MEGATech Videos: Hands-on with Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy S5 Active

Henry Ford famously quipped, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” Apparently, the people at Samsung aren’t following the Ford model. Instead, Samsung has developed the habit of an incredibly fast development cycle, bombarding the market with as many options and devices as possible at any given time. While the Galaxy Note 4 was the focus of our recent briefing with Samsung Canada, they also brought the new Samsung Galaxy Alpha and the Galaxy S5 Active along for the ride.

It probably shouldn’t surprise too many of you that the first thing I did when I got my hands on the Galaxy Note 4 was to test the “Gapgate” theory. I whipped out my business card to see if I could slide in the gap between the display and the Note 4’s metal frame. No dice. I also tried a thinner piece of regular paper. All jokes aside, the Galaxy Note 4 appears to be a very solid device and it represents the natural evolution of the Note line of phablets with its beefed up performance, bigger and higher resolution (2560×1440) screen, and multiple software enhancements. Taking a sweeping selfie with the heart rate monitor is certainly unique.

In speaking with the people at Samsung Canada, they fully understand that the Galaxy Alpha represents a “superficial innovation” for the company. People asked for a metal band and a smaller device, so Samsung delivered. There are trade-offs with the loss of IP67 and the downgrade to a 720p display. Similarly, the Galaxy S5 Active approaches a different kind of market, adding in military-spec protection against the roughest of environments. The Galaxy Note Edge, which wasn’t on hand at the briefing, is still being planned for a Canadian launch and we’ve been told its availability will be “tied to other announcements.”

Watch our video embedded below with my first impressions of the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Alpha and Galaxy S5 Active. We’ve got the Note 4 in the labs right now and the full written review will follow very soon.