Samsung Unveils Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge with Curved Display

IFA 2014 tradeshow is just starting today, and will last until the 9th of September, but several companies have made announcements just before the show. One of them is Samsung which announced Gear VR virtual reality kit, Tizen based Gear S smartwatch, as well as two new smarthones, Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge, which will be the subject of this post.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge

Galaxy Note Edge is much different from most other phones thanks to its curved display on one side of the phone. Other specifications:

• SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon S805 quad core Krait 400 processor @ 2.7 GHz with Adreno 420 GPU
• System Memory – 3GB RAM
• Storage – 32 or 64 GB internal memory + micro SD slot (up to 64GB)
• Display – 5.6″ Quad HD+ Super AMOLED (2560 x 1440 + 160)
• Cellular Networking:
  • 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
  • 3G (HSPA 42Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
  • 4G (LTE Cat 4 150/50Mbps) or 4G (LTE Cat 6 300/50Mbps)
• Connectivity
  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (HT80) MIMO PCIe
  • Bluetooth 4.1 (BLE, ANT+)
  • GPS / GLONASS / Baidou
  • NFC
• USB – micro USB 2.0 with MHL 3.0 support (HDMI output)
• Camera – 16MP rear facing camera with auto focus and Smart OIS, 3.7MP front facing camera
• Video Codec – H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, VC-1, WMV7, WMV8, Sorenson Spark, MP43, VP8, Recording & Playback: up to UHD
• Audio Codec – MP3, AAC/AAC/eAAC, WMA, AMR-NB/WB, Vorbis, and FLAC with ~192KHz, 24 bit support
• Sensors – Gesture, Accelerometer, Geo-magnetic, Gyroscope, RGB, IR-LED Proximity, Barometer, Hall Sensor, Finger Scanner, UV, Heart Rate Monitoring, SpO2 (Dependent on market)
• Misc – IR LED for remote control feature
• Battery – 3,000 mAh Li-ion battery, support for adaptive fast charging and QC 2.0
• Dimensions – 151.3 x 82.4 x 8.3mm
• Weight – 174 grams.

The phone will run Android 4.4 (KitKat), come with Samsung “S Pen”. The 160 pixel edge screen provides access to “Revolving Interaction, Immersive apps (Camera, Video, S Note), Ticker board, Express me, Quick Tools, Night Clock, etc..”. Other innovations include support for multiple windows, a front camera providing 90 to 120 degree shooting angle,  faster charging via Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, multiple microphones allowing for better noise cancellation, a voice recorder offering eight different directional voice tagging and a selective playback capability that allows users to isolate and listen to specific voices in a group conversation. Samsung also claims it’s the first time a UV sensor has been integrated into a mobile device.

You may want to watch the video below to better understand what’s possible with the curved display, for example having video control keys, while playing a video.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Let’s compare Note Edge to Samsung Galaxy Note 4:

• SoC (depends on market)
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon S805 quad core Krait 400 processor @ 2.7 GHz with Adreno 420 GPU
  • Samsung Exynos 5430 with four ARM Cortex A15 cores @ 1.9 GHz, four ARM Cortex A7 cores @ 1.3 GHz and Mali-T628MP6 GPU
  • Samsung Exynos 7 Octa with four ARM Cortex A57 cores @ 1.9 GHz, four ARM Cortex A53 cores @ 1.3 GHz and Mali-T760MP? GPU
• System Memory – 3GB RAM
• Storage – 32 GB internal memory + micro SD slot (up to 64GB)
• Display – 5.7″ Quad HD Super AMOLED (2560 x 1440)
• Cellular Networking:
  • 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE): 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
  • 3G (HSPA 42Mbps): 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
  • 4G (LTE Cat 4 150/50Mbps) or 4G (LTE Cat 6 300/50Mbps)
• Connectivity
  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (HT80) MIMO PCIe
  • Bluetooth 4.1 (BLE, ANT+)
  • GPS / GLONASS / Baidou
  • NFC
• USB – micro USB 2.0 with MHL 3.0 support (HDMI output)
• Camera – 16MP rear facing camera with auto focus and Smart OIS, 3.7MP front facing camera
• Video Codec – H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, VC-1, WMV7, WMV8, Sorenson Spark, MP43, VP8, Recording & Playback: up to UHD
• Audio Codec – MP3, AAC/AAC/eAAC, WMA, AMR-NB/WB, Vorbis, and FLAC with ~192KHz, 24 bit support
• Sensors – Gesture, Accelerometer, Geo-magnetic, Gyroscope, RGB, IR-LED Proximity, Barometer, Hall Sensor, Finger Scanner, UV, Heart Rate Monitoring, SpO2 (Dependent on market)
• Misc – IR LED for remote control feature
Battery – 3,200 mAh Li-ion battery, support for adaptive fast charging and QC 2.0
• Dimensions – 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm
• Weight – 176 grams.

The specs are very similar. Beside the obvious difference with displays, Note 4 will be sold with different SoCs depending on the market, and it comes with a slightly larger 3,200 mAh battery. The rest of the features, including innovations, listed for the Note Edge appears to be the same.

The Galaxy Note 4 will be available in worldwide starting in October, and the Galaxy Note Edge will be available select markets. Pricing have not been disclosed for either phones.

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