Feb 22, 2012 - 
Android 
6 Comments
Android 6 Comments Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 16GB Sim Free Mobile Phone – Dark Blue
Samsung GALAXY Note Smartphone 3G WCDMA UMTS GSM touch Android GTN7000ZBAXEU Phones Mobile Phones
List Price: £484.99
Price: £484.99
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List Price: £39.99
Price: £18.39
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Exactly what I wanted,
I bought mine from amazon.de, saving myself over £100 on the prices listed above, and that’s including VAT and delivery. I really don’t understand the reason for the UK prices to be so extortionate. Note only did I benefit from the enormous price saving but I’ve also had the phone since 7th November.
The box it comes in appears quite small – smaller than the box for my previous phone – the Orange San Francisco – which only has a 3.5″ screen rather than 5.3″. But take the lid off the box and the sight that greets you is a huge phone, almost as though the box has some Tardis like properties. I had never seen the phone in the flesh before purchase, but had seen videos on YouTube, but still I was a little taken aback. Now I’ve had it a few days I’m already used to it and far more comfortable about it.
I make and receive very few mobile calls, so for me the beauty of this device is to have a “tablet” that fits in my pocket (easily!) and still allows me the occasional text or call when necessary without needing a second device. I don’t expect to wandering around shouting into it and drawing attention like Dom Jolly. Due to the size I did wonder for a short while if I had made a mistake and perhaps the Galaxy S2 would have been a wiser choice, but now I am happy with my decision.
The screen is glorious. Some people moan about the pentile display, but I have absolutely no issues with the screen. Performance wise I’ve only found one annoyance, which is a distinct delay when waking the phone before the lock screen is displayed. Other than that it’s worked beautifully and has shown a massively clean pair of heels to my poor little San Francisco.
The biggest negative so far is that the huge screen size makes it impractical (impossible) to operate the phone single handed. It needs one hand to hold it and another to dab away at the screen. Definitely not the end of the world for me, but maybe an issue for some people. I’m also not a fan of the button placement for power and volume. They are on opposite sides of the phone and I find that when seeking for one I end up squeezing the phone and pressing the buttons on the other side too. I don’t understand why the power button is not at the top. It has been on every other phone I’ve owned. You do have to wonder whether the people who design these things ever actually use them. Anyway, that’s just something I will have to get used to and deal with. It’s already becoming less of an issue now that I’m getting used to the form factor.
As far as pocketability goes I wear cargo pants and have voluminous pockets, so no drama there. I’ve had it pocketed while walking the dog and it’s no bother at all. It will slip into a shirt pocket too, but is too tall to be fully concealed and looks a bit daft with the camera lens visible above the top of the pocket. As supplied I find the phone to be a little on the slippery side and combined with the size and weight I have felt on times that the thing might well slip from my grasp if I’m not paying attention. The solution, I think, will be a gel case. I don’t want the official flip cover or anything along those lines. I’ve always gone bareback with my phones and PDAs and never had a problem with damage. The only reason I want a gel case for this is to make it a bit more grippy, although I won’t object to a little extra protection.
All in all I love this phone and I’m happy with my purchase. The device gets 5 stars, but only at the price I paid. There is no way I’d spend almost £600 on this. As good as the phone is, that’s a budget buster for me.
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|Awesome!,
I bought my Note on a recent business trip to India and I saved about a third over the UK price. I was so impressed with this phone that I bought one for my wife and one for my mum (Christmas prezzies!) and like many of the reviewers I got them from Amazon.de. One of the phones went missing in transit but I have to say that Amazon customer service in Germany is just as good as the UK and once I got someone who could speak English well they resolved the problem no questions asked and sent me a replacement. In my opinion Amazon are the best retailer out there today, no comparison. I’ve used an iPhone since 2007 and my last one was an iPhone4 which is undeniably a great phone. However I got very frustrated with a couple of things; the screen size is too small for me, iTunes in the worst program and user interface imaginable, Apples restrictive ‘walled garden’ policy, it’s tendency to abuse its market position to dominate other companies, much like Microsoft in the 90′s. For all these reasons I felt it was time for a change. I’m quite into technology so I knew about the Note and it looked very interesting and for me at least a perfect device. I thought it could replace my phone, tablet and laptop and to be honest that is proving to be the case so here is my review of the Note.
Build Quality – Samsung does use a lot of plastic in their phones so this does not feel like a really premium product. However the build quality is very good and the phone is ludicrously light for it’s size and also stupidly thin!. An iphone 4 feels like a dense brick by comparison. The overall fit and finish is excellent. The back cover is made from a very thin plastic and looks like it could easily snap in half but in fact it is very flexible and can be folded in two with no sign of breaking(it’s on You Tube). Don’t try this at home though!
Screen – This is the largest screen on any phone to date at 5.3 inches and I find it fantastic. It uses Super Amoled HD at a 1200 by 800 resolution and the colours are extremely vibrant and super saturated. Although not quite the same pixel density as the Retina Display on an iPhone it blows it away in terms of brightness and colour. Off axis viewing angles are very good indeed though I do note a slightly greenish tinge which is due to the pentile display matrix. You will never use the phone this way however so its not an issue for me but it is there. Movies look amazing as do pictures. This is probably the best display on any phone at the moment.
Size – The most common criticism of the Note is that it is too big and that you have to have massive hands to use one. I find this to be totally untrue. I have average sized hands for a man and it’s quite easy to use and comfortable to hold, even for long periods. My wife, who has much smaller hands than me also does not find it a problem. The other issue sited is that you will look stupid when using it as a phone, again totally untrue. I’ve used it out and about, the street, restaurants, pubs. No one has ever given me a second look. Not that I would care anyway.
Speed – This is without a doubt the fastest phone I’ve ever used. It has a 1.4Ghz dual core processor and 1GB of ram. To put this into perspective if you go back about 5 years this would have been a respectable spec for a desktop PC running Windows XP. This power is now in the palm of your hand which is amazing. Currently this is the fastest phone on the planet.
Phone calls – As a phone I would rate the Note as average, it’s no better or worse than my iPhone 4. To be honest I rarely use it as a phone so this is not that important for me.
Battery Life – With a massive bright screen and dual core processor I thought that the Note would struggle to make it through a day. How wrong I was! It has a 2500mAh battery which lasts a day with heavy use and over 2 days with light use. I do charge the phone every day but most evenings it still has about 30% charge left unlike my iPhone4 which would either be dead of dying at the same point. For a smartphone this is a great battery life.
Camera – 8MP shooter that can do 1080p video as well. Not quite as good as the camera on an iPhone4S but still takes extremely sharp and vivid photographs.
S Pen – Samsung calls the stylus that comes with the phone an S Pen. It works very well but I don’t use it much as I’m not very artistic. My friend who is very able loved it however and drew some very good pictures in a few minutes. It is useful for taking notes and I have used it for that. Nice to have but not that important to me.
User Interface – I have to say that after years of using IOS I have found Android to a revelation in terms of flexibility and control. I love the widgets and the fully customisable interface. I have to say it, the iPhone just looks dated and stilted in comparison with its rows of icons. Even better news is that the Note will be updated to the latest…
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|Great compromise!,
I purchased the Galaxy Note from Amazon Germany since it was significantly cheaper than Amazon UK.
The good:
– Great battery life (2 days+ under moderate load)
– Perfect size, not too big, not too small (for web activity on the go)
– Fits in my pocket and in my hand comfortably
– Very light relative to its size
– The screen is stunning. I LOVE OLED based screens.
– Nice assortment of included apps (Crayon Physics, Swype Keyboard, etc)
– Surprisingly high network speeds.
– Feels very responsive relative to other Android phones I’ve used.
– Easy to type (due to size of keyboard and Swype)
The neutral:
– The “main” (back) camera is acceptable but nothing to write home about.
– The plastic back (saves weight, but feels like I might snap it)
– The micro-USB port is awkward to use (too deep within?)
– The micro-USB port is also located on the bottom and gets in the way
– SIM card slot is back-to-front (cut-corner out facing)
– Battery is difficult to remove
– The pen is VERY difficult to remove from the device. It is smooth against the back of the case, so if you bite your nails then you’re out of luck.
– The mixture of physical and touch buttons along the button of the screen is just annoying. Personally I would have taken three physical buttons.
– Pen functionality is ultimately a gimmick. Absolutely buy the Galaxy Note but ignore the pen entirely in your choice.
The bad:
– Samsung USB cable this ships with is non-standard and won’t work with Google’s Android Development Tools. Had to replace it with a standard micro-USB cable. Wasted a ton of my time as a result.
– Pen requires too much force to use, the button is impossible to find, and frankly Android just isn’t ready for pens yet.
– No dedicated camera shutter button
Conclusion
If I had to make the same choice again I would still buy the Samsung Galaxy Note. It should have been called the Galaxy S2 Extra-Large, because that is what this device really is.
The pen functionality is a useless gimmick that you will quickly grow bored with. But don’t let that stop you from buying this phone, the screen real-estate and the massive battery (over 50% more capacity than the S2) are the real selling points.
It is the perfect size if your primary usage for it are web browsing, IM, text messages, apps, and the rare phone call. You really could sit on the bus and use this device to browse the internet without drawing any attention to yourself.
A 7″ tablet is too big. A 4″ Smartphone is too small. The 5″ Galaxy Note is just right.
So, yes, buy the Galaxy Note if you’re in the market for both a tablet AND a smartphone. It is the compromise nobody asked for but everyone wants.
PS – If you need a case I purchased this one from Amazon UK and it fits my Note perfectly:
Garmin Universal 5 inch Soft Carrying Case for Satellite Navigator
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|Well Made,
The first thing everyone is going to say is not cheap!! It isn’t in either sense of the word.
You sense the engineers might have told the accountants to entertain themselves in interesting ways when they asked to trim the cost and quality and that the same accountants got their revenge by pricing it accordingly.
I think there is a fair chance you could beat a burgler to death with it (this is an expression not a suggestion) and it would still work perfectly afterwards.
All in all great product and well done Samsung development for fighting off the cost cutters, although my wallet does not thank you as much.
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|Nice Vehicle Dock,
Nice dock – if you have Genuine Samsung i9100 Galaxy S 2 II Black Cool Vent/Mesh Case/Cover/Skin you’ll struggle to get the phone into this without removing it which is a bit of a pain – otherwise perfect
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|Great product!!!!!,
Received Item next day even though I arrange the 2 – 5 working day delivery service.
On arrival everything intact installed it and works like a treat, I have Bluetooth in my car and there is a voice programme that activates when you push the charger into the phone this is great because for me I use the SatNav allot and using this makes it easy.
The cradle is very well built and the phone fits like a treat! The charge wire is thin so I was able to fit it nice and tidily around the dashboard of the car, which helps me as I have a different car every month.
I would highly recommend this product if you can spare the few extra pounds as in my opinion it could be slightly cheaper, I suppose you get what you pay for and this item is well built and well practical.
Hope this helps you buyers
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