Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 Review

The first generation of the Galaxy Note was announced last year that created a whole new market for the mobile phones. Many people, at that time, believed that Samsung would fail however, their assumption ended when more than 10 million copies of the device were sold. That was the Samsung’s first attempt that had captured more hearts and wallets than expected. Although, the Samsung Galaxy Note was an unquestionable hit, but at that time Samsung did not apprehend that it was sitting on a gold mine. However, seeing the success of the Note, Samsung did realize that there should be an inevitable sequel of the Note. Thus, a year later the Samsung Galaxy Note II was introduced.

Samsung Galaxy Note II is one of the most talked about smartphones in the market, and it is sometimes also called as a ‘Phablet’ (half smartphone, half tablet). The Galaxy Note II boasts a quad-core Exynos processor, twice the RAM, a brand new screen with an even larger display, a bigger battery and a whole new bag of S Pen tricks. Although, these features do sound fascinating but do they really worth a sound investment? Let’s have a closer look.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II looks so much similar to the Galaxy S III that from a distance, you can hardly tell the Phablet apart from a Galaxy S III. Moreover, the Samsung Galaxy Note II is packed with almost all those features that you may look in Galaxy S III. The Note II is available in Titanium Grey and Marble White. Its polycarbonate body feels solid, although somewhat slippery. The Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 measures 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm, that makes it is slightly taller, but narrower and slimmer as compared to its predecessor. It weighs 180 g making sure that it won’t let you forget that it is in your pocket.

Some little changes have been made in the Note II design such as the power button is now moved to further down on the right side. This design change has made the Galaxy Note II N7100 feel more manageable when you use it with one hand. Moreover, Samsung has also included “one handed operation” settings in the Note II.

With the Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100, a great display has got even better. Although, the resolution wise the Note II is a step down from its predecessor i.e. 1280 x 720 pixels. Overall, the display is different because it uses a larger panel with even fewer pixels than the original. For a phone with a 1280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED panel, it is assumed that it would be sporting a PenTile matrix but in the Galaxy Note II, this is not the case at all. Moreover, it is not the traditional RGB matrix as well that you will find on many non-PenTile phone rather it comes with a non-striped BGR matrix. This is the reason why its display reaches to a magical place where only few super AMOLEDs have reached before.

Furthermore, the viewing angles, superb contrast and rich colors on the Samsung Galaxy Note II are also great for watching movies. Similarly, daylight viewing is also not a problem when you set brightness above 75 percent. On the whole, the 5.5” Super AMOLED panel is better in almost every way.

The Note II N7100 shares many of its music playback related internals with the Samsung Galaxy S III. The speaker on the back of the Galaxy Note II gets louder and provides you richer tones. Moreover, the sound did not get muffled when the Note II is placed on a desk. S Voice’s responses can also be heard through the speaker from across a small office. Furthermore, when the Phablet is connected to an active external amplifier, it produces outstandingly clean output with no noise or weak points.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is well equipped with an FM Radio with RDS as well. However, the interface is quite simple but it allows you to save your 8 favorite stations. Radio broadcasts can also be recorded, and you can play it on the loudspeaker as well but headset will be required because they act as the antenna.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 combines Samsung TouchWiz interface with the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean software. This means you will get whole new great features with your Note II, giving you a true Samsung experience as the company is trying to be bold in adding new features to Google’s OS. For example Google Now and Offline Voice Typing.

Talking about the interface, it is much similar to the Galaxy S III. It includes 7 customizable home screens with the time and weather widget present on the front and center. The notification menu features a brightness control slider along with the shortcuts for toggling Wi-Fi, GPS, Screen Rotation and more. Furthermore, the touch keyboard comes with a dedicated number row above the letters enabling you type more quickly without switching backward and forward.

The lock screen also lets you customize shortcuts to different apps on your Note II in addition to displaying a new ticker at the bottom of the screen. Double tapping the screen with the S Pen and holding down its button let you scribble a quick note. Moreover, the S Voice is the same as that of the Galaxy S III. It is functional but you may find Google Voice Search much faster and less prone to network errors.

Another noteworthy feature is the Popup Video for watching clips on your Note II at the same time when you are using other apps. With the new Popup Browser option, users can view a web page without leaving the Email App.

With the Galaxy Note II N7100, you can easily switch between different apps and can see the recent apps. You simply have to press the home button for a longer period of time to see the recent app menu. The hidden Easter egg in this package is the Multiview feature of the Note II that you cannot find in any other Android phone.

This newly added feature has taken the multitasking to the next level. With this feature, you can run two apps parallel to each other at the same time. Simply, long press the Back button and a tab on the left side of the screen will appear letting you reveal the shortcuts to 13 apps by swiping it open. You can then drag any app onto the main screen. As soon as you drag the second app over to the right, a split screen appears showing you both the running apps at a time.

We must appreciate Samsung’s effort for this wonderful feature that Note II comes with. In this way, Samsung has very smartly taken the full advantage of the Galaxy Note II N7100 big screen.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II comes with a redesigned S Pen that measures 11.3 cm in length and 7 mm in thickness. The buttons on the S Pen boast a ribbed pattern in order to make it locating by touch easier than ever before. Moreover, if you pull the S Pen out, the Note II can detect it instantly and will bring you to a contextual page that offers shortcuts of your recent S Notes.

The most interesting thing here is the accelerometer of the Note II that it uses to detect you walking away when the S Pen (Stylus) is not in its slot. Samsung has done really a good job in integrating the S Pen even deeper in the interface. Since there is no lanyard that links the S Pen and the Phablet, the Note II uses its accelerometer. It works perfectly and alerts you only when you are several steps away. This means you will not be getting fasle positive alert and the Phablet will only alert you when you really have misplaced your S Pen and have walked away.

Another great integration point is that the Phablet can detect the S Pen from a distance. Furthermore, the Phablet also features a more sensitive digitizer that can distinguish between 1024 different levels of pressure making users experience even more smoother and giving them more control when they are using drawing apps.

The Phablet comes with an 8 megapixel camera that is fast and well equipped to take excellently outstanding photos. The Phablet camera offers loads of camera settings and multiple shooting modes as well including Panorama. However, the most remarkable feature is the New Best Faces Mode that allows you to take several shots and then determine the best looking shot for everyone in the frame. The Samsung Galaxy Note II marvelously unites all the individual faces into one shot in such a way that even if you zoomed in the final photo you cannot tell that the original image had been modified.

The front camera on the Phablet can take photos of 1.9 megapixels and can record videos of 720p. The 1080p camcorder of the Note II also works fine and can record even the finest details.

The Phablet delivers clear call quality with no noise or echoes. You will hear crisp and loud sound. Moreover, the reception was also problem free, and sound rarely breaks up even in the areas of poor coverage.

Talking about the battery life, the Phablet comes with 3,100 mAh battery giving you enough endurance to last through a full day of work and play.

Although, the Note II is a worthy upgrade of its predecessor yet it has some main disadvantages such as the screen is too big for some users more specifically because of its bigger size the Note II is not a single handed device, yet its power, performance and versatility are unmatched. Moreover, there is no dedicated camera key, and the camera struggles in low light. If we talk about its Stylus or S Pen it is not as good as the S Pen of the Note10.1, and the S Voice still feels second rate.

To answer this question we would say that the Phablet is definitively better than its predecessor – the one that began this whole Phablet obsession. The Note II comes with bigger and better screen, offers an improved S Pen experience, Quad-core performance, multiview multitasking, longer battery life, a solid OS in Jelly Bean and ample of other exciting features that make the Note II a mouthwatering offer to even the most petite-handed individual.

On the whole, the Galaxy Note II is extremely compelling smartphone that rewards you in many more ways and it is truly reasonably surprising to see that just how improved and value-added this sequel is.