Display: Quad HD Super AMOLED

Every year the Galaxy Note's display receives an upgrade, shifting from 5.2"/WXGA in the original model to 5.5"/720p in the Notation Ii, then 5.7"/1080p in the Note 3, and now to 5.7"/WQHD in the Annotation 4. Although the size hasn't inverse, the resolution upgrade is significant, and volition bear upon both bombardment life and performance relative to the previous model.

The display in the Annotation 4 is a 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED with a resolution of 2560 x 1440, which equates to a pixel density of 515 ppi. This is a 32% increase in pixel density, and a 78% increase in total pixel count, which is going to correspondingly taxing on the SoCs that I'll discuss later in this review. As we're looking at an AMOLED panel, it's utilizing a not-RGB stripe subpixel matrix (in this example PenTile) to achieve this pixel density, though I'd exist amazed if you could tell the divergence without using a microscope.

In fact, with my supposedly amazing optics, this is the first time I haven't been able to notice the side-effects of the PenTile matrix. It probably wasn't designed for 500+ ppi displays, but information technology certain is suited to them.

While I'm still non sold on the benefits of shifting upward to 1440p from 1080p, at that place's no doubting that the resolution of this smartphone brandish is first-class. Text looks first-class, photos look first-class, videos look excellent, and basically all content suited for the super loftier resolution looks first-class. Nearly people probably won't exist able to tell the departure between a 1080p and 1440p display without comparing them side-by-side, so rest assured that there is a marginal improvement in sharpness going to 1440p.

Starting with the Galaxy S5, Samsung has made significant strides forward in AMOLED engineering recently, and the Galaxy Note iv is another step upwards. The display used on this handset is amazing from a number of standpoints, peradventure fifty-fifty moving ahead of the top-level LCDs I've seen in competing flagships.

Contrast ratio, saturation and vibrancy are the primary strengths of AMOLED panels, and the Note 4'south offering is no exception. Colors look amazing on this display, if somewhat oversaturated, although information technology appears Samsung has toned downward the flare slightly compared to the S5'southward display. The infinite dissimilarity ratio with deep blacks is awesome too, though this has been the case with AMOLEDs since their invention.

Similar with Samsung's by devices, the vibrancy of the AMOLED panel comes at the expense of accuracy: the Note 4'due south display is oversaturated. There are a few screen modes available in the settings menu that can reel the display in though. Basic mode is much more accurate though slightly undersaturated compared to accurate levels, while AMOLED Photo mode is what I'd personally opt for, coming in slightly oversaturated.

AMOLED Photo mode also reels in the blue level, giving the brandish an overall more pleasant tone that trends closer to the platonic 6500K mark. That said, color tone is an area that AMOLEDs take significantly improved in the past few generations, and by default you probably won't even discover the display's slight coldness.

The Note 4's brandish hardware is inherently going to struggle with maximum brightness. Non only does it have a high pixel density, only information technology's too an AMOLED which typically has lower max brightness than a like LCD. So I wasn't overly surprised to find its effulgence to be worse than the Galaxy S5, and generally on the lower end of the scale when compared to other flagships. The brightness level is perfect for indoor usage, and the low reflectivity of the console helps out besides, merely ideally the maximum brightness would be higher to assist with outdoor readability.

Ane thing Samsung implemented to combat the low effulgence of the display when using information technology outdoors is a brandish boost manner, which activates automatically provided you're using car brightness. Similar to a Lumia handset, the boost mode increases the ability level to the display, increasing maximum white levels while also washing out the colors.

This boost mode makes white on black (or vice versa) text much more readable outdoors, but that's about the extent of its effectiveness. Colors are significantly altered, making it harder to view any sort of imagery in the sunday, and if text is grayness or colored it becomes less readable. I admire Samsung for at to the lowest degree trying to work around the low brightness of the AMOLED panel through software/firmware methods, but the result just isn't that great.

Viewing angles are excellent as I expected from the use of AMOLED engineering. The screen is also very responsive thank you to a decent touchscreen implementation, which comes with a loftier sensitivity glove style like many of Samsung's latest smartphones.