Connect with us

Android

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Rumor Roundup: Release, Features & More

Published

on

Over the past few weeks, we’ve started to see Samsung Galaxy Note 4 rumors start to pick up, teasing consumers with supposed details regarding the company’s Samsung Galaxy Note 3 successor. And while we’re still months away from launch, we’ve started to see the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, its features and its release come into focus.

In the early goings of last year, we started to hear a little bit about the Samsung Galaxy Note 2’s successor, a device that we started calling the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. As the year wore on, Galaxy Note 3 rumors started to pick up in frequency, shedding light on Samsung’s rumored 5.7-inch smartphone.

By the time the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 launched in September at IFA 2013 in Berlin, we knew quite a bit about the company’s popular addition to its Galaxy lineup. We knew about its launch date ahead of time. We knew about its large 1080p display. We knew it would have a speedy quad-core processor and an upgraded camera. We knew that it would have Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box with some upgraded TouchWiz features. We even knew about its accessories.

Galaxy Note 3

Samsung was able to keep several important details hidden out of view but the point is, many Samsung Galaxy Note 3 rumors were dead on accurate.

The new year is still fairly young but we’re starting to see the pattern repeat itself. The Galaxy Note 3 is just about six months old and already, we’re hearing about the device that might wind up replacing it later on this year. In fact, over the past few months, Samsung itself has disclosed many supposed Samsung Galaxy Note 4 details, teasing prospective smartphone shoppers.

With that in mind, we want to take yet another look at what we’ve heard so far about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 4 and breakdown all of the rumored details.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Launch Date

Those who are in the hunt for a new smartphone should not be expect the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to join the Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3 or iPhone 5s on shelves any time soon. Instead, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 rumors point to a launch around the same time that Samsung always announces its new Galaxy Note model.

The Galaxy Note 3 sin't that much bigger.

The Galaxy Note 3 isn’t that much bigger than the Galaxy S5.

Over the past four months, we’ve heard a number of Samsung Galaxy Note 4 launch date rumors and every single one of them points to a launch in the second half of the year. While they are just rumors at this point, they are extremely credible given that many of them come from the mouths of unnamed, and named, Samsung executives. Here are how the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 launch date rumors breakdown:

  • Dennis Miloseski, head of studio for Samsung Design America tells Ina Fried of Recode that Samsung is planning more wearables for the new year and that some will arrive alongside a new Samsung Galaxy Note in the fall. This is the first that we hear about the Galaxy Note 4’s supposed launch window.
  • Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, is candid with Bloomberg and says that the company plans its Galaxy Note 4 for the second half of the year. Lee’s confirmation comes just hours after Miloseski’s comments.
  • Weeks later, Samsung’s CEO JK Shin reportedly confirms the Galaxy Note 4′s release for the fall. His comments come from Korean publication KBench.
  • Just one day later, Korean outlet IT Today suggests that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will be coming in the second half of the year. A specific date is not mentioned.
  • Last week, The Korea Times cited a Samsung official and asserts that Samsung is indeed looking into a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 launch later this year and that the company is thinking about using the IFA conference in Berlin, Germany. The IFA conference has been home to the last three Galaxy Note launches. It kicks off on September 5th.
  • Finally, a recent Reuters report cites Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung’s product strategy team, as saying that the Galaxy Note 4 will arrive in the second half of the year, comments that line up with everything that we’ve heard thus far about the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 launch date.

So unless Samsung is bluffing, it looks like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 launch will take place in the second half of the year and perhaps, at the IFA 2014 conference in Berlin, Germany.

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 event was Unpacked Episode 1 and it could be that the company uses an Unpacked Episode 2 event in and around September 5th for the Galaxy Note 4’s announcement. That remains unconfirmed but it’s looking like a distinct possibility. Prospective buyers would be wise to circle September 5th on the calendar.

Galaxy Note 4 Release Date

We haven’t seen any specific Samsung Galaxy Note 4 release date rumors emerge but several of the aforementioned launch date rumors do refer to a “release” taking place in the second half of the year. Samsung typically releases its new smartphones a few weeks after launch which means that we should see a Galaxy Note 4 released around the usual time.

A 5.5-inch iPhone 6 may not arrive in time to compete with the Galaxy Note 4 on day one.

A 5.5-inch iPhone 6 may not arrive in time to compete with the Galaxy Note 4 on day one.

Here is how the last three Samsung Galaxy Note launches, and releases, played out. Notice how there are just a few few weeks before the launch and release dates:

  • Samsung Galaxy Note – Announcement: September 1st, Release: October 29th.
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 2 – Announcement: August 29th, Release: September 26th.
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – Announcement: September 4th, Release: September 25th.

Samsung’s Galaxy S series follows a similar pattern and this year’s Galaxy S5 was released just a little over a month after Samsung first announced the device. The Galaxy S5, like the Galaxy Note 3, was released in well over 100 countries from the outset. The same can be expected from the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 launch and release.

Display

We’ve seen a number of Samsung Galaxy Note display rumors emerge though at the moment, the Galaxy Note 4’s display situation remains unresolved.

Last November, Bloomberg said that it was confident that Samsung is planning to release another curved smartphone this year. Instead of a curved display like the one on the Samsung Galaxy Round,  this one will supposedly wrap around both sides of the device offering three different viewing angles.

Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Galaxy Note 3 - 4-L

The publication’s report in January backed this assertion and a report from The Korea Herald citing Song Jong-ho, an analyst at Seoul-based KDB Daewoo Securities, did too. Song believes Samsung will bring bent displays to the market later this year and that it will introduce a “few million units at the end of this year, initially taking aim at the niche market”.

The official cited in The Korea Times’ most recent report claims that a curved Galaxy Note 4 display is still a possibility but the feature is still far from a definite.

That same Korea Times report posits that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 support for both high-definition and ultra high-definition. Details aren’t shared but we assume that this could mean that the Galaxy Note 4 could come with support for full HD, QHD or quite possibly, UHD. QHD is rumored for LG’s G3 and other high-end devices which makes it more likely than UHD.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 display is brighter than the bigger Galaxy Note 3 display.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 display is brighter than the bigger Galaxy Note 3 display.

An earlier report from Korean daily Daum says that Samsung is working on UHD quality displays for its mobile devices but it’s still not clear if Samsung will be able to get its 4K displays ready in time for the Galaxy Note 4. At this point, given that the Galaxy S5 offers full HD and not QHD, we think a QHD Galaxy Note 4 screen is, again, far more likely than UHD.

Design

Samsung is known for keeping its designs under lock and key ahead of launch and unsurprisingly, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 design rumors are scarce at the moment. We do, however, have a couple of clues.

In the Reuters report Yoon Han-kil says that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will come with a “new form factor.” The executive does not elaborate any further than that but it’s similar to the comments that executives made before the Samsung Galaxy S5 launch. The Galaxy S5 features a design that is vastly different from the Galaxy S4’s.

Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Galaxy Note 3 -  Cameras

IT Today claims that Samsung is looking into putting a IP67 certified design on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 comes with IP67-rated water and dust resistance, a feature that first arrived on board the company’s Samsung Galaxy S4 Active last year. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 does not come with an IP67 certification.

Specs

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is also rumored to have a number of other features including a faster processor, faster data speeds, and improved S Pen features.

  • Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 could have a 64-bit processor which would put it on par with the Apple’s iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina Display.
  • The device could also come with LTE-Advanced support. LTE-A offers faster data speeds for compatible devices but it also requires networks to offer the capability. U.S. carriers have been slow to adopt the new technology. Verizon plans to deploy LTE-A by the middle of 2014.
  • Finally, an early report from ETNews suggests Samsung locked in Synaptics as the supplier of the touch portion of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 screen and that its technology could bring improved Air View, Air Gesture and S Pen support to Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy smartphones.
6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. iMedia Designs

    04/18/2014 at 6:26 am

    Nice phone!

  2. sarahjane

    04/19/2014 at 1:37 am

    I heard about all this but i want to know one thing is it coming in metallic body for a change or not???

    • Najum Wani

      04/20/2014 at 7:17 pm

      Of course not. Do you know how much weight that would add to the already massive phone? No chance.

  3. Honey Singh

    04/19/2014 at 11:12 am

    Great smartphone !

  4. robairto

    04/20/2014 at 8:07 pm

    How about something useful and logical instead of trendy like front facing speakers, good low light camera and superb battery life? That’s what my note 3 is lacking. And while you are at it samsung, might as well get rid of the physical home button and go with another nice disappearing capacitive button. I will say that if I see those stupid onscreen buttons or another bottom or rear facing speaker, I’m done with samsung. Metal body looks nice, but I suspect it will add too much weight (and I keep a case on anyways).

  5. yuy

    05/05/2014 at 10:27 pm

    @robairto – battery life? really?? No way you own a N3 and make a comment like that…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.