Samsung Galaxy Note - The LARGE Phone for Everyone

Samsung says it makes a phone for everyone, including, apparently, people with huge hands. That's the only possible explanation for the Galaxy Note "phablet." While its size verges on a tablet, its software and usage scream "phone." That leaves the Note an unfortunate tweener, and this too-big phone is hard to love.

 

The Note isn't the first phone-tablet hybrid. The idea has been knocking around since the 1990s. The Note is probably the best-engineered device of its kind, but there's something about this physical size, versus the average size of the human hand, which isn't quite working.

 

Physical Design, Phone Calls and Internet
The Galaxy Note ($299 with contract) looks like a Samsung Galaxy S II phone blown up to an impractical size. At 5.8 by 3.3 by .4" (HWD) it's slender and beautiful, with a gorgeously sharp, 5.3-inch, 1280-by-800 Super AMOLED screen showing colors so deep you can fall into them. There's an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a 2-megapixel unit on the front, as well as standard MicroUSB and 3.5-mm headset jacks. A memory card slips into a slot under the back panel.

 

The phone is slim and light. It's just way too wide. While I can grip the Galaxy Note safely in one hand, it doesn't leave any leeway for my fingers to actually move around the touch screen. For most people, it will be totally impossible to use this phone one-handed. I've been trying to do so and failing miserably. Most notably, I can't reach the critical "back" button with my thumb when cradling the phone in one hand. I couldn't even answer a phone call with one hand.

 

The Galaxy Note is a fine phone, although it's a bit odd to hold up to your head. I was concerned that the microphone would be so far away from my face, it would cause problems with background noise, but that isn't an issue because of Samsung's aggressive noise cancellation technology. Reception was decent. Sound quality through the earpiece is excellent; voice tones are wonderfully warm, with perfect volume. The speakerphone is loud enough to use outdoors. Transmissions through the mic, altered by the noise-cancellation software, sounded a bit computery, and the noise cancellation didn't knock out all of the background noise from a passing bus.

 

The Galaxy Note works on AT&T's 4G LTE network as well as both AT&T's and international HSPA+ 21 networks. I got perfectly fine LTE speeds of about 10Mbps down and 4Mbps up. AT&T's 4G network isn't available across the country—but you shouldn't be disappointed with HSPA+ 21 either. The Note connects to Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, including automatically sniffing out and hooking up to AT&T's paid Wi-Fi hotspot network. The Galaxy Note works as a tethered modem or Wi-fi hotspot with the appropriate plan.

 

I got 8 hours, 30 minutes of talk time on the gigantic 2500 mAh battery. That feels low, although it's long enough to not factor into your buying choices. I'll retest the phone over the next few days. 

 

Taking Notes on the Note
The Galaxy Note is just about the size of a Moleskine notebook, and note-taking is one of its premier features. The Note comes with a little plastic stylus called the S Pen, which tucks into a slot in the bottom. Using the S Pen, you can draw or take notes in Samsung's S Note app, Autodesk's Sketchbook Mobile, or anywhere else you choose. The S Pen also enables a few tricks—for instance, taking snapshots of Web pages and doodling on them.
Using the S Pen is a little awkward, though, because it's so short and skinny. I found it difficult to use without touching the screen with the side of my hand, which disrupted the input. Things got easier when I put the S Pen in the larger S Pen Holder ($59.99), which gave my hand some more distance from the screen.

 

This isn't an ordinary capacitive stylus. It's based on Wacom technology, and it's both more precise than a regular stylus and pressure-sensitive, at least in the S Note app. I couldn't find any other apps, including Sketchbook Mobile and Evernote's Skitch, that properly took advantage of the pressure sensitivity.
And a lot is lost when you're translating from pen to touchscreen. I've spent years taking notes without looking, and the Note's S Pen stylus lacks the tactile bite of pen on paper that helps to guide my hand. Digital ink is just a little bit annoyingly slower than regular ink, too. It's "Why I Hate Touch Screens," all over again. You can take notes with it, certainly, but it's an inferior experience to using a regular pen.
What's the advantage of S-Pen over just-plain-pen? Electronic notes are captured and filed, and can be shared easily. You can annotate Web pages or other things you see on the screen. A stylus is also good for artists, as it can pretend to be different brushes and such.

 

Overall the Galaxy Note is an amazingly sophisticated device and It's running on one of the Nation's best Networks AT&T 4G LTE, if you have large hands this device is for you! 

 

Written by Andrew Tatter

The Facebook Messenger Application for Android

Now, if you don’t know what Facebook is, you don’t deserve to be reading this article so click off and go and read something else. For the 750,000,000 users that do know what Facebook is, then carry on reading for an insight into the Facebook Messenger application for android.

Recently Facebook has been changing all over the place with a new layout to the homepage (including the stalker feed on the top right) and new options and things being moved about all over the shot. Now, I’ve been a little sceptical to these changes because I’ve always believed if something isn’t broken, don’t try and fix it and by moving things around, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have confused a lot of Facebook users. However, one thing that I have really liked about the recent Facebook changes is the way that messages and chats are handled. Messages have changed in that you can pop up on chat to someone and if they aren’t online, it sends them a Facebook Message instead of waiting until they’re online to send the chat Message. Now, with this service in place, the Facebook team felt that it was suitable to make a Facebook Messenger application to almost replace modern email completely.

To begin with, you may feel that by me saying that it will replace modern email completely is a bit of an over exaggeration, but if you think about it, nearly everybody you know has Facebook don’t they? However, do you know all of their email addresses? Probably not. I admit that Facebook is possibly for the younger generation, but that just enhances my argument Facebook messages will replace modern email. The current population of 12-20 year olds will communicate over Facebook; if they want to talk to their friends they will leave them a comment on their wall, or if they are online will chat to them that way. In addition, with all Smartphones having push notifications these days, every one with a smartphone can receive the message almost as instantly as if they were sitting at home on their Facebook page. Another thing is that with the new messaging system, if the person that you wish to contact does not have a smartphone, Facebook will text them the message that you have sent (assuming they have their number on their profile) and they can reply by simply replying to the text. One last thing that helps my argument that this form of messaging will replace email is the simple fact, everyone now has an email address that if you are in an email application, you can email and it will send them that message in their Messages; genius!

I’ve rambled on about the new messaging service for Facebook enough, let’s get down to the actual application for Android. The application is set out so simply, but so well! When you open the application you simply have your feed of recent messages with each contact which you can access by clicking on the name of the person you wish to chat or respond to; you also have a compose message button.

When you click the button to compose a message, you are brought to a screen with a very similar design to the previous, but now you have an option in the top left (signalled with the trademark facebook ‘f’ logo) to take you back to the messages screen. When choosing the recipient you wish to send the message to, you simply start typing in the name and it brings up your friends with that name. One addition I like to this is that if they aren’t online it will show a little mobile symbol next to it, signifying that it will send it to their mobile app. Also, you can choose to send the person a text message from Facebook instead of leaving a message in their inbox. Just like the new Facebook chat and Facebook messaging service, you also have the ability to start group conversations with multiple friends on Facebook. Furthermore, in this screen, you have the option to add an image by choosing one of the following options: Take Photo, Choose Photo or Image Search. Another final feature is that you can add your location to the messages that you send (bit creepy and I’ve never used it, but nice to know it’s there.)

In the options you get the ability to alter the notifications with such things as whether it vibrates, whether it makes a sound, what sound it makes, that type of thing. Other helpful information to know is that you can either refresh by pulling down and releasing, or you can hit the menu button on your phone and choose refresh. Simples.

I have found myself using this application on countless times, in fact recently I received a message from my Network asking if I was still using my mobile as I had only sent like three texts in a month. I use this application more than I use any other form of messaging service. Even though you do get a message option within the Official Facebook app, I find this just quicker; you simply open the app, click compose, type the name, type your message and boom, you send it away. Such a simple application, yet such a useful one and a genius move by Facebook if you ask me; it just needs more publicity and maybe iOS and Blackberry versions to properly excel this application into one of the highest in the market.

Written by Luke. Twitter @l_harkness • YouTube Channel