The new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 just hit the stores and it’s the latest in flagship phones from the Korean manufacturer. The iPhone 6 Plus has made waves by being a totally different product from Apple, one much more similar to the Android phones. The two phones are very similar in size. In terms of hardware on the Galaxy Note 4 on the front there’s a 5.7″ quad HD display, a 3.7 megapixel camera, a home button which also acts as a fingerprint scanner, and two capacitive buttons which are for Menu and going Backwards. To the right of the device there’s a sleep-wake switch and to the left is the volume rocker. At the top there’s a 3.5 mm headphone jack and an infrared blaster. At the bottom is where the things get a little bit funky. Samsung features a USB 2.0 port on there via MicroUSB. The Galaxy Note 3 included USB 3.0 so that’s basically a downgrade. On the back there’s a 16 megapixel camera with a flash and a heart rate monitor.
Moving over to the iPhone 6 Plus hardware, on the front there’s a 5.5″ 1080p display, a front facing camera, a home button which also acts as TouchID which means it’s a fingerprint scanner. To the right of the device, a first for any new iPhone is our sleep-wake button and the sim card slot. To the left is the mute switch and the volume rocker. At the top there’s nothing, which is kind of interesting because typically the sleep-wake switch has always been at the top. At the bottom of the device is our 3.5mm headphone jack, lightning charger port, speaker and microphone. The speaker on the iPhone 6 Plus is definitely improved. To the back of the device is the 8 megapixel camera which does protrude from the phone itself, and near it we have a dual LED flash.
It’s one of the hardest hardware comparisons one can make. The iPhone 6 Plus has an aluminum backing so you’re going to get that metallic feel. If you like more of a gripping feel the Galaxy Note 4 has a leather backing, but they’ve ditched the stitching seen on the Galaxy S5 which is great. The aluminum backing will be more slippery, so points go to the Samsung for this one.
As far as specs go, the Galaxy Note 4 features a Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2560 by 1440 which gives you a very fine image, at 514 pixels per inch. The processing power is a Snapdragon 805 chipset with a 2.7 GHz quad core processor. The Adreno 420 graphics processing unit will be plenty for many generations of games. There’s 3 GB of RAM for multitasking. The 16 MP camera has Optical Image Stabilization. The Android phone is powered by a 3220 mAh battery, which is plenty for intensive use. Two bonuses are the MicroSD expansion slot and a stylus that tucks into the phone.
Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus features a 1920 by 1080 pixels display which resolves a pixel density of 401 per inch. It’s powered by Apple’s 64 bit A8 Dual Core processor, clocked at 1.4 GHz. Graphics are powered by the PowerVR GX6650 GPU. You get 1 GB of RAM with the iPhone 6 Plus for multitasking and the camera’s 8 megapixel sensor is 1/3rd of an inch in size and also features Optical Stabilization. It doesn’t feature an expansion slot for MicroSD cards, nor does it have a stylus. But Apple finally implemented NFC technology, although it’s only for payments trough Apple Pay for now.
If you compare the specifications one by one, you’re obviously going to see that the Galaxy Note 4 has a better specs sheet. Better battery life with better processor with higher clock speed, 3 gigs of RAM instead of 1. If you want to go off that, than the Note 4 is probably your best option, it’s obviously the most powerful one out of the two. But when you compare the real world performance it’s a little bit different and the iPhone 6 Plus can definitely keep up. It looks stunning, you’ll not be disappointed with either option here. But if specs mean a lot to you, then the Samsung flagship is your best bet.
In terms of software the Galaxy Note 4 features Android 4.4.4 KitKat. It’s complemented by the TouchWiz user interface, the Samsung standard. Some of the design pros on this is that is has some nice features. Some of the design cons are: it feels very slow, it feels very blocky. If you go into the settings it gets really ugly, you have a hundred options to do almost anything. We are not fans of TouchWiz at all, to be honest. It’s very square and the color themes are toy-like. There are some cool things you can do with S-Health and with the stylus, those features are well designed, but most of the user interface is anything but. We are hoping that with Android L we will see a major UI overhaul. We love the software, we love the specs, it would be great if the design of the software would be equally appealing. Samsung could take a note from HTC and Motorola’s software adaptations, which seem much smoother and better implemented.
The iPhone 6 Plus runs iOS 8. Some of the pros are that it features a simple, flat user interface. A con is that it features little in the way of optimization and custom functions. It’s kind of stale and outdated. We’ve seen the major UI overhaul of the IOS 7 and the 8 just seems like it was done in a haste, very last-minute. You’re going to have your usual toolbar by swiping up, you have an array of useful tools, some other cool stuff like widgets, it’s a lot of the same stuff we’ve seen in IOS 7. This year it really ties into Yosemite, on the Mac. As simple as it is to use, you feel that it lacks that customization that Android phones have. We hope Apple will unlock the NFC for other apps, as currently it is only used for Apple Pay.
With the pixel density of 515 per inch on the Galaxy Note 4, you get a stunning view with great detail. The colors are vibrant and accurate, although a bit over-saturated. The response is also spot on and very fast. On the iPhone 6 Plus on the other hand you only get 401 ppi, which is still the highest density that has been crammed into an Apple iPhone. There isn’t a discernible difference between the two in terms of sharpness, the Galaxy Note 4 is a mere 25% more, but it’s somewhat overkill. One thing that puts the iPhone 6 Plus in the lead,in my opinion at least, is color accuracy. Because the colors aren’t over-saturated, you can judge the colors better. It also gives it more of a professional look, compared to the Galaxy’s Toys’R’Us colors.
The cameras on both devices are admirable. The rear facing 16 MP shooter is a stunner on the Galaxy Note 4, and delivers beautiful images with great accuracy. The front camera has a wide-angle lens, perfect for selfies, and delivers good images in most lighting conditions. You also get 4k video recording with the Note 4, and that seems to be featured more and more by mainstream manufacturers. The iPhone 6 Plus has the Optical Image Stabilization in common with the Galaxy Note 4, but it’s only half the megapixels on the rear camera. The iPhones have been famous for great images throughout the years, and the latest make no exceptions. One difference between the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus is that only the latter has OIS.
Although the battery is smaller on the iPhone 6 Plus by about 10%, they perform very similarly. There’s no discernable difference. It might be the smaller screen, lower amount of RAM or slower processor, but the iPhone really held its own here.
The Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus are the two of the biggest flagships of the two biggest phone companies in the world. They both bring a versatile and great experience to its users. But they are as different as Windows and Mac used to be in the last decade. What sets them apart is what will help you make your mind up over which one is best for you. The iPhone 6 Plus aims for perfection and an easy design. Nothing’s bloated, everything is nice and neat. They are happy to put in an 8 megapixel camera, because it does the job, just as good as the Galaxy’s 16 MP shooter. Your Facebook and Instagram followers won’t notice the resolution difference, and neither will you. There isn’t really a price difference, as they are both over 800$ without contract. If you choose a carrier, you will eventually pay the phone in full anyway. If you do like the advent of adding storage, playing the latest mobile games with great graphics then the iPhone 6 Plus is definitely not for you. If however you find some useless features annoying and you don’t like to fiddle with too many settings, the Galaxy Note 4 will not satisfy your needs as much as its rival. Whichever you choose, they will deliver a premium user experience for at least a year without really needing to upgrade. You’ll have the top of the line mainstream device everyone else craves.