Sizing up the Samsung Galaxy Note

Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:11 am UK

galaxynotes2

I’ve been exploring a new gadget this weekend, a Samsung Galaxy Note that I have for review. If you looked at it, you’d think it was a rather large smartphone. Indeed, compare it to the Samsung Galaxy SII that I have – which is a rather large smartphone – and you’ll see it needs another description.

You can see the size of it when looking at these two devices side by side in the photo above – the Note on the left and the SII on the right.

When I first looked at the Note on unpacking the box, my immediate thought was – this is like the 5-inch Dell Streak in terms of size. In fact, I have a Dell Streak so a comparison is easy to see at first hand as this photo below shows: Galaxy Note on the left, Dell Streak on the right.

galaxynotedellstreak

Pretty close in overall size dimensions. Pretty close, too, in screen size – the Note has a 5.3-inch display and the Streak has 5.0 inches. Not really much in it. Compare that to the SII at 4.3 inches – an inch less in overall dimensions – or the iPhone 4: at 3.5 inches, its screen is nearly 2 inches smaller overall than the Note’s (and almost 1 inch smaller than the SII’s).

You may be wondering why I seem to be fixated on size. Does size matter? Well, it does if you’re thinking of a smartphone and how you’d use that with emphasis on the ‘phone’ part of the word. I don’t know about you, but I really wouldn’t want to have to use a device the size of a Note or a Streak as my primary phone. Imagine something that big stuck to your ear!

Although the Galaxy Note does have a slot for a SIM card so you can make and receive phone calls and text messages, I wouldn’t call it a smartphone as what you’re far more likely to want to do with it is run apps and connect to the net. So a cellular connection as well as wifi is handy, letting you be online just about anywhere. And if push comes to shove, you can always make a phone call if you really want to.

This device is a mini tablet – a hybrid, in fact, in between a smartphone and a tablet. It’s the space Dell first entered in 2009 with the 5-inch Streak. But it’s a space they’ve now vacated entirely in the major markets of Europe and North America, leaving it to Samsung in particular to make the most of it.

The Galaxy Note I have is unlocked, not tied to any particular network or mobile operator. It works just fine on wifi without a SIM card, although I did notice something interesting – when I first turned it on and configured a wifi connection, it notified me of a new firmware update.

But it wouldn’t let me get it without a SIM card installed.

notesoftwareupdate That was easy to sort out by using the SIM card from my SII. It enabled the firmware to be downloaded and installed, which updated the version of the Android operating system from 2.3.5 to 2.3.6. Bang up to date!

(As an aside comment on that, searching for a firmware update on the SII – which, like the Note did, has Android version 2.3.5 installed – produces no result. Yet 2.3.6 is available. Maybe the fix that 2.3.6 brings – for a voice search bug – isn’t relevant to the SII. Or, as that device is tied to a mobile operator – Three UK – perhaps it’s waiting for Three to release the update)

As I opened the box only yesterday, I haven’t yet kicked the Note’s tyres in a meaningful way. Not run any apps nor explored some interesting aspects such as the S Pen – a hi-tech stylus that may seem conceptually familiar to you if you remember devices like the Compaq IPAQ from a decade ago – and some of the neat ways you can use it.

samsungbatteries

The short time I have spent so far with the Note shows me a mobile device that’s powerful, fast, familiar, light in the hand, feature-laden and a pleasure to use. One other thing I noted in particular was the battery – 2500mAh capacity. (Wikipedia explains mAh if you’re interested.) What that means to you and me is that a device this size with a screen this big needs all the juice it can get. Depending on use, I’d expect battery life to be on a par with what I get from my Galaxy SII with a smaller capacity battery (1650mAh) for a smaller-size and smaller-screen device – about a day’s charge with my typical use.

Would the Note be good as a primary mobile device, eg, as your phone? No, I wouldn’t recommend that. But if you want a tool that lets you do much of what you can with a full-size Android tablet (or iPad, for that matter) but in a pocket-size form factor – the best of both worlds, perhaps – then the Note may appeal to you.

Here are the top-level specs:

1.4GHz ARM9dual-core processor
1Gb RAM
16Gb internal storage (32Gb version also available but not in the UK)
MicroSD card external storage support for cards up to 32Gb capacity
Bluetooth
802.11a/b/g/n wifi
5.3-inch Super AMOLEDHD display with 800×1280 resolution
8 megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash plus 2 megapixel front-facing camera
Android 2.3 Gingerbread with upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwichcoming
Screen capture capability (making screenshots)

More thoughts to come as I get to know the Samsung Galaxy Note.

(All the pics above were shot with an HTC Desire 5-megapixel camera and tweaked a bit in Paint Shop Pro X2. Not a bad camera compared to the Note’s and SII’s 8-megapixel ones.)

Universal Google+

Posted on September 21, 2011 at 12:03 pm UK

If you visit the Google search page today on your desktop or laptop computer, it will likely look like the screenshot you see here.

A big blue hand-drawn arrow leads from the Google logo in the centre of your screen to the top-left corner, pointing to the word "+You."

That’s Google+ (say it "Google Plus"), the new social network that Google opened up to the world yesterday after some months in private testing, what Google called a field trial. I was an early user and have been getting to know Google+ since July, enjoying the raft of enhancements and new features that Google rolled out during this time, right up to the 100th – universal access.

If you look around and search for commentary and opinion about Google+, you’ll find plenty, from the credible overview to the upbeat on Google+ for business and to privacy and other concerns. There are even a few books in the works that will attempt to explain what to get out of the service in such an evolutionary early guise.

So how would you use Google+? Is is better than Facebook? What about Twitter? How or where do any of these fit your business needs?

My suggestions:

Watch Google’s quick-look video that explains what Google+ can do for you. Pay attention especially to Circles and how they work (or watch the stand-alone video)
Sign up and try Google+ for yourself.
Add some people already there to a Circle of your own. An easy way: tell Google+ who your contacts are and it will find people you know. Or search by name.

One of the key differences between Google+and Facebook concerns connecting with people. The original Facebook model is about being friends with someone: you connect with them by asking them to do that. With Google+, you add someone to a Circle: you don’t have to ask them first (a move Facebook also made last week with its new ‘subscribe’ feature). In that sense, it’s similar to how Twitter works.

One feature I especially like is Hangouts, the video-chat service. I’ve been using it quite a bit recently, both for personal and business uses. Easy to use and the simplicity of use as well as the quality of the experiences has dramatically improved since its introduction.

There are also excellent mobile apps for Android and iPhone so you can use the service from anywhere.

Connect with me on Google+ if you’d like to. But do it right – if you do add me to your Circle, let me know: drop me a note in Google+. I’ll then know I’m not just some name on a list but someone you actually might wish to connect with. I’ll respond if so.

Google+ attracted millions of early adopters during the field trial. Many of those typically are the geeky type. Now that the service is open to anyone to join, I’d expect the broad community to become far more homogenous, more representative of people generally.

But who knows? Maybe it will stay niche. Or maybe it will explode into the mainstream. Me, I’m going to pay attention to how it all works and what I can do with it, be there and enjoy the ride.

Related posts:

FIR Plus: A test drive of Google+Hangout

Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:42 am UK

FIR co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz were joined by friends of FIR Kami Watson Huyse (of Zoetica), Lionel Menchaca (chief blogger for Dell) and Bryan Person (of LiveWorld) for a test drive of Google+ Hangout, the social network’s video conferencing service.

The experience was far from perfect and this video has been edited heavily so you don’t have to sit through the gaps and gaffes. Thanks to Bryan Person for capturing the screencast.

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