Samsung Galaxy Note 2 N7100 review

King of phones in sub-30k category

My ratings: 4/5

You may think that why I am reviewing a phone released more than a year back and also a successor has already been released in the form of Note 3. Believe me it is still the king in its segment.

Why Note 2?

I have purchased this mobile in October 2013, few days after the release of Note 3. I have my own set of requirements for this choice

1. It has quad core processor , good enough or my requirements. My motive is to get any information on my tips at quickest speed without any performance lags. Interestingly I never play games so very high speed processor doesn’t matter much.



2. It has 2 GB RAM so there is rarely a chance of performance lag.

3. It has 5.5in touchscreen - well enough for me. It totally eliminates any option of tablet in my life.

I would have easily gone for Note 3 considering its higher specifications.

1. Galaxy Note 2 comes with a 5.5 inch S-AMOLED capacitive touch screen having 720 x 1280 pixels resolution. The Galaxy Note 3 comes with a 5.7 inch S-AMOLED capacitive touch screen, having 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution.

2. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is equipped with a 1.6 GHz quad core cortex A9 processor with 16 GB internal memory and 2GB RAM. The Galaxy Note 3 is equipped with a 2.3 GHz quad core krait 400 processor with 32 GB internal memory and 3GB RAM.

3. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 sports an 8 MP primary camera with and 1.9MP secondary camera. The Galaxy Note 3 sports a 13 MP primary camera with 2MP secondary camera.

I am well aware that technology comes at a cost but it seems worthless to invest 15k extra for features that don’t matter much in normal usage of a smartphone.

Positives:

1. It can easily replace a computer or tablet.

2. It is a pleasure to watch videos on this monster.

3. The camera is best in its class and very quick . The colors of pictures are sharp and neutral.

4. As expected the battery life of Note 2 is amazing with 3100mAh. It can easily work for one day with heavy usage and more than 2 days with normal usage. It is a big positive in an Android device.

5. It has already been updated to Android 4.3 and Android 4.4 is expected by April 2014 .

Negatives:

1. 5.5 inch screen is not very comfortable to hold or to work with. You may sometime feel frustration as you have to give extra stress to use it single-handedly.

2. Due to its large screen, it is not very comfortable in shallow pockets, and a big no for shirt pockets.

3. S-pen is rarely a utility in daily life . It is anytime comfortable to work with fingers in comparison with pen.

4. Removing the back panel cover is always an uncomfortable job in Galaxy series of phones and the cheapness of plastic prevails . Thank God that Notes 3 is much better in the design aspect

Final words

The major question is regarding utility of this particular smartphone. I purchased this phone not because of the ‘Note’ feature of this phone or because of ‘Pen’ provided with it, I purchased just because I want a nice phone of 5in screen and above at a reasonable price. There is minimal utility of S-Pen provided with it or you will hardly need it in daily activities.

This phone was released in last year and a successor of this has already been released. But I can strongly say that if you want a phablet (5in screen or more), there is no competition of this phone in sub-30k category . Read out the negatives of this phone and if you are comfortable with that, just go for it blindly.

I don’t think there are any other phablets even close to the capabilities of this device even after 1 year of introduction in the Indian market. Only phone that comes pretty closer to it is Nexus 5 but you have to compromise for 5in screen in that case. Other than that, it is the king of phone till 30k.