QUICK LOOK

• Unlocking from any point on the screen is a big plus when on the go.
• Separate volume for media and ringer
• Syncs all notifications from social networks, email and SMS to one hub
• Decent battery life
• Brilliant built in radio

Given the Samsung Galaxy Note was probably one of the most eye opening experiences for me last year, tech-wise. As an avid iPhone user this was the first time that I’ve ever questioned my choice.

For starters the touch screen is beautiful, vivid, sharp and big! And yes, in this case bigger is better. The 5.3” Super AMOLED HD display makes taking pictures, surfing the web and watching video a visual pleasure and it was fast, but we’ll get into that later. I mentioned that the screen is big and for everything visual it is ideal. If, however, you want to send a text or type in a number you best use two hands because it’s too wide for your thumb to press the far left digits of that number you’re trying to dial single handedly.

If you aren’t in too much of a hurry and you can hold it in one hand and use the other then perhaps you’d like to make use of the snazzy stylus called the S Pen? It slots in the back and would be undetected unless you turned the device around and noticed the silver tip on the bottom left. It works, it’s not necessary, but it works well.

Since we’ve turned the Note around there were a few things that I thought could have been improved on like the 8MP camera lens that’s protruding from the back for starters. It’s not huge, but it’ll be the first thing to make contact with every surface you put your phone down on and will be scratched up in no time. The other is that the back cover that hides your SIM card and battery is made out of a very light plastic. I felt that it cheapened the look and feel of the Note although it probably did help keep the weight down to it’s 178 grams.

Also worth a mention, if you happen to have a micro SIM, make sure you go back to a regular sized SIM card before setting up your Note. If the plastic backing doesn’t cheapen the look you will, if like me you sticky tape up the micro SIM to its cutout. (Don’t judge my moment of MacGyver brilliance.)

It seems as if we’re going back to big phones when not too long ago the thinner and smaller your device was the cooler you were.

Now for one of the major uses of the Note, the phone. I didn’t have too much of an issue holding it up to my ear. Only the people around me made comments about it “looking like a brick”. On occasion it was difficult to have the microphone correctly positioned on my ear because it’s so wide and long, but the biggest issue I had was with not being heard by the person on the call.

I’m not talking about interference, there were at least ten separate incidents where the person calling me couldn’t hear me or visa versa. No, it wasn’t on mute if that’s what you were thinking. I’m not sure if it was a service provider issue or something specific to the Samsung, but it was most annoying. That said the speaker works really well as do the hands-free earphones.

Media and other fun things...

As a massive music fan I had to transfer music from my MacBook to the Note. This ended up being more tedious than I thought. You need to switch on “USB Utilities” on the phone and download a program on your laptop to assist in the transfer.

Back to it’s speed that I touched on earlier. The Note is a pleasure to surf with and the thin green progress bar seldom stalls while loading your next screen. Excellent, but I’m guessing it’ll be a lot easier for non-iOS users.

If you want to stay in touch with people you’re not in telephone contact with the Note will make sure you don’t miss a beat, ever. The Social Hub is a standard application that syncs all your social networks to your phone and gives you notifications of any mentions, inbox messages and DMs depending on which networks you link it to. With it constantly syncing make sure you have a decent data package and not pay as you go else you’ll be out of touch and grumpy very quickly.

Overall I liked the Samsung, aside from the few awkward moments where there were one-sided phone calls and searching for a slot big enough to hold it in my car within earshot, it was fun to use.

I’d say if you’re on your tablet more often than your phone the Galaxy Note is a good option for you.

Turn ons

• Lovely vivid screen
• Android applications for your phone and tablet in one space
• 8MP camera with digital zoom and great flash
• Super fast Internet connectivity

Turn offs

• Too big for many phone users
• Can use up a lot of data if you don’t know how to deactivate all the different sync options for your separate applications
• Not simple to start and use. You will need to read through the manual to understand all the different hand screen short cuts

Price: R8,499.00 – R8,999.00