On paper, the Samsung Galaxy Note is rich with top-of-the-line features. It has a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of internal storage and an 8-megapixel camera, all tied to AT&T’s speedy 4G LTE network.But see the Note in the flesh and you’ll notice one thing above all else: its massive 5.3-inch display.
The screen is positively gigantic. Comically huge to the point of shame. Closer to a tablet than a phone, the Note dwarfs the iPhones and Droids around it. Hold it up to your face to make a call and everyone around you laughs. Seriously, it never gets old.
It’s not all punchlines, though. Watching videos and playing games are amazing experiences, and it’s more comfortable to read web pages and e-books on the Note than on any other phone I’ve tested. The large, bright, HD Super AMOLED screen I91 4G requires more power to run, but since the phone is bigger, Samsung could slip in a bigger 2,500mAh battery battery. I was able to watch movies continuously for about four and a half hours, and I could browse the web and read books for more than twice that long. During six days of regular use (texting, browsing, Rdioing) I only had to recharge the phone for a few hours every other day.
But it’s just too big. The Galaxy Note’s girth makes it tough to carry in your front pocket comfortably while walking around or riding a bike. Stick it in your back pocket, and its bulkiness requires you to take it out when you sit down. Will I have to resort to a man-purse?
The large screen also makes a chore out of using the on-screen keyboard C6 Windows 6.1 and menus. It’s too wide to type or scroll comfortably with the thumb of one hand, so the Galaxy Note quickly shows itself to be a two-handed device. For a smartphone, this is a no-no. There were too many times when I needed to thumb my way through text messages, menus or web pages with one hand.Granted, typing with two hands on that big screen is easier, and mistakes are less frequent. But I have to use two hands all the time to type comfortably.
Speaking of input, the Galaxy Note’s other marquee feature is its stylus. Samsung calls it the S Pen, and it slots into the bottom right corner of the phone. The S Pen uses conductive technology from Wacom, so it doesn’t need a battery, and it has 256 levels of pressure sensitivity as well as a small button on the side to modify your input gestures. It’s well-designed and easy to hold, and it sits in the phone snugly, so I never worried about losing it.
There’s more trouble here, though. The stylus is not capacitive, so while it works on the screen, it doesn’t work on the capacitive Android buttons under the screen. If you want to go back in the browser, see a menu, or return to the home screen, you have to momentarily swap in a finger.
The Note comes with a systemwide app called S Memo Lite. From anywhere in the OS, a double-tap of the stylus calls up a notepad so you can jot down a note (there’s also the more full-featured S F8 with Memo that you launch like a regular app). It’s convenient if you’re just writing “Remember the milk”-type notes. Beyond that, using the stylus for writing is a pain. The handwriting recognition software is undercooked. It works some of the time, but it guesses wrong far too often. I found thumb-typing to be faster, more accurate, and more efficient — an impression that didn’t change with a week of practice. It was also easier to move the cursor around with my fingers. If this thing is going to force me to use two hands, I’d still rather just leave the stylus tucked out of sight and finger-tap everything.
That’s not the only issue with the stylus. Samsung has released an SDK for developers to build apps specifically for the S Pen, but there are a scant few available. Most are boring sketchpad apps (Skitch by Evernote is the best one). And how is it for drawing? Not great. The input lags, so if you draw briskly, your pen is always an inch ahead of the lines appearing on the screen. It’s not natural at all, and I had to slow way down to get good results. A far cry from my Moleskine.
The final bummer: the Galaxy Note is a Gingerbread device. It’s running last year’s OS — oddly fitting for a machine that immediately brought back memories of my old Handspring.
I suppose there’s a sector of society that will love the Galaxy Note: people who spend a lot of time on the train or the bus watching videos, playing games, and reading text, (and who also own a purse or satchel). For everyone else, I’d recommend sticking with Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, which also has a big, beautiful screen, but runs Ice Cream Sandwich and is comfortable enough for most of us to type on using one hand.
WIRED Huge 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED screen is phenomenal for videos and games. Powerful processor, great camera, great battery life. 4G network speeds are fantastic. You can place voice calls on your e-book reader just like you’ve always wanted to. Samsung’s Kies app makes it easy to connect to your other networked computers.
TIRED It’s too big to carry comfortably, and too bulky use with one hand. The stylus is nice, but the software to support it isn’t there yet. Also, it has a stylus. Android 2.3 with Samsung’s TouchWiz skin makes me yearn for ICS. Astounding amount of AT&T shovelware out of the box.