Galaxy Note II: a really great smartphone

Samsung’s fans can curse me for it, but I will start Note II review with a brief statement: again "THE SAME”. Samsung once again created an almost perfect smartphone, and crammed it in the case of quality that does not quite fit in a segment that it represents.

I started with a strong impact, but don’t be surprised - Galaxy Note II is a phone that can trigger stronger emotions. Either we like it or hate it, but certainly we won’t be indifferent to it. But I'll put personal feelings aside and try to talk about it with the smallest dose of emotion. Before I begin, I have to mention one thing that keeps me awake at night. Is it still a smartphone or already a tablet? Or maybe something called phablet or tabphone? Being unable to decide on one of the terms in the text I will use all of them. I'm sorry - but I am not lying. Note II is just all of this...


Samsung Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice.com

Large, nice, but this plastic ...

Phone will hit us with a set of instructions including, AC adapter, USB cable, and extremely decent in-ear headphones with some silicone tips to choose from. All the accessories correspond with colour to the casing. In my case, the casing was white, so the extras - as well. All together looks great, but ... but does not the Galaxy Note II look the same as the Galaxy S3?! Granted, it is not identical, but the similarity (outside dimensions) is striking. Or stylists have run out of ideas, or Samsung have finally found its own style! In any case, the structure is really neat, although large. And how does it lie in the hand? In a female one - I am afraid – it won’t be good. In my large male hand the usage is quite convenient. I emphasize it - quite! One-handed operation is theoretically possible (in the menu there are even special settings of the keyboard!), but this task is quite reckless. The advantage could be key arrangement on the sides - switch and volume control go right under our fingers. Of course, if we have a sufficiently large hand ... But I should not criticize the size of Note - after all, the screen size is an advantage here. But I can not pass over in silence the nightmare I experienced while testing the Galaxy S3, and Samsung gave it to me once again. I mean the quality of the materials and fitting of the casing. Both elements are at the level of a smartphone from the lowest price shelf! The back cover (slender, delicate) has faint hooks and it cracks, when you hold the phone in hand. The paint finish is prone to scratches almost like the latest iPhone! The material surrounding the body pretending metal is not too fancy, but it is very easily scratched. The front panel seems to be a bit more durable - my copy as yet has no signs of life - but what will happen next year, it's hard to say...


Samsung Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice.com

Superb battery

Phew, I complained a bit... And if you stayed until this paragraph, it's time that you get know the advantages of this model. There are a dozen of them! In fact - except for casing in the Galaxy Note II, everything is great! I'll start with the battery. It has an impressive capacity, thanks to which it is able to supply a large screen and powerful processor throughout the day. Even during heavy use the battery has not surrendered within 14 hours. When I used the phone economically, there was enough electricity for almost two days. In such a machine the result is really good. Charging the battery to the full, unfortunately takes a few hours...


Samsung Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice.com

Comfort of a large format

The display also makes a good impression. It has an excellent, uniform brightness and a bit of candy, but eye-pleasing colours. Presenting pictures – it is impressive. The comfort of work on a large panel is incomparable. Due to the large diagonal and high-resolution Note is the perfect phone for text messaging, browsing the web, playing... basically for everything! If only it was possible to fold it in half... Hand in hand with this goes the sound – the speaker does not shake the walls, but it is clean and pleasant to the ear. The factory headphones are good. They do not represent the highest quality sound, but it does give clear sound with good bass and dynamics. Keep in mind that the manufacturer took care of the standard connectors - mini jack and microUSB. Do you ask about the rest of the equipment? It does not lack anything! There is a voice recorder, DLNA, FM radio, GPS, NFC ... even the equivalent of Apple's Siri, the S-Voice. What was missing? Perhaps only the direct microHDMI output.


Samsung Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice.com

Fast as lightning

Galaxy Note II is fast. I did not suspect that Android 4.1 can be so smooth. The first launch of the phone takes literally a moment. We log on to Google – and after a second the system downloads settings from the cloud which we introduced on other devices. I was surprised for example, with automatical setting of the passwords for WLAN! The system interface works without jams and generally difficult to note any problems with smoothness. I noticed some ingenious solutions. Looking through the list of contacts, it’s just enough to move your finger to the desired name to the left to send a message, and the right - to make a call. Another convenient option is a scrolling list of open applications, showing us their preview or the long strip of switches on the notification bar, accelerating or starting off individual modules. When working on your smartphone, on the left side of the screen you can see is almost always a small "tongue". Extending it further expands the shortcut menu, where you can place application icons to suit your needs. I don’t have to remind you about the entire mass of accelerating widgets - in each new installment of the system there are coming next ones...


Samsung Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice.com

Peerless S-Pen

I left the best for last. I’m talking about S-Pen - a pen that changes the face of our tabphone. The stylus is in the casing, after taking it out by default the application starts to create pop-up notes. We can write, sketch and draw in it by using different types and thicknesses of a pen, a pencil or a brush. We have a variety of notes templates, and in each, we can add multimedia - graphics or videos. There is also a brilliant system of handwriting and shapes recognition. We draw something similar to the square - and there appears an ideal square on the screen! The system can cope even with the recognition of mathematical symbols or unusual markings.

Here are some screenshots. We see them in sequence: AnTuTu benchmark result, the side bar shortcuts, Notes and the example of notes on the image.

The next shots show Notes S - with manually entered data and calculation results using WolphramAlpha, as well as recognition of figures linked to the record of a voice memo.


Screenshots photo: GSMchoice.com

This is not the end of the stylus’functions. We can use it to control the phone - assigning a written gesture to a certain function. The stylus also helps to capture screen shots - just press its button while holding the tip on the desktop. And we already have a picture, in which we can apply additional instructions - for example, select something in the graphic from Google Maps. Awesome! The stylus does not have to touch the screen strongly – it uses induction. If we hold the button a little above the screen, in some applications (eg Notebook) there appears the cloud explaining the operation of the interface element. Clever! It is worth mentioning that by working in windows mode, we can split the screen into two parts and on one of them we can sketch, and on the other read e-mails. You don’t have to worry about the performance! In the role of the mobile phone, Note II doesn’t disappoint. The sound quality is excellent, I did not notice problems with coverage .... although we look a little weird, keeping something so big close to the ear. Well, at least it can be noticed that we can afford the top Samsung ;)


Samsung Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice

Gesture control

Note II has also functions already known from the SGS3. I’m talking here about eg maintaining backlight as long as we look at the display and when showing the list of the notifications and time when we touch the front of the switched off phone. You can also enlarge the image by rotating the phone or call the sender of the message, by lifting the phone to your ear when we read it. There are many functions and there is not enough space to describe them all. Believe me - Note II can really do a lot and every gadget lover will appreciate it.


Samsung Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice.com

Not a bad photographer

At the end a few words about the camera. It really takes good pictures, and thanks to the large screen size, the service interface is comfortable. Even the on-screen shutter bothered me less than usually. I can not skip a sensational option – “the best picture". It's a fairly simple solution - the camera takes a series of pictures and then gives us the ability to choose which ones you want to save. It's a great idea for shooting fast-moving subjects. Among other features worth mentioning are the HDR mode, panorama, face detection and smile. There is also, of course, LED flash and a touch focus camera control. Because the picture says more than a thousand words, I invite you to judge for yourself photographic opportunities of Galaxy Note II:


Photos from Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice.com

The same photo with HDR mode enabled and without it:


Photos from Galaxy Note II photo: GSMchoice.com

Photos in the native format, not subjected to any treatment, can be found in the gallery on the phone card.

Here is a sample video recorded with Galaxy Note II:


Video from Galaxy Note II video: GSMchoice.com via YouTube

After all - it's worth buying!

I wondered for a long time how to sum up this phone. I think I will repeat the beginning: Everything is great, apart from the casing... Excellent performance, a good display, a strong battery, good sound, great features associated with the stylus, and it works fine as a phone. I could list benefits for hours, and everything is spoilt by tacky plastic. Before buying I suggest taking Note II in your hand and seeing if the quality of plastics does not deters you and that the service is convenient for you. If the phone lies well in your hand and if you are able to "embrace" the interface with your fingers...? If so - buy without hesitation, although the price is breathtaking. Well it’s worth it!