Review: Samsung Galaxy Note II

Gadget Review - When Samsung release Galaxy Note products to the global market, you may wonder, is this a phone? or is it a tablet? Galaxy Note is too big to be called a phone, but it was too small, too, if called a tablet. To be fair, better call it Phablet (Phone-Tablet), a new variant in the gadget world. Perhaps many are predicting that a new variant will not be easy to succeed in the market, but in fact the first generation of Galaxy Note has sold 10 million units since it was introduced in October 2011. Samsung finally launched the second generation, the Galaxy Note II with the code name N7100.

Design
If seen from the shape Note II is even more like Galaxy S III. Compared to its predecessor, Note II is slightly taller but more slim. Like the Galaxy S III, Note II also uses Hyperglaze finishing which gives luxurious glossy display on the back cover of the phone.

The use of plastic materials can be understandable, given the choice of a more luxurious materials will definitely have an impact on it's weight.

Display

The size has gone up slightly from 5.3 to 5.5 inches. And although pixel density is reduced, we didn't notice it at first. Galaxy Note II uses a bright, vivid Samsung Super AMOLED panel covered by Gorilla Glass 2.

Although Note II's pixel density is not as good as its predecessor (267ppi versus 285ppi), but it looks sharper. Perhaps this is because the Super AMOLED panel that no longer use pentile matrix. Which able to make this phone has more subpixels. Subpixel is what produces better sharpness.

Samsung presents a new experience in screen brightness level settings, where the slider to adjust the brightness level can still be used to suit the needs even though the auto brightness option is enabled. So that when the lighting conditions change around the Note II, the display will only make minor adjustments of a predetermined level.

Interface & OS
Note II using Jellybean OS, which is coated with Touchwiz interface . From the homescreen is not much changed from possession than Galaxy S III Ice Cream Sandwich OS, unless the number of shortcuts that increased to 5.

What is different is the setting which can be done in the Settings menu, such as activate Information Ticker that will present the latest news from a particular site feeds, stock market development, or Facebook update.

There are several ways that can be selected to switch from the lockscreen to the homescreen, such as swipe, motion, face unlock, face and voice, pattern, PIN and password. New additions is the choice of motion, to activate the screen where the user can press the lock/power then touch the screen and move the Note II to a lying position.

Many things that are quite similar to Galaxy SIII but with a minor changes or upgrades. So, if you have ever used a Samsung Galaxy SIII, you'll feel right at home here.

Technical Details

• Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 720x1280 pixel, 5.5 inches (~267 ppi pixel density), multi touch, corning Gorilla Glass 2
• Quad-core processor 1.6 GHz Cortex-A9, Exynos 4412 Quad chipset, Mali-400MP GPU, RAM: 2GB
• Android JellyBean OS & TouchWiz UI
• 16GB memory with expandable memory up to 64GB MicroSD
• 8 MP camera with full 1080p HD video recording
• Draw and write straight onto the screen with your finger or included S-Pen
• more details..
  

Hardware
Samsung double the strength into Quad-core processor, which previously only use a dual-core processor. Not only that clock speed was increased to 1.6GHz from the previous 1.4 GHz. In addition, Note II paired with 2GB RAM memory,  that's mean, 100% larger than its predecessor.

To support the performance of the hardware that will require large power intake, Note II is also equipped with a battery power of 3100mAh power, which Samsung reckons will provide standby time of some 890 hours on 3G.

Features & S-Pen
Besides smart stay feature that when activated will prevent the screen dims as long as you look at the screen. Samsung also added a Smart Rotation feature in Note II. This feature will prevent the change of screen orientation even though the position changed Note II. As well as smart stay, smart rotation features utilize the front camera to determine the orientation of your face and eyes and rotate the screen accordingly. This feature will be very fun for users who often use phones while lying down.

There are also Motion, which is a feature that runs just by how the user moves the Note II. The motion settings allow for lots of gestures such as 'tilt to zoom', 'pan to move' or 'Quick glance' to activate the screen by simply reaching for the Note 2.

No Galaxy Note without S-Pen. With a length of 11.3cm and 7mm thick, Note II's S-Pen feels relatively more comfortable than the previous S Pen.

Note II using the S Pen which is able to recognize up to 1024 different levels of pressure, it will be very useful for users who like to drawing, because pressure power will have an impact on the thickness of the resulting line.

When S Pen removed from its slot, a panel will be added to the homescreen. This panel contains a widget which also serves as a shortcut to make notes. User-created notes can be varied, as Note II gives 9 categories option, including diaries, recipes and travel notes.

There are also several features associated with the S Pen, such as Air View, Gesture and Quick Command. Gesture for example, allows you to perform multiple functions such as returning to the previous page by drawing symbols "<" (without quote) while pressing the button on the S Pen, and many other functions.

To prevent losing your S-Pen, you can enable the detachment indicator. There is even an alert for when you walk away without the S-Pen.

Multimedia
Note II video player which is capable of displaying video collection stored on the Note II in Live Video List mode, that's mean say goodbye to boring and static thumbnails, and welcome moving and attractive thumbnails, really like when the video is playing.

Not only that, Chapter Preview feature where the phone will display the currently playing video in several thumbnail that split video into several parts accordingly. This will be very useful when you play long duration

Pop Up Play feature which allows the video to keep it running in a small window so that you can perform other things like reading sms or email.

Not only that, on the video player, photo viewer gallery or music player are available option to access the collection stored on other devices supporting DLNA technology within the same network.

Conclusion
A wider screen with the latest Android version, super fast processor, more functional and better connection than ever. Moreover, the performance is somewhat better than the Galaxy S III. Unfortunately the price is expensive, but if you're looking for a larger smartphone or a small tablet, there really is no better device.

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