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Home » Mobile & GPS » Mobile Phone » Samsung Galaxy Note » Video

Samsung Galaxy Note video review

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The Note doesn’t quite live up to Samsung’s marketing slogan: “Jack of all trades, master of all”. It’s on the large side for a phone, doesn’t fit into small pockets and usually requires two hands for messaging. However, if you can live with these compromises the Note is a sleek, attractive powerhouse with one of the nicest screens we’ve ever seen, superb battery life and great video recording plus playback. Once it receives its ICS update, it should match the best of the rest. Meanwhile, for artists looking to sketch on the go, it joins the ThinkPad Tablet as one of the few Android choices we would recommend thanks to its Wacom S Pen stylus.

Overall

8/10

Ardjuna Seghers

By Ardjuna Seghers
Reviewed 08 February 2012
Updated 20 April 2012

Price as reviewed

£480.00

  • Review
    • 1: Intro, Design and Build
    • 2: Connectivity, Screen and Audio
    • 3: Buttons, OS and Performance
    • 4: Apps and Stylus
    • 5: Camera, Battery, Value and Verdict
  • Video Review
  • User Reviews
  • Comments
  • Specs
  • 34 Photos
  • Mobile Deals
  • Reviewed by Ardjuna Seghers
  • 08 February 2012
Read the full Samsung Galaxy Note review
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Awards

  • Recommended by TR

Samsung Galaxy Note details

Design
9/10
Features
9/10
Camera Quality
9/10
Performance
9/10
Usability
8/10
Value
10/10
Overall
8/10

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Gorgeous HD screen
  • Slim and light
  • Powerful yet long-lasting
  • S Pen useful and versatile
  • Great for playing and recording video
  • Excellent value

Cons

  • Too large for some
  • Calibration issues with S Pen
  • Difficult to use one-handed
  • Gingerbread (but ICS update soon)

Price as reviewed

£480.00

Manufacturer

Samsung

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jgsm

9:21 AM on 9 February, 2012

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I think you have the business with the screen mixed-up. I'm sure the S2 has the plus screen, whilst the others mentioned haven't.

Also, while the phone is far to big for me to consider, it seems odd to essentially mark it down for being a big phone - That's exactly what Samsung have intended it to be. Your criticism would stand, say, if they were trying to cram a lot of tech into a device, but but they couldn't do so without making it huge. This was designed from the ground-up as a big phone.

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piesforyou

12:03 PM on 9 February, 2012

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I think it's an inherent limitation of review scoring and criticism. You could just aswell say "The phone tried to be big and succeeded!"

The A380 is a fantastic plane but its too big to go to all airports - but thats exactly how Airbus wanted it.

By the way, I don't mean to be mean, but why does TR have the most awkward sign-in process of any website in the galaxy? Can we not just have a simple sign in box at the bottom of the page? What's the deal with the enormous pop-up containing the entire page again?

Also the orange sign-in button takes me to a "page not found" error.

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Joey

1:16 PM on 9 February, 2012

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jgsm is correct about the screens, you completely messed it up. S2 uses the Super AMOLED Plus, while the Nexus uses Super AMOLED but with a pentile matrix

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Michael G

1:23 PM on 9 February, 2012

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"especially annoying when attempting fine detail work"

You have got to me kidding me. For gods sake, it's for at most doodling and taking notes, not for creating the next Picasso.

Consider how much a decent tablet costs, around the £400 mark, that you have such functionality built in with this phone in the first place is brilliant.

Stop asking too much. We could only dream of phones like this several years back and you STILL nitpick over ridiculous details that nobody cares about.

Sheesh, comments like this really put me off TR to be honest, not to mention how shocking the "new" website is.

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Neil873

2:03 PM on 9 February, 2012

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I tried one of these out in a high street store and was quite excited to see how it could be used as a business tool.

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was great in just about all regards and a good size for using as a business tool, especially if you could take notes during a meeting, check spreadsheets, etc.

However, for me, it was the taking notes with the stylus that I didn't like. I want it so it writes like a pen, but there was a 'delay' with the writing always catching up to where your at. The 'delay' is not huge, but I found it difficult to keep continuity.

All I would say, is if you are considering one of these, I would recommend having a play with it before jumping in.

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Ardjuna

2:17 PM on 9 February, 2012

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I'm just going to answer all the comments so far in a seperate comment as people don't seem to read replies :)

@piesforyou:
The question we should be asking is, were phones meant to be this big? Personally I like the form factor, but a few colleagues think the Note is simply too large for comfort.

Regarding the sign-in process, not at all, we appreciate the feedback and will try to improve the experience.

@Joey:
As I already said in my reply to @jgsm, the link should have been to the Galaxy S rather than S2, sorry about the confusion. The error has been fixed but hasn't gone through our slow cache yet. In fact we even mention the S2 is sAMOLED Plus on the page the previous link in that same sentence refers to!

@Michael G:
No, sorry but I have to disagree with you there. Many digital artists (which I'm guessing you're not?) were very excited to finally be getting a Wacom stylus on an Android 'tablet', thinking the solution would be superior to N Trig's. When it not only features fewer pressure levels but also suffers from niggles which should have been easy to rectify, it's thoroughly disappointing!

Just because you're not in the category of people that "cares" doesn't mean this is not a valid criticism, AND if you had read the entire review you would have noticed that I say: "For writing and doodling [the two bits you mention], the S Pen works a treat".

Sorry you don't like the new site design btw. It does take some getting used to but we are constantly trying to make it better with your feedback.

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Goodmane

9:58 PM on 9 February, 2012

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I'd just like to comment re. super amoled screens. I have a Galaxy S1 and am fussy re colour, I use colorimeters with my PC screens.

I'm not saying there isn't a blue/green color shift with sAMOLED. Just that I haven't ever noticed it. Even when I've been looking for it. I just want to encourage people not to worry about the colour. Really I doubt even graphic designers would be irked by this screen unless they were actually working on it.

I say this as someone who is a real nerd when it comes to colour accuracy in photos etc.

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Spir

1:02 AM on 10 February, 2012

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I don't get the score: four times a 9, once an 8 and even once a 10. To me the overall score should be a 9 then?

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Aggress

10:53 AM on 10 February, 2012

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I've played with one a few times now, it's impressive no doubt, but yes the back is incredibly flimsy, i'd like to know how long one was tested in the lab before it split or the clips snapped off, one drunken fumble and it could all be over ( applies to other situations as well ). The screen appears to be like all of the Samsung's at a weird colour temperature, when compared next to the iPhone4 it looks too cool, the contrast and colour reproduction look wrong. Stylus stuff is great, if only I could draw, thankfully my friend can and he uses his for designing on the fly.

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Martin Daler

11:47 PM on 10 May, 2012

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Contrary to your review and video, the Galaxy Note does not use Gorilla Glass. This from Samsung's own Q&A:
"We can confirm that the Galaxy Note does not use Gorilla Glass but instead uses our own version."

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