pixel density which is higher than Note 3 approximate 386 ppi pixel density. When both are placed side by side, to me, Note 4 does display the small details better compared to Note 3. I am always a fan of the Super AMOLED touchscreen. It just makes the picture comes alive and looks as if it is popping out of the phone!

Note 4’s screen has a curved glass designed as compared to Note 3’s flat screen design. With the curved glass display, it does elevate its appearance overall and makes it looks classier as well. The minor issue here is there is a small gap around the edge of the display and dirt might get trapped there easily.

2. The Camera - Note 4’s camera comes with an upgrade from 13MP to 16MP and it comes with optical image stabilisation so say bye bye to blur pictures.

The front camera also was upgraded from 2MP to 3.7MP. For selfie lovers, it allows you to take up to a 120 degree selfie photo! This is fantastic for a group photo at arm length, if you do not have a selfie stick at hand. There is a new way to take a selfie as well! Remember how difficult it would be to try to reach for the capture button while doing a selfie. Now you can just place your finger over the heart monitor, below the main camera, and release it when you are ready for the selfie! Wala, your selfie will be automatically taken once your finger is off the heart rate monitor.

3. Larger Battery, Longer Battery Life - In Note 4, the battery is upgraded to from 3200mAh to 3220mAh. The initial thought is how the new battery going to sustain with the upgraded new display screen. I was surprised that the phone still managed to last at least for 2 days for normal usage. Seems like the new battery is powerful enough to power the new chipset and the new display screen.

4. The Fingerprint Sensor - This is a new feature added in, maybe to match with Apple Touch ID. There are 4 features that the fingerprint can be used: Fingerprint lock, Web sign-in, Verify Samsung Account and Pay with Paypal. I tried using the Fingerprint lock. During registration  it would require 10 scan of fingerprint of different area of the finger as well. Hence it makes the fingerprint to be recognised easier when different areas of the finger is used for scanning.

5. The Redesigned S Pen - For Note 3, I tried to use the S Pen to take notes on the phone, but the smooth surface and slim body prevented me to have a good grip of the pen. Samsung have redesigned the S Pen for Note 4. They added ridges on the body of the pen and this makes the pen easier to grip for writing and other task.

Of course, there are other new additional functions and enhancement like heart rate monitor (below the main camera), new notification appearance (easier to navigate) etc.

No phone is prefect though. For me, Note 4 does have 2 points to improve on.

1. Use of micro USB 2.0 instead of micro USB 3.0 used in Note 3 – Why? I also do not understand the change, after all micro USB 3.0 does have a faster transfer speed right?

2. Lack of IP67 certified (dust and water resistant) – If this is included, this phone would be prefect. Maybe this is will be included in Note 5 instead.

After all this, I have decided to still go ahead and make the upgrade from Note 3 to Note 4. I have made a reservation on Note 4 already. So would you have made the change from Note 3 to note 4?