Tablets are dominating the market nowadays and slowly replacing the desktop PC merging compact form factors with the ability to accomplish the most daunting of tasks. The only downside to a tablet is that they can be too big to carry around for people who like to travel light so manufacturers introduced a new form factor – 7″ but that still proved to be too big. Here’s where a a mix between a phone and a tablet (or Phablet as Samsung likes to call it) comes in. With the he screen measuring at 5.3-inches, the Samsung Galaxy Note is the perfect phone for someone who wants to carry a tablet in their pocket but how does it compare to the hunderds of other Android phones on the market? Check out the full lowdown in our review below.
Unboxing
Box
Being a huge phone the Samsung Galaxy Note comes in a shockingly small box which seems to be just big enough to fit the phone. Opening the box presents you the phone fit inside a tray; removing the tray reveals the S-Pen, wall charger with USB port, microUSB cable for charging and data access, pair of earphones with different sized buds, standard warranty information and instruction manuals. You may also receive a case with your phone depending on where you buy it. The battery with the Galaxy Note is a 2500 mAh unit which is roughly the same size as other Samsung batteries.
Specifications
- Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support
- 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
- 5.3″ 16M-color HD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of WXGA resolution (800 x 1280 pixels)
- Android OS v2.3.5 with TouchWiz 4 UI
- 1.4 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset, 1GB of RAM
- Pre-bundled with the S Pen active stylus
- 8 MP wide-angle autofocus camera with LED flash, face, smile and blink detection
- Video recording of up to 1080p@30fps
- Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n; Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi hotspot
- GPS with A-GPS connectivity; Digital compass
- 16/32GB internal storage and microSD slot
- Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- Charging MHL microUSB port with USB host and TV-out (1080p through optional adapter) support and Bluetooth v3.0
- 2MP secondary video-call camera
- 2500 mAh battery
Hardware
The hybrid that is the Samsung Galaxy Note features some pretty awesome hardware, highlight of which is the glorious 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HD display which has impressed me a whole lot. The HD Super AMOLED is the first HD display in a smaller <7″ form factor by Samsung, it runs at 1280 x 800 or WXGA resolution which on a 5.3-inch display equals to 285.3 PPI or pixels per inch. The screen also fully supports the included S-Pen which uses the very same technology as Wacom Bamboo tablets. The S-Pen can also enable you to use gestures and the likes by pressing a button located on the pen.
The Galaxy Note measures in at 83.95 x 146.85 x 9.65 mm and weighs just 178 grams which is way less than you would expect such a huge phone to be. The 2500 mAh battery that comes with the Galaxy Note is covered later in the review.
There’s a 2MP camera on the front and an 8MP autofocus camera with a single LED flash on the back which supports face, smile and blink detection along with numerous other features. The shooter on the back can capture 1080p video running at 30fps while the front cam records in standard VGA. The camera is very good and can match similar point and shoot cameras present in the market. Connectivity options include quad band GSM, quad band UMTS with HSPA+ support, WiFi a/b/g/n, FM tuner, Bluetooth 3.0, microUSB and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Galaxy Note also packs the standard sensors including proximity, gyroscope, accelerometer and barometer.
The build quality as you may have already guessed is plastic, but not some cheap plastic which would develop cracks after a few weeks. All of Samsung’s products are extremely reliable and strong, anybody remember this drop test?
Design
The front of the phone houses the huge 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display with a single home button below with two capacitive menu and back buttons on either side. Above the screen and logo is the earpiece and left to that is the proximity center and the 2MP camera. Below the phone is the microphone right next to the microUSB port and S-PEN slot. On the very top we have the secondary microphone and 3.5mm headphone jack.
On the left side of the phone we have the volume rocker which is pretty hard to reach for if you’re using the phone with one hand unless you have huge hands. Right side of the phone houses the power button. On the back we have the 8MP 1080p video recording camera next to which is the LED flash and finally the loudspeaker which is in the bottom left corner. The S-Pen slot as we mentioned before is pretty sturdy and during our testing the S-Pen never fell out, it’s actually pretty hard to get the pen out but it’s better this way than it getting out in untimely situations.
Camera Sample
Software
The Samsung Galaxy Note runs a modified version of TouchWiz 4.0 on top of Android 2.3.5 specifically made for the higher resolution screen and support for the Note exclusive S-Pen. TouchWiz 4.0 includes features which make the Galaxy Note operate like both a smartphone and a tablet, you can really notice the difference when you tilt the phone into landscape mode. The Galaxy Note includes standard TouchWiz apps like AllShare, Polaris, Samsung Hubs, etc along with some exclusives ones like S Memo and S Planner.
The Galaxy Note’s highlight is clearly the bundled S-Pen accompanied by the aforementioned S Memo and S Planner softwares. The S-Pen works just like the graphic tablets designers use which is expected since the technology present in the Galaxy Note is produced by Wacom who are the makers of the popular Bamboo line of graphic tablets.
Performance
The Galaxy Note comes with the 1.4-GHz Exynos processor which is the best performing dual core mobile CPU in the market right now. The Note performed exceptionally well in both benchmarks and real life tests. It scored 4123 in Quadrant, 4108 in Smartbench 2011 for productivity and 2212 for Games on average.
We expected the battery life on the Note to be very poor, powering the huge 5.3-inch display and super fast Exynos chip while running the battery hungry Android OS is no easy task but thanks to Samsung’s super light TouchWiz UI and the huge 2500 mAh battery, the phone lasted me over a day on a single charge with heavy use.
Overall
The Galaxy Note may be a bit impractical for most users but can prove to be a blessing in disguise for others. The Phablet is perfect for people who don’t want to carry around or own both a tablet and smartphone, which lets be honest are pretty much the same thing except for their screen sizes. The Galaxy Note is the best of both worlds and Samsung deserves a standing O for getting it right.
TechDeville gives the Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 4/5 stars.
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