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Samsung Galaxy Note II (new flagship Android phone from Samsung)

C

ComputerMKII

Banned
How's the Galaxy Note 2 for reading PDFs (I read lots of them) and ePubs? Does the size make it comfortable enough? Is it viable as an e-reader? I'm still not sure whether I should buy a GN2 (or even wait for a 1080p GN3) as the ultimate all-purpose mobile device, or buy Nexus 7 just for e-reading (which wouldn't fit in a picket and wouldn't be fit as well in my hands).
 
Y

yogloo

Member
I use the original galaxy note, so note 2 might differ.
I find that my note is good for occasional pdf reading, but I would not use it to read all the time. If you are going to do A LOT of reading, I think nexus 7 would much better. And nexus 10 would probably be infinitely better with the higher resolution.
 
D

Domcorleone

Member
I got the note 2 on sprint just to try it out and see if I'd like it (I am currently on Verizon). It took me a little over a day to get used to the size (currently using a Gnex) but after I did I cant see myself going back to anything else. I think 5.5 is the sweet spot and watching videos and browsing the web on this thing is incredible. I can only imagine how LTE will effect my experience when I get it for Verizon. I tried reading a few articles on the device as well and enjoyed it however, I wish that android had a feature similar to apple in which you can opt for a reading friendly version of an article.

As far as the S- Pen goes, I have not used it as much as I anticipated but when I do use it, it is REALLY helpful. Quite a few times I had to write something down quickly and instinctively pulled out the s pen to scribble it down. I cant wait to see what other apps they come up with in the future.

Now the only thing I am not sure about is whether to but the titanium gray or white one, I have the white right now but it kind of looks like a toy and I wonder if the titanium gray will make the device look smaller.

What color are people getting? Anyone getting the flip cover as well?
 
N

nib95

Banned
Computer said:
How's the Galaxy Note 2 for reading PDFs (I read lots of them) and ePubs? Does the size make it comfortable enough? Is it viable as an e-reader? I'm still not sure whether I should buy a GN2 (or even wait for a 1080p GN3) as the ultimate all-purpose mobile device, or buy Nexus 7 just for e-reading (which wouldn't fit in a picket and wouldn't be fit as well in my hands).
Click to expand...

Probably the best e reading mobile phone on the market. Highly accomplished for it imo, that and the split screen multitasking means you can be reading something whilst also watching a video or doing something else.
 
K

KillGore

Member
So what battery life are you guys getting? So far mine has been unplugged gor 13 hours and 57 minutes and it's at 40%, is that good (considering the size of the battery) or should it be better?

Edit: I have mobile network, wifi, GPS, motion controls, sync, highest brightness turned on

My evo 4g would only last a little more than half a day so it's a big difference but if the 3100mah is suppose to perform better I would like to know
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
KillGore said:
So what battery life are you guys getting? So far mine has been unplugged gor 13 hours and 57 minutes and it's at 40%, is that good (considering the size of the battery) or should it be better?

Edit: I have mobile network, wifi, GPS, motion controls, sync, highest brightness turned on

My evo 4g would only last a little more than half a day so it's a big difference but if the 3100mah is suppose to perform better I would like to know
Click to expand...

What is your screen on time?
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
KillGore said:
3 hours, doesn't seem like a lot now that I checked. How about you guys?
Click to expand...



If that is max brightness the entire time that is pretty good.

My GS3 would probably be dead or near dead with 3 hours of max brightness screen on time and 14 hours off the plug.
 
K

KillGore

Member
Yaboosh said:
If that is max brightness the entire time that is pretty good.

My GS3 would probably be dead or near dead with 3 hours of max brightness screen on time and 14 hours off the plug.
Click to expand...

Yes, max brightness the entire time.


I would like to know what other Note users are getting too.
 
W

whatsinaname

Member
KillGore said:
So what battery life are you guys getting? So far mine has been unplugged gor 13 hours and 57 minutes and it's at 40%, is that good (considering the size of the battery) or should it be better?

Edit: I have mobile network, wifi, GPS, motion controls, sync, highest brightness turned on

My evo 4g would only last a little more than half a day so it's a big difference but if the 3100mah is suppose to perform better I would like to know
Click to expand...

Mobile Network, wi-fi, GPS, motion controls, sync, brightness - 80%+Auto.

29 hours 50m - 60% remaining.

Screen time of 1 hour. I also played some podcasts over bluetooth while driving to and back from work. Maybe a half hour or so of that?
 
K

KillGore

Member
whatsinaname said:
Mobile Network, wi-fi, GPS, motion controls, sync, brightness - 80%+Auto.

29 hours 50m - 60% remaining.

Screen time of 1 hour. I also played some podcasts over bluetooth while driving to and back from work. Maybe a half hour or so of that?
Click to expand...

Interesting, so I'm getting shitty battery life, I wonder why. Do you have the international version or the US one?

Edit: I also have NFC and S beam on, not sure if that really does anything to the battery.

Man this sucks, for some reason I always get the devices with the worst possible battery life :\ I mean, it's a huge improvement over my last phone but I would at least like to have the same or similar battery life than others.
 
W

whatsinaname

Member
KillGore said:
Interesting, so I'm getting shitty battery life, I wonder why. Do you have the international version or the US one?

Edit: I also have NFC and S beam on, not sure if that really does anything to the battery.
Click to expand...

I do have the international version. Am on T-Mobile 2G for another month or so. Though I have been on Wi-Fi for 28 of those 30 hours. I have NFC and S-Beam is off (Haven't installed Google Wallet yet).
 
?

(._.)

Banned
I want one. Looks nice and fucken BIG. Probably get one in November although I'll wait and see some more impressions on the device first.
 
K

KillGore

Member
whatsinaname said:
I do have the international version. Am on T-Mobile 2G for another month or so. Though I have been on Wi-Fi for 28 of those 30 hours. I have NFC and S-Beam is off (Haven't installed Google Wallet yet).
Click to expand...

I see. I should really check out what's causing it. I have 3G and LTE turned on though.

Right now I'm trying to drain the battery so I can fully recharge it from 0 although I'm sure that doesn't do anything lol, turned the screen on and started playing music, 20 minutes and it just dropped 1%

Edit: Would buying another battery give me better results?? There's no way it's a phone (hardware) problem, right?
 
W

whatsinaname

Member
KillGore said:
I see. I should really check out what's causing it. I have 3G and LTE turned on though.

Right now I'm trying to drain the battery so I can fully recharge it from 0 although I'm sure that doesn't do anything lol, turned the screen on and started playing music, 20 minutes and it just dropped 1%

Edit: Would buying another battery give me better results?? There's no way it's a phone (hardware) problem, right?
Click to expand...

Are you in an area where LTE is not fully deployed? Because trying to find LTE connections drains battery a lot.

Do you have Quick Glance enabled? It keeps the proximity sensor on all the time. That is supposed to drain battery as well.

(I haven't ever gotten Quick Glace to work though. :/)
 
K

KillGore

Member
whatsinaname said:
Are you in an area where LTE is not fully deployed? Because trying to find LTE connections drains battery a lot.

Do you have Quick Glance enabled? It keeps the proximity sensor on all the time. That is supposed to drain battery as well.

(I haven't ever gotten Quick Glace to work though. :/)
Click to expand...

No I don't have LTE in my area right now, service will be turned on before 2013 (or so they told me...) so I guess I'll turn that off. I have quick glance enabled but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, pretty weird.

Still trying to kill the battery, turned screen on without the option to turn off, playing an HD movie, and now turned bluetooth on (brightness is 100% too). It's been almost an hour since my last post (where I started to kill the battery), it's now at 31%, seems like it's getting difficult to kill it
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
KillGore said:
No I don't have LTE in my area right now, service will be turned on before 2013 (or so they told me...) so I guess I'll turn that off. I have quick glance enabled but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, pretty weird.

Still trying to kill the battery, turned screen on without the option to turn off, playing an HD movie, and now turned bluetooth on (brightness is 100% too). It's been almost an hour since my last post (where I started to kill the battery), it's now at 31%, seems like it's getting difficult to kill it
Click to expand...


Maybe because your battery life is just fine and you are freaking out over nothing?
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
KillGore said:
Yeah, I know I'm exaggerating, I just wish I could get results like whatsinaname
Click to expand...

Copy his use, putting your brightness on auto and only having the screen on for an hour and I would guess you would have results similar to his.

The screen is by far the biggest sap of power. You used yours for three hours at max brightness.

If you want to reduce the amount of battery drain, turning on Auto brightness would help. And even further you can get a spare battery and have the option to switch it out, which is nice.
 
K

KillGore

Member
Yaboosh said:
Copy his use, putting your brightness on auto and only having the screen on for an hour and I would guess you would have results similar to his.

The screen is by far the biggest sap of power. You used yours for three hours at max brightness.

If you want to reduce the amount of battery drain, turning on Auto brightness would help. And even further you can get a spare battery and have the option to switch it out, which is nice.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll be doing that, sorry that I exaggerated, it's just that $300+ was pretty tough for me to pay, at least right now.
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
Just got mine tonight and have been playing around with it for a little bit. The screen is okay, not as good as the s3 to my eyes. The s pen is cool. The size is great. Touch wiz is still ugly as hell.
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
Yeah, I played with Touchwiz a bit on my friend's GSIII. It still looks like Gingerbread, I don't understand why Samsung doesn't embrace the Holo aesthetic.
 
S

sasimirobot

Junior Member
As I have mentioned earlier in the thread I have never owned a smart phone. I have mucked around with my sisters i-phone around 2007/8 and was kinda "meh". I owned a MOTOROLA F3 and only got rid of it because it couldn't display Chinese text.

I finally got around to visiting the phone shop today and messed around with the Note II.

WOW! I was thinking it was kinda neat until I found a 1080p video of a helicopter flying, holy shit it looked GREAT!

I know nothing of apps, and interfaces on smartphones, and all the other wacky shit, but OMG I need that screen!

It was also smaller than I thought it would be, and I had no problem fitting it in my pocket.
Will pick up the DUAL SIM version when it comes out in November here in China.
 
G

gogogow

Member
Yaboosh said:
Just got mine tonight and have been playing around with it for a little bit. The screen is okay, not as good as the s3 to my eyes. The s pen is cool. The size is great. Touch wiz is still ugly as hell.
Click to expand...

Interesting, cause the S3 is using a pentile screen, the Note II isn't.

samsung-galaxy-s3-vs-note-2-display.jpg
 
G

googleplex

Member
one weird thing I've run into is that google now thinks I live in Los Angeles when I live in Phoenix. when I ask for the weather it defaults to L.A.
 
C

CoilShot

Member
Domcorleone said:
who here has t-mobile? If so are you happy with it? No dropped calls? Good 4g speeds?
Click to expand...

I do. I switched from ATT to t-mobile for unlimited 4G with no throttling. I've only had it about 1 week but no dropped calls except when I was using the "Wifi Calling" oddly enough. 4G speed and call quality greatly depend on your area but my speeds have been as high as 10Mbs down/3Mbs up. I've seen people on youtube completely shatter my speeds but they are in major cities like Atlanta and Chicago.
 
R

RotBot

Member
I was all set to get the Galaxy Note II on-contract for $300. Now the unlocked 8GB Nexus 4 is announced for the same price, which I can pair with a much cheaper $30 T-Mobile Monthly 4G plan. I like that big screen, but I like money too. Hmm. Tough decision.
 
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