If you are still sporting a good old Galaxy Note N7000, then you are desperately holding your breath for the Jelly Bean update. There is some good news, a new build N7000XXLSA that’s available to download and install on the original phablet, has now been leaked and brings the Galaxy Note N700 Jelly Bean update.
[quote]According to Sam Mobile’s insiders, “the Galaxy Note still requires a lot of work,” until the Jelly Bean update can be released, so we certainly expect more test versions to roll out.[/quote]
While Most Indian Galaxy S3 owners are now happy with their new Jelly Bean Update, Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note N7000 owners are desperately waiting for the official update notification. According to the industry insiders behind the Galaxy Note N7000 jelly bean update leak however, the 4.1.2 update for the Galaxy S2 is “almost ready”.
As inviting as the proposition may appear to be, we would recommend that you avoid test builds unless you cannot simply wait for the final version. Hit the link below to download your copy today.
The Time for a change, in the way we look at smartphones, has come to India, funnily enough technology has started to come to our shores than faster the time it takes to penetrate the Western Hemisphere.
The Samsung Galaxy Note is a device that is being targeted as a Hybrid device and trust us, its doing wonders for Samsung aswell. So why does the Samsung Galaxy Note spin a different note? We’ll tell you why!
Build Quality
The Galaxy Note is simply well built, with an awesome bezel that looks like metal – feels like metal – is strong like metal, but is actually a plastic composite. The back cover is a larger version of the flimsy plastic we saw on the S2 Review, somehow it seems a bit more durable on the Note. The front of the Note features a gorilla glass-type reinforced display, which is a very tough, scratch and impact resistant glass. But, its not invincible and the glass is raised above the bezel, which makes it a point of worry for us considering the large size of the Note (5.3 Inch Display).
Hardware
In terms of specs, the Note is really top notch. check out the full list below.
Manufacturer
Samsung
Phone Style
Touchscreen + Hybrid Pen Input
OS
Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread + Touchwiz
Thickness
9.7 mm
Length
146.9mm
Width
83mm
Weight
178g
Built-in Memory
16/32GB, 1 GB RAM
Additional Memory
Up to 32GB, 2 GB included
High-speed Data
GPRS, HSDPA,Wi-Fi,
Connectivity
Bluetooth, USB
Screen Size
5.3-inch screen Super-Amoled Display
Processor
Dual-core 1.4GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor
Screen Colours
16M colors
Camera
8 megapixels + LED flash + HD Video 1080p
Radio
Yes
Speaker
Yes
Internet
Yes
Browser
HTML
Games
Yes
Battery
Li-Ion 2500 mAh
Display, Camera and Multimedia
One of the most beautiful displays to cross our paths the Note has a gorgeous 5.3 inch Super AMOLED display which has a resolution of 1280x 800 px. The display replicates black on the screen and the depth of color actually shows on the screen. Pioneers in the AMOLED display industry, Samsung has really proved their point. Watch movies or play games, the end resultant is stunning Visuals. The MultiTouch capacitive display has 10 point input system, which makes for a brilliant touch experience. Fruit Ninja anyone?
The camera has an 8MP sensor that does wide angle imaging and a stunning video at full hd 1080p. The endless list of settings in the Note allow for users to really tweak their cameras before they go about snapping the world or themselves using the 2MP front camera.
Sound quality from the device is good, the speaker is loud enough and media is simply amazing considering the large AMOLED monster of a display. The movies playback really smooth and its actually an experience to watch on this device. Brilliance in all multimedia aspects, including the most unused feature of an FM radio.
Tablet-Phone and S PEN.
The device is not quite a tablet and is definitely much more than a simple phone, hence a hybrid title. The device has the most impressive form factor to deal with both aspects. Although it runs Android 2.3 GB, it going to be one of the first devices to get ICS by Samsung. The TouchWIz user interface cleans up the Note to a much deeper level than ever possible on Android. The custom editing and look of the device when you power it on is very clean and therefore is preferred by users.
From Editing documents , to making presentations, the Note has the screen real estate and the juice to do what the work demands. Combined with the realistic and lifelike S Pen the Note actually hands you a Magic Wand to play around with. We detailed the S Pen in a video you will find in the links below, but to sum it up, you can crop, edit, scribble, write and draw, convert writing to text and even sign documents with the SPen, great job Samsung!
Phone Calling and Messaging
The Samsung Galaxy Note is a brilliant phone, considering it comes with a loud earpiece and a very good quality mic. The network reception on the Note is also very solid. With no dropped calls and excellent network connections including HSPA and 3G , we were impressed with the network handling of the chipset within the Note.
The screen is large enough to accommodate the largest of fingers, and with a 10 point input, its practically impossible to miss the keys while typing. The standard keyboard includes swype for the drag and type – types. The Samsung keyboard can also be replaced with a host of others available in the Android Marketplace for free as well as a minor premium.
Internet and Battery Life
We found the performance of the Galaxy Note great in all aspects especially the internet and data transfer access. The Note handles all apps in a wonderful fashion so allows the full use of the World wide web and its applications. The device is a great bit of joy to read your books on , or even get the latest news, get updates on your stock purchases all with the flick of your wrist.
Battery life was bit of a shocker initially, especially when we got really low run times with a massive 2500 mAh battery pack. The culprit was data usage, and the OS is not optimized in the best possible fashion to handle media. A few tweaks of the background data usage setting and we got the following usage life :
2G Usage
3G Usage
Wifi Usage
Calling
7 Hours
4.8 hours
– NA-
Standby Time
3 Days
2 Days
7 Days
Internet
7 Hours
4 Hours
11 Hours
Gameplay Multiplayer
4 Hours
3.75 Hours
5 Hours
Conclusion
The Galaxy Note is an amazing device, the best possible device, but only if you plan to use it intensively the way its meant to handle the usage. The S-Pen adds functionality we only dreamt of on devices during the time of i-mate and O2 XDA phones. Its definitely a great device for a business user, also for a person looking to make a consolidated investment b/w phone and Tablet. The screen is beautiful the performance great and the experience difficult to replicate with any other device available today. The device is slim enough to fit a pocket, yet large enough to feel awkward when you hold it to your face.
The Galaxy Note Review is long pending, and coming soon. But before we really look at that, we take out the time to highlight the features of the S-PEN, the stylus type capacitive pen. The PEN is actually ( according to us) one of the major reasons the Note is such a wonderful device. Check out the full video below.
The Galaxy Note has been launched in India for a price of 34,990/- at market price and will go on sale starting today. The first 100,000 buyers will get a complementary leather pouch with their device. The device features the worlds first 1.4 GHz Dual core processor and also the worlds first 5.3″ display on a Smartphone. The device features a Smart Pen which lets you bring back the memories of olden days with a modern twist, the Pen can be used to live annotate and edit files, draw, sketch etc all on the Galaxy Note. The company is pitching it as a replacement for a Tablet and a Phone and unifying the market. The price seems a bit high and expect it to fall under 30K pretty soon. Check out the specs below and wait for our exclusive hands on video.
To sum it up we have a 5.3 inch display, a 1.4 GHz dual core processor, 16GB storage, 32GB expandable a 8 megapixel camera at back and a 2MP in the front. We also get an impressive stylus and a beautiful screen and a 2500 mah battery pack .
We got our hands on the large size Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 pre-launch in India. The event is about to begin and our initial impressions are mixed, the device is ver very big. The device is quite a middle point between a Tablet and a Smartphone and is pretty comfortable for its size. The display even though is 5.3 inches is very crisp with a Super Amoled screen. The device remains very slim and fares almost close to the iPhone 4S at just 9.65mm. The Note is possibly the first smartphone you will enjoy using a stylus on, the precision of the point is great. The Stylus is also a great sketch and edit instrument and you will actually use it a lot if you get this device.
The stylus does not work with other screens and not at all with the iPhone (trust us we tested). The device fits into the pockets of your denim in a very uncomfortable fashion, but would do well for a coat/blazer pocket (for those corporate types). Check out our hands on images below and stay tuned for the full hands on Video by the end of the day. The camera is a pretty good snapper and we have attached a bunch of samples we got from it including an indoor 1080p video which should go up by the end of the day.
To sum it up we have a 5.3 inch display, a 1.4 GHz dual core processor, 16GB storage, 32GB expandable a 8 megapixel camera at back and a 2MP in the front. We also get an impressive stylus and a beautiful screen a 2500 mah battery pack . So far so good right.
Update : The price is now confirmed at an MRP of INR 34,990/-
