Samsung Galaxy Note

From its inception till now, the Samsung Galaxy Note has become very much in demand. The conflict of “phone or tablet“ inherent in the marketing paled in comparison to its functionality. Yes, it appears Samsung gave us the PDA we didn‘t know we wanted - and it‘s paid off in spades.

The device is made of plastic with a metal rim. It’s sleek and feels smooth yet strong. It weighs 178 grams with an .38 inch thickness, easily fitting into one's pocket. The overall size of the device makes things cumbersome when trying to take calls. While you can use a hands-free mic for calling, you’ll still need both hands to properly operate the device.

The Galaxy Note has a 1.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 dual core processor and 1 GB of RAM with 16 GB internal memory. This is
expandable up to 32 GB with a micro SD card. Compared to most phones and even tablets, the Galaxy Note is extremely powerful. Its display is the new 5'3" HD Super AMOLED touch screen with a 1280x800 size and 285 ppi resolution. Samsung boasts dynamic colours and clear black shades with the display, and trumps the iPhone’s “retinal display” after a close contest. It’s clearly one of the device’s major selling points.

Internet connectivity is achieved via 3G, GRM, GPRS and EDGE. There’s also 802.11 b/g/n support for WiFi. As one would expect, surfing on the device is extremely fast. The Super AMOLED display also allows for less scrolling and crisp, sharp viewing of web pages.

The Note comes equipped with an “advanced smart pen” or the S-Pen. The S-Pen aids the image editing and manipulation capabilities on offer. Commercials showcasing its ability have not been overblown - it’s quite easy to just pick and play with your world at will, with the Note as a canvas.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread is the default OS, but this is upgradeable to Android 4. There are seven home screens and navigating across them is a breeze. All the usual Google applications are accounted for. The power of the device is an app user’s dream come true, enabling you to carry and run multiple apps easily. Some exclusive apps like S-Memo, S Planner and S Choice bring out the aforementioned image editing.

The 8-megapixel camera snaps images at 3264x2448 resolution. There’s also a 2-megapixel camera in the front for video calling. Both cameras work exceptionally well. The image quality of snaps is very good, though the lack of an opaque lens cover leaves the rear camera prone to scratching. The Galaxy Note also supports 720p and 1080p full HD video recording and playback at 30 FPS.

The Galaxy Note is a bit on the pricy side. Despite the excellent sound quality, the speakers leave a lot to be desired in terms of output. But this is a minor shortcoming. With this much functionality, the inventive image editing tools and superb performance, it comes highly recommended for those who can afford it.