Software, S Pen & New Sensors

The Samsung Milky way Note 4 comes loaded with Android iv.4.four and their TouchWiz UI, which is a combination largely the same every bit the Galaxy S5. As the 2 phones are and then similar in their software offerings, and to salvage me from repeating myself, head over to my review of the Galaxy S5 to learn about the main features of the Note 4.

All the same, as the Notation 4 is a newer device with a different prepare of features and hardware, the software isn't identical. The full general interface has received some minor changes (nearly stock app backgrounds are at present white instead of blackness, for case), some features accept been contradistinct and some others have been removed entirely.

The most notable changes to the basic features I have summarised for y'all below.

  • The app switcher has been revised for the larger display, featuring larger images in a cascading tile view.
  • There is a shortcut to the camera app on the lockscreen, which comes in handy for quick photo capturing
  • The Toolbox has been removed, as it wasn't a particularly useful characteristic to brainstorm with.
  • The fourth dimension and weather widget has been visually improved, fitting in much meliorate with the residual of the Android interface. It actually looks dainty this time!
  • The settings screen has been revised to be easier to navigate. The massively long list of icons, with some options duplicated, is now a unproblematic list that is separated into obvious categories. It's still pretty long, only information technology'due south no longer terrible.
  • The Messages and Music apps now have new landscape modes. Oddly, the basic landscape modes are the same for every other app, most of which don't brand use of the large Galaxy Annotation 4 display.
  • The fingerprint scanner registers finger swipes faster, although the swiping movement required to get it to recognize your fingerprint is all the same bad-mannered.

Alongside these smaller changes, Samsung has made a few larger ones that bring polish to the overall software implementation. One of these is the make new multi-window mode, which is completely redesigned to make the most out of the large 5.7-inch display on the Annotation 4.

The previous multi-window mode allows y'all to split the display into 2 sections that each would be occupied by a carve up awarding. The feature was handy if you wanted to quickly switch between two apps, simply express. With the Note 4's new multi-window mode, apps can actually be placed into individual windows and moved around the screen, creating a true multi-application window experience within Android.

Rather than dragging apps from a tray onto the screen to activate multi-window, yous now create a window past swiping diagonally inwards from the top-right corner as if you want to brand the app smaller. From at that place you can move the window around, minimize it to a small circular icon on the brandish, and easily re-create content from one window to another using the Move Content feature. You can accept a maximum of 5 windows on the screen at any ane fourth dimension.

Unfortunately the feature even so only works with a few of the applications in Android, although some tertiary-party apps like Chrome (and most Google apps), Facebook, and Evernote are supported. Still, despite these restrictions, the revamped multi-window feature can become incredibly useful for multitasking-heavy power users afterward a bit of practise to learn how it works.

S Health also comes with some new features, and this is due to the new sensors found in the Notation four. The get-go of these new features is UV way, wherein yous point the dorsum of the Notation 4 towards the sun and information technology tells you how intense the UV rays are. This feature is meant to point whether you lot should wear sunscreen or not, although like the heart rate monitor it'southward somewhat of a gimmick. You await like an idiot pointing your smartphone at the sun, and almost weather condition apps will already tell you the UV Alphabetize for your location.

SpO2 is another characteristic that uses a new sensor in the Note iv: the pulse oximeter. This characteristic's aim is to tell you how oxygenated your blood is, with a normal level falling within 95-100%. A level from xc-95% is considered low, while below ninety% could signal yous are ill and require medical attention. The value itself is a ratio of the oxyhaemoglobin to full concentration of haemoglobin in your blood.

All of my readings while testing the SpO2 meter barbarous inside 95-100%, regardless of my diet and exercise patterns. Obviously this is good news for my personal wellness, though it makes the sensor less valuable. The reading doesn't betoken whether I should exercise more, drink more or eat better food, only whether I'thousand healthy or not. And to be honest, I can tell if I'g feeling ill without a smartphone's assistance.

Samsung too fails to inform you within S Health every bit to what the meaning of the SpO2 reading actually is. The information they provide says that a normal SpO2 range is between 95-100%, and that it can "point your fettle level and the intensity of exercise". However later doing absolutely no practise I can reach a SpO2 level of 100%, so the latter claim seems questionable.

After a flake of research it appears that the meter is useful for people wanting to exercise in high altitude conditions, revealing if yous may be at risk of hypoxia. It's likewise useful for asthma sufferers wanting to assess their health while exercising. Information technology's not almost as useful for salubrious individuals who exercise regularly, making information technology more of a niche feature than something you'll use every twenty-four hours. I would have liked to see Samsung provide more information nigh the SpO2 meter and then that people like me don't have to look up what it means.

Moving on to the South Pen, and the experience remains largely the aforementioned as past Milky way Notes. The passive stylus is responsive and comes with more pressure levels than before (up to 2,000 levels), making it i of the all-time digital pen experiences y'all tin can notice. S Notation is however your number ane finish for notation-taking, and although it hasn't changed much compared to the version found in the Note 3, it's still a solid application filled with features.

Removing the pen from its slot, or hovering the pen over the display and pressing its button, activates Air Command, which has been consolidated compared to previous iterations. It at present features four basic and useful commands: Action Memo, which is a pop-up notepad that saves to South Notation and can automatically convert input to phone numbers and addresses; Screen Write, which takes a screenshot and allows you to draw on information technology; Paradigm Prune for drawing around something on the screen to capture equally an image; and my personal favourite, Smart Select.

Smart Select is a conglomerate of past South Pen features added together into the 1 handy package. It allows you to select items on the screen and capture them to a clipboard, either as text – which is automatically recognized and converted – or an image. The clipboard floats around on the screen, and past clicking and dragging you lot can add it to input windows such equally S Note, emails or messages.

The feature has a number of first-class use cases. For example y'all could capture an prototype of a business carte, employ Smart Select to convert the address in the paradigm to editable text, and so go directly to Maps from the automatically generated link. You lot could also capture a paragraph from a website, convert it to text, and e-mail or tweet information technology aslope an automatically generated link back to the source.

The Note 4 also comes with expanded highlighting options using the S Pen. Pressing the push downwards and selecting text will now allow yous to copy it with ease or even information technology look it up in the dictionary. Hover previews have been expanded as well, and at present include quick action buttons for things such every bit editing and sharing.

Another handy feature is found inside S Notation, called Photo Note. In this fashion you lot tin can capture notes from a written notebook and convert them to editable shapes inside Due south Annotation. Alongside S Note's versatile annotation-taking features, Photo Annotation allows you to import written notes into the digital app with ease.