Remember the display on your first mobile phone? If you've been chatting on the go for as long as we have, it was probably barely big enough to fit a complete telephone number -- let alone a contact name or text message. And your first smartphone?
Even displaying scaled-down, WAP versions of web pages was asking a lot. Now, those mobile devices we couldn't live without have screens that are much, much larger. Sometimes, though, we secretly wish they were even bigger still.
Even displaying scaled-down, WAP versions of web pages was asking a lot. Now, those mobile devices we couldn't live without have screens that are much, much larger. Sometimes, though, we secretly wish they were even bigger still.
Samsung's new GT-N7000 Galaxy Note is the handset those dreams are made of -- if you happen to share that dream about obnoxiously large smartphones, that is. It's as thin as a Galaxy S II, lightning fast and its 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display is as gorgeous as it is enormous; the 1280 x 800 pixels you once could only get with a full-size laptop (or in the Galaxy Tab 10.1) can now slide comfortably into your front pocket. Its jumbo display makes it the perfect candidate for a notepad replacement and, with the included S Pen stylus, you'll have no problem jotting notes on the fly, marking up screenshots or signing documents electronically. But, is that massive display too much of a good thing? You'll need to jump past the break to find out.
1280 x 800 pixels in a smartphone display is quite a feat, and it's just as impressive to behold as it sounds. The Note's 5.3-inch Super AMOLED screen is incredibly bright, vibrant and detailed, thanks to its 285ppi resolution. It doesn't have the highest pixel density in the world (the smaller Galaxy Nexus trumps it slightly, as does Apple's Retina panel in the iPhone 4 and 4S), but it's enough to make graphics amazingly smooth -- you'll have a hard time seeing individual pixels with the naked eye. Viewing photos and graphics, web pages and even newspaper articles in PressReader is quite the treat when you have this much visual real estate to work with.
Colors on the Note pop just as they do on the GS II, that eye-pleasing contrast and saturation we've come to love from Samsung's AMOLED displays, and little vibrancy is lost when viewed from the side. However, color accuracy does start to wander a bit. This is indeed a PenTile display, just like the upcoming Galaxy Nexus, and so there are more green sub-pixels than any other color. This gives everything an ever-so slightly sickly tinge, especially when viewed off-angle. Still, you'll have no problem watching videos or reviewing your sketches with a group of friends -- assuming none of them are hue purists.
If you fall within the camp of smartphone users that absolutely swears off onscreen keyboards, the Note's display may just win you over. A larger display means larger keys, which are easier to see and simpler to tap accurately -- if you can reach them. You can also use the S Pen to replace the keyboard entirely, letting you write in individual letters or entire words. Character and handwriting recognition isn't perfect, but it is quite good. When we scribbled "hello" as you can see in the picture below it was recognized perfectly, though less common words (particularly web addresses) were a little less reliable.
Loudspeaker / earpiece
The Note's speaker sure is loud, though Samsung hasn't pulled any magic tricks out of the hat here when it comes to audio quality. Do you like listening to music or watching movies through tinny desktop speakers? Well, then you might not mind the Note. There's nothing exceptional about the little tweeter inside here besides its volume, so you'll want to take advantage of that 3.5mm headphone jack whenever possible. The only accessory Samsung included with our review sample was a UK power cord, so we can't speak to the pack-in headphones the company will provide, but unsurprisingly our own pair worked just fine.
There's an FM radio app, just in case you run out of stored tunes or want to leave the playlist generation up to a professional. You'll need to plug in a set of earphones to use as an antenna and our generic buds naturally seemed to do the trick -- though we could only pull in a half dozen stations while standing next to a window in Central London, and the ones that we did get were mostly static.
If you do plan on making phone calls with the Note, you can expect average performance. We placed a few test calls -- some local and some across the Atlantic -- and things sounded just fine on both ends, though not overly crisp. Callers on the other end of the line were barely able to distinguish between calls made using the earpiece and those placed with the speakerphone, even when speaking a foot or two away from the handset. The Note's strengths clearly lie in what you can do with that generous display and S Pen, though it's a perfectly functional phone just the same.
Camera
It's safe to say that the device offered more than acceptable performance. That's to be expected, as it appears to be using the same sensor and camera getup we've loved in the other Galaxy S II iterations thus far. During our indoor shoot, the camera was able to balance color and exposure properly with most subjects in still mode. The autofocus worked well most of the time and the built-in flash popped with the correct amount of power -- our subjects were not blown out. We needed to stay a few inches away from subjects in order to get the camera to focus, even in macro mode -- so don't expect to be able to snap extreme close-ups. Also, noise was an issue in darker scenes and the camera was unable to compensate for low light in some areas.
Software and S Pen
Don't call it a stylus! Samsung prefers S Pen and, with features that you won't find on just any plastic poker, it might even deserve the distinction. One of our favorites is the ability to tap and hold to capture an instant screenshot, which is then immediately opened up in an image editor. There you can mark up the grab, circling elements, signing documents, making doodles -- whatever you want to do, really. From there you can send it on to social media sites, email addresses or save it on the device.
Next up are some gestures that can be executed by holding the button on the S Pen and swiping. It's worth noting that button is practically microscopic. Our fingers often had a hard time finding it. But, once located, you can hold it down and swipe up from the bottom of the screen to emulate pressing the menu button. Swipe on from the right to emulate the back button. There's no gesture replicating Home, but since it's an actual, physical button here you can always just stab at it with the stylus -- or a finger, we suppose.
The phone has an integrated quick note function, which lets you pull up a sticky-size memo pad from any page on the device. Simply press the S Pen button and double tap -- you can make a note, save it and pull it up easily later. The pad doubles in size when you access if from a dedicated app, giving you more space to make additional doodles. Like all of the drawing applications, you have a selection of pen styles, sizes and colors to choose from.There are a variety of unique apps designed to take advantage of the S Pen, including the preloaded S Memo app, which collects your quick memos and provides a platform for creating longer form notes, and a handful of downloadable apps, available through the S Choice store. Hello Crayon is designed for children to create colorful sketches with crayons and markers in a variety of colors -- it may have been created with kids in mind, but we still had a good time scribbling with it. Hello Color Pencil is quite similar but, as you've possibly guessed, swapping crayons for colored pencils. There's also Hello Chalk, and you can surely infer the medium of choice there.
Other than that we're looking at Android Gingerbread -- a bit of a shame as the onscreen buttons in Ice Cream Sandwich would work much more cleanly with the S Pen. The UI has certainly been Touchwiz'd, but as with the other recent Galaxy products we're fond of the customizations here.
Tag - 5.3 inch, Android, Android 2.3, android gingerbread, Android phone, Android phones, Galaxy, Galaxy Note, GT-i9220, HD Super AMOLED, pen, review, S Memo, S Pen, S Planner, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy, Samsung Galaxy Note, smartphone, SPen, SPlanner, superphone
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