Technical Details
- Incredible 5.55" high-resolution display
- Powerful Quadcore 1.6GHz processor
- Draw and write straight onto the screen with your finger or included S Pen
- 8 mega-pixel camera with full 1080p HD video recording
- 16GB memory with expandable memory up to 64GB MicroSD
With this product, Samsung nailed it. I won't say it's perfect,
especially because it's somehow a niche product. However it comes pretty
close to perfection. It's really hard to mention all I've been able to
see this far, but I can tell this thing keeps impressing me time after
time, it's highly versatile and customizable.
For starters, it has the same glossy finish than the Galaxy S3. On this model (the grey one) fingerprints become easily noticeable and you can't help thinking it will scratch easily. But I need to say that hiperglazed glossy finish looks awesome on this oversized phone. And by the size itself, it will impress ebverybody around, whether that's what you look for or not.
The screen is amazing. Even with less pixels and a bigger screen than the original Note, the sharpness is much higher. The deep blacks of the Super AMOLED are great for watching media, playing games and drawing. It can be tricky for taking photos (color accuracy is not the best around) or displaying great white areas, which demands more power. The screen is also a tad dimmer that the one on the original Note, but that's probably beacuse of the revamped built in digitalizer. Viewing angles and sunlight visibility are quite good, as with other AMOLEDs.
Buttons are on the usual positions and are easy to press. You need to be careful to not press them by accident, but I can tell you one gets used to it pretty fast. The S Pen. This S Pen feels quite better. It's bigger and more comfortable to hold and much more precise/pressure sensitive. It will allow you to do a whole load of new things. Quick pen gestures are great. You draw a custom figure to trigger one action (toggle wifi or bluetooth, look up something in the web, call/text). Taking memos, partial screenshots, scribbling has all become more enjoyable and accurate.
Update: The hovering function comes handy in your mail and SMS inbox, allowing you to see more content without even opening the items (you hover the pen and content info pops up). You can also hover over web elements as you should with a mouse (hovering equals a mouseover and taping equals a click) improving the desktop like experience while browsing the web. If you got shaky hands it can be tricky, since you can easily end up touching the screen while hovering.
The camera is an average 8 mpx shooter with 1080p recording, but the camera interface is now much more enjoyable now though. Battery life has been great til now. In the end those 3100 mA really help despite the gigantic screen. Jellybean and Touchwiz combo is full of new tricks. It has a slight learning curve, but once you get to see all the features (I keep discovering them) there are many exploitable advantages over the majority of mobile OSs/Skins out there. From the news ticker on the lock screen to the way you can look up stuff with Google now or S Voice, the automatic menus that pop out when conecting the earbuds or removing the S Pen from the slot, it's all quite impressive and potentially useful.
Call audio quality is crisp enough. The address book has been simplified, the text autocorrection is much more accurate. Reception isn't the greatest, but that's more a smartphone issue and quite consistent in Samsung and other brands' handsets. Reception outages occur inside certain thick walled buildings and is slightly affected by the rain. It's also true my local carrier doesn't have the best service out there. The phone itself is easier to hold than the original Note and even with a phone this big, Samsung managed to keep it pretty lighweight. I'd definitely recomend to use a case on it even if it adds some bulk (I bought a generic in the meantime, eagerly waiting for an Otterbox Defender to come out).
If one handed operation or pocketability are big concerns for you (one handed operation is kinda hard even with medium-big hands like mine, but it's highly pocketable unless you use small/tight pockets), don't ditch this phone without giving it a chance. Try it at a local store and you could be surprised of all you can get in exchange for those 2 compromises.
I'll be updating this review as soon as I find out more.
Update: LTE! There are many people commenting about this. Apparently there's a version of the international Note 2 (not the N7100) that sports LTE, the model number is N7105 and it comes with "LTE 700 MHz Class 17 / 2100" (Sources: GSM Arena, Engadget and XDA forums). If you have a N7100 the LTE radio is simply not there. However this is not guarantee that the N7105 will work with AT&T's or Tmo's LTE, it all depends if those frequencies are compilant with those carriers' respective LTE signals. As LTE network compatibility can be a deal breaker for many people within the US, I suggest you to research very well before buying it. If someone can squeeze any info out of AT&T or Tmo, please comment. To shed more light on this issue, you can Google the xda thread 1917383. (Geez, all this makes me feel kinda happy I don't have to worry about LTE compatibility yet).
Update Oct 14th: I got my first over-the-air update today, which brought the multi tasking bar. Some selected apps (Chat On, Mail [stock], Facebook, Gallery, Chrome, Gmail, Google Talk, Web browser [stock], Google Maps, Messages, S Note, Video Player and YouTube apps) can work on split-screen mode two at a time (you can also have a resizable pop up video on top of those 2 apps). So far I'm loving this!
For starters, it has the same glossy finish than the Galaxy S3. On this model (the grey one) fingerprints become easily noticeable and you can't help thinking it will scratch easily. But I need to say that hiperglazed glossy finish looks awesome on this oversized phone. And by the size itself, it will impress ebverybody around, whether that's what you look for or not.
The screen is amazing. Even with less pixels and a bigger screen than the original Note, the sharpness is much higher. The deep blacks of the Super AMOLED are great for watching media, playing games and drawing. It can be tricky for taking photos (color accuracy is not the best around) or displaying great white areas, which demands more power. The screen is also a tad dimmer that the one on the original Note, but that's probably beacuse of the revamped built in digitalizer. Viewing angles and sunlight visibility are quite good, as with other AMOLEDs.
Buttons are on the usual positions and are easy to press. You need to be careful to not press them by accident, but I can tell you one gets used to it pretty fast. The S Pen. This S Pen feels quite better. It's bigger and more comfortable to hold and much more precise/pressure sensitive. It will allow you to do a whole load of new things. Quick pen gestures are great. You draw a custom figure to trigger one action (toggle wifi or bluetooth, look up something in the web, call/text). Taking memos, partial screenshots, scribbling has all become more enjoyable and accurate.
Update: The hovering function comes handy in your mail and SMS inbox, allowing you to see more content without even opening the items (you hover the pen and content info pops up). You can also hover over web elements as you should with a mouse (hovering equals a mouseover and taping equals a click) improving the desktop like experience while browsing the web. If you got shaky hands it can be tricky, since you can easily end up touching the screen while hovering.
The camera is an average 8 mpx shooter with 1080p recording, but the camera interface is now much more enjoyable now though. Battery life has been great til now. In the end those 3100 mA really help despite the gigantic screen. Jellybean and Touchwiz combo is full of new tricks. It has a slight learning curve, but once you get to see all the features (I keep discovering them) there are many exploitable advantages over the majority of mobile OSs/Skins out there. From the news ticker on the lock screen to the way you can look up stuff with Google now or S Voice, the automatic menus that pop out when conecting the earbuds or removing the S Pen from the slot, it's all quite impressive and potentially useful.
Call audio quality is crisp enough. The address book has been simplified, the text autocorrection is much more accurate. Reception isn't the greatest, but that's more a smartphone issue and quite consistent in Samsung and other brands' handsets. Reception outages occur inside certain thick walled buildings and is slightly affected by the rain. It's also true my local carrier doesn't have the best service out there. The phone itself is easier to hold than the original Note and even with a phone this big, Samsung managed to keep it pretty lighweight. I'd definitely recomend to use a case on it even if it adds some bulk (I bought a generic in the meantime, eagerly waiting for an Otterbox Defender to come out).
If one handed operation or pocketability are big concerns for you (one handed operation is kinda hard even with medium-big hands like mine, but it's highly pocketable unless you use small/tight pockets), don't ditch this phone without giving it a chance. Try it at a local store and you could be surprised of all you can get in exchange for those 2 compromises.
I'll be updating this review as soon as I find out more.
Update: LTE! There are many people commenting about this. Apparently there's a version of the international Note 2 (not the N7100) that sports LTE, the model number is N7105 and it comes with "LTE 700 MHz Class 17 / 2100" (Sources: GSM Arena, Engadget and XDA forums). If you have a N7100 the LTE radio is simply not there. However this is not guarantee that the N7105 will work with AT&T's or Tmo's LTE, it all depends if those frequencies are compilant with those carriers' respective LTE signals. As LTE network compatibility can be a deal breaker for many people within the US, I suggest you to research very well before buying it. If someone can squeeze any info out of AT&T or Tmo, please comment. To shed more light on this issue, you can Google the xda thread 1917383. (Geez, all this makes me feel kinda happy I don't have to worry about LTE compatibility yet).
Update Oct 14th: I got my first over-the-air update today, which brought the multi tasking bar. Some selected apps (Chat On, Mail [stock], Facebook, Gallery, Chrome, Gmail, Google Talk, Web browser [stock], Google Maps, Messages, S Note, Video Player and YouTube apps) can work on split-screen mode two at a time (you can also have a resizable pop up video on top of those 2 apps). So far I'm loving this!