Review: Samsung Galaxy Note

I’m not entirely sure who the Samsung Galaxy Note is aimed at, but as somebody who gets to observe from the sidelines, this is one fun, functional and loveable device — although it comes at an out of contract price of around £450-500 upwards, give or take.

The biggest talking point of the Galaxy Note is its size: packing a 5.3-inch Super AMOLED display that sports full HD resolution of 1280 x 800p, this thing is BIG for a phone. That begs the question – Samsung actively encourages it – is the device a smartphone or a tablet?

To answer that question, let’s go with the official reasoning first: Samsung describes the Galaxy Note as consolidating several devices: the 24/7 portability and functionality of a smartphone (despite its size, this thing does make phone calls), the larger screen tablet experience, a note pad, and an organiser.

However, I’d go further: the Galaxy Note handles media player duties with ease, especially on the video side, and it isn’t a bad eBook reader either, for the casual book lover anyway (it’s no Kindle, obviously).

That said, holding the Galaxy Note up to your ear will require you to conger up your best Dom Jolly impersonation (“Hello?! Hello!? I’m on the phone!”). Of course, a head-set solves that particular problem and, besides, actually making phone calls is fast becoming a secondary consideration for a generation brought up on Facebook, BB Messenger et. al.

The stylus is dead. Long live the stylus.

They say it’s not size that matters, it’s what you do with it. And in the case of the Galaxy Note, Samsung has boldly seen fit to introduce a stylus to enable pen-based input. That means, despite the device packing a multi-touch capacitive touch screen for finger-friendly operation, you can write and draw on the display using the provided S-Pen. This gives host to an array of pen-driven functionality such as note taking, sketching, annotating documents and so on. This is provided through Samsung’s own bespoke apps as well as many more to be found in the Android Market.

On that note, the Galaxy Note runs Google’s Android OS version 2.3 (Gingerbread), which though not the very latest is well supported and full of Google-goodness if you’re that way inclined, and most apps scale adequately to the much higher resolution that the 5.3inch screen affords. Talking of which, the screen on the Note is gorgeous, web browsing is a particular joy — web pages render brilliantly crisp and video playback is a major benefactor too.

Build-quality is OK; the device is very light given its size but the drawback is that it feels a bit plastic for such a premium-priced product. Battery life is more in the smartphone rather than tablet region, a good day or more, with moderate use. The 2,500 mAh battery helps.

Other specs worthy of mention are the 8-megapixel camera capable of shooting 1080p video to match that screen, 16GB of built-in storage and a fairly snappy dual-core processor.

But in conclusion, any buying decision will ultimately come down to the Galaxy Note’s size and that stylus: If this inbetweener at 5.3 inches hits your sweet spot, you’ll love the Note. And if you yearn for the yesteryear of the stylus, you’ll love the device even more. Given the latter, Samsung has announced two larger variants of the Galaxy Note so it maybe worth holding onto your cash for now.

 

,

last100 is edited by Steve O'Hear. Aside from founding last100, Steve is co-founder and CEO of Beepl and a freelance journalist who has written for numerous publications, including TechCrunch, The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld, and also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

69 Responses to “Review: Samsung Galaxy Note”

  1. Lets Develop says:

    i m a samsung fan this was the first samsung phone i trusted this phone worked like a charm i still have it this was the best phone of its time this phone made samsung compete to apple. I bought this phone in 2012,
    and most of the phones do not have some feature which this phone has.

  2. TECMIRROR says:

    hello this phone is awesome .Thank you for more details.

  3. cs joshi says:

    Battery life is more in the smartphone rather than tablet region, a good day or more, with moderate use. The 2,500 mAh battery helps.

  4. ronen cohen says:

    very nice reviews , pitty that it doesnt updated anymore
    you can review new products here :
    http://www.electronicsreviewnow.com

  5. Hareesh says:

    Battery life is more in the smartphone rather than tablet region, a good day or more, with moderate use. The 2,500 mAh battery helps.

  6. veronika says:

    already a little to old

  7. Informer Fox says:

    Well, good review! Samsung Note Phones are always great!
    We like the way you write. Also, sometimes, GBWhatsApp Modded app is needed to get most features out of WhatsApp Modded Application for Samsung Phones. Check this https://informerfox.com/apk-download/gbwhatsapp-apk-download/1181/ here you will get the latest version for GBWhatsApp App!

  8. Atif says:

    Samsung is a very good company in the mobile phone and I have also Samsung c5 and i like also notebooks. Nowadays satellite phones are also used where signals are not accessible for example in an airplane or during an emergency, you can use satellite phones too. You can buy a satellite phone online from various websites just this one

  9. Vidmate apps are also included in order to access and download any kind of app and games on your Android device with
    this app. Vidmate is an occasion which will help you in order to download Internet videos directly from your
    smartphone. The application is very much compatible with most sharing and streaming sites and it is also available
    with multiple downloads at a time.

  10. Every day, the Google search Engine witness the search for watch free movies online. Despite
    the availability of various legal websites to watch and download movies, the search goes on for
    Filmy wap hindi movies, Fimlywap punjabi movies, free movies download and what not! No
    day ends without someone searching for pirated content, especially movie downloads.

  11. rahul says:

    my first phone is samsun galaxy s7 and really that was amazin phone.
    Letter of Resignation Template

  12. 10 MB Games says:

    The games on samsung Mobiles works really best and you can try out them too
    Dare Games

  13. Great insights. I look forward to reading what you’re planning on next, because your post is a nice read.

  14. Beauty – An attribute of a female manifestation and a perceptual understanding of delight. Here is our top list of 10 Most Beautiful women of 2019.

  15. How about the cheapest one, xiaomi, currently they are beat the market than samsung.

  16. thoptv says:

    samsung create a great memory

  17. I use samsung cell phone and I happy with that. Every year I like to change a new one 😀

  18. Great blog post I really enjoyed reading it.

  19. leelajam says:

    Samsung always produces quality phones.

    First impression is the theme of website, and you website does make the best impression on the user. Apart from this good post.

  20. Shelli says:

    At this time I am going away to do my breakfast, after having my breakfast coming again to
    read other news.

  21. This is a great phone for what it offers. The S Pen is very useful in my type work. I think this is already an overkill. I don’t even use all the features it has. It has the most amazing screen I’ve ever seen on a phone. I treat this as my business phone. But for gaming, I’d still go for the budget midrange segment from xiaomi and realme.

  22. Dark Web says:

    Great post. Thank you

  23. 择偶网 says:

    新冠快点结束吧!

  24. Seriesaeu says:

    term manuscript (late lat.manuscriptum,

  25. Annotationscon says:

    book about the chess of love “, created by

  26. Scannerlok says:

    Since manuscripts are subject to deterioration

  27. Wirelessrlv says:

    manuscripts underwent in the Middle

  28. Incipiosig says:

    The most common form

  29. Amazonnnvud says:

    manuscripts attributed to Robins

  30. Annotationshci says:

    among them acquired “Moral

  31. Universalfjl says:

    (palimpsests). In the XIII-XV centuries in

  32. Interfacemor says:

    from lat. manus – “hand” and scribo – “I write”) [1]

  33. Infraredajm says:

    Western Europe also formed

  34. Great efforts to collect the info, thanks for share with us.

  35. RainMachinetzc says:

    (palimpsests). In the XIII-XV centuries in

  36. Dragon City says:

    We would like to see you on our site where the most up-to-date and best mobile applications are available. A place where you can easily download mobile games.

  37. Garminznnz says:

    (palimpsests). In the XIII-XV centuries in

  38. Yamahaepp says:

    “Julia’s Garland” (fr. Guirlande de Julie)

  39. Vintageezs says:

    European glory, and even after

  40. Rigidaya says:

    Century to a kind of destruction:

  41. Bring out your confidence and cool appearance with
    our latest jewelry collection that features very
    simple and delicate designs. Our jewelry is definitely
    a beautiful statement piece to give you a very stylish
    and sleek look. You can layer a dainty golden or silver
    metallic choker with a fine necklace to attain a fashionable
    style. This combo is simplistic, yet elegant and modern style.

  42. Furriongbr says:

    Europe, and in Ancient Russia

  43. Superchipsmmb says:

    XVII century was Nicholas Jarry [fr].

  44. Rubberfpd says:

    from lat. manus – “hand” and scribo – “I write”) [1]

  45. Feedervat says:

    consists of the book itself

  46. Bluetoothigr says:

    among them acquired “Moral

  47. Incipioqtj says:

    XVII century was Nicholas Jarry [fr].

  48. vouchercell says:

    Best Voucher and coupons deals, explore now cyber monday deals 2022 Cyber Monday Deals 2022

  49. Testerndz says:

    new texts were rewritten

  50. RainMachinehaa says:

    consists of the book itself

  51. Businesskqx says:

    consists of the book itself

Leave a Reply