Yeah its amazing how much my wife's GSII is mistaken for an iPhone in the line at ****bucks.
I know what you mean, though, and its sad Samsung is basically banned from making "attractive" looking phones. Because appearantly, Apple invented attractive looking phones?
I'm sorry, but anyone who can mistake the GS2 for an iPhone is an idiot.
I mean, the size difference alone should be a dead giveaway. How about the rectangular home button vs the round home button on the iPhone? How about that big Samsung logo plastered on top of the GS2?
The only resemblance the two have is the shape. I simply cannot see how anyone can confuse the two.
They confuse the two, because the average consumer doesn't know anything beyond iPhone. They think all phones are iPhones. When someone owns one of the more popular alternatives, the question I always get asked, "is that an iPhone?"
When I had the SGS2 a lot of people around me asked if that was the new iPhone. But most of them thought that iPhone was a generic term like "PC" or "Console". I now have a Galaxy Nexus and find it and the new Samsung phones to be just as attractive.
I am amazed by the constant artsy fartsy droning on how a device looks, and how all people are expected to agree, with of course, the iPhone as the "beautiful one". Of course it's brainwashing, just like all the lemmings want their computer parts and cases black - a thousand websites all have the drones exclaiming the same thing - black black black.
So, anything BUT the sad sorry rectangle of the iPhone is great by me. It's a freaking rectangle - and worse yet, the stupid public pubes in charge of the PC worshipping of a rectangle always claim thinner is also better.
Thinner is not better, especially when gripping. It's better in their lemming brainwashed gourds and not IRL, but their estrogen doused public opinion persona would have them believing anything peer pressure desired them to, so of course we have that thin to win crazed insanity everywhere as well.
It's a freakin rectangle. That's super, superior styling to these god for saken morons - it's amazing they can even drool.
I agree on the weird soapy curve of the S3, but the Note 2 looks more like a large SII, which is fine by me.
By the way, in Boost mode, the Galaxy Note II works extremely well as a portable guitar amp. You just get a toggle for gain, rather than a knob for fine adjustment of the level of distortion :D
Preservance a professional <a href=" http://preservancetech.com/our-services/web-design... Designing</a> company based in the capital city of India that offers various services for website designing from a static website to CMS driven website to any open source website development to complete e-commerce site to travel portal.
Preservance a professional <a href=" http://preservancetech.com/our-services/web-design... Designing</a> company based in the capital city of India that offers various services for website designing from a static website to CMS driven website to any open source website development to complete e-commerce site to travel portal.
It is much more than that. Anyone who paid any attention to the trial knows that Samsung had pages and pages showing the iPhone interface and the S 2 interface which it clearly said to copy as closely as possible. But the Android kids want to be ignorant and trot out the Samsung line that is just about being a rectangle.
Yeah its amazing how much my wife's GSII is mistaken for an iPhone in the line at ****bucks.
I know what you mean, though, and its sad Samsung is basically banned from making "attractive" looking phones. Because appearantly, Apple invented attractive looking phones?
The way I got my home screen set up, nobody has ever asked if it is an iPhone, as there's no rows of icons to see, and given the Samoled's black values, you can't even see where the screen ends if your background is set to black.
I guess Samsung didn't consider what would be aesthetically pleasing to someone who would choose a screen name like "jigglywiggly". :D
Seriously though, just like I'd never be caught using a screen name for a site like yours, there is nothing wrong with your choice, and there is nothing wrong with the looks of the Note II here. You just don't like it. That's fine, but please try not to talk as though you are the arbiter of beauty; you're not.
Preservance a professional <a href=" http://preservancetech.com/our-services/web-design... Designing</a> company based in the capital city of India that offers various services for website designing from a static website to CMS driven website to any open source website development to complete e-commerce site to travel portal.
Thanks for the great article, I am currently considering an upgrade but didnt include the phablets among my choices because of their size. Now I am willing to go put it back on the table.
Likewise, thanks for the great review, Brian. This phone has been on my upgrade short list and I can't wait to take it for a spin in a store soon. I've tried the Note and the SIII but I definitely need to see how the two meld together, as it were. :-)
I wish the numbers for cellular browsing were a little higher, since that's my primary use for a phone and I want to know I can get a full day out of a phone without compromise. I don't know if my Atrix 4G just has really crummy battery life, or if I have unreasonable expectations for smartphones...
I'm also really curious now that you've mentioned the HDR stills...I do enjoy the convenience of taking pictures with a device I always have on me, and just last weekend I really wished I had something with more dynamic range. If the HDR feature works well, that would be another strong mark in it's favor.
I've been using a Note 2 in the UK for a couple of weeks now - it routinely lasts for 2 days with all radios and GPS left enabled, a couple of hours worth of browsing, a little gameplay (World of Goo, nothing too stressful), some voice use and a lot of texting. It's currently at 66% after coming off charge at 8am, time now is 10pm. I'm writing this on it now.
Point is, it lasts very well! I'm a little surprised by the unexceptional battery life readings in the charts here, but I suspect it's disproportionately affected by the relatively dim screen compared with contemporary phones. 200nits is near maximum on this thing, whereas I rarely go above 50% brightness. Not a flaw with the test so much as an advisory that the battery life will probably get hammered in bright ambient lighting. Similarly, mobile reception in the UK tends to be better. I reckon a full day's heavy use is hardly a stretch though!
I've been using a Note 2 in the UK for a couple of weeks now - it routinely lasts for 2 days with all radios and GPS left enabled, a couple of hours worth of browsing, a little gameplay (World of Goo, nothing too stressful), some voice use and a lot of texting. It's currently at 66% after coming off charge at 8am, time now is 10pm. I'm writing this on it now.
Point is, it lasts very well! I'm a little surprised by the unexceptional battery life readings in the charts here, but I suspect it's disproportionately affected by the relatively dim screen compared with contemporary phones. 200nits is near maximum on this thing, whereas I rarely go above 50% brightness. Not a flaw with the test so much as an advisory that the battery life will probably get hammered in bright ambient light :)
Heh, that's all right. Thanks for the reassurance. :-) I'm pretty sure my Atrix 4G is jacked up; it hardly ever gets to 100% charge and is often at 30% or less by the time I leave work (and it's not like I spend all day dicking around on it).
There's a lot that I want to like about this phone and I'm hoping I can snag it at something a bit less than $299 subsidized. I'll have to see what happens when it's finally released. And I'll probably have to wait to check out the Lumia 920, which is smaller(?), claims to have an awesome camera(+?), but has a sealed battery(-!)...
Yeah, that price is rather extortionate! Again, UK pricing, but I paid £60 up-front plus £36 a month for 24 months. It's the most I've ever paid for a phone and probably ever would pay again, but my old Motorola Defy was having similar troubles to your Atrix so I threw caution to the wind.
That Lumia 920 definitely looks worth a shot too - interesting times for mobile phones right now...
It's really a matter of taste, and your own size. I'm 6" with large hands, and frankly, adjusting from a 4.3" HD2 to a GNote1 took me half a day.
I got the same snide remarks I got about my HD2, so I'm sure the fashion police will be able to eat their words with the same gusto in a year or two when that size becomes standard and accepted. I'm using a headset all the time anyway, so I don't get the "shovel stuck to ear" look too often.
The Gnote fits in my shirt and front pants pockets (I'm too afraid of sitting on it if I put it in the back), I can handle it one-handed (barely). My asian friends can't say the same though ^^
Hmmm, I'm asian, 5'10" but I have really long fingers(Great for those mandatory music lessons every asian american has to take). I have no problem using a screen that size in one hand for most tasks. Can't wait to pick up the gnote 2 on AT&T.
It's not only about the size of your hands. Actually, my wife (yes, with very small hands) was eyeing the Note 2 ever since it was announced. Her love for it grew each time she saw a video review or one of those Samsung promotional ads.
I've tried to convince her otherwise countless times, since I thought it would be unpractical and very hard to manage, especially since her previous Galaxy S2 would slip from her hand and drop on regular basis.
She has one now, for almost a week. She describes the device in 5 words; "best phone she ever owned". She loves the screen, battery life, functionality, S-Pen, and call quality/reception. She doesn't want a tablet anymore, I guess that says something.
There's something about the Galaxy Note series that makes you either love it or hate it, and for those who love it, they do with a passion. I personally think it's a great phone, but it would have to be the ONLY phone on my carrier for me to consider one.... Oh well, at least the device have taken a good chunk of her "free time" that otherwise would have me in focus, lol.
As a 44yr old, I'm getting my phones purely on screen size (and still zooming in quite a bit...). It's nice to see a reviewer able to put himself in others' shoes for once ^^ Screen legibility in bright light *and* at night, for which AMOLED is very good, are also important. LCDs glow in the dark in the worst way.
I have a Note1, and I'm so happy with it I think I'll skip the 2, especially since the 3 should come around ext summer. Review such as this one make me hitch, though.
Don't worry, I'm 40 years old myself and screen specs are very important for me due to my aging eyes. I've since replaced all my LCDs with 30" IPS ones, e-readers and tablets have at least x800 and now this phone if I decide to buy one (if pricing is right).
I was glad to read that statement in the review as well. It definitely put a smile onto my face to actually read it and have someone share the perspective. Mind you my eyes aren't too bad being .75 off but it does make a huge difference having a good screen to look at.
Not a fan of the S3 but for some reason i kinda like this one. The weight seems rather high,after all most of the time the phone sits in a pocket,hope they get rid of some layers of glass in future models.Maybe by then we also see Corning's Willow Glass and the flexible Atmel touch sensor (not controller) for a thinner bezel. It does feel a bit outdated already with quad Krait devices announced and dual core A15 arriving soon hopefully (Gigaom had some numbers for the A15 based Chromebook and they look impressive)
That 11 million contrast ratio is just amazing; a true testament to the potential of AMOLED.
I could forsee Samsung improving their color calibration standards for the next generation of flagships seeing how they're under considerable pressure from the likes of SLCD2 and Apple's retina display. Paired with this new pentile matrix ultra-high ppi displays in the range of 400 may be possible as well (a la SLCD3)
Looks like next year will be another exciting year for mobile display technology once again.
You can change the colour calibration to be more 'natural' in the TouchWiz software ont eh Note II.
Also, personally I don't see the need for 'more accurate' colours on a phone. Maybe if you are a pro photog who reviews pics on their phone, but otherwise, I love the colourful pop of AMOLED displays. Even the low res pentile AMOLED of my old galaxy S (original...getting the Note 2 soon) looks great for media. Text, not so much, due to the low res and pentile.
Why would colour accuracy ever not be important? I thought the point of a big phone is to make it easier to consume all sorts of media, from websites to photos to movies. Wouldn't more accurate colours be better for all of these activities? To me, it's a bit like saying, I don't see the need to eat delicious food during lunch, or I don't need to be with a beautiful woman on the weekdays. Why settle for something markedly inferior?
Is your screen properly colour calibrated? Are your walls painted in a neutral colour to avoid a colour cast? Are your lamps casting a specified type of light and shielded to avoid glare? Do you use high-quality blinds to prevent sunlight?
This is only a few of the things to consider when dealing with calibration. And a cellphone is unable to deal with any of them unless it stays in the lab.
So for a cellphone the criteria is: Is it bright enough? Does it look pleasing to the eye, overly saturated or not?
Eh, depends what you do with it. I can understand wanting an accurate representation of a photo you're taking.
And given the option between an accurate display and a less accurate display (all other things being equal) I think most people would opt for the more accurate option. Note that I'm not saying they would choose it as better visually (people seem to be suckers for over saturated displays).
Battery Life Question: I have noticed that since I have started using audio streaming apps my battery has taken quite a hit. I wonder if that could be added to your battery life benchmarks?
It might not matter for devices like this where you have a large storage upgrade ability, but some other devices are forcing us to the cloud where streaming matters.
So with streaming apps and such, even though the bitrate is low, if they're not very bursty (eg download and fill a big buffer, then wait 30 seconds or minutes, then repeat) they can hold the phone in CELL_DCH on UMTS or the appropriate equivalent on other air interface types, and that's what really burns power. It's time spent in that connected state that really destroys things.
This is actually why I do the tethering test as well (which has a streaming audio component), but I'm beholden to whether or not the review unit that I'm sampled is provisioned for tethering or not, which is the real problem.
Agreed. I listen to the cricket on tunein radio when it's on and that's a constant stream I believe and it annihilates my battery, despite the low bitrate.
Would be nice if somewhere along the line radios could go into a low power mode where it's only running close to the minimum required speed with the power taking a relative drop.
and haven't got the thing below 30% in battery life yet, even after using bluetooth audio for a few hours and tracking my location with endomondo, watching movies via 3G (didn't go for the LTE ver here - no point) and so on.
got my USB OTG adapter today and am seeing how long i can play movies off of it for. max brightness and playing off an SD card connected externally.
the screen on this thing is amazing and now my SGS2 is tiny, like a kids toy.
well video playback laster 8 hours 19 mins with screen on max brightness, with wifi on and powering a usb OTG cable, a sd card/usb adapter and the SD card itself. now on 5%
not too shabby.
in airplane mode etc and an internal mSD card i think it could hit the 10 hours mark - especially with brightness lowered a tad
i let 720p vids play non stop yest on this in airplane mode, max brightness (like i was on a plane) and was impressed! played for 11 hours 38 mins before it hit 5%. so say 12 hours video playback.
nice.no need for a laptop to play vids on a flight anymore. just this and a spare battery for when i get off the plane :)
No point in LTE? You may regret that soon, 4G's rolling out as we speak. Was in T-mo store the other day helping mate choose a phone (got S3 i9305, could convince him to get note II) and sales advisor reckons 6 months for Bournemouth.
i'm in liverpool and we're getting it amongst the 1st.
1 - the prices are stupid. 2 - afaik the radio uses more power 3 - youtube - only buffering probs i have are on their end 4 - streaming in general - 3G i get is more than sufficient
put a LTE note 2 next to a 3G note 2 and watch youtube/stream netflix and odds are there won't be a difference in anything other than downloading. And that is not going to happen due to EEs anaemic allowance
IMO the menu-home-back button layout is a dealbreaker (as opposed to back-home-recent apps on Nexus/HTC/Motorola devices). It means you have to long-press to access recent apps and you have to remember to look down there to press the menu key even though every other action is on the action bar up top, totally disjointed. Not to mention the menu key is always present and lit up even in apps where it doesn't do anything, like the camera app and Google Reader. Try explaining that to a new user, no wonder so many people choose iPhone, it makes Android seem more confusing than it has to. This combined with the awful look and bloated, overlapping feature set of TouchWiz makes it apparent Samsung has zero handle on UI design or usability. I will gladly buy a Nexus device that they manufacture, but not any of their branded devices.
iOS can be even more convoluted. Case in point, my mom, whom has an old HTC android phone that she uses just fine) called me the other day asking how to do basic things on her new iPad.
Neither is perfect and both have their pros and cons.
Also, have you use the new Note 2? EVery single video/written review I have seen praises the software. Yes, some features are probably never going to be used, but that doesn't harm the experience which, everybody agrees, is for the most part, outstanding.
i dont know about others - but i spend a lot of time copying data (HD films) from my laptop to my phone and my tablet. would be nice to get rid of that extra step (which is huge for me because i use linux which has utterly retarded MTP support)
In a lot of android phones whenever I try to use a stylus and draw a diagonal line in some drawing app, the diagonal line would never be perfectly straight as I'd like. It is always wavy. Try drawing a slow diagonal line in any drawing app and you'd know what I mean. So I wonder if the Note 2 has improved upon this.
That is because they use inaccurate capacitive touch for drawing. This is an active stylus built on Wacom tech, just like full-sized windows tablet PCs and drawing tablets...it won't have that issue.
Great review but the battery life results are kinda odd. In all GN2 reviews that I've read around the web,it performed better than any other phone(with the exception of Razr MAXX)
Brian and Anand have talked about this on their podcast recently. Specifically, the choices you make when creating a benchmark. They try to remove the bottlenecks, via benchmark design, that would unduly stress a certain aspect of the device (ie baseband). Their goal was to get as much of a mix in stressing components as possible. Sounds like a hard task given the very different hardware in these devices.
Since the original, I've been waiting for the update and now that it's finally here I think it's time to upgrade my basic 8525 phone to the next generation "smartphone" and pay the fine..fees that comes along with it. I plan to make the most out of this phone for personal and business.
1. Reading 2. Planning 3. Office apps 4. Music 5. Movies 6. Map/Travel
Having a larger screen just makes it much more appealing for all the stuff I want to do, especially reading. Just a personal taste mind you.
Please get out the Lumia 920 ASAP! Heh. Until I can play with these phones in person, and likely even then, I'm really on the fence as to what phone to go with. This doesn't happen often with me and tech, but I'm really on the fence between these 2 devices.
There's a severe lack of trolls on the comments section of this review. It's appalling. I miss the trolls that enter the Apple reviews and talk smack about Apple products being toys and the inability for them to be used for any real work. What happened here, guys? Where art thou, troll!?
Of course you could consider this an empirical display of the difference between Apple supporters and Apple haters. The Apple supporters don't seem to feel a compulsive need to wander into a non-Apple thread and tell everyone how much Android, Samsung, Google, AMOLED, S-Pen and TouchWiz all suck.
Either way, yes, a thread that does't feel like a wanna-be gang fight between two groups of 8-year-olds is a pleasant experience!
As owner of a 5" Dell Streak, I'm looking to replace it with another large phone and Note 2 seems just perfect. One question though: can I use another launcher (I don't like TouchWiz) without losing the S-Pen features?
"we load webpages at a fixed interval until the handset dies, with display set at exactly 200 nits as always. The test is performed over both cellular data and WiFi. The new test has decreased pause time between web page loads and a number of JavaScript-heavy pages."
What's the pause time?
In such a test, the system that is fastest to idle will typically result in a lower or lowest power draw through time. One can only interpret the performance of a device relative to other devices when doing the specific test, maybe. No one should be assuming that they'll get 10 hours of wifi/cellular browsing though, whatever time your device of choice gets.
Do humans really do what the battery life test does? I don't know if we're at the point where we are input saturated on how fast we can web browse, but I don't think we're at the saturation point just yet. So, if a phone downloads and renders web pages faster, I think we would just browse more pages in the same given time frame. The devices that burn more power during download and render times may end up with shorter battery life performance simply because a user is browsing more and faster.
You guys are definitely promoting the idea of wider "dynamic range" on battery performance. The battery life test is perhaps a light use case based on my gut feel. Minimally, I think, at least for web browsing, the minimum battery life performance should at be established for devices.
Lighter and lighter browsing workloads would tail off towards standby time. You may want to establish or guess at what the max work rate for humans is while browsing the web, like using an average reading speed or maybe somewhere in the 80th percentile of reading speed.
Obviously, it's a more than one parameter problem with games, GPS, etc, but maybe that can be tackled later.
Of all the smart phones I know about, this is the one I'm most interested in. However, I'm a Windows kind of guy, tried Android briefly and I certainly see why people would choose it over iOS, but in my opinion it's not great. Just my personal view, of course. I'm Windows trained and Windows is the most "intuitive" for me, largely because of that I'm sure.
So, in case anyone from Microsoft is reading - can we get Nokia to make something like this with Win 8 as the OS?
On Verizon? (I have to say though, Verizon's methodology for keeping their phones up-to-date doesn't thrill me. Of course, cell phones, particularly smart phones, are about as private as a house made entirely of screen doors anyway, so I'm not sure that's all that important as things exist today.)
Really, you have a Note 2 without split screen functionality? So you cannot see and work with 2 apps at the same time?? Thats weird! Here in Holland I cannot walk the street without seeing billboards showing off this feature.. those Apple fans don't know what hit them.. firstly iOS 6 wich feels like 2010 version of Android for Android users, now this Note 2 can even show 2 apps at the same time, side by side!
Really weird the US versions don't have this firmware yet. But like you said in other reviews, US market is totally different. Here we see Samsung phones, in the shops, there you see AT&T or T-mobile or Verizon phones. Although here in NL almost always sold with subscription, and with the name of your provider on it, at least its an actual Samsung phone and not a T-Mobile phone..
What? They're all still Samsung/HTC/etc branded in the US... What are you going on about? The carriers do meddle with updates and the firmware, but the thing isn't sold as an AT&T Galaxy S or something, it still says Samsung and it's advertised by Samsung (for better or worse, their anti-Apple commercials are almost as bad as Apple's old anti-PC commercials)...
Hell my Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE doesn't even have Sprint silkscreened anywhere on the front (amazing show of restraint on their part). AT&T's often the worse about branding, they've put the name AND logo on some Moto phones (centered no less).
I expected the battery life to be much better that what the test shows. Specifically the WiFi browsing time of 6 hrs, when I Phone gets 10. I did not see the brightness level set during this test in the article (or did I miss it), given how much of a effect OLED screen brightness has on battery life, I would have liked know the brightness level set.
They said the brightness was at 200 nits. In my opinion that is somehow misleading, because this is almost max for Note 2 or other OLED screens and 1/3 for LCD ones like iPhone 5. Why not doing a test on max brightness?
It's meant to be a standard level to make the numbers directly comparable. Furthermore, it would be unfair to penalise a phone with an exceptionally high brightness by running it at such a level during a test when you'd be unlikely to use that mode all the time in reality.
However, in this instance it does hamper the phone's performance - I run it around the 50% level most of the time and it looks nice and clear that way. However, I wouldn't say it necessarily does so *unfairly*. Just something to bear in mind... additional figures would be nice but time-consuming to obtain.
"I know there are big cultural differences associated with the appeal of this chrome ring"
where can I find this mythical culture that appreciates gaudy chrome trim? as far as I can tell, it's a universally reviled element that does nothing but make a device look cheap.
"I know there are big cultural differences associated with the appeal of this chrome ring"
where can I find this mythical culture that appreciates gaudy chrome trim? as far as I can tell, it's a universally reviled element that does nothing but make a device look cheap.
"I know there are big cultural differences associated with the appeal of this chrome ring"
where can I find this mythical culture that appreciates gaudy chrome trim? as far as I can tell, it's a universally reviled element that does nothing but make a device look cheap.
The longer I spend think about my own subjective limitations, the more I realise that the products from anyone but apple aren't getting a fair go. And this one's an interesting product to attempt to not pigeonhole. I'd think of it more as a media device than a phone. And so does the rest of south korea, as I watch them using these things on the subway -- they watch tv on them. They make calls using earbuds -- not holding a thing this size to their heads. And they rarely put it in their pockets -- it goes in a handbag (or a manbag) The bit about it not fitting in the F-150's "big Gulp" plastic cup holder speaks volumes about the culture it was written in.
Different cultures will use these devices differently. I imagine Samsung won't fret if this isn't taken up in droves in the US, because after all, there's always china.
Also, Anand, et al. *please* give us the ability to mod-down thoughtless comments such as the first one attached to this article.
That's all we need is you bland one mind fits all nazi book burners to demand the ability to wipe out the 1st amendment when you see fit. If you don't like a comment move on, instead of demanding personal power over others.
I didn't like certain things in your comment above, I'd like to wipe it out, we'd all be better for it.
The longer I spend think about my own subjective limitations, the more I realise that the products from anyone but apple aren't getting a fair go. And this one's an interesting product to attempt to not pigeonhole. I'd think of it more as a media device than a phone. And so does the rest of south korea, as I watch them using these things on the subway -- they watch tv on them. They make calls using earbuds -- not holding a thing this size to their heads. And they rarely put it in their pockets -- it goes in a handbag (or a manbag) The bit about it not fitting in the F-150's "big Gulp" plastic cup holder speaks volumes about the culture it was written in.
Different cultures will use these devices differently. I imagine Samsung won't fret if this isn't taken up in droves in the US, because after all, there's always china.
Also, Anand, et al. *please* give us the ability to mod-down thoughtless comments such as the first one attached to this article.
Please give us the power to wipe out the idiots who are stupid enough to double post, as if their comments are better than others comments, and as if we need to see them.
"One of the biggest factors young tech reviewers like myself forget is that visual acuity does diminish with age as the crystalline lens loses its ability to flex and accommodate, thus reducing how close one can focus."
Ha ha, this is an optical engineer's way of explaining that old(er) people need reading glasses :P I had to wikipedia this, but apparently the medical term is "Presbyopia" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyopia
Can't wait for the next episode of the Anandtech Podcast, Brian!
Every feature that Galaxy Note 2 has, can be found in bigger screen tablets expect for the ability to make calls. The other big screens cost fraction of what Galaxy Note 2 costs. eg : 199 for Google Nexus, 329 for iPad mini. Why pay $700 for this crap Galaxy note 2 ?
Secondly, no, it's not every feature. Pressure sensitive active pen digitizer is not found on any other current ARM tablet, and is a serious plus for some applications, i.e. drawing or even just handwriting. There's a reason it is called Note.
You really created an account here just to say that? :|
Miniaturisation doesn't come cheap. Fact is, though, they're probably taking decent margins on this too. We can thank Apple for setting up that pricing expectation and capitalism for making sure every other company follows suit.
"Switching back and forth between the stylus and fingers for using the basic Android interactions is annoying"
Um you do know that you can invoke the menu and back command with the S Pen, right? Hold the button and swipe left for "back", and swipe up for "menu" (while holding the button, of course).
the razr i has been mentioned and benched here and in the ip5 review and at least on the cpu side of things it looks like the only good competition to the A6
Brian, as others have pointed out there must be something wrong with your battery tests. All the other reviews on the net show much better performance than what you see which makes sense - this phone has a quite large battery. Maybe you have a defective unit?
There's a reason ford put a rubber tray on the dash - it's for your GN2! At least that's where I put mine while I drive (until I buy a dash mount for it). The GN2 is a bad ass phone, and maybe the novelty of the device has not worn off yet (got it yesterday at release) but I mean, there is something to be said for having the world's most powerful smartphone in your hands! haha eat it suckers
I was probably one of the few thousands of ppl who bought the Dell 5" Streak when they first came out and gigantic phones....not all that great. I got away from them, only for a bajillion other phones to get big.
In my own case, I'm getting the Note 2 because IT TAKES NOTES!! Imagine that !? One of the things it was designed for! The big screen also makes it easier to stab icons with my bigass finger. Also, movies look cooler with bigger screens- it's why people buy bigger screens for their home theaters...same principle.
Nothing subconscious about it. Otherwise, a very nice review.
Exactly, it fits the small package, big guns, PC insanity clack, which of course every idiot spews incessantly, ignoring the other reality that actually is a fact that the big gun in the big bad ghetto everywhere is toted by the big black packaged...
So much for the small minded retards parading around as the cultural elite minded peak of our society.
I know I'm going to enjoy using the Note 2 more than a smaller device which is the primary concern for me. I currently have the Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S1) so I'm going to see a huge performance increase just having current technology.
I'm not g33k enough to fully wrap my head around each test that was run. I did see a pattern of the iphone 5 and Droid beating out other phones in the testing. I intensely dislike Apple as a company and find the iphone on the whole to be uninspiring.
Winning on some of the benchmarks isn't going to persuade me to ditch the Note 2.
I wonder if the author or anyone else can put in perspective the overall performance between Note 2 and higher performing devices. Is it a noticeable or just a benchmark number?
If I would buy the USA version of Note 2. Will I be able to use the LTE outside US in Asia and Europe. Or I need to buy the Note 2 International version for that.
While T-Mobile is not generally considered primo, I had the opportunity to understand just how fine their network was while supporting network services for AT&T during the Cingular merger. At that time, our company had a division which provided similar services for T-Mobile, and I got the inside track from my buddies.
So, I really respect the author giving credit where it's due, and writing about a feature such as DC-HSPA+ which techs like me might care about. It reminds me of T-1 modem bonding before Y2K. Big kudos on this point.
Although I can't say this one feature would be enough to make me switch- no single carrier can do it all.
I have a Samsung GS3 and have been pretty unhappy with it for one, annoying reason. When I use it in my car (Infiniti G37, but I've heard the same problem exists in others, including Ford Sync) I have two problems. First, if bluetooth is enabled, it takes preference for audio input, such that I can't use S-Voice (S3's SIri equivalent) to send text, plays songs, use maps... anything). My car doesn't support music over bluetooth, so I plug in to the headphone jack when listening to books or music. When THAT happens, the line out trumps the bluetooth for audio priority, and I can't even use bluetooth for phone calls. The net effect is that I can't use voice commands while driving at all, unless I unplug the line out and disable BT. The other effect is that if I am listening to music or books, and I get a call, I have to reach over and yank out the audio cable in order to take the call. I had to buy off contract, so I paid about $600 for this thing, and these are not problems I've had with my previous Android phones or with iPhones, and I don't understand why I didn't see them mentioned in any reviews.
This all brings me to my point here - I'm thinking of selling my GS3 and getting a Note 2 or maybe an HTC 8X - can anyone here or at Anand confirm if these problems exist in those devices? Does anyone else share my pain with the GS3? Why is this not a bigger deal in the tech media?
I haven't had this problem with my note or with my sister's iphone4s with the Kia soul. have you tried going to the store to see i it defective or tried to see if it fails to work with other cars?
I do agree that some kind of Bluetooth testing would be nice to see with future reviews
what is the response of galaxy note 2 with other languages like hindi. I am searching for a device in which i can take notes in hindi. Is it responsive enough to write.
That the iPhone 5 is more powerful and has better battery life than the note 2 despite it having a battery 3 times larger and a quad core chip. The A6 must have far superior architecture and you can see how far optimisation goes and googles lack of it. I guess that's the problem that is bound to happen when one company doesn't make both hardware and software.
Just got a new Samsung Galaxy Note 2! Am thrilled!! I have a graphics design salon in New York and use it to doodle ideas while on the go. Then because I'm on AT&T's 4GLTE I send the doodles to myself at home and it’s very cool.
The G-sensor doesn't seem to work when the screen is off. I am using Note 2 Galaxy Samsung. I tried Justflip to flip to turn on the screen. The screen wasn't on at all. Please tell me if the is a fix for this bug.
S-Note is pretty nice looking, and as you say OneNote is feature rich and you've got lots of content in it which you can get at if you install the OneNote Mobile app on your phone.
But what about creating notes using the pen in S-Note? Is there some way to say store those notes in a Dropbox and get at them on the laptop? What would you edit them in? So far, about the only thing I've found is that you can export an image (pdf or jpeg) of the S-note note into dropbox and view the static image on your desktop. That's not so useful.
Is there anything out there that lets one have notes across platforms, that can use the pen, and preferably stores stuff in my existing dropbox account rather than making me pay yet another cloud storage service?
There's Evernote, but it doesn't work directly with S-Note. You can export a static image into Evernote as a sort of final resting place for the note, but this is unfulfilling at best.
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jigglywiggly - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
is samsung in a contest to creating the ugliest looking soap bars?They had it right with the GS2, then they just decided to fuck it with the GS3
Skiddywinks - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
That's because the SGS2 was basically an iPhone 4/4S, and they aren't allowed to make similar shapes, it would seem.Don't blame Samsung, they want to give you what you want, they just aren't allowed. I do agree though, I do prefer the SGS2/iP4 shape.
Samus - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Yeah its amazing how much my wife's GSII is mistaken for an iPhone in the line at ****bucks.I know what you mean, though, and its sad Samsung is basically banned from making "attractive" looking phones. Because appearantly, Apple invented attractive looking phones?
aegisofrime - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
I'm sorry, but anyone who can mistake the GS2 for an iPhone is an idiot.I mean, the size difference alone should be a dead giveaway. How about the rectangular home button vs the round home button on the iPhone? How about that big Samsung logo plastered on top of the GS2?
The only resemblance the two have is the shape. I simply cannot see how anyone can confuse the two.
sleepeeg3 - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
They confuse the two, because the average consumer doesn't know anything beyond iPhone. They think all phones are iPhones. When someone owns one of the more popular alternatives, the question I always get asked, "is that an iPhone?"Death666Angel - Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - link
When I had the SGS2 a lot of people around me asked if that was the new iPhone. But most of them thought that iPhone was a generic term like "PC" or "Console".I now have a Galaxy Nexus and find it and the new Samsung phones to be just as attractive.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
I am amazed by the constant artsy fartsy droning on how a device looks, and how all people are expected to agree, with of course, the iPhone as the "beautiful one".Of course it's brainwashing, just like all the lemmings want their computer parts and cases black - a thousand websites all have the drones exclaiming the same thing - black black black.
So, anything BUT the sad sorry rectangle of the iPhone is great by me. It's a freaking rectangle - and worse yet, the stupid public pubes in charge of the PC worshipping of a rectangle always claim thinner is also better.
Thinner is not better, especially when gripping. It's better in their lemming brainwashed gourds and not IRL, but their estrogen doused public opinion persona would have them believing anything peer pressure desired them to, so of course we have that thin to win crazed insanity everywhere as well.
It's a freakin rectangle. That's super, superior styling to these god for saken morons - it's amazing they can even drool.
medi01 - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
I'm sorry, but anyone who can mistake the GS2 (and GS1 for that matter) for an iPhone is an idiot.PeteH - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Depends. I can understand it at a glance, but not upon close inspection.n13L5 - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - link
I agree on the weird soapy curve of the S3, but the Note 2 looks more like a large SII, which is fine by me.By the way, in Boost mode, the Galaxy Note II works extremely well as a portable guitar amp. You just get a toggle for gain, rather than a knob for fine adjustment of the level of distortion :D
leo jacsion - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
Preservance a professional <a href=" http://preservancetech.com/our-services/web-design... Designing</a> company based in the capital city of India that offers various services for website designing from a static website to CMS driven website to any open source website development to complete e-commerce site to travel portal.leo jacsion - Friday, December 21, 2012 - link
Preservance a professional <a href=" http://preservancetech.com/our-services/web-design... Designing</a> company based in the capital city of India that offers various services for website designing from a static website to CMS driven website to any open source website development to complete e-commerce site to travel portal.darwinosx - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - link
It is much more than that. Anyone who paid any attention to the trial knows that Samsung had pages and pages showing the iPhone interface and the S 2 interface which it clearly said to copy as closely as possible. But the Android kids want to be ignorant and trot out the Samsung line that is just about being a rectangle.cmdrdredd - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
The GS2 is ugly as hell next to the GS3.Samus - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Yeah its amazing how much my wife's GSII is mistaken for an iPhone in the line at ****bucks.I know what you mean, though, and its sad Samsung is basically banned from making "attractive" looking phones. Because appearantly, Apple invented attractive looking phones?
Wardrop - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Dejavu?Spunjji - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Good to see I'm not the only one who got whacked by the comments system yesterday.n13L5 - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - link
The way I got my home screen set up, nobody has ever asked if it is an iPhone, as there's no rows of icons to see, and given the Samoled's black values, you can't even see where the screen ends if your background is set to black.Sabresiberian - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I guess Samsung didn't consider what would be aesthetically pleasing to someone who would choose a screen name like "jigglywiggly". :DSeriously though, just like I'd never be caught using a screen name for a site like yours, there is nothing wrong with your choice, and there is nothing wrong with the looks of the Note II here. You just don't like it. That's fine, but please try not to talk as though you are the arbiter of beauty; you're not.
;)
kenyee - Monday, November 5, 2012 - link
Smooth, round, light, sleek. Not a brick like the iPhone :-)The SGS2 wasn't bad, but the pebble design aesthetic isn't bad IMHO...
royalcrown - Friday, November 30, 2012 - link
...says the person with the ugliest avatar...leo jacsion - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
Preservance a professional <a href=" http://preservancetech.com/our-services/web-design... Designing</a> company based in the capital city of India that offers various services for website designing from a static website to CMS driven website to any open source website development to complete e-commerce site to travel portal.dyc4ha - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Thanks for the great article, I am currently considering an upgrade but didnt include the phablets among my choices because of their size. Now I am willing to go put it back on the table.Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Likewise, thanks for the great review, Brian. This phone has been on my upgrade short list and I can't wait to take it for a spin in a store soon. I've tried the Note and the SIII but I definitely need to see how the two meld together, as it were. :-)I wish the numbers for cellular browsing were a little higher, since that's my primary use for a phone and I want to know I can get a full day out of a phone without compromise. I don't know if my Atrix 4G just has really crummy battery life, or if I have unreasonable expectations for smartphones...
I'm also really curious now that you've mentioned the HDR stills...I do enjoy the convenience of taking pictures with a device I always have on me, and just last weekend I really wished I had something with more dynamic range. If the HDR feature works well, that would be another strong mark in it's favor.
Spunjji - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I've been using a Note 2 in the UK for a couple of weeks now - it routinely lasts for 2 days with all radios and GPS left enabled, a couple of hours worth of browsing, a little gameplay (World of Goo, nothing too stressful), some voice use and a lot of texting. It's currently at 66% after coming off charge at 8am, time now is 10pm. I'm writing this on it now.Point is, it lasts very well! I'm a little surprised by the unexceptional battery life readings in the charts here, but I suspect it's disproportionately affected by the relatively dim screen compared with contemporary phones. 200nits is near maximum on this thing, whereas I rarely go above 50% brightness. Not a flaw with the test so much as an advisory that the battery life will probably get hammered in bright ambient lighting. Similarly, mobile reception in the UK tends to be better. I reckon a full day's heavy use is hardly a stretch though!
Spunjji - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I've been using a Note 2 in the UK for a couple of weeks now - it routinely lasts for 2 days with all radios and GPS left enabled, a couple of hours worth of browsing, a little gameplay (World of Goo, nothing too stressful), some voice use and a lot of texting. It's currently at 66% after coming off charge at 8am, time now is 10pm. I'm writing this on it now.Point is, it lasts very well! I'm a little surprised by the unexceptional battery life readings in the charts here, but I suspect it's disproportionately affected by the relatively dim screen compared with contemporary phones. 200nits is near maximum on this thing, whereas I rarely go above 50% brightness. Not a flaw with the test so much as an advisory that the battery life will probably get hammered in bright ambient light :)
Spunjji - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Well, that wasn't supposed to end up there. How odd.Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Heh, that's all right. Thanks for the reassurance. :-) I'm pretty sure my Atrix 4G is jacked up; it hardly ever gets to 100% charge and is often at 30% or less by the time I leave work (and it's not like I spend all day dicking around on it).There's a lot that I want to like about this phone and I'm hoping I can snag it at something a bit less than $299 subsidized. I'll have to see what happens when it's finally released. And I'll probably have to wait to check out the Lumia 920, which is smaller(?), claims to have an awesome camera(+?), but has a sealed battery(-!)...
Spunjji - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Yeah, that price is rather extortionate! Again, UK pricing, but I paid £60 up-front plus £36 a month for 24 months. It's the most I've ever paid for a phone and probably ever would pay again, but my old Motorola Defy was having similar troubles to your Atrix so I threw caution to the wind.That Lumia 920 definitely looks worth a shot too - interesting times for mobile phones right now...
RealNinja - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
The Note 2 seems like it takes a...phone just a little too big. The "cup holder" fit criteria puts that into perspective fairly well.What is most interesting (IMO) about this prioduct is finally getting an Exynos product.
StormyParis - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
It's really a matter of taste, and your own size. I'm 6" with large hands, and frankly, adjusting from a 4.3" HD2 to a GNote1 took me half a day.I got the same snide remarks I got about my HD2, so I'm sure the fashion police will be able to eat their words with the same gusto in a year or two when that size becomes standard and accepted. I'm using a headset all the time anyway, so I don't get the "shovel stuck to ear" look too often.
The Gnote fits in my shirt and front pants pockets (I'm too afraid of sitting on it if I put it in the back), I can handle it one-handed (barely). My asian friends can't say the same though ^^
cserwin - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Not sure if by 6" you meant 6', or you are not talking about height...ಠ_ಠ.
Denithor - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Hahahahaha!!Excellent...
SilthDraeth - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
LOLGTRagnarok - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
So I should consider the size of my package when deciding if I want a Samsung Note.Spunjji - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
It's all about what you're comfortable with having in your hand...Arbie - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
+10junglist724 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Hmmm, I'm asian, 5'10" but I have really long fingers(Great for those mandatory music lessons every asian american has to take). I have no problem using a screen that size in one hand for most tasks. Can't wait to pick up the gnote 2 on AT&T.lilmoe - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
It's not only about the size of your hands. Actually, my wife (yes, with very small hands) was eyeing the Note 2 ever since it was announced. Her love for it grew each time she saw a video review or one of those Samsung promotional ads.I've tried to convince her otherwise countless times, since I thought it would be unpractical and very hard to manage, especially since her previous Galaxy S2 would slip from her hand and drop on regular basis.
She has one now, for almost a week. She describes the device in 5 words; "best phone she ever owned". She loves the screen, battery life, functionality, S-Pen, and call quality/reception. She doesn't want a tablet anymore, I guess that says something.
There's something about the Galaxy Note series that makes you either love it or hate it, and for those who love it, they do with a passion. I personally think it's a great phone, but it would have to be the ONLY phone on my carrier for me to consider one.... Oh well, at least the device have taken a good chunk of her "free time" that otherwise would have me in focus, lol.
StormyParis - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
As a 44yr old, I'm getting my phones purely on screen size (and still zooming in quite a bit...). It's nice to see a reviewer able to put himself in others' shoes for once ^^ Screen legibility in bright light *and* at night, for which AMOLED is very good, are also important. LCDs glow in the dark in the worst way.I have a Note1, and I'm so happy with it I think I'll skip the 2, especially since the 3 should come around ext summer. Review such as this one make me hitch, though.
The0ne - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Don't worry, I'm 40 years old myself and screen specs are very important for me due to my aging eyes. I've since replaced all my LCDs with 30" IPS ones, e-readers and tablets have at least x800 and now this phone if I decide to buy one (if pricing is right).I was glad to read that statement in the review as well. It definitely put a smile onto my face to actually read it and have someone share the perspective. Mind you my eyes aren't too bad being .75 off but it does make a huge difference having a good screen to look at.
jjj - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Not a fan of the S3 but for some reason i kinda like this one.The weight seems rather high,after all most of the time the phone sits in a pocket,hope they get rid of some layers of glass in future models.Maybe by then we also see Corning's Willow Glass and the flexible Atmel touch sensor (not controller) for a thinner bezel.
It does feel a bit outdated already with quad Krait devices announced and dual core A15 arriving soon hopefully (Gigaom had some numbers for the A15 based Chromebook and they look impressive)
enezneb - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
That 11 million contrast ratio is just amazing; a true testament to the potential of AMOLED.I could forsee Samsung improving their color calibration standards for the next generation of flagships seeing how they're under considerable pressure from the likes of SLCD2 and Apple's retina display. Paired with this new pentile matrix ultra-high ppi displays in the range of 400 may be possible as well (a la SLCD3)
Looks like next year will be another exciting year for mobile display technology once again.
schmitty338 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
You can change the colour calibration to be more 'natural' in the TouchWiz software ont eh Note II.Also, personally I don't see the need for 'more accurate' colours on a phone. Maybe if you are a pro photog who reviews pics on their phone, but otherwise, I love the colourful pop of AMOLED displays. Even the low res pentile AMOLED of my old galaxy S (original...getting the Note 2 soon) looks great for media. Text, not so much, due to the low res and pentile.
slysly - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Why would colour accuracy ever not be important? I thought the point of a big phone is to make it easier to consume all sorts of media, from websites to photos to movies. Wouldn't more accurate colours be better for all of these activities? To me, it's a bit like saying, I don't see the need to eat delicious food during lunch, or I don't need to be with a beautiful woman on the weekdays. Why settle for something markedly inferior?Calista - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Is your screen properly colour calibrated? Are your walls painted in a neutral colour to avoid a colour cast? Are your lamps casting a specified type of light and shielded to avoid glare? Do you use high-quality blinds to prevent sunlight?This is only a few of the things to consider when dealing with calibration. And a cellphone is unable to deal with any of them unless it stays in the lab.
So for a cellphone the criteria is:
Is it bright enough?
Does it look pleasing to the eye, overly saturated or not?
PeteH - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Eh, depends what you do with it. I can understand wanting an accurate representation of a photo you're taking.And given the option between an accurate display and a less accurate display (all other things being equal) I think most people would opt for the more accurate option. Note that I'm not saying they would choose it as better visually (people seem to be suckers for over saturated displays).
Zink - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Great review. Just the right amount of detail and I really like your perspective on day to day use.Mbonus - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Battery Life Question: I have noticed that since I have started using audio streaming apps my battery has taken quite a hit. I wonder if that could be added to your battery life benchmarks?It might not matter for devices like this where you have a large storage upgrade ability, but some other devices are forcing us to the cloud where streaming matters.
Great and thorough review as always!
Brian Klug - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
So with streaming apps and such, even though the bitrate is low, if they're not very bursty (eg download and fill a big buffer, then wait 30 seconds or minutes, then repeat) they can hold the phone in CELL_DCH on UMTS or the appropriate equivalent on other air interface types, and that's what really burns power. It's time spent in that connected state that really destroys things.This is actually why I do the tethering test as well (which has a streaming audio component), but I'm beholden to whether or not the review unit that I'm sampled is provisioned for tethering or not, which is the real problem.
-Brian
Zoomer - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Google play music actually seems to do burst caching.Peanutsrevenge - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Agreed.I listen to the cricket on tunein radio when it's on and that's a constant stream I believe and it annihilates my battery, despite the low bitrate.
Would be nice if somewhere along the line radios could go into a low power mode where it's only running close to the minimum required speed with the power taking a relative drop.
tommo123 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
and haven't got the thing below 30% in battery life yet, even after using bluetooth audio for a few hours and tracking my location with endomondo, watching movies via 3G (didn't go for the LTE ver here - no point) and so on.got my USB OTG adapter today and am seeing how long i can play movies off of it for. max brightness and playing off an SD card connected externally.
the screen on this thing is amazing and now my SGS2 is tiny, like a kids toy.
tommo123 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
well video playback laster 8 hours 19 mins with screen on max brightness, with wifi on and powering a usb OTG cable, a sd card/usb adapter and the SD card itself. now on 5%not too shabby.
in airplane mode etc and an internal mSD card i think it could hit the 10 hours mark - especially with brightness lowered a tad
Spunjji - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Pretty much fits my experience! Fairly sure there are even gains to be had from rooting, tweaking etc.tommo123 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
oh i rooted mine on the 2nd day and flashed a rom on the 3rd :)PeteH - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
So maybe not the best example of a "typical" user's experience ;)tommo123 - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
nope :)i did my own test yest though
i let 720p vids play non stop yest on this in airplane mode, max brightness (like i was on a plane) and was impressed! played for 11 hours 38 mins before it hit 5%. so say 12 hours video playback.
nice.no need for a laptop to play vids on a flight anymore. just this and a spare battery for when i get off the plane :)
plus 1 for removable batteries! :D
Peanutsrevenge - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
No point in LTE?You may regret that soon, 4G's rolling out as we speak.
Was in T-mo store the other day helping mate choose a phone (got S3 i9305, could convince him to get note II) and sales advisor reckons 6 months for Bournemouth.
Spunjji - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
This one does vary a lot by where you live. Their definition of "coverage" might be interesting too, given how their standard network holds up.tommo123 - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
i'm in liverpool and we're getting it amongst the 1st.1 - the prices are stupid.
2 - afaik the radio uses more power
3 - youtube - only buffering probs i have are on their end
4 - streaming in general - 3G i get is more than sufficient
tommo123 - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
put a LTE note 2 next to a 3G note 2 and watch youtube/stream netflix and odds are there won't be a difference in anything other than downloading. And that is not going to happen due to EEs anaemic allowanceagent2099 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
That is a steep price at 299 Subsidized. Any idea what the unsubsidized price will be?warisz00r - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Where I live, the at-launch price is the same as the OG Note.phemark - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Good review, waiting for Padfone 2 review now:)antef - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
IMO the menu-home-back button layout is a dealbreaker (as opposed to back-home-recent apps on Nexus/HTC/Motorola devices). It means you have to long-press to access recent apps and you have to remember to look down there to press the menu key even though every other action is on the action bar up top, totally disjointed. Not to mention the menu key is always present and lit up even in apps where it doesn't do anything, like the camera app and Google Reader. Try explaining that to a new user, no wonder so many people choose iPhone, it makes Android seem more confusing than it has to. This combined with the awful look and bloated, overlapping feature set of TouchWiz makes it apparent Samsung has zero handle on UI design or usability. I will gladly buy a Nexus device that they manufacture, but not any of their branded devices.schmitty338 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
iOS can be even more convoluted. Case in point, my mom, whom has an old HTC android phone that she uses just fine) called me the other day asking how to do basic things on her new iPad.Neither is perfect and both have their pros and cons.
Also, have you use the new Note 2? EVery single video/written review I have seen praises the software. Yes, some features are probably never going to be used, but that doesn't harm the experience which, everybody agrees, is for the most part, outstanding.
Bubbacub - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
padfone 2 review would be great.i dont know about others - but i spend a lot of time copying data (HD films) from my laptop to my phone and my tablet. would be nice to get rid of that extra step (which is huge for me because i use linux which has utterly retarded MTP support)
Jumpman23 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
In a lot of android phones whenever I try to use a stylus and draw a diagonal line in some drawing app, the diagonal line would never be perfectly straight as I'd like. It is always wavy. Try drawing a slow diagonal line in any drawing app and you'd know what I mean. So I wonder if the Note 2 has improved upon this.schmitty338 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
That is because they use inaccurate capacitive touch for drawing. This is an active stylus built on Wacom tech, just like full-sized windows tablet PCs and drawing tablets...it won't have that issue.MaziarKia - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Great review but the battery life results are kinda odd.In all GN2 reviews that I've read around the web,it performed better than any other phone(with the exception of Razr MAXX)
geniekid - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Where are these other reviews? Were they as rigorous with their testing as AT is?Not trying to call you out. I'm genuinely curious.
MaziarKia - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
gsmarena,phonedog etc.sherlockwing - Saturday, April 6, 2013 - link
It is completely possible for AnandTech's Battery test to be very unfair toward AMOLED display phones.jamyryals - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Brian and Anand have talked about this on their podcast recently. Specifically, the choices you make when creating a benchmark. They try to remove the bottlenecks, via benchmark design, that would unduly stress a certain aspect of the device (ie baseband). Their goal was to get as much of a mix in stressing components as possible. Sounds like a hard task given the very different hardware in these devices.The0ne - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Since the original, I've been waiting for the update and now that it's finally here I think it's time to upgrade my basic 8525 phone to the next generation "smartphone" and pay the fine..fees that comes along with it. I plan to make the most out of this phone for personal and business.1. Reading
2. Planning
3. Office apps
4. Music
5. Movies
6. Map/Travel
Having a larger screen just makes it much more appealing for all the stuff I want to do, especially reading. Just a personal taste mind you.
PeteH - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
I notice your task list doesn't include phone calls. Maybe you should get a tablet instead.ascian5 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Great review per usual Brian.Please get out the Lumia 920 ASAP! Heh. Until I can play with these phones in person, and likely even then, I'm really on the fence as to what phone to go with. This doesn't happen often with me and tech, but I'm really on the fence between these 2 devices.
OCN's_3930k - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I spy razr i results... is it getting a review?wicktron - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
There's a severe lack of trolls on the comments section of this review. It's appalling. I miss the trolls that enter the Apple reviews and talk smack about Apple products being toys and the inability for them to be used for any real work. What happened here, guys? Where art thou, troll!?:(
name99 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Of course you could consider this an empirical display of the difference between Apple supporters and Apple haters. The Apple supporters don't seem to feel a compulsive need to wander into a non-Apple thread and tell everyone how much Android, Samsung, Google, AMOLED, S-Pen and TouchWiz all suck.Either way, yes, a thread that does't feel like a wanna-be gang fight between two groups of 8-year-olds is a pleasant experience!
Peanutsrevenge - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
If it helps:Droid fanatic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7huae767Rxg&fea...
Apple Fanatic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFhjDX-DUew&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTTSsB92L_s&fea...
Came across these yesterday on Phandroid :D
Mugur - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
As owner of a 5" Dell Streak, I'm looking to replace it with another large phone and Note 2 seems just perfect. One question though: can I use another launcher (I don't like TouchWiz) without losing the S-Pen features?Spunjji - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I use Apex launcher, S-Pen stuff all works fine. :)Mugur - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Thank you.Aenean144 - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
"we load webpages at a fixed interval until the handset dies, with display set at exactly 200 nits as always. The test is performed over both cellular data and WiFi. The new test has decreased pause time between web page loads and a number of JavaScript-heavy pages."What's the pause time?
In such a test, the system that is fastest to idle will typically result in a lower or lowest power draw through time. One can only interpret the performance of a device relative to other devices when doing the specific test, maybe. No one should be assuming that they'll get 10 hours of wifi/cellular browsing though, whatever time your device of choice gets.
Do humans really do what the battery life test does? I don't know if we're at the point where we are input saturated on how fast we can web browse, but I don't think we're at the saturation point just yet. So, if a phone downloads and renders web pages faster, I think we would just browse more pages in the same given time frame. The devices that burn more power during download and render times may end up with shorter battery life performance simply because a user is browsing more and faster.
You guys are definitely promoting the idea of wider "dynamic range" on battery performance. The battery life test is perhaps a light use case based on my gut feel. Minimally, I think, at least for web browsing, the minimum battery life performance should at be established for devices.
Lighter and lighter browsing workloads would tail off towards standby time. You may want to establish or guess at what the max work rate for humans is while browsing the web, like using an average reading speed or maybe somewhere in the 80th percentile of reading speed.
Obviously, it's a more than one parameter problem with games, GPS, etc, but maybe that can be tackled later.
Sabresiberian - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Of all the smart phones I know about, this is the one I'm most interested in. However, I'm a Windows kind of guy, tried Android briefly and I certainly see why people would choose it over iOS, but in my opinion it's not great. Just my personal view, of course. I'm Windows trained and Windows is the most "intuitive" for me, largely because of that I'm sure.So, in case anyone from Microsoft is reading - can we get Nokia to make something like this with Win 8 as the OS?
On Verizon? (I have to say though, Verizon's methodology for keeping their phones up-to-date doesn't thrill me. Of course, cell phones, particularly smart phones, are about as private as a house made entirely of screen doors anyway, so I'm not sure that's all that important as things exist today.)
;)
shortylickens - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Got one this afternoon (not because of the article).My local store had them for 200 and also a 50 dollar mail in rebate. I dont think thats nationwide though.
I like it, made an informal review in the forums.
zilexa - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Really, you have a Note 2 without split screen functionality? So you cannot see and work with 2 apps at the same time??Thats weird! Here in Holland I cannot walk the street without seeing billboards showing off this feature.. those Apple fans don't know what hit them.. firstly iOS 6 wich feels like 2010 version of Android for Android users, now this Note 2 can even show 2 apps at the same time, side by side!
Really weird the US versions don't have this firmware yet. But like you said in other reviews, US market is totally different. Here we see Samsung phones, in the shops, there you see AT&T or T-mobile or Verizon phones. Although here in NL almost always sold with subscription, and with the name of your provider on it, at least its an actual Samsung phone and not a T-Mobile phone..
Impulses - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
What? They're all still Samsung/HTC/etc branded in the US... What are you going on about? The carriers do meddle with updates and the firmware, but the thing isn't sold as an AT&T Galaxy S or something, it still says Samsung and it's advertised by Samsung (for better or worse, their anti-Apple commercials are almost as bad as Apple's old anti-PC commercials)...Hell my Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE doesn't even have Sprint silkscreened anywhere on the front (amazing show of restraint on their part). AT&T's often the worse about branding, they've put the name AND logo on some Moto phones (centered no less).
sharath.naik - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I expected the battery life to be much better that what the test shows. Specifically the WiFi browsing time of 6 hrs, when I Phone gets 10. I did not see the brightness level set during this test in the article (or did I miss it), given how much of a effect OLED screen brightness has on battery life, I would have liked know the brightness level set.Mugur - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
They said the brightness was at 200 nits. In my opinion that is somehow misleading, because this is almost max for Note 2 or other OLED screens and 1/3 for LCD ones like iPhone 5. Why not doing a test on max brightness?Spunjji - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
It's meant to be a standard level to make the numbers directly comparable. Furthermore, it would be unfair to penalise a phone with an exceptionally high brightness by running it at such a level during a test when you'd be unlikely to use that mode all the time in reality.However, in this instance it does hamper the phone's performance - I run it around the 50% level most of the time and it looks nice and clear that way. However, I wouldn't say it necessarily does so *unfairly*. Just something to bear in mind... additional figures would be nice but time-consuming to obtain.
Seggybop - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
"I know there are big cultural differences associated with the appeal of this chrome ring"where can I find this mythical culture that appreciates gaudy chrome trim? as far as I can tell, it's a universally reviled element that does nothing but make a device look cheap.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
Both you ladies should take some more cultural arts classes and brush up on your laughable snobbery.Seggybop - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
"I know there are big cultural differences associated with the appeal of this chrome ring"where can I find this mythical culture that appreciates gaudy chrome trim? as far as I can tell, it's a universally reviled element that does nothing but make a device look cheap.
Impulses - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Korea or Asia in general possibly...Seggybop - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
"I know there are big cultural differences associated with the appeal of this chrome ring"where can I find this mythical culture that appreciates gaudy chrome trim? as far as I can tell, it's a universally reviled element that does nothing but make a device look cheap.
barry spock - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
The longer I spend think about my own subjective limitations, the more I realise that the products from anyone but apple aren't getting a fair go.And this one's an interesting product to attempt to not pigeonhole. I'd think of it more as a media device than a phone. And so does the rest of south korea, as I watch them using these things on the subway -- they watch tv on them. They make calls using earbuds -- not holding a thing this size to their heads. And they rarely put it in their pockets -- it goes in a handbag (or a manbag)
The bit about it not fitting in the F-150's "big Gulp" plastic cup holder speaks volumes about the culture it was written in.
Different cultures will use these devices differently. I imagine Samsung won't fret if this isn't taken up in droves in the US, because after all, there's always china.
Also, Anand, et al. *please* give us the ability to mod-down thoughtless comments such as the first one attached to this article.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
That's all we need is you bland one mind fits all nazi book burners to demand the ability to wipe out the 1st amendment when you see fit.If you don't like a comment move on, instead of demanding personal power over others.
I didn't like certain things in your comment above, I'd like to wipe it out, we'd all be better for it.
barry spock - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
The longer I spend think about my own subjective limitations, the more I realise that the products from anyone but apple aren't getting a fair go.And this one's an interesting product to attempt to not pigeonhole. I'd think of it more as a media device than a phone. And so does the rest of south korea, as I watch them using these things on the subway -- they watch tv on them. They make calls using earbuds -- not holding a thing this size to their heads. And they rarely put it in their pockets -- it goes in a handbag (or a manbag)
The bit about it not fitting in the F-150's "big Gulp" plastic cup holder speaks volumes about the culture it was written in.
Different cultures will use these devices differently. I imagine Samsung won't fret if this isn't taken up in droves in the US, because after all, there's always china.
Also, Anand, et al. *please* give us the ability to mod-down thoughtless comments such as the first one attached to this article.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
Please give us the power to wipe out the idiots who are stupid enough to double post, as if their comments are better than others comments, and as if we need to see them.Paulman - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
"One of the biggest factors young tech reviewers like myself forget is that visual acuity does diminish with age as the crystalline lens loses its ability to flex and accommodate, thus reducing how close one can focus."Ha ha, this is an optical engineer's way of explaining that old(er) people need reading glasses :P I had to wikipedia this, but apparently the medical term is "Presbyopia" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyopia
Can't wait for the next episode of the Anandtech Podcast, Brian!
galaxynotetoo - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Every feature that Galaxy Note 2 has, can be found in bigger screen tablets expect for the ability to make calls. The other big screens cost fraction of what Galaxy Note 2 costs. eg : 199 for Google Nexus, 329 for iPad mini. Why pay $700 for this crap Galaxy note 2 ?Visual - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Firstly, the obvious thing - to make calls. Duh.Secondly, no, it's not every feature. Pressure sensitive active pen digitizer is not found on any other current ARM tablet, and is a serious plus for some applications, i.e. drawing or even just handwriting. There's a reason it is called Note.
Spunjji - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
You really created an account here just to say that? :|Miniaturisation doesn't come cheap. Fact is, though, they're probably taking decent margins on this too. We can thank Apple for setting up that pricing expectation and capitalism for making sure every other company follows suit.
VooDooAddict - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Been the first phone I've been excited about hitting sprint since the Palm Pre.Soon as it's available it will be replacing the launch Pre I'm still using.
liffey - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
"Switching back and forth between the stylus and fingers for using the basic Android interactions is annoying"Um you do know that you can invoke the menu and back command with the S Pen, right? Hold the button and swipe left for "back", and swipe up for "menu" (while holding the button, of course).
996GT2 - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
iPhone 5 screen resolution is 1136 x 640, not 1136 x 960 as listed in the table.cokata - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
the razr i has been mentioned and benched here and in the ip5 review and at least on the cpu side of things it looks like the only good competition to the A6djpavcy - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Brian, as others have pointed out there must be something wrong with your battery tests. All the other reviews on the net show much better performance than what you see which makes sense - this phone has a quite large battery. Maybe you have a defective unit?Vinas - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
There's a reason ford put a rubber tray on the dash - it's for your GN2! At least that's where I put mine while I drive (until I buy a dash mount for it). The GN2 is a bad ass phone, and maybe the novelty of the device has not worn off yet (got it yesterday at release) but I mean, there is something to be said for having the world's most powerful smartphone in your hands! haha eat it suckerskhanikun - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
I was probably one of the few thousands of ppl who bought the Dell 5" Streak when they first came out and gigantic phones....not all that great. I got away from them, only for a bajillion other phones to get big.fate_accompli - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
Well, thanks for that, Dr. Freud.In my own case, I'm getting the Note 2 because IT TAKES NOTES!!
Imagine that !? One of the things it was designed for! The big screen
also makes it easier to stab icons with my bigass finger. Also, movies
look cooler with bigger screens- it's why people buy bigger screens for
their home theaters...same principle.
Nothing subconscious about it. Otherwise, a very nice review.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
Exactly, it fits the small package, big guns, PC insanity clack, which of course every idiot spews incessantly, ignoring the other reality that actually is a fact that the big gun in the big bad ghetto everywhere is toted by the big black packaged...So much for the small minded retards parading around as the cultural elite minded peak of our society.
jwhyrock - Saturday, October 27, 2012 - link
I know I'm going to enjoy using the Note 2 more than a smaller device which is the primary concern for me. I currently have the Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S1) so I'm going to see a huge performance increase just having current technology.I'm not g33k enough to fully wrap my head around each test that was run. I did see a pattern of the iphone 5 and Droid beating out other phones in the testing. I intensely dislike Apple as a company and find the iphone on the whole to be uninspiring.
Winning on some of the benchmarks isn't going to persuade me to ditch the Note 2.
I wonder if the author or anyone else can put in perspective the overall performance between Note 2 and higher performing devices. Is it a noticeable or just a benchmark number?
Anon - Sunday, October 28, 2012 - link
Why oh why it's always missing the audio chip report? I need to know whether the US version will retain the Wolfson chip .hemanthj - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
If I would buy the USA version of Note 2. Will I be able to use the LTE outside US in Asia and Europe. Or I need to buy the Note 2 International version for that.bellasys - Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - link
While T-Mobile is not generally considered primo, I had the opportunity to understand just how fine their network was while supporting network services for AT&T during the Cingular merger. At that time, our company had a division which provided similar services for T-Mobile, and I got the inside track from my buddies.So, I really respect the author giving credit where it's due, and writing about a feature such as DC-HSPA+ which techs like me might care about. It reminds me of T-1 modem bonding before Y2K. Big kudos on this point.
Although I can't say this one feature would be enough to make me switch- no single carrier can do it all.
Great and informative article. Thanks :)
garrun - Friday, November 2, 2012 - link
I have a Samsung GS3 and have been pretty unhappy with it for one, annoying reason. When I use it in my car (Infiniti G37, but I've heard the same problem exists in others, including Ford Sync) I have two problems. First, if bluetooth is enabled, it takes preference for audio input, such that I can't use S-Voice (S3's SIri equivalent) to send text, plays songs, use maps... anything). My car doesn't support music over bluetooth, so I plug in to the headphone jack when listening to books or music. When THAT happens, the line out trumps the bluetooth for audio priority, and I can't even use bluetooth for phone calls. The net effect is that I can't use voice commands while driving at all, unless I unplug the line out and disable BT. The other effect is that if I am listening to music or books, and I get a call, I have to reach over and yank out the audio cable in order to take the call. I had to buy off contract, so I paid about $600 for this thing, and these are not problems I've had with my previous Android phones or with iPhones, and I don't understand why I didn't see them mentioned in any reviews.This all brings me to my point here - I'm thinking of selling my GS3 and getting a Note 2 or maybe an HTC 8X - can anyone here or at Anand confirm if these problems exist in those devices? Does anyone else share my pain with the GS3? Why is this not a bigger deal in the tech media?
HanakoIkezawa - Friday, November 16, 2012 - link
I haven't had this problem with my note or with my sister's iphone4s with the Kia soul. have you tried going to the store to see i it defective or tried to see if it fails to work with other cars?I do agree that some kind of Bluetooth testing would be nice to see with future reviews
abhi.12 - Friday, November 9, 2012 - link
what is the response of galaxy note 2 with other languages like hindi. I am searching for a device in which i can take notes in hindi. Is it responsive enough to write.Random Guy99 - Thursday, December 13, 2012 - link
That the iPhone 5 is more powerful and has better battery life than the note 2 despite it having a battery 3 times larger and a quad core chip. The A6 must have far superior architecture and you can see how far optimisation goes and googles lack of it. I guess that's the problem that is bound to happen when one company doesn't make both hardware and software.MichaelEvans - Monday, December 24, 2012 - link
Just got a new Samsung Galaxy Note 2! Am thrilled!! I have a graphics design salon in New York and use it to doodle ideas while on the go. Then because I'm on AT&T's 4GLTE I send the doodles to myself at home and it’s very cool.anhminh1232002 - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 - link
Hello everyoneThe G-sensor doesn't seem to work when the screen is off.
I am using Note 2 Galaxy Samsung.
I tried Justflip to flip to turn on the screen. The screen wasn't on at all.
Please tell me if the is a fix for this bug.
Thank you.
mgrant - Sunday, February 24, 2013 - link
S-Note is pretty nice looking, and as you say OneNote is feature rich and you've got lots of content in it which you can get at if you install the OneNote Mobile app on your phone.But what about creating notes using the pen in S-Note? Is there some way to say store those notes in a Dropbox and get at them on the laptop? What would you edit them in? So far, about the only thing I've found is that you can export an image (pdf or jpeg) of the S-note note into dropbox and view the static image on your desktop. That's not so useful.
Is there anything out there that lets one have notes across platforms, that can use the pen, and preferably stores stuff in my existing dropbox account rather than making me pay yet another cloud storage service?
There's Evernote, but it doesn't work directly with S-Note. You can export a static image into Evernote as a sort of final resting place for the note, but this is unfulfilling at best.
Hanna - Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - link
How much does it cost?Hanna - Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - link
I mean the Galaxy note 2 or 3Hanna - Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - link
My mum does not want to buy 700 euros. So ...What should I do? How can I persuade my mum to it? HELP??!! PLEASE REPLY
SamJack - Monday, May 13, 2013 - link
this is awesome but i think NOte 3 will be the best ever !! as i read in this site : http://crackerpie.com/2013/03/22/samsung-galaxy-no...olivialily1 - Friday, July 27, 2018 - link
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