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The New Note; Great or Not?

Note 2 from Samsung Galaxy
Yesterday at Berlin Radio Show, as expected, Samsung released its biggest smartphone, a tablet-cum-smartphone or ‘phablet’ as it’s popularly known now, Galaxy Note II. Among other things that Samsung announced yesterday there is ATIV S, the world’s first smartphone running Windows 8 mobile OS. Galaxy Note II comes with slight advancements to the previous version. Let’s check it out here.

Comparison Between Note & Note II


Here’s a table comparing the features of the new Note with the previous one.

Feature Galaxy Note Galaxy Note II
Display Super AMOLED, 16m colors; 800x1280 pixels resolution; 5.3 inches (285 ppi) Super AMOLED, 16 m colors; 720x1280 pixels, 5.5 inches (267 ppi)
Processor Dual-core 1.4 GHz, ARM Cortex A9 Quad-core 1.6 GHz; ARM Cortex A9
Memory 2GB RAM; Internal storage: 16/32/64 GB; MicroSD: up to 32 GB MicroSD up to 32 GB; Internal: 16/32 GB; 1GB RAM
Camera 8MP with geo-tagging, face & smile detection, image stabilization; front-facing 2MP 8MP with all the features in Note 1; front-facing 1.9MP
Battery Li-ion 2500 mAh giving up to 820 hours stand-by on 3G Li-ion 3100 mAh
Body features 146.9x83x9.7mm; weight: 178g 151.1x80.5x9.4mm; weight: 180g
Operating System Android Gingerbread (originally released with) Android Jelly Bean 4.1

Are you disappointed looking at the features here? The display is substandard compared to the first version although it is larger. A larger display needs a larger resolution and pixel density to perform better, and both are not available in Note II. This display will have increased level of pixelation. There is no noticeable upgrade to the memory or processor settings as well.

However, with the large battery and upgraded bug-free versions of software, I suppose the Note II could give you a better battery life. Also, this Note is thinner and longer.

The most attractive feature of Note, the S-pen is there in this version as well. Samsung has upgraded the driver software for this device and its design is also slightly changed. The S-pen can be used now to preview email messages and open frequently used applications.

Besides these, it’s Android Jelly Bean that powers this Note. This is a more responsive and visually stunning version of Android.

Conclusion


How the new performs with the larger screen with smaller resolution remains to be seen. Also, Jelly Bean and larger processor will make the Note one of the fastest devices out there.

[Image credit: GSM Arena]

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