Samsung Galaxy Note review

The Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 makes me feel like an idiot for loving Apple. For years I defended the iPhone, calling it the next coming of mobile phones and now, out of the blue, the Note has knocked me flat on my back.
It’s the biggest, brightest and fastest smartphone currently available and Samsung is now the deserving wearer of the mobile crown. Samsung should also be congratulated for bringing the stylus back into the 21st century with an ambitious new embedded interface option called the “S-Pen”.
Bigger is better The Galaxy Note’s most obvious positive is the 5.3″ super AMOLED screen.

Back to the Future It’s funny how technology works, seemingly always in cycles. A device is built and then scrapped when popularity wanes. The S-Pen, the stylus embedded within the Galaxy Note is a brave step back into the past for Samsung but works deliriously well with the phone. The S-Pen (don’t call it a stylus!) is a touch small but over time, works as well as any other interface option. Hell, the phone practically begs to be your replacement electronic diary.

Gingerbread Men The Galaxy Note runs Gingerbread 2.3.5, a fast, hassle-free operating system. Initially, the OS overwhelmed me thanks to the number of interface options Samsung was able to cram onto the Galaxy Note’s screens. After fiddling with the display (which is fully customisable to the nth degree), however, I managed to find a comfortable middle ground which suited my iPhone tendencies.

Speed Freak In terms of data and CPU speed, the Galaxy Note rules the roost. HSDPA+ is supported and the reported 21Mbp speeds are not far off. In an area with decent signal, Speedtest.net reported 8Mbps downloads and 4Mbps uploads.
The dual-core 1.4GHZ processor, combined with 1GB Ram is unstoppable, as shown by the independent benchmarking reports.

Camera The 8MP camera is a leading class imaging device. With autofocus and LED flash combined with image stabilisation, pictures come out sharp and clear. Video is also top-notch and shoots in 1080p. Thanks to the phones 16GB/32GB (model dependant) storage, you will rarely run out of memory but in the likelihood that you do, 32GB SD cards can be inserted into the phone.

Who it’s for: Lovers of fast, beautiful smartphone’s.

What We like: The 5.3 inch screen
the lightening fast wireless speeds
S-Pen interface
Thin and light design

What We did not like: Slightly small S-Pen
Using it as an actual phone