The Non-Techy Guide to the Samsung Galaxy Note
I needed a unit to replace my trusty old Blackberry Bold 9000. Yes,the one with the ball. I named him BB Gandanghari and had been with me for quite some time. Well,BB Gandanghari has been wonky once too many times and since my guy isn’t using a Blackberry,the BBM feature really hasn’t been much of a use for me. My first thought was really to get the iPhone 4S because I am an Apple fan (Steve Jobs rocks...RIP). I just never thought I would go Android until the Samsung Galaxy Note. Unthinkable.
I am not a tech blogger and really,specs confuse me “1.4Ghz of what?! And what does that do? Oooh..” So I will write about the Galaxy Note like the layman I am. I only have had experience with 2 Samsung units (I think I’ve blogged about them). Both got stolen. Why? Because Samsung makes pretty phones and thus,makes it attractive to thieves (that's how I rationalized it in my mind both times). Yes,how non-techy can I be? I got those units because they were pretty. No one has ever tried to steal any of the Nokia’s I’ve had.
The Better To See You,My Dear…
I’m a small girl with really small hands. This is how small my hands are compared to Mark’s.
The Galaxy Note is and I find it too big to be a phone but perfect as a tablet. I never got into the tablet thing because the iPad is so darn huge and heavy (aminin). The Galaxy Note has a 5.3” screen and what a screen. It has HD Super AMOLED and they say it’s a high resolution screen. I say,I can see the pores on your face if you we’re in it and it’s wonderful. My 4th Gen iPod’s (named PeaPod) screen pales in comparison. I could say,this screen makes my television in the house cry in envy because I'm not subscribed to HD cable. I love how big it is since I am a girl who needs glasses but in denial and it really is the size of a notebook.
Transitioning to Android
I admit,when I turned it on for the first time,I was amazed and overwhelmed. I was sweating bullets and was trying to figure out where the heck all those apps came from (I live in a sheltered Apple world)! I had analysis paralysis for a few minutes then realized I was overthinking it,treated it like my iPod and hey,it’s not that bad. Not bad at all. Of course being the OC person I am,the first thing I did was arrange the apps into neat little folders.
What I feel was very different about it versus the iPhone/Blackberry is that it’s so darn fast and reactive. I press it pops. It downloads so fast,I was surprised. Specs say (not like I understand them) that it has HSPA+ 21Mbps or 4G LTE 1.4GHz dual core processor or to explain it fully to me,my boyfriend said “It’s as fast as Jourdan (my Macbook Air..Air Jordan,get it?)” Yes,I name my tech toys.
Falling In Love
I love notes. I love writing on notebooks. I love drawing and painting. I love illustrating when doing notes. I bring colored pens around everywhere and my office notebooks looks like this:
Illustrating makes me think. Color coding stops me from being bored.. and yes,I love capturing ideas and just writing them. My bag has pens AND a notebook and colored pens. Now I just have the Galaxy Note and my notes look like this,which is wonderful!:
I can integrate pictures and scribbles and color! You can do your mood board or notes that keep me sane. I love S Memo! PERFECT!
About That Stylus
I admit it’s that it’s the first time I have ever used a stylus. It seems this thing works just like the pen and can read my penmanship easily which says a lot. A LOT.
It has a button on it which I have a hard time finding that does shortcuts and this I need to get used to and I have the fear or losing the darn thing but I guess that would not be the unit’s fault.
Apps Schmaps
I love Twitter,LJ, Facebook, Tumblr and my life revolves around my email. All this as expected is on my little neat Galaxy Note. Except it’s bigger. Emails,calendars,contacts are Gmail supported so that made things easy for me. The calendar feature is very convenient and easy to use. Format is a lot like Outlook where you just drag and drop appointments.
I wanted to wait for the iPhone 4S for the Siri. It just seemed so amazing but after hearing from friends who have it,it seems to be not as compatible in the Philippines as it should be and after the novelty has faded and they have asked the poor app all the questions imaginable,they stopped using it. I did discover that the Galaxy Note has this Voice Talk feature that let’s you dictate and do things like search,call,text.. somewhat like Siri.
Phone and Camera Capabilities
It can call..and text. What else can one need?
The camera is 8 megapixels of pore revealing clarity. So there goes my plans of getting a camera.
8 megapixels of my little princess
I have just had my new tech toy for a few days but so far, these are the things I love about it. It’s 5 in the afternoon and my battery life is still at half and I’ve been using it the whole day without the power saver chuva. If I were using my Blackberry or iPod (especially on iOS5), I would have been charging 2 hours ago.
I’m perfectly happy with my Galaxy Note. It loads faster and is bigger but minus the pens,notebook and my blackberry in my bag, my bag is a lot lighter. It’s from Samsung so it’s so pretty.. I just hope nobody steals it this time.
Now I wonder what I should name it…. Hmmm…Any suggestions?
For a techy take on it:
http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxynote/note/benefit.html?type=find