Has anyone got one of these Samsung Galaxy Note doubreys? Are they really any good or is the stylus just a bit of a gimmick?
I’ve been reading reviews and it looks like just the thing, I could use it for work and write all sorts of notes down etc. But I suspect I’ve become slightly seduced by the marketing, would be good to get a first-hand opinion from someone.
I have one. Unlike older phones/tablets, the Galaxy Note 2’s stylus isn’t actually a must-use. You can do anything with your fingers, just like with other phones.
But there’s no doubt about it - it’s just damned useful sometimes when a finger is too clunky. An example would be editing a photo or drawing things.
It’s also a lot easier to type with a stylus when conditions aren’t great - on a bouncy bus or whatever.
There’s also a button on the stylus which is used like a mouse button for Samsung apps that support it. (Android doesn’t natively support it.)
Cheers, you’re right, clunky sausage fingers are a definite handicap in the modern smartphone age.
Is it possible to annotate directly onto PDF’s and/or other image files. I have to do a lot of editing/reviewing of reports and plans and it would be a godsend if I could do this directly.
I have a Note II. It is a wonderful, amazing machine. I have to find one single flaw yet. If you’re ok with a big-ass phone, this is absolutely the best of the best you can get right now.
On a related note, if you’re the kind of person who tinkers around with his/her gadgets, the Note II is virtually unbrickable (unbreakable, if you’re unfamiliar with the lingo): I have rooted it and unrooted it like 5 times, installed custom ROMS and messed with it in a lot of ways and it never gave me an headache. 
I have one, and it’s pretty much perfect. I haven’t even come to feel like routing it yet.
It has so many pros and only one con as far as I have experienced, which is lag. I have the last model, which has a single processor and it can be laggy at times, but mostly when opening or switching between programs.
I didn’t have that issue with my ancient HTC Desire, and found it surprising for a new smartphone. Supposedly the newer model shouldn’t have this issue as it has dual processors. I’d definitely buy the same again though.
The editing picture function is fun, and it also edits movies, as well as manages all the other stuff you’d usually associate with smart-phones these days.
I also love with almost all modern smartphones, the Gorilla Glass protection, which means that it’s always shiny and I don’t have to worry about scratches too much on the screen.
Battery life is a bit limited if you are using the screen on full brightness all the time.
Overall, it’s an excellent phone and if there were only one other which tops it in some ways i.e. battery life, talktime, and speed, then its the Galaxy SIII. Still, I actually prefer the advantage of the larger screen over the speed of the SIII.
I’d say go for it to anyone considering a Note.
What about the Tab? I’m fed up with my Asus netbook (two years old) and My Sony Xperia Arc S (6 months old) lags way too much.
I want something in between. The Tab or the Note?
I’ve always been a tablet fan, but I have to say the Note II is doing everything my old tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 inches) did and much, much more. It all boils down to where you stand in terms of Portability VS Screen Size.
As I said, though, the Note II is just an incredible piece of hardware. Check out the videos on Youtube about hooking it up with a screen , a mouse and a keyboard and using it as a desktop replacement (needs docking station, around 100 USD).
It would be nice if I could watch the occasional movie/YT vid on it, but also hook it up to a monitor for PPTs and Word docs for presentations (VGA to what on the Note?)
What is the HD like - 8G expandable to … 16/32/64?
I’d enjoy a larger on-screen keyboard as I struggle with the tiny keyboard on my Xperia.
It would be nice if I could watch the occasional movie/YT vid on it, but also hook it up to a monitor for PPTs and Word docs for presentations (VGA to what on the Note?)
What is the HD like - 8G expandable to … 16/32/64?
I’d enjoy a larger on-screen keyboard as I struggle with the tiny keyboard on my Xperia.[/quote]
I have a galaxy note and watch TV and movies on it all the time using Monsoon Multimedia Vulkano device. It’s much better than the Iphone I had before.
I bought a Galaxy Tab 2 7" on Sunday to pair with a desktop PC. I had an MSI netbook that I used for travel before but it just isn’t portable enough. And I didn’t want a smartphone. The 7" tablet is a little small and is a compromise but I needed the small size for various reasons. I think it will work out pretty well overall. A 10" tablet would work better for a lot of things but it’s also more to carry around. I think the 7" and 10" Galaxy Tabs specced out about the same (processor and RAM) though.
As far as I understand most of the tablets don’t have expandable HD’s. Your limited to using 32 GB micro SD cards or Dropbox/Cloud storage ($99/yr for 100GB).
It would be nice if I could watch the occasional movie/YT vid on it, but also hook it up to a monitor for PPTs and Word docs for presentations (VGA to what on the Note?)
What is the HD like - 8G expandable to … 16/32/64?
I’d enjoy a larger on-screen keyboard as I struggle with the tiny keyboard on my Xperia.[/quote]
I watch movies all the time while travelling and I am very satisfied. Even with a non-glossy screen cover on, the quality is very high.
If you want to hook the phone up to a screen you’ll need either soms kind of video-over-Bluetooth contraption or the Samsung docking station (~99USD). The dock has a HDMI output that you can convert to VGA, if you need to, with a cheap converter like the one I use with my pc.
As for the storage, you will want to consider that if you buy a Note II before Dec 31st, Dropbox gives you 50Gb of cloud storagw FOR FREE 
My Note II has 10Gb of effective memory space, expandable to 74Gb with a 64Gb micro-SD. You can buy the 64Gb version for around 58Gb of effective free storage and expand it up to 122Gb.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Many modern Android phones have a function which isn’t loudly touted, which is MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link)
I just went out on got one an hour ago. It took quite a bit of asking as almost nobody in the computer stores here in SH have even heard of MHL. You have to tell them you “want a lead to change the Micro USB to an HDMI output” and only then they will sort of understand.
I just got ripped off for mine, but I didn’t care as nobody knew what I was talking about but one guy who also had a contact who knew what it was. So I went through a third party to get it and paid a premium. According to sources it should cost 55RMB, and after I learned that the best deal I could get was 80RMB. Still, not very expensive at all all things considered.
Now I can play movies, music, photos, games and everything else on my T.V. from my phone.
This is great, as it basically turns my phone into a computer and a multimedia player at the same time! 
There are a load of them for sale in Taiwan for just a few hundred NT$: tw.search.bid.yahoo.com/search/a … p=MHL+HDMI
[quote=“sulavaca”]Many modern Android phones have a function which is loudly touted, which is MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link)
I just went out on got one an hour ago. It took quite a bit of asking as almost nobody in the computer stores here in SH have even heard of MHL. You have to tell them you “want a lead to change the Micro USB to an HDMI output” and only then they will sort of understand.
I just got ripped off for mine, but I didn’t care as nobody knew what I was talking about but one guy who also had a contact who knew what it was. So I went through a third party to get it and paid a premium. According to sources it should cost 55RMB, and after I learned that the best deal I could get was 80RMB. Still, not very expensive at all all things considered.
Now I can play movies, music, photos, games and everything else on my T.V. from my phone.
This is great, as it basically turns my phone into a computer and a multimedia player at the same time!
There are a load of them for sale in Taiwan for just a few hundred NT$: tw.search.bid.yahoo.com/search/a … p=MHL+HDMI
Thank you. This is basically what the Samsung dock does. I’ll buy one of this jigs asap.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
NP.
I’m very impressed that mine just plugged in and played straight away with no setup at all. It’s also great that the phone charges at the same time as playing.
The only thing I did do was change the aspect ratio on the T.V. so that my screen stretches to fit when I’m viewing photos. Otherwise I had a couple of block borders to the left and right and the images were squashed inwards, but this was no biggie and it only stretches to fit with the phone plugged in. It reverts back to normal after I disconnect it.
My Note 2 just got updated from 4.1 to 4.3. Time to start shifting all those apps across to the SD card! \o/
Has anyone figured out how to get PhotoSphere working on the Note 2 with this update? I’ve spent multiple minutes working on it today without success.