The original Galaxy Note was a bit of an experiment by the guys over at Samsung, to see how the public would receive a hybrid of tablet and smartphone. Combining all the great functionality found inside a high-end Sammy handset into a chassis of larger proportions meant that users got the best of both worlds. And they liked it.
Galaxy Note II
Fast-forward 12 months and the Samsung Galaxy Note has been a resounding success (10m units sold to date and counting), so much so that the Koreans have decided to give the mobile a refresh and follow it up with the Galaxy Note II. But just what is so different about the Note II, and how does it shape up against its older brother? Let’s find out shall we…
Design
To the untrained eye the Galaxy Note II may look a lot like its predecessor, however, put them side by side and you’ll notice a few subtle differences. They may appear to be the same size but the Note II manages to pack a 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED display into the form factor, upping the 5.3-inches sported by the original Note but without expanding the device’s frame too much.
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The innovative design of the Galaxy Note II includes a bigger 5.5 inch screen while maintaining a slim body to fit just right in your hand.
The increased display size means that you get even more of that brilliantly vivid and crisp display to put the S-Pen stylus to use (more on this later) and also when watching HD videos and gaming. The Galaxy Note II also takes style cues from the Galaxy S III, which is no bad thing as the S III is famed for its sleek sophisticated design with curved corners.
Under the hood
One of the most notable improvements the Galaxy Note II brings to the ‘phablet’ is a supped-up 1.6GHz quad-core processor, in contrast to the 1.4GHz dual-core engine found in the first Galaxy Note. The beefy quad-core chip makes everything quicker and smoother, especially when multitasking. We found we could download an app from Google Play, whilst listening to music and surfing the web all with any lags or stutters at all, and the speed in which applications open is phenomenal.
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The Samsung Galaxy Note II certainly comes packed with the latest features under the hood, such as a Quad core cpu and Android Jelly Bean. These alone allow it to rival the likes of the highly rated Galaxy S3 in performance.
This extra power is particularly evident when navigating around the Android Jelly Bean operating system, which is a good step up from the Gingerbread iteration that appeared on the original Note. Jelly Bean has been overlaid with a jazzed up version of Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, which when combined with the speedy enhancements brought along by Google’s Project Butter framework, makes for a fluid user experience. Add to this extra features such as Google Now that uses your location and search data to build an information database customised to you and will serve up information such as traffic updates, weather and news, and the enhanced Notification Centre that features info from Google Now and expandable emails previews, and you’ve quite a device on your hands.
Features
The original Note is well known for features such as the note and scribble pad S-Memo, and calendar app S-Planner that both utilised the S-Pen, a handy built-in stylus that can be used to navigate and annotate web pages or pretty much anything on screen. Originally a niche feature hardly seen on any other devices prior, the S-Pen helped the Note gain the popularity it achieved.
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Some viewed the S-Pen as a gimmick when the origional Note was launched, however that perception has now changed and the Galaxy Note II has an improved / refined S-Pen.
The little stylus on the Note II has been given a revamp and now features a rubber tip to allow it to glide across the screen more smoothly for easier use. The handset now even alerts you should you leave S-Pen behind, using Bluetooth to magically send you a notification telling you that you’ve left it behind.
The Note II also incorporates functionality that was previously seen on the Galaxy S III, such as Pop-up Play which can be used to minimise videos when multitasking, so the user is able to watch while they check emails or surf the web, and the helpful voice activated assistant S-Voice.
Samsung Galaxy Note II Video Review
Final Thoughts
With the Note II, Samsung has essentially taken what was already a pretty awesome device and crammed in loads of extra features, not to mention upping the processor power. It’s a winner when it comes to power, design, and functionality too, so just like its big brother; we think the Galaxy Note II is a sure to be a success.
This guest post was written by Abbi Cox of Phones 4u, the UK’s number one retailer for mobile phones.
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The post The Samsung Galaxy Note II: What’s New? appeared first on Pre pay as you go Blog.