It hasn't even been a year since the original Samsung Galaxy Note
launched. It was a work of genius for old Samsung. Many (including us,
we admit) were not convinced. Who on earth would want something so big
to make their calls and surf the internet, even with a glorified stylus?
Cue awkward silence.
Millions of you, it would appear. The
Samsung Galaxy Note has sold by the bucketload. And while it is most
definitely a niche device, it's done wonders for Samsung's balance
sheet. How do you follow that up? With something better, of course - the
Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
TechRadar rating
4.5/5
For
Enormous battery
Expandable memory
Amazing screen
LTE capable
Blazingly fast
Against
Expensive
S-Pen is still complicated
Slow camera shutter
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review
The Note is back, bigger and better
It hasn't even been a year since the original Samsung Galaxy Note
launched. It was a work of genius for old Samsung. Many (including us,
we admit) were not convinced. Who on earth would want something so big
to make their calls and surf the internet, even with a glorified stylus?
Cue awkward silence.
Millions of you, it would appear. The
Samsung Galaxy Note has sold by the bucketload. And while it is most
definitely a niche device, it's done wonders for Samsung's balance
sheet. How do you follow that up? With something better, of course - the
Samsung Galaxy Note 2. If
you've ever fondled or caressed the original Samsung Galaxy Note and
found its larger size too much to handle, we'll break this to you with a
sledgehammer - the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is bigger.
It's now
151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4mm (5.9 x 3.2 x 0.4 inches), so slightly up from 146.9
x 83 x 9.7mm (5.8 x 3.3 x 0.4 inches). That said, we didn't find it
cumbersome at all.
In the way the original Samsung Galaxy Note followed the Samsung Galaxy S2's square design, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 follows the Samsung Galaxy S3's more rounded rectangular look.
And
what a beauty it is. It actually felt slightly smaller to us in
day-to-day use - but that may be down to the fact that we have
gravedigger hands. The
Samsung Galaxy Note had a frankly amazing screen as it was, so would
have taken some beating. But Samsung clearly likes a challenge. The size
has gone up slightly from 5.3 inches to 5.5. And although pixel density
is reduced, we didn't notice it.
This is the bright, vivid
Samsung Super AMOLED panel that we all know and love - and what a beauty
it is, replicating colours amazingly and immaculately. As
expected, that screen takes up most of the front. You get a home button
and two hidden soft keys beneath it as before, plus a front-facing
camera and sensors up top.
The handset itself has little to note
(geddit?) around the edges. A headphone jack up top, power button on the
right, volume on the left and charger port below, right alongside the
S-Pen slot - more of which will follow later. Around the back, you'll find the 8MP camera with flash.
The
additional sorcery is carried out away from view. The microSD expansion
slot is beneath the rear cover - as is the microSIM slot, hidden behind
the enormous 3,100 mAh battery.
And there's a whole lot of goodness even further inwards than that: HSDPA (LTE if you're extra lucky), NFC, GPS, Wi-Fi and so forth. It's a veritable treasure trove of geekdom.
One
other thing we'd say is that this does feel like a quality Android
smartphone/tablet. We're aware of the protestations by some readers
(particularly iPhone users) that phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 feel like toys because they're so light and plasticky. At
183g (0.4lbs), you couldn't describe the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as a
feather - and the weight gives it a real notion of substance.
If
you want to pick one of these big boys up, you'll need to be willing to
part with some serious cash - around £530/AU$999/US$700 appears to be
the average SIM-free price. It is also available on contract, but be
willing to shovel top dollar each month in the network's direction for
two years. Normally,
this is where we'd talk about the alternatives on offer. But we admit,
we're stumped here. Why? Well, in our mind, there is no clear rival. The
Samsung Galaxy Note created its own category, in that there were no
real phablets about before.
There is the LG Optimus Vu,
which hasn't hit the UK, but is in the US under the moniker LG
Intuition, however it's 4:3 ratio screen makes it an extremely odd
proposition.
And while you'll get the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system and similar benefits from the Samsung Galaxy S3 or Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (depending on whether you want a phone or tablet), the form factor is pretty unique. In
fact, the only real rival is the original Samsung Galaxy Note - a
worthy contender for that title, because it's now available for a much
reduced sum.
However that's all about to change as reports suggest the likes of HTC, Sony, Huawei and ZTE
all have 5-inch plus handsets on the way, many of which will apparently
boast full HD, 1080p display - your eyes won't know what hit em.
Around
£400/AU$480/US$500 will get you an original Note SIM-free - and that
makes it a very serious and credible alternative to its replacement, the
Samsung Galaxy Note
Interface
Let's lay this out from the start. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a seriously fast Android device.
It comnes running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, just as the original Samsung Galaxy Note is being bumped up to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
The
latest version, Android 4.2, is now out in the wild and we're sure it
will be only a matter of time before it makes its way onto the Galaxy
Note 2.
Of course, Jelly Bean has Project Butter, which really
ramps up the speed of the operating system - and that sits on top of 2GB
RAM and a quad-core 1.6GHz processor. It's almost enough to make our
brains melt.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is practically powerful enough to start a nuclear war.
In fact, we could see Matthew Brodderick using one of these, if they ever remade War Games.
The
first thing you'll see once you're signed in and set up is TouchWiz.
That's Samsung's proprietary skin, which sits atop Android and has done
for many iterations.
Some love it, some hate it, but it has come on in leaps and bounds over the last year or so.
Yes, it's a little colourful and cartoony in some places, but it's pretty functional.
And
although you can replace it with third-party launchers, if you want to
use the S-Pen for the majority of functions, you'll have to stick to it.
TouchWiz gives you seven home screens to whiz between (which you can do with no delay) but that's your lot.
Seven seems to be the magic number on most OEM launchers, and provides you with enough space for the most part.
They can be populated with widgets, as can all Android handsets.
Samsung provides several out of the box, and you'll delete some straight away.
Things such as S-Suggest, for example, didn't float our boat.
But it's all subjective, and you can remove, replace and add to your heart's content.
Some of those that ship with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 are Samsung's and some are Google's.
And some, such as Gmail preview and the music control, really do make life easier.
The Google Play Store is your friend here, and delving through it is always part of the fun.
Apps
are accessed via the app drawer, which you find at the bottom-right of
each screen, alongside four other customisable shortcuts.
They're
displayed in a 5x5 grid format, due to the increased screen real
estate, with a live image of your wallpaper beneath that looks great.
You
can also preview widgets from a tab within this, rather than having to
install each widget to see what it looks like, which is how things used
to be done.
If you've ever used a Samsung Galaxy S3, you'll feel right at home here.
The S-Pen is different. We'll go into that more in our Maps, apps and S-Pen section later.
But just a quick mention as to how it's implemented in Android Jelly Bean: it's quite smart.
As soon as you pull it out of its slot, it semi-launches a special suite of apps for you to pick from.
We saw something similar on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.
The notification bar has been jazzed up a little too, and it's now more functional.
Being able to pinch to view new emails is one new addition.
Android Jelly Bean also gives you the fantastic Google Now. It's a great assistant app that learns from you as you use it.
The idea is that it accesses all parts of your life (let's say Shami Chakrabarti won't be a fan) but then helps you out.
So, for example, it tells you what the traffic is like when you're about to head to work, home or somewhere else.
It displays the information as 'cards' and even pops bits of important info (such as the weather) in your notification bar.
There are some flaws in it, too. For example, Google Search is excellent.
Ask
it who the PM of Japan is and it will immediately answer you with a
photo and his name and details about him spoken back to you.
Results come back within a millisecond, and really put Siri to shame.
Then
again, Siri trumps Google Now when it comes to voice actions. Sending a
text or an email via Google Now is possible, but it's not as intuitive,
fun or easy as it is with Siri.
Nor is the banter and humour you get back anywhere near as good.
They
both have their strengths and weakness here - but we'd say Google Now
complements, rather than rules the platform, and falls below Siri in a
lot of ways.
Which is the comparison many will instantly make.
For
Enormous battery
Expandable memory
Amazing screen
LTE capable
Blazingly fast
Contacts and calling
Contacts
You
can access contacts on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 either through the
phone or the contacts section - both of which have shortcuts at the foot
of the screen.
Considering
they both ultimately lead to the same app, you may as well delete one
of these shortcuts and give yourself some more space for another app.
And
once you're in there, you're treated to the standard Samsung-Android
contacts display with tabs for favourites, groups and so forth.
It's really no different to what we've seen before, and does the management bit very well indeed.
Samsung
throws in a few nuggets too - such as swiping left on a contact to
message them and right to call them or just having you lift the phone to
your ear when in a contact to call them automatically.
Though, in practice, we'd be interested to see how many people remember that feature is there and actively use it.
Contacts are brought across with pictures and then you get a huge thumbnail when you call them or they call you.
Yes,
we know that's a small thing and it's something that's been around for
years, but there's just something nice about seeing a nice big shot of
Mum when she calls.
It's amazing how many OEM's tinker with this most basic of functions, unfortunately.
And we hanker still for some kind of HTC emulation so that contacts are linked automatically.
We
have some people with six or seven entries in our phonebook and
frankly, Samsung, life is far too short to have to do this manually for
2,000+ people.
There
are also loads of things you can play about with in the menu - such as a
block list for callers you don't like (those who clearly aren't clever
enough to use 141 before they dial you) and the ability to add shortcuts
to individuals to your home screen.
It all makes for a nice, easy, fluid experience.
Social
networking fiends won't feel much love on unboxing the Samsung Galaxy
Note 2, because there isn't really any kind of functionality built in
there apart from Samsung's own ChatON app, which is a bit of a poor
man's WhatsApp in terms of how many people are aware of its existence.
This
is both a plus and a minus - a plus because you can always go hunting
around and install relevant apps yourself without being forced to sign
into endless screens automatically.
But also a minus, because
most users will, by default, install the standard Facebook and Twitter
apps, unaware that there are some far superior third-party solutions.
For example the amazing Twicca frankly wipes the floor with the abomination that is the official Twitter app.
Calling
Samsung
very helpfully provides you with the facility to scale down items such
as the phone keypad (and other bits of the UI) to lean towards your
right or left hand so that you can use the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with
one paw.
This
is a great idea if you're a bit of a Hagrid, though we admit, although
possible, we clutched the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 firmly with both hands
because we were terrified we'd drop it if we showed off too much.
And that leads us nicely to the big elephant in the room. The size of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
Yes,
this is a phone (Samsung has itself admitted the Samsung Galaxy Note is
a smartphone, rather than a tablet) and yes, you can make calls on it.
But seriously, would you want to hold this up to your head? We did - and got laughed out of the room.
The
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has some fantastic abilities, but to hold
something the size of a breeze block up to your ear in public all feels a
bit 80s.
That
said, it's obvious when you buy this that it is a big handset, and we
are sure that the target market will not be averse to using a Bluetooth
device or car kit the majority of the time.
And anyway, how much time do we spend actually making calls these days? That's soooooo 2003.
If you do feel that crazy urge to call someone, we'll say this: you'll enjoy it.
It is a very pleasant experience to make calls on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as, indeed, it is with the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Calls connected easily and signal appeared to be well represented.
Calls
were very clear at our end and the recipients said it sounded great to
them - although the conversation could have been more titillating, which
we can't blame on Samsung.
And once in a call, you can even take
a note. It's a really simple idea that helps enormously in those
moments when you need a pen. Because don't forget - you also have a pen
of the 'S' variety included in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
Messaging
This being an Android handset, you cannot fault the amount of messaging options in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
Firstly, there's Mail, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 comes with two flavours built in.
One is the standard, excellent Gmail app found on all Android handsets.
The
second is Samsung's own Mail app, which accommodates Gmail as well as
virtually every other POP3/IMAP and Exchange option you care to chuck in
its direction.
The Gmail app is brilliant.
It was overhauled for Android Ice Cream Sandwich, so if you have the original Samsung Galaxy Note (and you haven't updated from Gingerbread), you'll very quickly notice the difference.
It looks better, it acts better and it gives you a widget too.
The
search facility on this app is great as well, and could pick out the
smallest detail from more than 10,000 emails in our inbox.
The only thing it lets us down on is the reformatting of HTML emails to fit the screen.
You
can't zoom out to get a whole page view, and this has been an Achilles'
heel to the app since the very beginning. We don't see why it has to be
this way. Come on Google - sort it out.
The Samsung Mail app is
excellent, and gives you the option to tweak various aspects, from the
font size to the colour of the inbox display.
Turn the Samsung
Galaxy Note 2 on its side and you'll get a split view, which is a nice
touch. A Mail widget gives you one-touch access to all the messages in
there.
And you can - sort of - achieve a full page view of HTML
emails in this app, although sometimes it wasn't quite 100% and more
75%. On
top of that, you can always add your own messaging solutions too. There
are the obvious ones such as Facebook and Twitter (plus third-party
versions) and then the other excellent additions such as Viber, Tango,
WhatsApp, Windows Live Messenger and Skype.
The beauty of Android
is that once these apps are installed, they all show up as options
within the contact card when you call up a person's name.
We can't say we're distraught to see the back of Samsung's Social Hub app - this was an aggregator first seen back in the Samsung Galaxy S2 that brought all of your emails, tweets, Facebook messages and so on together.
On
the face of it, it sounds helpful. But frankly, when you're as popular
(and modest) as we are, it just all gets a bit too much.
For tapping out messages, you're really spoiled for choice. Samsung's included keyboard is OK, but not the best.
Keys
are just a little too small for us, though it does include some
functionality similar to Swype, which makes for a faster experience.
Google's voice dictation is also brilliant, and you can use that in place of a keyboard.
Don't
confuse what we said before about parts of Google Now being a faff,
because that still stands. But when dictating messages on Google Voice
Typing, it's really quite good.
The beauty is that the words appear as you speak, which gives you a little more confidence to dictate longer messages.
There
is a problem in that punctuation can be a bit of a headbanger. Saying
'period' (US English) instead of 'full stop' (British English) is fine -
we got used to that easily enough.
But saying 'comma' can lead
to anything from 'mama', 'kama' or 'korma' appearing when you're just
trying to punctuate a damn sentence.
And if you hit delete, the
entire message goes and you have to start from scratch, whereas if you
tap the screen to make a manual correction, nine times out of 10, the
standard keyboard appears and you have to faff about going back to the
voice one.
It's enough to make you want to head out of this world sooner rather than later.
So, again, it's horse for courses. Those looking for a direct comparison to Siri will
find the quality of the service (ie the actual voice recognition) much
more accurate on Apple's product. But by no means unbearable on the
Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
And
don't forget the S-Pen, which enables you to tap out words by just
scribbling them on a virtual pad at the bottom of the screen.
This is scarily accurate, and relies on actual handwriting rather than weird shortcuts like the older days of Palm graffiti.
It even manages to decipher cursive writing. Really.
In
fact, our only criticism of the experience is that you have to have the
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 flat on a desk. That's because when you're
holding it in your left hand, and the pen in your right, there's a
tendency to tilt the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 a bit.
And as your
hand goes across the screen, there's nowhere to rest it at the end of a
line, which means you end up clutching the S-Pen in a weird way.
Remember, you're typing in a small area at the bottom. Still, it's easy enough to get used to.
Internet
This
is the exciting bit - this is the part of the review we've looked
forward to writing the most. Because, if you're looking for a portable
internet device, then you have come to the right place.
For browsing, we think the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is an almost unbeatable handset.
Where
the size may be an Achilles' heel in the calling section, here it's
perfect. That screen is big enough to display web pages beautifully
without being too cumbersome to hold.
And the colours and sharpness of the display make pages pop out. It's brilliant.
Speeds are lightning fast. Don't forget, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will be LTE
compatible for many people - and though we couldn't test that function
yet, just browsing over Wi-Fi or good old HSDPA is as quick as a flash.
The Daily Mail
website (which we used to test because it's data-heavy, not because
we're desperate to learn the health benefits of a square of chocolate a
day) loaded almost instantly over Wi-Fi.
It was under two seconds after we hit 'go' before we could actually pan around.
And using 3G only added a second onto this, if that. The grunt from that processor makes such a huge difference.
Pages zoomed out look amazing.
And when you zoom in, you can see text right up to a gnat's level without having to view individual pixels.
You
can have the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 reformat pages when you zoom in but
it doesn't do this by default, which is slightly annoying.
In
fact, you have to go into the advanced section of the settings menu to
dig this little gem out, which we weren't overly impressed with having
to do.
Lots of people won't be aware of this - and that could lead to a second rate experience for no reason at all.
Something else that makes the experience second rate is its lack of Flash support.
Yes,
we know that the world is moving on from Flash and even Adobe has
stopped supporting it (hence why it's not in the Google Play store).
We knew it was going to happen once Jelly Bean landed. But hear us out.
The
fact of the matter is that even if the world is moving to HTML5, and
even if Flash is buggy as hell, there are an awful lot of websites out
there that aren't/haven't changed.
Updating billions of pages will take a long time, and so it would have been nice to have it rather than not.
Yes,
there's an argument that by removing it, it forces web developers to
change their sites, but that's a whole different debate.
For us, it's about the fact that one in, say, six sites we look at no longer work properly, which can't be a good thing.
Flash can still be added if you know how to 'side load' - but it's not official, alas. RIP.
Don't forget you can always change the browser if you don't like it.
Samsung's
effort is a valiant take on the standard Android browser - but we're
also massive fans of Chrome, which Google is actually bundling now as
its default internet app.
The experience with Chrome is just that little more fluid - but it's all down to personal choice.
As for the bookmarking system, it's very similar to what we've seen before on the Samsung Galaxy S3.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 signs into Google, and syncs across your web favourites, so they're always there in your pocket.
You
can also save pages for offline reading, which is handy for those of us
who travel on the underground or in areas of poor reception.
However, it appears to save the page as an image, which means that links don't work.
So
if you want to then follow a link once you get back into civilisation,
alas, you can't do so without digging around menus to enable Online Mode
again.
Camera
There
are two snappers bundled with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - an 8MP one
around the back and a 1.9MP camera facing the front. Eight megapixels
may not rock your world if size matters, but if quality does, you've
come to the right place.
The camera is extremely capable,
comprehensive and intuitive. Firing it up is super quick - even quicker
if you put a shortcut on your lock screen, so you can swipe into it from
a standing start.
The camera is constantly seeking a lock to
focus automatically - but you can alter that point with your finger by
tapping anywhere on the screen. The flash is extremely strong, just like on our Samsung Galaxy S3. We found ourselves in the rather hilarious situation of being in a dark bar with friends who were all snapping with their iPhones.
When
we fired the flash up on this, the comments were unprintable. It
actually is blinding if you're not expecting it - but the beauty is that
it is also very good at what it does, and can match some point and
shoots in that respect.
Lots of headline features from the S3 have
been brought across. They're really quite intuitive and include
elements such as Best Photo (which identifies the best out of several
taken in quick bursts), Face Detection, a very good Panorama (contrary
to iOS 6
fans' belief, Apple did not invent panorama), Smile Detection and Buddy
Share (which identifies commonly viewed friends and will even send
pictures featuring them on to them).
See how the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 fares when put up against the new iPhone 5 in our side-by-side camera comparison video.
If
you're a tinkerer, you can also change a plethora of detailed settings,
such as ISO and exposure. Most people won't bother - but for the more
discerning snapper, it's nice to be able to do it.
On top of that,
you have several scene modes, which enable you to tailor the look of
your photos. Included are things such as Negative mode, which we seem to
see on phone after phone yet can't understand - do people actually take
photos in Negative mode? And if so, why are they not in some kind of
special jail? Although
it's nice to have these customisation options, we're not that fussed,
considering apps such as Instagram give us even more anyway.
Taking
photos itself is an easy affair - you can take two per second if you're
in a hurry, but there is the issue that the shutter speed can't keep
up. So if you're trying to get an image of your dog running around or
your child on the trampoline, you're more likely than not to end up with
a bit of a blurry mess.
That won't be fun when you're digging out childhood pics to embarrass them with, come their 18th birthday party.
The golden rule here is to take photos of inanimate objects. Stick to trees and lampposts and you'll be fine.
One
other gimmick we liked - if only for boasting reasons - is the fact
that you can take photos by simply talking to the camera. We never tire
of saying "cheese" and seeing the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 do the leg work.
But it only worked 90% of the time, and usually failed when we were
trying to put iPhone-toting friends back in their iBoxes by showing them
how cool we were (read: uncool when it doesn't work.)
The quality
of photos yielded was brilliant. We were really happy with the results.
In daylight and perfect lighting conditions, they looked amazing.
Even
in darker conditions, the flash gave them that extra bang that was
needed. And with that huge display for a viewfinder, it made the whole
experience so much more enjoyable. In perfect light, images are spot on and beautiful. Unfortunately, the zoom is optical, so not ideal. You can use the inbuilt effects to enhance the warmth of your pictures
You
can use the inbuilt effects to enhance the warmth of your pictures,
make them look cooler in temperature or simply play with them to make
them look a little more cartoony or funky. Just moving our hand around fairly quickly led to blur. The shutter speed isn't perfect. NormalHDR mode
HDR mode works - but we found that a lot of pictures didn't need it, because they look so good anyway. There is even an effect to make your photos black and white except for certain bits. The Galaxy Note 2's front snapper is good, but no match for the one round the back. The flash lights up pitch black situations well.
Media
The Note is back, bigger and better
As
a portable media player, what can we say? The Samsung Galaxy Note 2
excels once again. The love-it-or-hate-it larger screen is perfect for
viewing media, as one would expect.
And media is certainly a
priority for Samsung. Not only do you get 16/32/64GB storage built in,
but you can also bump that up by another 64GB. This deserves a special
mention, because even though it's not an innovative idea, Samsung is
clearly bucking a trend here by still allowing users the option to
expand their storage. We're
seeing so many new handsets with non-expandable storage to encourage
(force) us to go to the cloud - but for those who want to store lots of
high quality content locally, it's good to have the option.
Video
Watching
videos is a pleasure. That HD display looks stunning, and the Samsung
Galaxy Note 2 isn't so heavy that you'll need to lie down after holding
it for half an hour.
We love how you can stream the audio to a Bluetooth headset too, so you can enjoy movies completely wirelessly.
And
there's even an outdoor setting to make it easier to see in bright
sunlight, though it cranks the display up, so don't expect your battery
to thank you.
The range of file types supported is impressive too:
MP4, M4V, Xvid, DivX, AVI and 3GP - in fact, not once did we get the
dreaded 'file type not supported' error message.
You also get the Pop-up Play function that we saw on the S3, which means you can have your video play on top of whatever app you're using.
Multitasking ahoy.
You can get videos on the phone in one of two ways - you can sync from your computer or buy/rent films from Google Play.
Google
Play is getting better and better every day. In terms of what it
offers, the main blockbusters are there, but it doesn't have the back
catalogue of iTunes.
Still, there's bound to be something there to keep you occupied until you can get to a computer to put your own stuff on.
In terms of music, Samsung has clearly learned lessons from the original Samsung Galaxy Note.
We had no complaints back then - it was all nice and safe and stock Android.
But it's clear that for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung has really decided to go for it.
Music
Firstly,
the music player is no longer stock Android, but a much beefed-up
version, with support for playlists and an equaliser that really does
make an enormous difference when listening with headphones.
Externalisation, or Virtual 7.1ch in particular, make your music come alive.
Album
art is displayed beautifully, and there is even something wacky called
Music Square, where you touch a part of the square to choose what genre
of music you want to listen to.
Left is Passionate, top is
Exciting, right is Joyful and bottom is Calm. Depending on how near to
each corner your finger drops, you'll get anything from 2 Unlimited to
Tupac.
We're big fans. It's fun and the audio quality is top notch. Plus, you never know what you're going to get.
On
top of this, Samsung has been busy updating its Music Hub, which scans
your phone for tunes and matches them to other music that you might
like.
It's kinda like Apple's Genius, and is really good.
We
tried it with something random - 'Turn It Into Love' by Hazell Dean -
and were pleasantly shocked when it threw back a load of Bananarama and
Martika.
The real emphasis here is on getting you to sign up for
an account, and then you can enjoy access to millions of songs for
streaming.
The service is powered by 7digital, but it'll set you back £9.99 a month for a subscription.
And when you can get Spotify for the same price, you have to sit and weigh up which one is actually better.
Radio
Luckily,
if you don't want to pay and have not got a single MP3 to your name,
you can still get in on the action with the FM radio that is included.
We love it when these are bundled, since it's nice sometimes to just listen to the radio with no complications.
You
can launch the FM radio from the home screen using a handily supplied
widget, and even control it with your voice if you want to change the
station.
Sometimes, we did find ourselves going to the TuneIn
Radio app because it was clearer, but then that can rinse the battery as
it streams, so it's a case of flipping between the two.
If you're
a streamer, you'll have no issues here. We enjoyed sending media across
using the All Share Cast receiver (purchased separately) but without
that, if you have a DLNA-capable TV or Apple TV, you can send stuff
across - such as videos from YouTube.
We used an app called
iMedia Share and were able to send our media straight across to an Apple
TV - but even without that, playing to a PS3 or Wi-Fi TV is easy as pie.
Samsung
has taken a product many people - including us - expected to sink. It's
built on that and given us something even better.
Faster,
stronger, better looking, and more functional. It's better connected
than ever, and thanks to that increased screen size, now takes the crown
in our eyes as the perfect media player.
We liked
Samsung
has achieved something special here, because it has made the Samsung
Galaxy Note 2 bigger than the original, but pulls it off so that you
don't notice it too much.
The fact that it launches running Android Jelly Bean
and has such grunt with that processor makes this a class-leading
phone. And with a camera that churns out fantastic snaps, it's the
perfect device in many ways.
We disliked
But we just can't
get over the fact that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is biiiiiiiiig and
feels a bit odd in the hand at times. The S-Pen is a welcome addition,
but it's so complicated.
And sometimes, the whole experience can
be too technical - for example having to dig about in the menu for web
reformatting options or download extra bits just to get it to sync with a
Mac.
It's
tricky to pull all of this together in a final summary. Do we mark the
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as a phone with a trillion bells and whistles? Or
as a personal media player that makes phone calls?
As a phone,
it's big, but once you get over that, if you can, it's great. As a PMP,
it really does excel, and as a web communicator, it is almost second to
none (though we can't fully get the taste of Flash absence out of our
mouth).
But it's also expensive, and the kind of handset that we
think will struggle to find mass appeal - however the iPhone 5 will
still set you back more, as you'll need to fork out £46 per month of the
16GB version, where as you can pick up a free Note 2 from £31 per month
on a two year deal.
We already hear lots of people complain that the Samsung Galaxy S3
is far too big. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 takes that to another level,
and the Galaxy S3 can now be picked up for free on a 24 month contract
starting at just £21 per month, or £430/AU$670/US$690 SIM-free, while
the Note is around £530/AU$999/US$700.
Ultimately, there's no
getting away from the fact that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a niche
device. But it does almost everything it sets out to do perfectly, with
grace, class and maximum functionality. And if you're in the market for a
larger smartphone or a small tablet, there really is no better device.
