Samsung Galaxy Note II Review - More S Pen Tricks!

MORE AMAZING S PEN DISCOVERIES - GALAXY NOTE II REVIEW CONTINUED

If you can't tell, I'm probably headed towards an all-out recommendation for the Samsung Galaxy Note II. I have fallen in love with the device, and I'm discovering new tricks each day of my test.

I thought I was done reporting about the S Pen, but I have more to share! The S Pen has so many features I may not be able to cover them all before my review period expires. So let's talk about some more super cool things that this amazing stylus can do for us.

In the last article, we talked about hovering. I have to talk about this in more detail. I love the hovering feature of the S Pen because it gives you the power of a mouse. This is not something you can benefit from with any regular tablet or smartphone.

When you hover the S Pen a half inch or less above the screen, the extra digitizer layer for the stylus will detect it and float a small circular cursor on the screen. This has many uses that i am thrilled about.

First and foremost, it solves one problem I have had with my regular smartphone. That problem is forgetting which icons stand for "copy" and "clipboard". I am constantly selecting "clipboard" to copy and paste a phone number or name, only to have to start over again because I hit the wrong icon.

With the Galaxy Note II S Pen, I can hover above the icon before selecting it. When you hover, a small popup will tell you what the function of the icon is. There's no more guesswork with small icons that are not labeled on the screen when you have this feature.

Something else this crazy little thing does... pen gestures! Hold the magic button down and make certain pen strokes, and you get shortcuts. Make a carrot shape (^) and WiFi turns off. Make a star (*) and mute activates. Make a pound sign (#) and the phone number pad pops up. There are even more than this. But gestures create an entirely new smartphone experience.

Back to the popup windows and using 2 applications at one time, the accuracy of the S Pen is invaluable. A fat finger cannot select with the dead-on accuracy of the pointed stylus tip. And the finger-mimicking rounded rubber tip styluses made for standard smartphones does not compare.

Finally, I played around with the cropping feature. I can draw a circle around anything on the screen and copy that to the clipboard. Next, I can share that with a friend via text message or email. It's almost like clipping a picture out of a magazine, only easier. That has tremendous use for me.

So that's the update to the S Pen. I still have a lot more features to discover and report about within the next few days. I'll find as many as I can and share it with you soon!

Carlton Flowers
Galaxy Note II Enthusiast Extreme

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Samsung Galaxy Note II Features That Amaze Me

S PEN TRICKS AND FLOATING VIDEOS FLOAT MY BOAT WITH NOTE II

As we continue with my Samsung Galaxy Note II test (thanks AT&T St. Louis), I have a couple of features to report that I practically love. I'm just now getting into some of the advanced functions of this phablet, so this is where it starts to get fun!

What I want to talk about is the S Pen. I have yet to figure out all of the amazing things that the upgraded stylus can do, but we can start with a few of of things that jump right out at me.

As I mentioned before, the S Pen stylus takes texting and note taking on a smartphone to a new level. When you use the Samsung keyboard, you can chose the handwriting input mode to compose text messages. It will recognize both plain lettering and cursive handwriting. The accuracy in translating my handwriting is exemplary.

Instead of learning the heiroglyphic writing like the days of PDA's, all you have to do is write like you normally would. I can write on the screen and even go back to add letters to words, cross my T's and dot my I's, all before finalizing the text message. I was not expecting that to work so well.

Usually, when you are entering text that uses handwriting recognition, you can't go back and edit a word that you have written while it is on the screen. Somehow, Samsung has figured out how to add letters to your own handwritten words after they have been recognized. This is truly amazing. It makes writing very natural.

The next thing I noticed is the ability of the S Pen stylus to recognize how hard you are pressing on the screen when sketching. Apparently, there are 1200 levels of pressure sensitivity built into the stylus that allow you to sketch with amazing similarity to a pencil.

I can tell a difference betwen the use of the stylus on the Galaxy Note I and the Galaxy Note II. They have improved the accuracy of the stylus, and when doing artwork, it has the uncanny ability to track exactly where the tip is for maximum effect and realness.

Something else that I discovered by mistake was one of the hovering features. When you are on a website or using a social network that requires you to scroll up and down, all you have to do is over the tip at the top or bottom of the page and it will smoothly scroll the page in either direction.

There are other features of the S Pen like hovering for text message previews and actual video previewing that I have yet to test out. We will talk about that in the next post that covers advanced S Pen use, so stay tuned!

Carlton Flowers
Ophicial Phablet Tester

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Samsung Galaxy Note II Review - Size Matters

DOES THE GARGANTUAN SIZE OF THE NOTE II PRESENT A PROBLEM?

My review of the Samsung Galaxy Note II from AT&T Wireless continues tonight with my discussion of a singular topic: size.

Is the Galaxy Note II phablet too big? Are the critics right who claim it impractical, looks absurd, and has no serious potential as a smartphone?

Well if the 5,000,000 people who have already bought a Note II are any indication, the critics can shut it. Obviously, we are dealing with a niche market that has serious depth.

I am rounding out day 2 of my test, and I have been using the Note II all day long. I've surfed the web, made posts to the social networks, talked on the phone, and read emails. Here's my straight-talk opinion of the Galaxy Note II phablet and its enormous size after using the device for two straight days.

The biggest fear I had before thoroughly testing the phone was not being able to reach the corners of the screen thanks to my small hands. I also had a fear of not being able to text by tapping or using Swype. I figured my one-handed operating days would be over if I bought one.

Surprisingly, this is not an issue. I have small hands, but I have found a way to operate the phone with one hand. Just as I do with smaller smartphones, I balance the bottom of the Galaxy Note II with my pinky. My thumb can make it all the way to the left side of the screen to hit all of the keys when texting.

Sure, I can't get my thumb to the top left of the screen, but it doesn't bother me. I can't reach the top left of my 4.3" Galaxy S2 handset, so there isn't much difference here. But I don't mind reaching around with my other hand to tap an icon on the top row while I'm enjoying the lovely display.

Holding the Note II while having a phone converstaion is a different thing. It does feel a bit awkward in your hand due to its size. I could care less what it looks like to other people, but I think I would have to get used to the feeling of this form factor while talking. It's not a deal-breaker though.

The last point I will make is what my regular smartphone feels like after using the Galaxy Note II for several hours. When I pick up my Galaxy S2, it feels like a toy. The 4.3" smartphone that seemed so big after trading it in for my iPhone 4 now feels tiny.

The Galaxy Note II is a much better looking device as compared to my good ole trusty Galaxy S2. After handing the phablet, my S2 seems to have a cheap feel. Plus it just seems too small now. My perspective has changed. I don't want the small size anymore.

So the final analysis of the Samsung Galaxy Note II size is that it is a positive. The benefits outweigh the inconveniences. I definitely fall into the niche market of people who want a phablet with a gorgeous jumbo screen.

If you have your eyes on this device and want to know whether or not the size will be a problem, you need to go to the AT&T store and give it a test drive. If the features and fantastic display outweigh your reservations on size, get it. You won't be sorry.

Stay tuned for the next review where we will talk about some of the new features Samsung has packed into the Galaxy Note II. Got comments? Chat it out!

Carlton Flowers
Phablet Man

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Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Test - Initial Thoughts

DAY ONE WITH THE GALAXY NOTE 2 FROM AT&T - IT BEGINS

This is not going to be a nerd post. No talk of gigabytes, gigahertz, or processing cores. I'm going to attempt to speak normal English and tell you all of my initial thoughts about the Samsung Galaxy Note II, no holds barred!

The package arrived today, and I was really anticipating what my first thoughts would be just pulling it out of the box and firing it up. I was still hanging on the memory of disliking the size when I handled the non-functional display unit in Ohio.

After I ripped the pagage open and unveiled the device, I powered it up and it was love at... second sight. I barely got the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system loaded, and I was already in gadget heaven. Any thoughts of "it's too big" were immedeately erased.

Looking at the gorgeous jumbonormous screen overshadowed the size. I quickly isntalled my Google account and started downloading my favorite apps. The first app I went for was Handcent, because I wanted to know if I could text on such a gigantic monstrosity of a smartphone.

I pulled out the S Pen, and used the Samsung keyboard to swipe words in the same fashion that the Swype keyboard functions. The S Pen glided across the screen with absolutely no friction. It felt as smooth as my finger.

But when tapping out letters or swiping words with the S Pen, I enjoyed an accuracy that I've been craving since the days of owning my Palm Treo 650. Fat-fingering letters seemed so archaic after maneuvering around applications and entering text with the S Pen.

The next thing I did was to test out the alternative smaller keyboard. It's a setting that comes with the Samsung keyboard, where it shrinks down the size of the keyset and moves everything to the left or right so you can reach all of the keys with your thumb. It worked like a charm and "reduced" the size of the device.

Then something happened that I wasn't expecting. A popup note told me that the S Pen stylus was detected while texting, and asked if I wanted to use natural handwriting input! I said "yes" and the keyboard was replaced with a gridlike note pad. I could write text messages by writing with the S Pen, even using cursive lettering. It changed my entire texting experience.

Next it was time to play with the S Pen and the "Paper Artist" app. This is where I discovered how sensitive the S Pen is to the pressure you are exerting while drawing. You can actually sketch with the effect you would have using a pencil. Press hard, heavy line. Press lightly, light line.

I loaded all of the typical social media applications, and the experience was quite a bit more enjoyable with the huge screen. In fact, Pinterest just looked glorious on the 5.3" 16:9 aspect ratio screen. Oops, I apologize for that techno-nerd outburst! Anyway, they basically looked a lot better on the larger screen.

YouTube was a real treat. I could probably sit for hours and watch video content on this device. It's going to be hard to go back to my seemingly tiny Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone after watching video after video on the "big screen".

Something that was absolutely noticeable was the speed that apps would load, and the ability to quickly jump from one app to another without hestitation. What they are packing under the hood of this hog does make a significant difference load time and functionality of apps.

I made my first phone call, and I didn't feel as silly as all the tech writers swore I would thanks to the phablet size form factor. The phone call was extremely clear, loud enough for my aging ears to hear, and comfortable in the way it fit to my face. That's a biggie for me.

Using the device through the night, I found myself using the S Pen more than my fingers. One big advantage of this is not being forced to constantly clean the screen of greasy finger butter. I'm very obsessive/compulsive about cleaning my smartphone display, so use of the S Pen frees me from my disorder.

I previously thought I could get away with using the fat-tipped soft rubber styluses that are on the market, and not "need" something like an S Pen. That has all changed. The S Pen is sharp, accurate, and exact. And since it has a hard tip, it glides. The rubber styluses that are made to mimick fingers tent to start gripping and skidding on the screen after a few days of heavy use.

I could be dreaming this one up, but it seems that the voice input on the Samsung Galaxy Note II is far superior than the Galaxy S2 that I own. "S Voice" must work a lot better with a more powerful CPU and a higher amount of RAM. I've heard reports that S Voice is not quite as functionally efficient and accurate as Apple's Siri, but it is a tremendous improvement on this device.

Surfing the net on this device is ridiculous. And I mean that in a positive way. The screen is so vivid, and colors so rich, that all of my favorite tech blog sites seem to pop right off the page. I would say that my Internet use would be quite a bit higher using the Note than my 4.3" smartphone.

My last overall initial thought is that the Galaxy Note II feels like a small tablet, yet it is fine as a smartphone. I would have no need to purchase a 7" (or bigger) tablet device if I owned this phablet. I can see myself going with my plan to ditch the tablet idea and use a phablet, thus saving a small pile of money.

I'll be getting into more of the actual details and advanced features this device has very soon. And believe me, there are several significant features you need to know about. But thus far, I'm 100% impressed and pleased with the Galaxy Note 2 after 7 hours of general use.

Stay tuned for more blog posts, audio, and video. Comments? Please share in the Disqus section below!

Carlton Flowers
Phablet Man

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DEAL ALERT! HTC One X For A Penny On Amazon

HTC ONE X IS A STEAL AT ONE CENT THROUGH AMAZON

Folks, I've told you about the HTC One X that I tested for AT&T Wireless in September this year. It is a rock-solid device that might have the best build of any smartphone I have experienced.

Amazon.com is offering the HTC One X for only a penny with a 2-year contract through AT&T Wireless. This is a steal of a deal for super-sized smartphone jam-packed full of features.

The qHD display is brilliant, and super-sized at 4.7" in diagonal size. It feels perfect in your hands with its rounded edges and smooth ergonomic build. Add Beats Audio by Dr. Dre, and you have a fantastic multimedia device at your disposal.

The One X has enough features to keep you entertained and impressed. Face Unlock is the newest security feature that is offered through this device, and you have all the fun that comes along with the latest version of Android's 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

Add an 8Mp camera with a 1.3Mp front-facing camera for Skype video chatting, 16Mb of memory, 1GHz of RAM, a 1.5GHz Snapdragon dual core CPU, and you have a complete smartphone that should remain current for quite some time.

I don't have much of a complaint about this smartphone. If you are a fan of HTC devices, this deal is a no-brainer. I recommend you get your hands on this device while the price is hot. Click the link below to jump to Amazon and buy yours now!

Carlton Flowers
Phonerizer Man

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CZ Blog Reviews On Galaxy Note II Coming!

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE II TEST TIME COMING TO THE ZONE

I got great news from my AT&T St. Louis contact today that I will be receiving a Samsung Galaxy Note II for review! It will be arriving tomorrow. I will be doing a thorough test, and will come to a complete conclusion on this device.

I've been dreaming about owning the Note II since the rumors first started swirling about the second generation phablet last spring. And after handling a non-functional display device, I had a brief mind-change on how much I thought I would like it.

Is the Galaxy Note II a device that would meet all of my gadget desires, or is it too big for my small hands to handle as my primary smartphone? We will find out the answer once and for all.

I think the contest will be whether or not I find that the Galaxy Note II has true "utility" for all the tasks that I would like to use it for. The enormous size could be offset by the functionality of the S Pen stylus. That will be the true test.

There are some tasks that I believe the Galaxy Note II could be super useful for. If after using the Note II for a week proves this to be true, it might end up back on top of my list of possible smartphone upgrades.

First and foremost, I want to try to see if I can eliminate the use of paper in my life. I'd like to try the Galaxy Note II in place of notepads and sticky notes while on my job. Instead of going to meetings with a legal pad and pen, only to end up with stacks of sloppy hand-written papers everywhere collecting in my office, I could collect all the info I need with the Note 2.

There's something about using an actual pen and paper that sparks creativity and makes it esier to get your thought processes documented. With the Note 2, I could take notes and draw diagrams just as if I'm using a paper notepad. I'd love to be free of the cluttered paper mess in my life at both work and at home.

Next, I would like to find out if the Galaxy Note II phablet would make a useful device for writing blog posts and updating all of my social media sites. I currently have to do this from my laptop and Galaxy S2 smartphone when I'm not at the desk in my man cave at home.

Depending on how well the Galaxy Note 2 can convert handwriting to ASCII text, this could be a lot more handy than pulling out the big 17" laptop or using my tiny smartphone and fat finger to write posts.

Lastly, I'm totally intrigued with the way you can draw on photos and crop out pictures from the web and save as GIF or JPG files. This could be a valuable tool when posting to Tumblr, or creating blog posts. I don't know if it will be as easy as it looks, so we will see.

Even though the enormous Samsung phablet seems to be entirely too big for my hands to operate, I don't think I would have a problem holding it up to my face to talk on the phone. Bigger is better in that regard. I was never a fan of the micro-sized cell phones that were all the rage a decade ago.

There's one feature of the Galaxy Note 2 that could counteract the size problem. You are supposed to be able to reduce the size of the touch screen keyboard and move it to the lower right portion of the screen. This would make all of the keys accessible with one hand. No need to stretch your thumb all the way to the left side if your hands are small.

Stay tuned and I will be giving regular reports on my test of the Galaxy Note II. I will plan on including some audio and video posts along with regular blog posts. Then I will reveal my final opinion at the end of the test period!

Big thanks to AT&T Wireless for the opportunity to review this breakthrough device from Samsung. This should be my most exciting review!

Carlton Flowers
On The Phablet Phrontier

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Upgrade Madness - Android Conversion, My Personal Story

BLAST FROM THE PAST - MY SAMSUNG GALAXY S2 D-DAY

Howdy folks! Here's another post from the former blog that got eaten by the ugly blog host provider switch monster. This was a really good story about my most recent upgrade, when I moved from my iPhone to the Samsung Galaxy S2.

What got my blood pressure up was the fact that they released a better phone only 3 or 4 weeks after I made my purchase. I'm still satisfied with what I've got, but this is quite an entertaining story. Enjoy!

Getting Off The Upgrade Merry-Go-Round (October 2011)

Yesterday, BGR ran an exclusive story about AT&T launching the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the HTC Vivid for $100 less than the expected release prices.

The Skyrocket was reported to be $150, and the Vivid $99. As soon as I heard the news from my good buddy Tim Largent, I nearly stroked out. My heart rate raced.

I quickly did the math in my mind to figure out if I was still within my 30-day grace period of purchasing my Galaxy S2 smartphone. I figured that I had two weeks left. My first thought? Get this thing back to the AT&T Store and trade it straightway for a Skyrocket.

When I bought my Galaxy S2, the selling price was $199. However, it was being sold on the Amazon site at $149. I’m an Amazon affiliate, and I had planned on purchasing my SGS2 online. But I sold my iPhone 4 so fast, I had to get my SGS2 locally so I could reset the iPhone and get it shipped out in the promised time frame.

I called my local AT&T Store and asked the sales staff if I could possibly purchase my SGS2 for the same price that it was being sold on the Amazon website, and also at Walmart for $50 less, and they agreed. I was ecstatic.

I made the purchase for $149, bought a couple of accessories, and off I went to the post office to ship off my iPhone 4. Life was good, and I was glad to have finally settled in with my new Android phone.

What a relief it was to step off of the smartphone upgrade merry-go-round… or so I thought. A few weeks later, and this bogus story on BGR pops up about the Galaxy Skyrocket.

Compared to the Galaxy S2, the Satellite has a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual core processor (which is slower than the Exynos 1.2GHz CPU), plus the bigger 4.52” display that would suit me well. Plus, it is equipped with an AT&T LTE radio.

I have been perfectly happy and content with my Galaxy S2, and I actually like the 4.3” size a little better than the bigger 4.52” display. But for the same exact price, LTE capability, and a faster CPU, I figured this was well worth the $35 restocking fee for a straight trade.

It took 4 attempts before I finally got through to a sales rep at the local store. But during the time that passed before I got to a live person, I started to doubt whether or not I really needed to be doing the trade in the first place.

The big worry I had was the larger display. Problem is, I can barely text with one hand using the 4.3” display. That extra little 1/8 of an inch would probably stretch my ability to use the phone one-handed.

Plus, I use my smartphone to track my running exercise. I do 5 mile+ runs three times per week, and I use the Runtastic app to track my time and distance. 4.3” is the biggest size phone I can comfortably grip when running for an hour.

Another thing that went through my mind was the fact that we may not even see LTE coverage in Jefferson City for another year or two. AT&T isn’t really slated to have nationwide LTE coverage until the year 2013.

So that meant the only advantage would be the slightly faster processor.

Well, I finally got through to a salesperson and asked whether or not I could do a trade. The sales clerk said yes, as long as I paid the $35 fee. I told her that I had heard the Samsung Galaxy S2 Satellite was being sold for less than the original price of the regular Galaxy S2,which was $149.

She placed me on hold to check and verify the price. She came back and told me that there was no such sale going on. The Galaxy Satellite was still $249, and the HTC Vivid was still $199. She had no idea where that pricing information had come from, and I told her that it was reported on a major tech blog site.

I thanked her for helping me, and hung up the phone relieved that I wouldn’t have to go through the trouble to switch, or put up with the 4.52” display. I decided to go back to the BGR blog post to see if I could find an explanation for such a glaring error.

Where did they get their information, I wondered?

To my surprise, they added an update to the post which explained that the sale pricing was apparently being offered only in certain regions.

I would like to thank BGR for sending me on a wild goose chase and getting my blood pressure up over nothing. I should have trusted my gut feeling and not even let this phase me or tempt me.

But this is what happens when technology moves so fast that you can’t guarantee your phone won’t be obsolete during your 30-day return period.

After being tempted by having LTE phone, I decided to take a look at the AT&T coverage map. Of course we won’t have LTE any time soon, but I wanted to at least check to see how the HSPA+ “fake 4g” coverage was in our area.

Come to find out, in Central Missouri, we don’t even have HSPA+ coverage yet. So why all the fuss anyway? I think I can turn a deaf ear to all of the new gadgets coming out and end my upgrade envy now.

And hey, I’ll be satisfied when the day comes that I can at least get the fake 4G download speeds on my Samsung Galaxy S2.

Do you have any crazy stories about upgrading, waiting to upgrade, or getting off of the upgrade vicious circle? Spout off in the comments below and tell me how you really feel about it!

Carlton Flowers
Gadget Man

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