Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Review

Back in 2011, Samsung surprised everyone with the Galaxy Note 'phablet' smartphone. The phone managed to carve out its own niche in the smartphone market and was a huge success for the company.Now,Samsung is back with with the Galaxy Note 2, an improved second generation of the phablet,which brings along a faster processor, larger display and many software updates.

Design:

The Galaxy Note 2 looks like a larger version of the company's flagship S3 smartphone. It has a plastic exterior measuring 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm, which makes it slimmer than the original Note. The body has a glossy finish which looks nice but doesn't do a great job at hiding fingerprints. At the front, you get a large 5.5 inches display along with a physical Home key and two capacitive touch keys. Above the display, there is a speaker, front facing camera, status LED and the proximity sensor. The left edge of the phone is ccupied by the volume rocker, whereas the right side houses the power/stand-by button.Over at the bottom, you get microUSB port and the S-Pen slot while the 3.5 mm audio jack can be found on the top edge. The back panel can be removed to reveal the microSD card slot, microSIm card slot and 3100 mAh battery. On the whole, the Note 2 has a gorgeous design and you can easily tell that this is a premium device with a high price tag.

Software:

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 arrives with Google's Android Jelly Bean v4.1 operating system and Samsung's TouchWiz user interface. The home screen has seven different panes which can be customized with widgets, shortcuts, notes, etc. for easy access. You also get the new Jelly Bean features like Google Now and Project Butter which provide a delightful user experience. Samsung has taken the software to a whole new level with features like smart stay, S-voice, Smart Rotate, S-Suggest, S-Planner and much more.

Camera:

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 offers an 8 megapixel camera with a single LED flash and auto focus. The front-  facing camera has a 1.9 megapixel sensor which is capable of HD video recording. The camera app has any features like face detection, smile shot, Best Photo mode, HDR mode photo editing and much more. The image quality of the photos captured with the rear camera is excellent with amazingly realistic colors and detail. The primary camera can also be used for 1080p HD video recording.

Display:

The smartphone has a large 5.5-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 X 720 pixels. That's 267 pixels spread over every inch of the display. Additionally, the screen is layered with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 for protection against scratches and occasional falls. Overall, the image quality of the display is top class with deep blacks and infinite contrast levels. The large size of the display provides a good viewing experience while playing games or while watching movies.

Performance:
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 runs on a powerful quad-core processor with a clock speed of 1.6 GHz and 2 GB of RAM. Unsurprisingly, the phone is extremely fast and smooth which makes it ideal for running high- end apps, 3D games and multi-tasking. Since it has a larger display, Samsung has equipped it with a 3100 mAh removable Li-Ion battery which is good enough to keep the phone running for 1-2 days depending on your usage.

Final Thoughts:

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a great device with no significant shortcomings. It has a great design, large display, excellent software features and top-notch hardware specs. Furthermore, there aren't many options available in the market which can match this amazing phablet.