Samsung Note Review
I’ve spent about a month with the Samsung Galaxy Note, and I’m seriously impressed. Thanks to Nuffnang, I got to review a set and purchased it afterwards!
The
Note is a MONSTER of a device. HUGE! It's even bigger than some compact digi cams!
Let me share with you what exactly makes the Note such a
fantastic smartphone (along with much pictures for your drooling over) in spite
of its size; which incidentally, is its biggest advantage and disadvantage.
My
heavily modified interface. This salmon appetizer can be found at Sun and Moon at Wheelock!
Android for Life
I love android’s
main selling-point of allowing the user to customize the appearance of the OS
to his/her liking. Also, Samsung has promised their variant of
Android 4.0 (or fondly known as Ice Cream Sandwich), which I had been eager to try!
Samsung software
The Note
features the latest and greatest version of Samsung’s own Touchwiz UI, which
sits atop the Gingerbread variation of the android platform.
Revamped the Calendar App, which is easier to view by month/week/day! Just a pinch to zoom in or out!
Samsung has
taken it upon itself to redo some of the apps, including the very useful and
fun addition of a writing app! S Note!
Bf's handwriting.
Mine! Along with my drawing of a flower.
There are the usual bits of android
usefulness that makes using the Note a pleasure, things like inbuilt shortcuts
to battery-draining services:
The
usual shortcuts.
A Multimedia BEAST
Although the
Note has been touted and marketed as a business-inclined smartphone, with all
the business-friendly apps and mechanics; the real star of the show is the
Note’s ability to handle multimedia. Thanks to the very speedy 1.4Ghz duo-core
processor the Note has housed within its body, lag time for applications is minimal.
Seems
a lot faster than the numbers show.
Market app
installs are almost instant, once the initial download of the .apk files are
done. Webpages are
also no problem for the Note; the speed is only dependent on your carrier’s
coverage wherever you are. Flash-heavy sites are handled properly and without
much fuss.
Websites
load well. HTML5 seems to be no problem for the
Note too.
Vimeo
for Android finally, HD videos are no problem for this baby.
Games run great
on the Note, although one has to be a little selective, since not all the games
on the Market are able to scale up to the size of the Note’s massive 5.3”
screen. However, that being said, games that do so, look great, with the odd
game showing some minor pixilation due to the program having to force the
sprites to fit to the Note’s screen.
If you’re into
taking photographs on your smartphone, the 8mp camera and the ton of android apps will keep you happy and occupied!
Taken with the Note!
Rich
Vibrant colors for your viewing pleasure.
Just when you
think the Note couldn’t possibly be able to handle anymore multimedia, Samsung
pulls a rabbit out of the hat and supports .FLAC natively, along with the
popular H.264 format to keep video nuts and audiophiles happy.
I’m
an unapologetic Beatles’ fan.
As mentioned earlier, the Note is huge. It's probably like a handheld PDA combined smartphone. The disadvantage for me, as a girl, is that my hands are too small (yes even though my hands are above average for a girl's) to use one hand to hold the phone and type! So I passed the phone over to my bf. Who is very happy and satisfied with it! Some of his inputs are also in this blog entry.
Thanks for reading this lengthy post!
Thanks for reading this lengthy post!
