great phone May 7, 2012

Reviewer:  Barbara Monkman "RAD TECH"  (DUNEDIN,FL) -

this phone is great it really is the best of a tablet and phone. its a little faster than the samsung galaxy tab and is just small enough to fit in most pockets.

LOVE the phone ! April 23, 2012

Reviewer:  yraj "yraj"  (New York) -

The phone is awesome ! things that stand out (besides the enormous screen real estate which, at the end of the day for me, increased usability of a mobile device for many productivity and social activities in favor of using a laptop) :--
- beautiful screen
- FAST - this phone is VERY snappy.
- Real-GPS capability and therefore , accuracy of the location services offered by apps
- Camera quality ..

One thing that i cant seem to get to work - For whatever reason I dont see option of "Video calling" in Skype. I can video call using other android apps but not skype ! I looked around in settings and dont see any setting to enable video calling. When I click a contact, the only options I see are -
- Voice Call
- Send IM
- Send File
- SMS

Any poiners ? Anyone ?

P.S - I am in Canada and bought this unlocked phone from someone who in turn purchased this as an upgrade to his existing contract from the cellular provider - Tellus. Not sure if that matters...

A "bright" Note!!! :-) April 17, 2012

Reviewer:  NPG 

Thank you for such excellent service Amazon!!! I ordered my note on April 12,2012, and received it April13, 2012! I love my Samsung Galaxy Note! I am a bit "technically challenged", yet, I am still enjoying all of the wonderful features of this phone. I found it incredibly easy and convenient to take notes on my Samsung Note, while utilizing the handy S Pen! That is one of my favorite features. I am still discovering all of the great features. I highly recommend this phone!!!

Great Phone June 14, 2012

Reviewer:  Christopher Tran  (LA,California) -

IOS and Android are both great platforms, each having their strengths and weaknesses, despite what any fan of either camp says.

I've been with an iPhone for so many years now, but jumped on the Note on release day. I did get the iPad 2 on release day, but sold it a few months later and got a Macbook Air and never regretted it. I really felt crippled with my own expectations for something the size of a laptop, but not being able to do all the things I'd be able to do on a full OS.

Anyway, I ended up getting another iPad 2 anyway from work, because I have to support them as a platform. I rarely use it, except on the couch in front of the TV, but even there I still find my MBA more comfortable to use somehow.

I can really see why there's such huge appeal for the iPad. It is a very polished piece of hardware and IOS does what it does very well. But it just didn't work for me as a mobile device.

When the features of the Galaxy Note was announced I was immediately intrigued, but not exactly sold. But when time came to announce the new iPhone, I felt sooo let down but the iPhone 4S. If they had announced an iPhone 5 with a screen anywhere north of 4inches I would have jumped on it. But now, after many months and so many phones with much larger screens, I find anything south of 4.3 inches to be inadequate. It still works for most people out there so if you're happy with this, iPhones still are amazing phones. I did try out the 4S for a month and was thoroughly unimpressed by it, feeling that it simply wasn't much of an upgrade from my iPhone 4. I traded in for the Galaxy S II Skyrocket and was pretty impressed with the phone over all, with minor gripes on the screen resolution (800 x 400), but the Super AMOLED plus display really was gorgeous to behold. After reading more about the Galaxy Note and rumors about it coming to the US, I returned this Skyrocket and waited 3 month for the Note.

I have to say this phone has blown me away. I was amazed out how confortable it was to carry around and, even more so, how confortable it has made my mobile browsing experience become. It's not perfect. Most of the gripes I have with it has more to do with Android. It came with Gingerbread, but I quickly upgrade it to Ice Cream Sandwich with many of the available ROMs. ICS has cetainly made the OS a lot smoother and slightly more capable. But in truth, the experience is still not as polished and tight as IOS. But the fact that you can really do SO much more with the OS as far as adding features and customization, it more than made up for it. You really can make it you own by adding various themes and widgets that infinitely adds to the experience. Even after 3 months, I'm still discovering ways to add to this experience. But the fact that you can do so much to it may also be a liability. If you're expecting it to work out the the box in the best, simplest way possible, you're going to be disappointed. Really, you're going to have to do you homework to get the most out of this phone. Otherwise you find annoying things that might just break your heart. A good example: battery life. Out of the box with Gingerbread and all the bloatware, the battery life sucks. Perhaps compared to some other Android units, it's not too bad. But if you compare it to an iPhone, there no comparison. Again, if you do you homework and uninstall the bloatware, and use the proper power management settings, install the most efficient rom, you can extend the life of the battery to a very pleasing mark. Not quite iPhone good, but it'll easily get you though a full day with power to spare.
This goes for other little gripes too. I've been pretty successful at addressing most of these annoyances. Again, do your homework. There seems to aways be a solution for any issues. The Android development community is a big help.

With IOS, you're more likely to be satisfied with it right out of the box. It's prettier and more polished. But if you have any issues with it, the only thing you can do is to pray and wait for Apple to address it. You can, of course jailbreak, but even then it still not as flexible as Android, not to mention the jailbreaking process is so much more invasive.

In the end, I can really live with either platforms. I was really happy with both, but for different reasons. It came down to getting the phone that fit my needs, and the Note, with its size, resolution, speed and capability, fit better than anything out there. Perhaps an 4.5" iphone might change my mind, but this seems highly unlikely at the moment. Another bonus to the Note, I use my iPad even less.

Funny Note commercials March 19, 2012

Reviewer:  R. Pierre 

Like the Samsung commercials said I was waiting for a newer iPhone. One with a bigger screen and 4G LTE. Then the 4S came out. Nice, but same size screen. Siri seemed so cool. What to do? I had never used an Android phone and the screens were bigger than iPhones. Then I saw the Galaxy Note online, big 5.3" screen, 4G LTE. My Apple 3G iPhone was running out of space and some apps couldn't be loaded into it.
So I took the Android plunge. I received it on Feb. 27th. Nice big, bright screen. Slim and not too heavy at all. It came with a bunch of apps for things to sign up for then install the app. It takes good pics and videos. Phone sound is ok. And it is fast on 4G and wi-fi.
Now this is a small dislike. When I transferred my music from my iPhone to my note it was quick and easy. Except...my movies and music videos didn't transfer. So I'm really missing iTunes. So far I've used Youtube for videos. I don't really like that.

Best phone available for now. May 24, 2012

Reviewer:  Master UNO  (AZ) -

I can't find a better phone. I tried about 5 others and ended up with this. I also tried all other phones in the store. It has a few bugs, however most wont even notice. Only needs ICS, but many phones not up to date.

Bugs(Ghost draw in corner, Multitouch, idle, Speech recoginition)

I have one June 12, 2012

Reviewer:  Enjolica Johnson  (Destrehan, La, US) -

If you don't have 1 you might want to invest in 1. This phone does everyThing I need it to do. It's lIke a mInI laptop to me. It's an awesome phone!!

SAMSUNG MADE A BAD PRODUCT HERE! READ WHY July 15, 2012

Reviewer:  kano5 

My contract was up for a renewal and I was finally in the drivers seat. I can upgrade to a new phone at a renewal contract price at my local AT& store. YAHOO!

I had a iphone 3gs and although it works flawlessly I can get my brand new galaxy note and get into android.

WHAT A HORRIBLE MISTAKE! I had to learn the hard way. I decided to give it a try and learn the device and the operating system.
So I used the unit since March and I HATE THIS PHONE.

WHY?

Battery Life is half as an iphone.
Magnets on the case cannot be used. Limited number of cases available without magnets.
VERY VERY SLOW OPERATING SYSTEM. Press a button wait 2 seconds before it does it.
Screen goes blank too quickly and the settings don't work.
Side button is located in a bad place and you will easily activate it.
Screen does not work in the daylight.
Samsung keyboard software very slow and clunky.
Samsung bloatware-software you cannot remove
Internet web browser very slow on responsiveness

Shall I say more????

Unfortunately I give it a chance and went too long so I cannot return the product.
Unfortunately I gave my wife my iphone 3GS to replace her samsung piece of garbage phone, and "I'm never to see it ever again", says my loving wife.

So today I'm on amazon to purchase my Iphone 4s at full boat price.
Save yourself from dis-appointment and learn from mine. DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE.

SPECIAL NOTE : I BOUGHT THE PHONE FROM AN AT&T STORE. NOT AMAZON... LOVE AMAZON FOREVER!