Long term test drive: Samsung Note II

So I have been playing with my Samsung Note 2 for a couple months now, and once you get over the relative size of this near phone/tablet hybrid, it is a sleek device!

My test drive was courtesy of my friends over at AT&T, so it is powered by their 4G service, which in most cases proves to be pretty good for on the fly Google searches, social media, and even catching up on Scandal on Netflix.

That having been said, on a recent trip to Vermont, I did find places that companions with other carriers, including Sprint and Verizon, had better luck, but we can get into that in a little bit.

I had the opportunity to play around last year with the Note1, which touted much of the same in size and operation as it’s updated brother, so I was excited about the opportunity to get my paws on the second generation.  The biggest difference of note – see what I did there?? – Between the Note and the other Samsung handhelds, besides the extra large screen, is the stylus that is tucked up on the bottom of the phone.  When you pull this digital pen out, regardless of what you are working on, a small note screen pops up, allowing you to take notes in your own hand writing.

From there, the note can be saved on the phone, or shared to a myriad of places, including JPGs to other phones, attached emails, and even a Twitter entry.   Kind of cool. 

If you are texting challenged like yours truly, this is a nice feature.  Speaking of texting, you can also use the stylus, or

your finger for that matter, to draw letters that will translate into text.  Nice touch.

I also am an avid user of speech to text.  With my rather limited, and if you have ever received a text from me, you know what I mean, capabilities, the ability to speak my mind right to your phone saves me time, and the game of “what did Tyler mean?” is someone diffused for you.  I have tried the STT function on other phones, and I have noticed that with all carriers and handhelds, they are getting markedly better.  The Note 2, however, seems to be about as good as I have seen.  Nice job!

The Note is powered on an Android platform, so it comes with all the goodies you would expect, including the Google interface, maps, and Play Store for more apps than you can shake a stick at.  The phone seldom gets hung up, and can seamlessly and quickly cycle through screens, and arrangement is pretty easy as well.  Although there are menu and some function buttons that are touch driven, there is a great big physical button that will always take you to your home screen if you find yourself down a rabbit hole.

I have noticed an interesting thing about people and their iPhones.  They are loyal to a T, and love them to the end…that is, of course, until they see the pictures that this little phone can take.  With it’s 8 MP camera, it takes sharp, and I do mean sharp pictures and video.  So nice, in fact, that I have used many clips and pics on television.  So after seeing first hand what the camera on the Note can do, even the most loyal iPhone user will concede and ask me to take the pictures because they are that much nicer.

While we are on the physical, I did make mention of the screen, which measures 5.94x3.17 inches, and weighs just over 6 oz.   VERY nice when you want to read an email, look at a pic, or stream some video.  The nice thing I have found about the Note is because it is rather thin, 0.37 inches and not that much more with the case I put on it, it slips into a jacket pocket, or read pocket without any trouble or over bulge.

The processor is fact for online surfing, again thanks, in part to the AT&T 4G, running my demo system, but I can sit at an airport for hours, watching Scandal on Netflix with little buffering time or interruption.

While we are on the topic of service, let’s get into it just a bit.  As I mentioned a few paragraphs above, anywhere I travel, throughout South Carolina, and Charlotte, I have nothing to complain about.  The only places I can’t get service with my Note are dark spots that I can’t get any service in regardless of the carrier.  From the middle of the lake, in Charleston or on any of the corridors I travel on, I have no problems.  It was, however, in the rural areas of Vermont were I did notice a difference.  To be fair, much of the Green Mountain State, due to the relative terrain, struggles with consistent service regardless of the carrier or phone, as the mountains and other natural landscape makes for quite a signal obstacle course.

The Note seemed to be last to the party as we would travel into areas with more readily available service.  That having been said, once the connection was made, I was back to business.

Pros:

Awesome pictures

Quick processor

Size of the screen

Thin enough to slip in your jacket or jeans

Cons:

In rural areas, signal may struggle

Size may scare off some users who want a smaller physical handheld unit

No HDMI output

Bottom Line:

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a great phone, on almost every level.  From the screen size, resolution, and camera to the quick processor.  It is the right size to put into a jacket or jeans, but just don’t forget and sit on it! 

The stylus is a great touch giving you an old school notepad feel, as well as manipulation with pictures, and you can even use it to type a text if you find your paws are too big, or the weather impacts the screens ability to feel your warm heart.

I use it every day as my go-to unit for storage, checking email, taking pictures of my family or just in general.

It is a great phone, and the Consumer in Me gives it 4 out of 5.  What does that mean?  It rocks.

The Samsung Galaxy Note - a big phone or small tab

Are you ready for a Phablet, a tone, a Phonelete or some other clever word merge of a cell phone and a tablet?  Having been a fan of the hybrid…from the mountain bike with smooth tires,  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to my very own Pomeranian Chihuahua, who are we to say that two great things can’t go together to make something awesome??

I must admit that upon initial inspection, of the Samsung Galaxy Note, one of the latest ideas to come the folks at Samsung was a bit awkwardly large, measuring 145 by 89 mm  Not quite a phone, and certainly not my AT&T powered Galaxy LTE, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  It appeared to be a bit much holding this communication device up to my ear, but it was about then I saw a rerun of Saved By the Bell, and saw Zack’s Gordon Geko phone, and thought “if Zack can pick up Kelly with this, surly, I can surf the web with it and still be cool…”

Getting past the relative physical stature of the Note, the phone is pretty sleek looking, in fact, only 9.7 mm thick, and Samsung made the most of the size, utilizing t majority of its front real estate as a touch screen.

There is also a stylus tucked in the bottom of the phone for guys like me who still struggle to get out a coherent text message without auto correct changing my message into something horribly different right before I send it to a client.  The stylus is pretty nifty, and when you use the “S memo” app, the Note becomes a notebook of sorts.

Getting into the performance, the Note I put through the paces was running the speedy Android 2.3.6, which meant, at least initially, it didn’t get hung up or freeze, which can plague a smart phone user.  The other sticky wicket, when it comes to phones that use more memory, multitask, and simply have a lot going on, is the battery life.  A few weeks into my test drive of the note has provided some very impressive battery life.

I say the last part with the caveat that I don’t use it as my primary phone, which burns through about 4,000 minutes a month, but thus far, when I have needed it for email, GPS, or a picture, it’s been ready to rock.

The apps are pretty standard-- phonebook, calendar, weather prognostication, and of course, I have downloaded every possible version of Angry Birds, which are all handled well by the dual core processor on the Note.  This is where we get back to my comment of “at least initially.”  Although I have shopped around the Play Store, and made the most of several news applications, Tweetdeck, and an alarm clock, I have not loaded the Note to what I would, to quote Duran Duran, “too much information.”  The phone, however, becomes a bit persnickety, freezing on screens, and in some cases requiring me to restart.

Web surfing is pretty solid, although working off the AT&T 4G network can be a bit sluggish at times.  If I were being honest, I might use the word “frustrating” at times.  I hear that the new network, which is close to launch, will change that.  When in Wi-Fi mode, the Note sends and receives data pretty quickly, and connects easily to my various email clients and of course, social media.  I mean, I gotta update my peeps, you know?

Moving on to the other major piece of hardware, the camera, of which the Note has the standard rear unit and self facing lens.  This is where it gets tricky, and I tend to be a pit picky.  I also use an HTC Thunderbolt, and it takes pictures that rival my Cannon Rebel, both in still and video mode.  Having tried other HTC products, various products starting with an “I” and others in between, I have certainly been spoiled by the Thunderbolt.

The Note boasts an 8 megapixel camera, if you know anything about digital pictures, bigger is better when it comes to numbers, right?  Not always...but the Note is right up there with my trusty HTC.  I decided to try it for the first time at night, opting to take pictures of a fireworks show.  Although some were a bit blurry, and the darkness, didn’t help the auto focus to do its job, there were some very awesome images I was able to capture.

If you are a fan of moving pictures, you are in luck.  The Note does produce a great looking video.  Like many phone cameras, the more you zoom, the more it struggles, but overall, it produces a crisp, sharp video.

In more traditional applications, I found the camera works best when you don’t need the flash.  In those instances, the Note focuses quickly, and it snaps off multiple pics with a quickness.  The Note does get hung up a bit, however, when it tries to use the flash, auto focus, stay focused, and take the picture quick enough that you don’t miss what you are trying to capture.

Let’s see, apps, size, camera…what was the other thing…oh yea, it’s also a phone.  Although I spend the majority of my calls on my HTC, the call quality on the Note is solid, and in fact, I have gotten used to its size, even when holding it up to my melon size head.  I have paired Bluetooth, used ear buds, and used the speaker phone, and have been very happy with the call quality and overall sound.  I also like some of the contact shortcuts on the phone.  When you are looking at your address book, a simple index finger over a contact to the left brings to you the texting screen, and to the right initiates a phone call.  Minor time saver?  Yes.  But pretty cool?  You bet!

Quick review:

Pros:

Call quality, shortcuts, stylus, screen size, camera in both non-flash still and video mode

Cons:

4G sluggish, flash still photo mode, processor gets hung up from time to time

In the initial few weeks of my long term test, the AT&T version of the Samsung Note in my hot little hands gets a thumbs up.  The battery life is great, calls are solid, the picture and video is very good, and overall, this consumer likes it.

No phone is perfect, but this little…or big…unit performs very well overall.

TR