Samsung Galaxy Note
Samsung Galaxy Note
3:00

Samsung Galaxy Note

Phones
It's big, it's bold and it has a stylus. That's right. I'm Jessica Dolcourt for CNET and I'm talking about the Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T here. You've heard the rumors about this Behemoth with this honk and HD display and and they're all true. It's a sort of awkward 5.3 inches for my hand and I can say about the Note is sticking a chubby toe into Tablet territory here. Otherwise, it pretty much looks like somebody overfed the Samsung Galaxy S2 phone. The Note does step it up a notch though with Samsung's HD super (Amlet?) screen technology that's makes for a bright and very pretty display. So I do have to say, it's not quite as bright or sharp as the 4.65 inch screen on the Galaxy Nexus. What it is really good for is everything mulitmedia. Like looking at photos and watching videos. Browsing without having to (squint?) so much and reading e-books. The phone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with (Hodge Wiz?) on top and then has a couple of fun extras like being able to take a screen shot with your hand and flip over the phone to pause or mute. You could also perform a few tricks with the stylus which lives in a snug little tunnel on the back of the phone. Its official name is the S Pen and I have to say, it's pretty small and very thin. I personally find the S Pen accessory known as the S Pen Holder Kit much more comfortable. So for 50 bucks, you have to be really dedicated to using a pen to draw and write. Both drawing and writing are pretty fun on the Galaxy note but I won't lie to you, there is a little bit of a little curve with the handwriting app, which turn my already stunted writing into total chicken scratch. Unless I really concentrated hard on my penmanship. I do like that you can hand write in almost any text field and that there is a tool for converting handwriting to text or at least attempting to convert handwriting to text anyway. It won't work perfectly ever time. I also like the navigation tricks and other shortcuts that are built into the stylus like taking a screen shot and pulling up the menu. Drawing is pretty fun as well and there are support for over 150 levels of pressure. The rest of the phone specs are also good especially the excellent 8 megapixel camera and the 2 megapixel front facing camera. There's a 1.5 Giga Hertz dual core processor as well and an extra large batteries helps with that huge screen. The Galaxy Note is one of AT&T's 4G LTE phone. So it really is quite the extra large package. I think that $300 is a fair price for all the top notch features and for the S Pen extras. However, if you're not into jumbotron phones, then stay far away from this one. And if you do like them big but you don't see yourself using the pen, I say give it a try anyway. You're not missing out on the general Smartphone experience if you never slip out the stylus. That pretty much does it for the Samsung Galaxy note. I'm Jessica Dolcourt and you can read all the pros and cons in my (phone review?) on CNET.com

Up Next

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Ultimate Good Lock Tips and Tricks
240509-yt-galaxy-s24-ultra-good-lock-app-v04

Up Next

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Ultimate Good Lock Tips and Tricks

Google's Pixel 8A Is Here: What's New and Different
240506-yt-pixel-8a-first-look-v10

Google's Pixel 8A Is Here: What's New and Different

Living With Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: 3 Months Later
240424-yt-living-wiht-s24-ultra-v03

Living With Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: 3 Months Later

How Google Tests the Cameras in Its Pixel Phones
240417-site-google-pixel-lab-exclusive-1

How Google Tests the Cameras in Its Pixel Phones

The Missing Piece to Apple's Eco-Friendly Mission
240418-site-omt-the-core-problem-of-apples-green-goals-v1.jpg

The Missing Piece to Apple's Eco-Friendly Mission

What's the Future of Phones? Expert vs. AI
240412-site-what-is-the-future-of-phones-expert-vs-ai-v1

What's the Future of Phones? Expert vs. AI

We Revisit the iPhone 15 Pro Max, 7 Months After Its Launch
iphone-15-pro-max-7-months-later

We Revisit the iPhone 15 Pro Max, 7 Months After Its Launch

Xiaomi 14 Ultra Review: The Best Camera Phone I've Ever Used
240404-yt-xiaomi-14-ultra-camera-for-pro-v08

Xiaomi 14 Ultra Review: The Best Camera Phone I've Ever Used

Apple to Talk AI in June: This WWDC Is a Big Deal
240328-yt-omt-wwdc24-v07

Apple to Talk AI in June: This WWDC Is a Big Deal

What Google Gemini AI on the iPhone Could Look Like
240321-site-apple-and-gemini-ai

What Google Gemini AI on the iPhone Could Look Like

Tech Shows

The Apple Core
apple-core.png

The Apple Core

Alphabet City
alphabet-city.png

Alphabet City

CNET Top 5
top-5.png

CNET Top 5

The Daily Charge
the-daily-charge.png

The Daily Charge

What the Future
what-the-future.png

What the Future

Tech Today
tech-today.png

Tech Today

Cooley On Cars
on-cars.png

Cooley On Cars

Carfection
carfection.png

Carfection

Latest News

Bose SoundLink Max Review: How Does It Compare to the Cheaper SoundLink Flex?
240514-site-bose-soundlink-max-2

Bose SoundLink Max Review: How Does It Compare to the Cheaper SoundLink Flex?

Hands-On With Huawei's Pura 70 Ultra
240515-winged-pura-70-ultra-00-01-30-05-still001.jpg

Hands-On With Huawei's Pura 70 Ultra

I Tried Three Fitness Apps to Help My Postpartum Recovery
cs-ai-coaching-seq-00-07-22-19-still001

I Tried Three Fitness Apps to Help My Postpartum Recovery

How Many Times Did Google Say AI at I/O 2024?
Every AI Thumbnail

How Many Times Did Google Say AI at I/O 2024?

I Tried Google's Project Astra
240513-site-google-project-astra-hands-on-v3

I Tried Google's Project Astra

Everything Google Just Announced at I/O 2024
240513-site-google-io-supercut-thumbnail-v2

Everything Google Just Announced at I/O 2024

Google Introduces Gemini AI Upgrades to Gmail and Chat
google-io-gemini-gmail-chip

Google Introduces Gemini AI Upgrades to Gmail and Chat

Google Brings Multistep Reasoning to Search
screenshot-2024-05-14-at-11-16-37am.png

Google Brings Multistep Reasoning to Search

Project Astra Revealed at Google I/O
screenshot-2024-05-14-at-1-42-51pm.png

Project Astra Revealed at Google I/O

Ask Photos Uses AI to Search Your Google Gallery
googlephotos

Ask Photos Uses AI to Search Your Google Gallery