A weekend with the Samsung Galaxy Note

Posted on November 8th, 2011. Written by Rico.

Turns out the gadget with a 5.3″ display is the larger, louder, and longer-lasting brother of the Samsung Galaxy S II. At the very least it’s the Android smartphone for pro basketball players and other people with big hands.

In many ways the Galaxy Note is very similar to the S II, even if it runs on a newer version of Android (2.3.5) out of the box. They’re both thin Android smartphones with a bright and clear Super AMOLED display, an 8 megapixel camera with full HD video capture capability, and a dual-core Exynos processor under the hood.

The difference: the Note goes big in many ways, and not only in size. Its 5.3″ screen has the same resolution as older laptops (1280 x 800 pixels), and its processor is more powerful than the S II’s (1.4 GHz vs. 1.2 GHz for the S II). There’s also a barometer built-in, like the Galaxy Nexus.

To support the bigger screen and faster CPU, the Note draws power from a 2500mAh battery. As most high-end phones nowadays use a 1500mAh battery, this means the gadget will last relatively long on a single full charge. Another bonus: the built-in speaker is louder.

Yet the Galaxy Note still feels like an oversized Galaxy S II. It never slows down, and you can still see what’s on the screen even under bright sunlight. The bigger 5.3″ display is especially great for watching movies, and renders the included stylus useless. There’s just so much space for your fingers to play around with.

The only problem? Despite being 9.7 mm thick (and overall actually thinner than the S II), the Galaxy Note is just too wide for the average Filipino. Texting with one hand was possible for a big guy like me, but I’m not sure how those with smaller hands would manage.

But the Galaxy Note could also be the phone that wins those who can’t live without physical QWERTY keyboards on their mobiles. It’s not too big that it can’t fit in your pocket, but the screen is still large enough that you should have no problem typing out on the virtual on-screen keyboard—with two hands.

According to Jayvee, who was kind enough to let me play around with his test unit, the Galaxy Note retails for around ₱35,000. Update: SRP is actually ₱35,990. Full specs below:

Network	HSPA+ 21Mbps 850/900/1900/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
Processor	1.4GHz Dual Core Processor
Display	5.3” WXGA(1280×800) HD Super AMOLED
OS	Android 2.3(Gingerbread)
Camera	Main (Rear): 8 MP with LED Flash Front : 2 MP Single shot, Smile shot, Share shot, Action shot, Beauty, Cartoon, Panorama
Video	Codec: MPEG4, H.264, H.263, WMV, DivX, Xvid, VC-1 Recording 1080p@24~30fps, Playing 1080p@30fps
Audio	Codec: MP3, AAC, AMR, WMA, WAV, FLAC, OGG Music Player with SoundAlive 3.5mm Ear Jack, Stereo FM Radio with RDS
Connectivity	Bluetooth v 3.0 + HS USB 2.0 host Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct (Ad hoc) Sensors: Accelerometer, Light, Digital compass, Proximity, Barometer
Memory	16/32GB Internal Memory + microSD (up to 32GB)
Size	146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65 mm
Battery	Li-ion 2,500 mAh
Misc	Samsung Apps Samsung Kies 2.0/ Samsung Kies air Samsung ChatON mobile communication service (Downloadable via Samsung Apps) Samsung TouchWiz/ Samsung L!ve Panel UX S Pen Experience (S Memo, S Planner, S Choice)Integrated Messaging(Email, SNS), Contacts/ Calendar Sync POP3/IMAP Email Social Hub, Readers Hub , Music Hub
Google Mobile Services	Android Market, Gmail, Google Earth, YouTube, Google Maps, Syncing with Google Calendar A-GPS
Enterprise Solutions	ODE, EAS, CCX, MDM, VPN, WebEx