Design
The Samsung Galaxy Note keeps the same glossy plastic design as the original Note and many of Samsung's other handsets. The Note II comes in two colors, blue and white, and has the same brushed look as the Galaxy S III. The Note II also looks very much like the Galaxy S III by having curved corners, a curved camera pod, and with its one physical home button with two capacitive buttons flanking it. The curved design will probably make for a good feel in the hand, but its very large size and glossy plastic may deter some buyers away. The Note II also has a much thinner design than the original with a thinness of 9.4mm. Overall, the design of the Note II looks great, but its large size may not be for everyone.
Display
Samsung put the same beautiful display that we found on the Samsung Galaxy S III on the Note II, but they also bumped up the screen size to 5.5 inches. This panel is a 1,280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED display that looks like it will be a great panel. Being that this is the same panel found on the Galaxy S III, it will probably have great viewing angels, great color reproduction, and will look great in sunlight. This display is going to be an admirable display, satisfy all users, and will probably be one of the best displays on the market. This display is very roomy at 5.5 inches, but it might make buyers with small hands unable to use this. We have medium-ish sized hands and the original Note felt fine for us after using it for about ten minutes. Overall, this display is going to be fantastic, but it might be too cumbersome for some consumers.
Software
The Samsung Galaxy Note II is one of the first devices to have Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Sadly, this is not stock Android but rather Samsung's TouchWiz'd version of the mobile operating system. This new version of TouchWiz still looks like the old TouchWiz that resembled Android 2.3 Gingerbread. This brings us another issue with Samsung, because they keep churning out software that looks stale. Gingerbread was released almost two years ago, yet Samsung still makes their skin look like it. Despite of its looks, the software on the Note II happens to be one of the first non-Nexus devices to receive Jelly Bean. Coupled with the Note II's 1.6GHZ quad-core Exynos processor, this software will probably be very smooth and have no stutters. Because this is a Note-branded device, the Note II also comes with the Premium Suite note apps that let you take notes and do many other neat features. Overall the Note II's software is nice, but it still looks like Gingerbread two years after Gingerbread.
Performance
The successor to the Note has a 1.6GHZ quad-core Exynos processor that will offer great performance. This is Samsung's fastest processor ever, and it happens to be on their latest note-centric device. This will have brisk performance, no lag, and probably offer some of the best performance on the market. This device will have HSPA+ and LTE bands in most areas, but it will probably have HSPA+ only when it is sold unlocked. The LTE version is coming to Vodafone soon, but Samsung has promised that it will come to America before 2012 is out. The new S-Pen has also been improved by having 1,024 levels of sensitivity, while the original Note had only 256 levels of sensitivity. The new S-Pen also has a new more rubberized tip that will make it feel more natural to write on the screen with the extra traction. We have not tested the new S-Pen for ourselves, however, we think this more rubber tip will write better than the more plasticky previous S-Pen tip. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Note II will probably offer great performance and a much improved S-Pen.
Camera
The Note II features an 8MP camera that captures 1080p video. When the original Note came out, it had the same exact camera module as the Galaxy S II so we can assume that the Note II will have the same camera as the Galaxy S III. We experienced great, fantastic pictures that had a great amount of detail in all types of light when we handled the Galaxy S III. Video was also excellent on the Galaxy S III with no ghosting, great amount of quality, and produced overall fantastic and amazing results. The Galaxy S III's camera is only second best compared to the best camera on a handset (and the best handset) which is found on the HTC One X. Most likely, the camera on the Note II will produce the same fantastic results that we found on the Galaxy S III.
Wrap-up
Samsung has made another fantastic handset with the Galaxy Note II. It has a fantastic display, great performance, and is the first non-Nexus device to deliver us Jelly Bean. The Note II is also a worthy successor to the phablet throne by offering many great features and by improving on the Note's already nice features. This device easily beats any other phablet handset on the market, such as the LG Optimus Vu. The fantastic S-Pen with its Wacom digitizer is clearly one of the best styluses on the market and is the best on a mobile device. We have not handled this device ourselves, but the Samsung Galaxy Note II will clearly be the best phablet on the market and one of the best handsets on the market. Want more information on the debut of Samsung's latest phablet? Check out the source links below for more pictures and information on the Samsung Galaxy Note II.
Source: Engadget, Engadget Hands-On
Pictures from Engadget.com
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