Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Review
Uploaded by duncan33303 on 30.10.2012
Transcript:
Hey guys, this is Austin and today I’m here with a review of the Samsung Galaxy
Note 2. With a quad core processor, massive 5.5” display and Android 4.1
Jellybean hit up that Like button and let’s take a look.
First thing’s first, the Note 2 is huge. With a screen approaching the size of 7
inch tablets, this really feels as big as a phone can get while still being
pocketable. I never thought I would say this, but after using the Note 2 the
Galaxy S3 seems tiny. It probably is too big for some people but after a few
hours with it I was already loving the extra screen real estate.
Even though it’s made out of plastic it feels solidly built, even better than the
Galaxy S3. It’s also clear that Samsung spent a lot of time making sure that it
feels comfortable in the hand, something I’ve had issues with in some recent
phones. Up front is the 1.9 megapixel front facing camera, light and proximity
sensors and notification LED. You’ll also find the 5.5” Super AMOLED display
which sports a resolution of 1280x720. The rest of the phone is fairly standard
with a MicroUSB port on bottom and volume rockers and a sleep/wake button
on either side. You’re able to remove the rear cover which gives you access to a
MicroSD card slot of up to 64GB, SIM card on most carriers and the battery.
There’s also an optional flip cover which replaces your original back and gives
you some protection for the screen. With 3100mAh of capacity the battery takes
full advantage of the large size of the phone. While at the Note 2 launch event
recently I used the Note for an incredibly long day and it still wouldn’t quit on
me. If you try hard enough you can probably drain it in a day but it’s among the
best smartphones for battery life I’ve ever tested. Along with the bigger screen,
probably the biggest differentiator between the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 is the S
Pen. It’s been improved quite a bit from the first Note but it is first and foremost
a stylus. The Note uses it in several creative ways as it’s pressure sensitive and
allows you to do cool things like hover over thumbnails to expand and using
handwriting recognition to type but after the novelty wore off I found most
things are still easier and faster without the S Pen. The internals of the Note are
just as impressive as the rest of the hardware. Inside you’ll find a 1.6GHz quad
core Exynos processor paired with 2GB of RAM. This is clocked higher than what
you’ll see in the international Galaxy S3 but now comes with LTE support in the
US. I received a Sprint review unit from Samsung which does come with LTE
however Sprint is just rolling it out in a few areas so I wasn’t able to test the
speed except on their very slow 3G network. Speaking of carriers, the Note 2 is
mostly identical no matter where you pick it up. The Sprint model features zero
branding on the device at all however Verizon has not only has two huge logos on
the back but also a logo on the home button. Stay classy Verizon.
As good as the hardware is, after reviewing phone after phone with Android 4.0
the Note 2 is among the first new devices shipping with Android 4.1 Jellybean. I
won’t go too in depth here but the gist of it is the Note 2 is incredibly smooth
doing practically everything which is a huge plus for me. TouchWiz is also back
and while I prefer stock Android I do admit as far as skins go it really is entirely
usable. The Nature UX is here in full effect with lots of water and bird sound
effects which thankfully you can change, along with neat features like the water
on the lock screen changes to ink when you use the S Pen to unlock. Features
like Pop Up Browser take great advantage of the large display by allowing you to
view webpages and video while still browsing Twitter for example and a full
multitasking mode that allows you to run two apps at a time is already on the
international Note 2 and will be coming to US variants soon.
The camera is identical to the Galaxy S3 which means you can expect very good
performance. The 8 megapixel stills are generally very sharp and have good
color and contrast. There are several built-in modes and amazingly enough
they’re actually not bad. Panorama mode is here and works well as are several
creative modes that highlight certain colors which can look awesome. 1080p
video is also quite good although stabilization is lacking as on most
smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy Note II is easily among the best
smartphones, period. At $300 it’s certainly a bit pricy and I do recommend trying
one as the size isn’t for everyone but I can wholeheartedly recommend the Note
II as one of the best phones out there. If you’re interested in winning one of
these be sure to subscribe to the channel as I’ll be doing a giveaway very soon!
Anyway guys, I will catch you in the next one!
Note 2. With a quad core processor, massive 5.5” display and Android 4.1
Jellybean hit up that Like button and let’s take a look.
First thing’s first, the Note 2 is huge. With a screen approaching the size of 7
inch tablets, this really feels as big as a phone can get while still being
pocketable. I never thought I would say this, but after using the Note 2 the
Galaxy S3 seems tiny. It probably is too big for some people but after a few
hours with it I was already loving the extra screen real estate.
Even though it’s made out of plastic it feels solidly built, even better than the
Galaxy S3. It’s also clear that Samsung spent a lot of time making sure that it
feels comfortable in the hand, something I’ve had issues with in some recent
phones. Up front is the 1.9 megapixel front facing camera, light and proximity
sensors and notification LED. You’ll also find the 5.5” Super AMOLED display
which sports a resolution of 1280x720. The rest of the phone is fairly standard
with a MicroUSB port on bottom and volume rockers and a sleep/wake button
on either side. You’re able to remove the rear cover which gives you access to a
MicroSD card slot of up to 64GB, SIM card on most carriers and the battery.
There’s also an optional flip cover which replaces your original back and gives
you some protection for the screen. With 3100mAh of capacity the battery takes
full advantage of the large size of the phone. While at the Note 2 launch event
recently I used the Note for an incredibly long day and it still wouldn’t quit on
me. If you try hard enough you can probably drain it in a day but it’s among the
best smartphones for battery life I’ve ever tested. Along with the bigger screen,
probably the biggest differentiator between the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 is the S
Pen. It’s been improved quite a bit from the first Note but it is first and foremost
a stylus. The Note uses it in several creative ways as it’s pressure sensitive and
allows you to do cool things like hover over thumbnails to expand and using
handwriting recognition to type but after the novelty wore off I found most
things are still easier and faster without the S Pen. The internals of the Note are
just as impressive as the rest of the hardware. Inside you’ll find a 1.6GHz quad
core Exynos processor paired with 2GB of RAM. This is clocked higher than what
you’ll see in the international Galaxy S3 but now comes with LTE support in the
US. I received a Sprint review unit from Samsung which does come with LTE
however Sprint is just rolling it out in a few areas so I wasn’t able to test the
speed except on their very slow 3G network. Speaking of carriers, the Note 2 is
mostly identical no matter where you pick it up. The Sprint model features zero
branding on the device at all however Verizon has not only has two huge logos on
the back but also a logo on the home button. Stay classy Verizon.
As good as the hardware is, after reviewing phone after phone with Android 4.0
the Note 2 is among the first new devices shipping with Android 4.1 Jellybean. I
won’t go too in depth here but the gist of it is the Note 2 is incredibly smooth
doing practically everything which is a huge plus for me. TouchWiz is also back
and while I prefer stock Android I do admit as far as skins go it really is entirely
usable. The Nature UX is here in full effect with lots of water and bird sound
effects which thankfully you can change, along with neat features like the water
on the lock screen changes to ink when you use the S Pen to unlock. Features
like Pop Up Browser take great advantage of the large display by allowing you to
view webpages and video while still browsing Twitter for example and a full
multitasking mode that allows you to run two apps at a time is already on the
international Note 2 and will be coming to US variants soon.
The camera is identical to the Galaxy S3 which means you can expect very good
performance. The 8 megapixel stills are generally very sharp and have good
color and contrast. There are several built-in modes and amazingly enough
they’re actually not bad. Panorama mode is here and works well as are several
creative modes that highlight certain colors which can look awesome. 1080p
video is also quite good although stabilization is lacking as on most
smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy Note II is easily among the best
smartphones, period. At $300 it’s certainly a bit pricy and I do recommend trying
one as the size isn’t for everyone but I can wholeheartedly recommend the Note
II as one of the best phones out there. If you’re interested in winning one of
these be sure to subscribe to the channel as I’ll be doing a giveaway very soon!
Anyway guys, I will catch you in the next one!