Samsung Note

8owners with an opinion

50%of verdicts positive

3/0positive/negative since 2024

0happy after 3+ years

Praised for display and value; criticized for performance and software.

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Apple iPhone1

What people wrote

Doesn’t like itOwned 0.5 years

I went round about a lot. Started with windows phone back when it had the honeycomb ui. Stuck with it until I moved to Singapore where Microsoft announced a new phone and didn’t release it anywhere except a few countries. From there I went to iPhone 4 and had so many issues. So I went to the Note 4 and initially I loved it. But android got slower and slower so after 6 months I reset the phone and didn’t install anything. It got slower and slower and all I used was phone text and browser. But I refused to go back to Apple. I did a few hours of work for a friend fixing something and was complaining about my phone being slow so he bought me an iPhone 6 max as payment. I was annoyed at first but it was so fast… and I’ve stuck with iPhone since and don’t regret it. Best thing ever moving over to iPhone.

Likes it

I discovered something insideous after being in the iOS ecosystem. Apple still slows down iPhones, but not in the way you think - every year around their iPhone launch schedule, like clockwork, my iPhone 14 Pro Max slowed down just enough to make me think it was ageing, but not enough to suspect - after a lot of tests, it turns out, the reponsitivity of the touch was being reduced in software. So, the "smooth" iOS polished animations feel a bit laggy, but not enough to raise eyebrows. But, this is not even the worst part. I casually - out of pure coincidence discovered that Apple actually reduces the camera's clarity around their new iPhone launches. Particularly low-light performance. I thought I was being paranoid, but I'm a photographer and the hotel I walked across everyday in the evening had these beautiful hanging creepers which combined with golden lighting, always provided a pleasant sight. So, I loved taking pictures of it randomly until one day I noticed that regardless of the camera mode, the noise was insanely high and the pictures suddenly looked like they were taken from an old Android phone from 2015. I cleaned the lenses, had no cover, etc. I copied the images to my computer and the difference was clearly visible. After a little bit digging, it turns out, I wasn't the only one. A lot of people had complained about the lagginess around iPhone launch dates. This is an old graph from Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.... This i…

Likes it

I recently bought a NOS Samsung Note 10 Lite. A quarter the price of the S24, has the wonderful S-Pen and a headphone jack. And even though the battery is ostensibly not user replaceable, it is an easy job that can be done in five minutes without risking breaking anything else.

Likes it

I've been using Spacedesk on Windows with two old Android tablets. They're Samsung Note 2014s, super cheap, old enough that YouTube has stopped working, but they're 10" at 2560x1600 with good color. With good wireless, the setup is reasonably performant, fast enough to move the mouse and type fluently. Certainly slower than USB monitors, but ideal to put some reading material on one screen (PDF or a browser window), and a text editor on the other while still using the main screen. I also use them in portrait orientation 10:16, which is nice. Cheapest and most portable triptych setup there is, I guess.

Doesn’t like it

Last time I check Firefox on Mobile still break sites' layout and not render video player properly (cannot touch seek and play/pause button, it's under view window) on my Samsung Note 10. I love Firefox but it needs to be at least usable.

Doesn’t like it

So far, my experience with Samsung products is that they're really badly put together in my experience. In the past, I've had multiple Samsung Note Smartphones (changed every 2-3 years because they would stop functioning), two Samsung smart TVs (latest one that's still in use is one whose wifi module stopped functioning after a firmware update), and a Samsung 27-inch monitor (unstable connectivity to computer). All the Samsung products were poor experiences one way or another. I've replaced my last Samsung Note with an (my first) iPhone (that has lasted 6-7 years since and is still going!); and replaced the monitor with a Dell one (none of my current or previous Dell & Philips monitors ever gave issues!). Hearing how some Samsung TVs now comes with ads feels like a new low for the user experience. I'm personally avoiding Samsung products until things change.

Likes it

I am in complete agreement. My Note 4 had by far the best smartphone display I've ever used. 2560x1440 with zero screen wasted on camera or navigation buttons. I keep mine in a display cabinet and every few months take it out and enjoy just how huge the screen looks despite the fact I can hold it vertically in one hand. Dropping a spare battery in my pocket for a day hike when I'm going to run the GPS for hours. MHL giving me lag-free HDMI-out with charging. True mass-storage USB mode where I can copy files and navigate the folder structure at the same time. I used mine until the screen was so yellow it looked like I dipped it in popcorn grease.

Doesn’t like it

I wonder how much of that is Samsung's OS+Software. I had the top of the line Samsung Note (forget which generation). Felt slow, laggy, unpleasant to use, and even the home button had a very noticeable lag to it. Was a pain to root, had to jump through a few hoops, but did manage to get Cyanogen on there. The result felt WAY better, snappy, better scrolling, much less aggressive at killing apps, faster app switching, minimal lag for the home button, and generally just a pleasure to use. I mentioned this in various forums and the theory was that Samsung was optimizing for benchmarks instead of multitasking. Even things like switching apps to use maps or contacts during a call would cause whatever app you were using to be killed. I returned the Samsung Note to stock before selling it, and checked, and sure enough it felt sluggish and even with just 2-3 apps going when I switched I'd get a splash screen as the app relaunched after being killed. I "upgraded" to a pixel, that had less ram and CPU, and it felt WAY better than the stock Samsung Note. I do wonder if your results are related to the Samsung software being optimized for benchmarks (i.e. running the clock high, killing off anything that's not fullscreen currently, etc) instead of interactive use. Generally the OnePlus phones seem to be closer to pure android than Samsung from what I can tell.