The Galaxy Note –heavy duty smartphone- was introduced by Samsung at the event of IFA 2011, sporting a huge 5.3” Super AMOLED HD display together with a special stylus titled the “S” Pen. Reviewing the size and specifications of Samsung Galaxy Note, we can’t say it’s a mini-version of Android tablet, neither can say a big Android smartphone, but its standing at a middle point of both the categories. Let’s have a look at its key points, major drawbacks and specifications, and then see what else the Samsung galaxy note has to bring a change:

Samsung Galaxy Note Pros

• 1.4 GHz dual-core processor
• Speedy and receptive
• Huge 5.3 inch Super AMOLED HD display with high screen resolution
• Remarkable 8 mega pixel primary camera, 2 mega pixel front camera
• 3G (HSPA+) and Wi-Fi a/b/g/n 802.11 (4G LTE support for US residents only)
• Stylus functions in the best manner
• 16/32 GB of built-in memory
• Excellent battery life

Samsung Galaxy Note Cons

• Stylus is really losable
• Portability and ease-of-use decreased due to such a huge screen
• Chrome-esque tabbed based browsing is missing

Samsung Galaxy Note Specifications

GENERAL

2G Network    GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

3G Network    HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100

• LTE (depends on region)

Announced    2011, September

Status        Available. Released 2011, October

SIZE

Dimensions    146.9 x 83 x 9.7 mm

Weight        178 g

DISPLAY

Type    Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

Size    800 x 1280 pixels, 5.3 inches (~285 ppi pixel density)

• Gorilla Glass display
• TouchWiz UI v4.0
• Multi-touch input method
• Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
• Touch-sensitive controls
• Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
• Gyroscope sensor

SOUNDS

Alert types    Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones

Loudspeaker    Yes

3.5mm jack    Yes

MEMORY

Phonebook    Virtually limitless entries and fields, (Photocall)

Call records    Virtually infinite

Built-in        16GB/32GB capacity, 1 GB RAM

Card slot    Micro SD, supports up to 32GB, 2 GB included in the package

DATA

GPRS        Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 – 48 kbps

EDGE        Class 12

3G        HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE

WLAN        Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot

Bluetooth    Yes, v3.0+HS

Infrared port    No

USB        Yes, v2.0 micro USB (MHL), USB On-the-go

CAMERA

Primary        8 Mega Pixels, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

Features    Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization

Video        Yes, 1080p@24~30fps, check quality

Secondary    2 Mega Pixels

FEATURES

Operating System    Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)

CPU        Dual-core 1.4GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset

Messaging    SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS

Browser    HTML

Radio        Stereo FM radio with RDS

Games        Yes

Colors        Black, White

GPS        Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS, barometer sensor

Java        Yes, via Java MIDP emulator

• S Pen stylus
• NFC connectivity (optional)
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• NFC support (optional)
• TV-out (via MHL A/V link)
• SNS integration
• Digital compass
• MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
• MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
• Organizer
• Image/video editor
• Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
• Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
• Adobe Flash 10.1 support
• Voice memo/dial/commands
• Predictive text input (Swype)
• Samsung ChatON
• Barometer sensor

BATTERY

Type        Standard battery, Li-Ion 2500 mAh

Stand-by    Up to 960 h (2G) / Up to 820 h (3G)

Talk-time    Up to 26 h 10 min (2G) / Up to 13 h 30 min (3G)

Samsung Galaxy Note Review

The front-face of the Samsung Galaxy Note is covered by a Super AMOLED 5.3-inch touchscreen display screen, which is quite slim and light- weightened.  The Samsung Galaxy Note measures at just 9.65mm, which is though a little thicker than the mighty iPad 2, but conceivably not so chubby to be a point to complaint for.

The rear-face of the Samsung Galaxy Note has an attractive fence-based texture, and an 8-megapixel snapper that resides on the top-center, which can record Full HD 1080p videos @30 frames per second. That’s truly amazing for smarrphone!

As for the software, the Samsung Galaxy Note is driven by Android OS V2.3 Gingerbread, which sure can’t take place of the tablet-oriented Honeycomb, and now that Ice-cream sandwich has come, the Samsung Galaxy Note will feel if its left behind the trails.

The stylus is somewhat a notable thing to include, you may call it old but it quite appears handy when needed the most. The stylus has a place to stay safe and nipped situated at the bottom-right of the Samsung Galaxy Note. You can use it for writing notes, playing games or drawing things. It delivers and outstanding performance and handiness!

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Note has to fight some tough battle for grabbing a good spot in the market since it has bridged the gap between smartphones and android tablet due to its size and specifications. What matters to you, is it ‘size’ or ‘portability’?