Samsung Galaxy Note user reviews

winnersh cyclist 19 March 2013

Good: Size and S pen

Bad: Samsung again

Comment: CNet review box went scrabbled so heres more.
The other issue is they announce new devices without curing known issues like updates when and if, Note has been promised Jelly Bean since last year and we still dont have it true for the S2 too.Next is the total silent treatment from Samsung about fixes and updates they know how to tell us about new features can they not employ monkeys to tell us when the new update will appear. Lastly what about KIES that is the most useless peice od software ever its like samsungs news you never know when and if its going to work.Blackberry and Apple need to be outsourced for Samsung s Updates and Announcement

winnersh cyclist 19 March 2013

Good: Size and S-pen

Bad: Samsung

Comment: I have had this since day one of release by Orange however have had three devices go faulty and replaced already within about 1.4 years.
ICS was supposed to be the saviour update and all it promised comes at a price battery and freezes constantly.
It also for some weird reason keeps telling me I am roaming when in my house and also keeps unmounting the external SD card apparently a known issue.
I also think what seriously makes me want to either get the Xperia Z aor BB Z10
My main reason for moving from BB9900 was it kept freezing...

M

Richard Waring 25 January 2013

Good: everything

Bad: nothing

Comment: had this note now for about 9 months now still love this phone can not fault it in any way looking forward to the jelly bean update which will make this phone even more desirable.

MeToo 30 July 2012

Good: The Phone

Bad: Battery Life, Bloatware

Comment: Battery life sucks and Bloatware seems to be the norm these day's.
The phone is MAN SIZE not for WOMEN as my wife found out for herself. After 2months she asked to swap it for my Arc S, which out of loyalty i did : )
This is a must ROOT phone.

Slythergirl 15 July 2012

Good: Nearly everything

Bad: Battery life, build quality, pixellation, dirt

Comment: I have the white international version of the Galaxy Note and I do not believe that this phone should be rated 3.5/5, I think at least a 4/5.
I love this phone a lot and what I love is the size of it, the large 5.3" screen, the fact its running ICS (but I am hoping to be upgraded to Jellybean in the future) and of coarse the gaming and apps that work beautifully with this phone.
This review is not going to be about the positives, but about the negatives since if you're reading this you probably know about the positives.

This is a problem that I haven't encountered on my phone but it's a problem that has been around a few Galaxy Notes - dead pixels. There would only be a couple I think on some phones but its not uncommon if you do have one, I don't on mine so...

Now problems I have on mine, the first one is the build quality - this isn't about the actual build quality but more about the scratches and stuff; I have got a lot of scratches on my phone despite having a case on it (but I guess it's because I've dropped it on hard concrete). I don't mind the hairline scratches but I hate the ones that you can feel whilst swiping around on the screen; I am going to get a screen shield so I want to say, don't let the "Gorilla Glass" label fool you, you will still get scratches, though it probably won't shatter. Also, on the battery door, a couple of the locks have fallen off, this will be easy enough to replace unlike on iPhone but still.

Next problem with the phone is more to do with white phones generally, you can see dirt so easily. It kinda sucks because I've had my phone for a month and you can see that some grime has gotten around the edges and at the moment I'm not so sure how to get it out, so that's just a thing with Whites Phones, black can cover up the dirt so it's fine.

My next problem is not to do with the 'phone' but to do with some of the apps, the Galaxy Note has a HD display which is a very high pixel count, and most app developers haven't optimised their apps for HD displays since they're not too common at the moment; that means that you get quite a lot of pixellation on most apps and games, you get used to it (especially if you have an iPad running iPhone/iPod touch apps). Nowadays you can get HD versions of apps and I advise you get them as it can make the user experience a whole lot better (note: HD versions are larger files so if you are tight on space, get the regular versions)

Now my biggest problem with the phone - battery life. Somedays I get awesome battery life (e.g. taking it off charge at 5.30am and then plugging it back in at 11.00pm with 1% battery and been using it all day) and somedays like today it has been horrid... today I was taking it off charge at 10am, 14% at 12.30pm then I charged to 49% (because I had to go to the shops) and did 2 texts and half an hour later it was at 17%. I don't know what has happened, but I don't like it. So I recommend getting that case which is 5400mAh even though it will give it a whole lot more bulk.

Overall --- LOVE THIS PHONE A LOT but let down by HORRIBLE BATTERY LIFE

Gabriel 12 July 2012

Good: Easy to read newspapers, books (Kindle etc), watch HD TV.

Bad: Battery life limited for power-guzzling screen. But no problem with a spare battery and charger: just keep swapping.

Comment: You need a phone tariff with unlimited data allowance to make good use of this big beast.

Gabriel 12 July 2012

Good: Big & beautiful screen makes other "big" phones seem rather small. Very responsive to finger touch, & pressure-sensitive stylus is a plus.

Bad: Very little! Placing of volume rocker opposite power on/off button means often pressed in error, but minor complaint.

Comment: Marvellous phone. Amazingly fast -- depending on 3G network coverage and weather conditions. For several days my Galaxy Note played HD TV without buffering (on a Three SIm card in area of reputedly not very good coverage -- not my experience), until it started to rain heavily. Now barely able to access most websites: very frustrating so back on PC (do not yet have Wifi or this would not be a problem).

andrew1953 11 July 2012

Good: big screen for reading newspapers online,gamesnvideo,text

Bad: not much can live with size.Does what I want

Comment: Many phones I've had recently have screens that are too small to read on line newspaper tech articles etc books . Stuff I love doing with a smartphne .Note overomes another major problem-battery life. I have to use reading glasses so big is good. Other phone I've looked at is Padfone (Asus)BB10 with physical KB end Jan 2013.

iansnelling 6 July 2012

Comment: easy to see as I am short sighted, I got it because I wanted a phone I could use without my reading glasses.

jopov123 3 July 2012

Comment: Forgot to say that the phone fits in my back pockets fine and I'm a woman so jeans pockets tend to be smaller.