Samsung refines its popular Note handset, and the result is a beast of a smartphone

Premium metal design; Quad HD screen; Camera great in low-light

Too big for some; TouchWiz still not perfected; Expensive

We review Samsung's Galaxy Note 4, the latest phablet-sized phone rocking the usual S Pen stylus. I guess it's kind of telling that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 no longer feels ridiculously huge when you first pick it up.

Beautiful Quad HD screen; Broad appeal; Capable camera; Great battery life

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 lets you know straight away that it is a quality smartphone as the premium metal frame and its fluid curvature touch your skin. Perfectly balanced, the soft-textured rear cover, which imitates natural leather, has the ergonomics that we hoped for and provides superior grip...

I love this phone, I mainly use my phone for streaming movies and watching Netflix and amazon prime viewer so the large screen is ideal. Having it unlocked helped as I'm on the 3 network so not the best network to cross deck phones, but I don't have any signal issues with the phone.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is a great phablet with plenty of extra features and functionality, providing more value for the price over most other devices in this category and price range.

S-Pen; screen

Needs to reduce the number of pre-installed apps

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (SM-N910F) is an excellent smartphone . The material impression is now better and pretty appealing with the metal frame . The Snapdragon 805 is very fast, but the throttling of the Adreno 420 under load is pretty annoying.

Powerful SoC; Good camera; Great build quality; Very good battery runtimes; Replaceable battery; Expandable memory; S-Pen; Quick charge; 50 GB Dropbox for 24 months; Good GPS module; Decent voice quality; The great display is in a class of its own and also works well under the sun.

GPU throttling; No IP certification; No USB 3.0; Bloatware; We would have expected an IP certification for the Note 4

The Galaxy Note 4 is a shining example of how great a phablet can be. It's one of the best Android phones available today -- if not the very best.

Fantastic big-screen features; Cutting edge processing power; Great battery life; Best Android phablet; Plenty of storage space; Fantastic camera

Not waterproof; S-Pen controls hidden in settings; No good way to manage screen size; S Pen isn't a must-have feature

Armed with an incredible Quad HD AMOLED display, cutting-edge Snapdragon 805 processor, and Samsung's newfound premium design, the Galaxy Note 4 ($299.99 with contract) is easily one of the most impressive smartphones of the year.

Incredible Quad HD display; New premium look and feel; Flexible multitasking; Improved stylus features; Outstanding battery life

Trades comfort for style; Requires some work to get the most out of the experience

Not only is the Note 4 the best Samsung smartphone I've ever used, but it's also the best large-screen phone on the market -- even better than the iPhone 6 Plus.

Gorgeous design with high-end materials; Nice display; Best camera in a Galaxy smartphone; Powerful performance; Great battery life

Isn't waterproof; Loudspeaker still needs work