So to sum up my Samsung Galaxy Note Review: Well, I had used the HTC Desire from the first few weeks of its release back in 2009. And actually I had no intention of upgrading it, as there have been no new smartphones released since then which offered any significant or compelling reasons to go through getting a new handset all set up exactly as I like to use it. So I had every intention of selling off any new handset when my contract was due for upgrade. Yes, I know that many new Android phones have improvements on the old Desire, but none that make a new handset a absolute ‘must-have’. No game-changers, in my opinion. Also, not being an Apple ‘fan-boy’, the iPhone still didn’t attract me enough to switch over to an iOS device.

Samsung Galaxy Note Review Vs iPad

But what about the iPad? – I hear you ask. Well, when it first hit the Apple Store shelves a couple of years ago, followed by inevitable dribble of poorly thought out and executed Android tablet clones, I though about parting with the thick end of £500. Briefly. And decided that I would be hard pressed to justify the cost, just so that I could do a few things more easily than on a perfectly portable laptop.

That was until I was given a free iPad by a business associate in order to collaborate on an App development project for a mutual client. A happy spin-off of being in the tech business!

Once the App work was complete I found myself using the iPad on a daily basis for ‘consuming’. Let me explain: as a productivity or ‘output’ tool, it’s not too clever. Of course, you can add a keyboard, but then you just have an over-priced, under-performing netbook. And you wouldn’t run an IT based business on one of those! But as a device for reading, keeping up with news, following blogs, watching films, browsing, listening to music, looking at photos etc, I found it quickly became almost indispensible. And I even tolerated the lack of Flash support, although that really did annoy me from time to time. (Note to web developers: it’s really really easy to embed video clips that work across all devices with HTML5 and Flash fallback!)

All of which got me to thinking: I should get myself an Android tablet? If I did I could much more easily integrate its use with my PC etc. But, then again, the thought of the cost put me off. And earlier in 2011 when 10″ Android tablets, such as the Motorola Xoom, came out I began to seriouly consider it again.

But the slow uptake of Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) running at 1280 x 800px among app developers, the general issues about quality of peripheral functions such as photo and and video, and the early lack of Flash support again put me off.

And then the Galaxy Note was previewed. I checked out the early release specs and eagerly awaiting the reviews. Would this one cut it? Would the camera be any good? Would the CPU be able handle things as smoothly as you’d want? What about battery life?

I desperately wanted all these to be well reviewed from the advance press samples, because if I could amalgamate everything that my smartphone does so very well and make it also a competely useable every day browsing and reading device I’d have something that could slip into a pocket and be always to hand, whether for business or leisure. And adding in the ability to make voice calls and with a front facing camera option… well, I was sold and was like a kid waiting for Christmas before its UK release.

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Samsung Galaxy Note Review – My Conclusion

I haven’t been even slightly disappointed! It does everything brilliantly. It slips easily into a pocket, but is big enough to handle tablet style activities beautifully. The various smartphone functions are class-leading and even for a first version I’m struggling to see what they’ll be able to do to make future upgrades a great deal better. This is one of those rare gadgets that will reward early adopters well. No need to wait for issues to be resolved or ‘missing’ features to be added – they’ve done the full job here!

Oh yes, making phone calls with a ‘big’ handset makes you look a bit odd. But, frankly, I couldn’t care less, because:

• I’ve never cared about ‘style’ over functionality
• It does the lot all in one, really well and
• Its new innovations have added yet more really useful and intuitive ways to be more productive.

I’ll be publishing a set of posts in the coming days and weeks, with some video guides, reviewing specific details of the features and a few tips and tricks. So if you’re undecided, stick around and maybe I can help. I hope you have found my Samsung Galaxy Note review helpful, and my advice: get your hands on one right now!

So now that the novelty could be said to have well and truly worn off, how am I getting on with my Galaxy Note? Is it still the best thing since sliced bread?!

Well, it’s fair to say that I travel light these days. Very light! In fact attending business meetings without a brief-case or bag of any sort has brought more than a few comments. But when the reason for this appearance of ‘not taking meetings very seriously’ is explained, I then find myself answering a raft of questions from other business people interested in travelling equally as light.

When the meeting room table is awash with iPads, netbooks, ultra-portable laptops and, of course, even in this day and age, lots of paper, I find myself leaning back with my Galaxy Note and easily able to refence any documents I need for the meeting, and taking notes is a breeze with the built-in note system and stylus combo. It’s very easy to write quickly and legibly, and if I write more slowly I have found that the hand-writing to type application is very accurate. This means that I can create fully formatted notes realy quickly without the need to transpose them at a later date – or on the train home!

That means that when I am actually on the train home I have time to enjoy the entertainment side of my Galaxy Note and watching TV or movies on it is a joy with the big screen it offers. Unlike many previous handsets I have used, I haven’t felt the need to replace the headphones as those supplied are of excellent quality. And when the train arrives at the station switching over to listen to audio instead of watching video is also a joy as the handset is still small enough to slip into a jacket pocket and provide all the usual functions of a stand-alone MP3 player.

If I prefer to read a book, whether Kindle or perhaps in PDF format, again the big screen is so much more relaxing to use than the standard sizes found on other handsets.

And finally, the telephone quality is also excellent. Once you get over the size if you use it held up to your ear it’s perfectly useable. So all in all I cannot see a time when I would want to revert to a smaller form-factor and I hope that this hybrid style of mobile phone remains available in years to come. It would be great pity if it wasn’t taken up as popular with users and manufacturers stopped offering this size of cell phone handset.