Two words really. Love it!! Primary reasons for buying is the Camera, S-Pen and screen size.
There's a lot to love about this phone starting with the camera. 16 mp and optical IS is probably the best features of the camera and it's impressive in low light. The video features are impressive too including 4K and an option for smooth fast motion (60 fps). However, I shoot mainly stills with mine. US Cellular finally updated us to Lollipop but no RAW option. I have read where some Note 4s have a Sony sensor and some a Samsung Isocell sensor. As far as I can tell mine has the Sony. Not that it matters, The Samsung sensor is supposed to be on par with the Sony.
Big 5.7” Quad HD Super AMOLED (2560 x1440) screen. I doubt I would like anything any bigger or much smaller. Plenty of room for what ever you are looking at. That may sound silly but if you don't have the best vision or don't have your glasses on (bifocals in my case) you can still see what you are doing. Makes texting, emailing and reading easier, which is something I do a lot of on my phone. And of course photos look beautiful on the screen. I usually set the brightness at about 20% when inside and auto if I'm outdoors. Helps a lot on battery life and screen life. Google AMOLED for more info on screen life.
Build quality is excellent. Has an aluminum chassis instead of Samsung's usual plastic. Samsung has taken a lot of heat for using plastic for years but I had a Galaxy S4 before this and it wasn't a problem nor has it been with friends with other Samsung phones. As far as being sleek and sexy.... Well it's a smart phone and they all pretty much look the same in my book. Thin rectangles. I'm for function over form for the most part. I have never quite understood why styling is such a big deal on smartphones. It's not like it's a sports car. I do have my Note 4 in a Tek21 case. No smartphone is indestructible and a drop and hit on concrete to a corner or flat on the face will break the screen glass. Gorilla glass or not. My wife found this out the hard way on her Galaxy S4. She ended up with my S4 and I got the Note 4.
Battery life is very good and unlike the new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge you can replace the battery yourself or keep a spare on hand to swap out if your are a power user. Has a Micro SD Card slot which S6 phones don't have. But both have the new "Fast Charge" system and it really does charge up fast!
All cell phones and smartphones are radios when it comes to phone calls, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC and 3G/4G. I have noticed that this phone does better than my Galaxy S4 when it comes to NOT Dropping calls in areas the S4 did. I've owned Motorola, Blackberry and Samsung phones over the past 13 years. The Motorolas did the best at not dropping calls. I attribute that to the fact Motorola started out as a radio company and still makes two way radios (Motorola Solutions).
Love the S-Pen! This is one handy feature and part of the reason I bought to phone. You can write on the screen and it will turn it into text and seems pretty accurate to me. I'm sure this will vary from person to person for obvious reasons. It's cool to be able to use it as a notepad while talking on the phone. Being able to draw things out accurately when needed is a real advantage. If I write out a text or email with the S-Pen I spend much much less time correcting things than touching the virtual keyboard and fighting with autocorrect. There are lots of apps for drawing or doodling for fun.
S Health is pretty cool. Use it for checking your pulse and oxygen level and it's pretty accurate. S Health does a lot more than that too.
Software / Apps, There's plenty included with the phone and most you can only turn off. Not delete unless you root the device. Not everybody will use every app on the phone and it would be nice to remove what you don't want to free up memory. At least you can turn most of them off. Playing music on it through earbuds is great! I really like Adapt Sound. It gives you a hearing test and boosts the frequency areas where you may have hearing loss. Good for me anyways as I have some. Too many years playing in bands, which I still do. Rock On! Oh Yeah, IT'S FAST too!!
I'm not going to compare it to other phones and brands... I don't care for trolls and fanboys. If you hate Samsung then don't buy Samsung.... Move on. If you don't mind carrying a smartphone that's kinda big and kinda heavy and want a killer camera and a big beautiful screen then you will love a Note 4. And if you want an even bigger screen and S-Pen check out the Note 10.1 and 12.2 tablets. I have the Note 10.1 2014 Edition Tablet and love it too.
