I’ve quibbled for weeks about whether to get a new mobile phone. Conscious that I need a device mostly for work purposes and increasing expect to use  it more for that purpose in future, l finally took the plunge and dug around for something that would be suitable for both personal and business use, but more so for the latter going forward.

I opted for the Galaxy Note 4. This beauty is a phablet, a phone and tablet in one, that has more power and functionality than the former, but is a scaled down version for portability of the latter. Plus, it makes and receives phone calls and has 4G which my Kindle Fire doesn’t. This is the best of both worlds as far as I’m concerned.

It has been in my possession about 24hrs so far and I must say, so far so good. No great surprise to learn that it is a better device all round than my S5830i that I would never have opted for had it not come with a free Kindle Fire at the time of signing up for the contract. I am already seeing the personal and business functional improvements from the Galaxy Note 4 and I think it is going to be invaluable as I look to expand my operations out of Upwork next year spend more time meeting clients in one-to-one meetings.

So far, some of these new apps and features are a little overwhelming and will take some adjustment time but I’m pretty good with technology and enjoy having an explore. Given time, I’m sure I’ll master it all.

Do I think this will be useful for work? Absolutely. My previous mobile phone (also a Samsung on Android) was stuck on Gingerbread; I hadn’t had any app updates in at least six months and I guess Gingerbread is no longer supported. Here are my favourite features so far.

S-Pen Stylus

This image is of me starting this blog post with my S-Pen stylus and physically inputting by writing on the touch screen rather than using a conventional keyboard. There is that option too, and also for those who prefer Swype (where you sweep your finger over the keyboard to create the word rather than pressing buttons individually) you can also use that input method. I am a fan of Swype, but may find I use it less and less and maybe more on the S-Pen.

S-Voice

I had voice activation on my last Samsung, but it left a lot to be desired. I haven’t had good quality and useful voice activation since I had my one and only BlackBerry (the 8520 – there are many more reasons why I miss that phone) but this is something else. I haven’t explored it a great deal, but I have worked on the voice activation tutorial and I am impressed with its potential for me in using S-Voice. It’s also more advanced than the version on my old BlackBerry (understandably).

Adjustable Vibration

It’s a small thing but the ability to adjust the intensity of the vibration for notifications is a vast improvement over not being able to adjust it. Gone are the days when my phone is on the edge of a chair and I have to lurch for it to stop it tumbling to the floor. I might want it a bit more powerful when it’s farther away from me, and a bit gentler when it’s only in my pocket. These little things add up and make all the difference.