Samsung Galaxy Note II: Walking Tall

Cut to the new Note II. By any yardstick,Samsung’s second Galaxy Note device outdoes its predecessor in nearly every way on paper. On the outside,it is narrower and thinner than the Note it replaces. The original Galaxy Note measured 146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65 mm and weighed 178 grams. The new Note II comes in at 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm and it weighs 180 grams.

The titanium gray Rs 39,990-a-piece Note II 16 GB test-unit sent across to us for a review,was easy and fun to use,despite its massive size. It features a 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED screen,providing breathtaking visuals and crystal clear detail. Its 16:9 aspect ratio ensures an enriched cinema-like video viewing experience,perfect for watching high definition videos. I surfed YouTube and several other graphics-heavy websites and Samsung’s AMOLED panel on the Note II is amazingly bright and colours are vivid. Contrast is also outstanding,as one might expect from a Samsung device,and images really come to life.

The new S Pen is longer,thicker and ergonomically designed for the perfect grip. It provides a more precise,comfortable,and natural writing and drawing experience. It has fully integrated features and applications that make everyday tasks more intuitive and easy. For instance,Air View allows users to hover with the S Pen over an email,S Planner,image gallery,or video to preview the content without having to open it. This feature gives users quick access to search and view more information in detail without screen transitions.

The S Pen’s advanced features also provide enhanced capabilities to capture ideas and inspirations instantly and to combine handwriting with any digital content directly on the screen. By simply pressing the dedicated S Pen button,the S Pen magically recognises that users want to clip or edit the selected content on the screen. The Easy Clip feature,allows users to instantly outline and crop any content on the screen in any shape to save,share or paste. Once done cropping the image,users can freely edit the cropped content through colouring,shading,or their own personal handwriting. It is quick and easy.

Popup Note lets users open an S Note instantly as a pop-up window anywhere on the screen. When a user pulls out the S Pen during a phone call,the S Note application automatically pops up on the screen,allowing users to jot down a quick personal message. Users can also personalise photos by leaving handwritten memos on the backside of a photo using the S Pen. Hand-written Photo Notes can be shared with others in JPG format.

In addition,the device’s new gesture pad feature,called Quick Command,lets users quickly activate frequently used apps with the S Pen. The command pad appears when a user just swipes upward on the screen with the S Pen button pressed. Users can quickly send an email,make a call,or search a location as they choose from pre-defined commands or customise commands for quick and easy access.

Getting under the skin,a quad-core Exynos processor in the Galaxy Note II replaces the 1.5 GHz dual-core unit in the earlier model; the chipset in the new Note consists of a 1.6 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU married to a quad-core ARM Mali-400 MP4 GPU. RAM has also been upped to 2 GB and internal storage comes in at 16 GB,32 GB or 64 GB depending on the model you choose. Thanks to a 3,100mAh battery,users can be productive without suffering from power limitation.

In terms of connectivity,the Galaxy Note II packs everything from 4G LTE,Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 G Hz) and Wi-Fi HT40 to USB 2.0,Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. The new Note runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The original Note has also been updated to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich,which is more current than the operating systems found on many newer devices.

The Galaxy Note II comes with an 8 megapixel rear-facing and 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera with HD video recording. The camera has great features like Buddy Photo Share,Burst Shot and Best Photo,which were introduced on the Galaxy S III earlier. In addition to that,the new Note features a unique camera function called Best Faces. Best Faces allows users to choose the most preferred face or pose of each person from group portrait photos.

All in all,Samsung’s new Note is a hot ticket item and has no worthwhile competition in its league.

SPECS

Dimensions: 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm

Screen size & type: 5.5 inches,HP Super AMOLED

Resolution: 1280 x 720 pixels (267ppi)

Operating system: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Processor: Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex A-9

Camera: 8 MP (rear); 1.9 MP front

Connectivity: 2G,3G,4G,Wi-Fi

Storage: 16/32/64 GB,microSD (upto 64 GB)

Estimated street price: Rs 39,990