Samsung Galaxy Note 4 vs Google Nexus 6

ANDROID FANS in the market for a phablet are currently spoilt for choice, but the Nexus 6 and Galaxy Note 4 stand out as the most notable contenders vying for buyers' attention this Christmas.

Samsung's Galaxy Note range has long held a reputation for being among the biggest smartphones on the market, and often the go-to phablet for many, but Google's Nexus 6, with its 6in screen and large dimensions, makes the Galaxy Note 4 look almost petite.

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 vs Google Nexus 6

Design

The Nexus 6 and the Note 4 belong to the 2014-2015 generation smartphones with a metal frame. The main weakness of Android phones’ has long been the choice of designs and materials, aside from the HTC One (M8) and the Sony devices since the Xperia Z. This is of course subjective, but I feel that Android phones are really getting nicer this year. The Note 4 and the Nexus 6 were able to squeeze out of the ugly mold and are both quite elegant.

The Nexus 6 was crafted in the image of the Moto X (2014), aside from it being bigger and including a few changes: the volume and power buttons have been moved down, the same goes for the camera and the flash, though they remain in the middle of the device. The Galaxy Note 4 has a plastic backing with an aluminum frame, and has the same physical Samsung buttons that we’ve become accustomed to.

One point in which the Nexus 6 is better than the Note 4 is that the Google phone is water-resistant, while the Note 4 is not. What it lacks in water resistance though, it make up with the included S Pen stylus which fits snuggly into the chassis.

Display

Much like in the design department, the Nexus 6 and Galaxy Note 4 are fairly evenly matched when it comes to displays, sporting 6in 1440x2560 Amoled and 5.7in 1440x2560 Amoled screens respectively.

Given its smaller screen size, the Galaxy Note 4 has the higher pixel density, which comes in at 515ppi compared with the Nexus 6's 493ppi.

However, in terms of quality, it's hard to judge a winner between the two. Both offer great brightness, sharpness levels and viewing angles, but we did notice that both suffer from slight color distortion probably owing to the Amoled technology.

Getting one up on the Nexus 6, the Galaxy Note 4 has the added bonus of stylus input, allowing users to doodle and make notes on the display.

Thanks to this, and the fact that the Nexus 6 is extremely difficult to use with one hand, the Galaxy Note 4 wins another round.

Performance

Both devices come with top notch processors and stunning QHD displays. However just like the LG G3, such a demanding screen often has an effect on the overall smoothness of a phone's performance, especially when playing HD games. This was noticed when playing games on both either device. However, for the most part, everything ran impeccably for either device, apps opened right away, animations were crisp and what can be observed are two of the best performing smartphones around. There was no clear winner in this section.

Software

As previously mentioned, the Nexus 6 runs a stock version of Lollipop, while the Galaxy Note 4 runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat overlaid with Samsung's TouchWiz skin.

Samsung has hinted that the Galaxy Note 4 will be updated to Lollipop, but has yet to say when.

This means that the Nexus 6 comes with all the latest features Google has to offer, including the new Material design which has a cleaner look and smoother animations and is a huge improvement on KitKat.

There are also other features such as improved multitasking, enhanced security and a battery saving mode.

The Galaxy Note 4, on the other hand, comes with the TouchWiz interface, which has a reputation for being one of the heaviest Android skins.

This rings true on the Note 4, which is stuffed full of custom features, such as a Flipboard homescreen overlay, a bunch of Samsung's own apps and a handful of apps that you're not likely to look at, including Pizza.de and HRS Hotels.

Camera

The Nexus 6 was finally able to break away from the poor camera quality that plagued previous Nexus phones and does a standup job with its 13MP back shooter. Motorola also included the optical image stabilizer. The benefits of this technology could be seen in the results: images taken in low light situations turned out great and offer little noise. The Galaxy Note 4 on the other hand has a higher resolution rear camera of 16 MP, in addition to an ISOCELL sensor, an optical image stabilizer and a long list of shooting modes.

It's also interesting to note that that either device was treated differently in terms of front camera resolution. The Nexus 6 only comes with 2 MP on the front, while the Note 4 has 3.7 MP. Samsung clearly understood that the current selfie trend in adopting a better camera on the front. They also included a neat feature which allows users to use the back facing camera to take selfies which uses the heart rate monitor as a sensor.

Battery

The Nexus 6 and Galaxy Note 4 both pack 3,220mAh batteries. Google and Samsung quote up to 24 and 20 hours of talk time respectively.

Despite Google's claims, we found that the Galaxy Note 4 managed to outlive the Nexus 6 during our battery burn tests. The Nexus 6 lasted eight hours, while the Galaxy Note 4 managed nine hours.

For those not watching video 24 hours a day, we found both smartphones easily offered a full day of use, and on average made it into a second day without any problems.

Both come with quick charge modes onboard. Samsung's custom Fast Charging feature enables the Note 4 to be charged from zero to 50 percent in 30 minutes, while Motorola's Turbo Charger juices the Nexus 6 with six hours of battery life in just 15 minutes.

Storage

The Nexus 6 is available in 32GB and 64GB capacities, with no room to expand via microSD.

The Galaxy Note 4, on the other hand, comes in a 32GB variant only, but with an onboard microSD offering an extra 128GB.

Overall winner: Galaxy Note 4

There's barely a whisker in it, but the Galaxy Note 4 trumped the Nexus 6 in four out of seven categories.

Google's latest smartphone would be an obvious choice for those after a stock Android 5.0 Lollipop experience, but we found the Galaxy Note 4 more manageable owing to its smaller screen size and dimensions.

It also came out top when it comes to battery life and storage, offering the option to expand the 32GB internal memory via microSD.