Moving from a Dell Streak to a Samsung Galaxy Note...

The press have made much of Samsung's invention of the “Phablet” but to be fair they where not there first. In Android terms, the Streak was years ahead of it's market. The Streak is getting a little long in the tooth now, the battery drains a little more quickly than it used to, the battery level metering lies from time to time, the paint is getting a little worn. Time for a change.

The good:

Absolutely amazing screen on the Note (5.3” HD Super AMOLED 1280 x 800), blows the Streak (5” LCD 800 x 480) and pretty much everything else out of the water. Really very sharp, superb contrast, no lag or ghosting, making for excellent contrast and easy on the eyes for prolonged use. Even films are watchable on it!

Speed, the 1.4GHz dual core is a fair step up from the Streak's 1 GHz single core processor. The biggest difference though is the inclusion of HSPA+ which (when you have access to the HSPA+ network) is proper broadband. Faster than many have in their homes.

I got the Note and immediately flashed it to Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) . This is a fair update over the Streak's 2.2.2 setup. More customisable, more ways to access applications from anywhere in the system. Excellent controls for camera, power management, data traffic monitoring and an really nice looking interface.

The camera is a big step up from the Streak's item. Better control, better image quality.

The FM radio is very good quality, audio quality from digital sources sounds better on the Note than on the Streak with a clearer, cleaner sound and less background noise.

The OK:

Build quality is pretty good, but after the metal bodied Streak, the Note feels less solid. It is not flimsy though and what it lacks in heft, it makes up for with excellent fit and finish. The Note comes with a Gorilla Glass screen. The Gorilla Glass screen on the Streak had 19 months of use, during which time it developed no visible blemishes of any kind. A quick polish and the glass looks like new. The Streak started to lose it's red paint after around 17 months of use, chipping along one edge in particular. The Note has what may be a chromed or stainless bezel. Time will tell on durability.

Why is the Home button on the Note a mechanical switch? The Streak had a capacitive one and this is better IMO.

Battery life is OK on the Note (2500mAh), not sparkling, but OK. The default screen settings in ICS will kill the battery very quickly, so it is wise to get into the controls and set the default brightness level a little lower. The screen still looks excellent and you get to play for longer between charges.

Kies Air. Software that allows your phone to be accessed from your PC or other device on your own network via wireless connection by typing the IP address of the phone into your browser. The functionality is OK, good for moving photos, video, media around, but the interface looks and works like some clunky 1990s windows software. Not tidy, not particularly intuitive.

The not so good:

Samsung have been very lazy with the way ICS looks. The touchwiz interface is overly fussy and cluttered after the Streak's pared back naked android look. Samsung have not made facility for centre positioning of widgets on the home screens, but have also disabled the normal ICS function of resizeable widgets, so the home screens can look a little untidy. It is supposed to be a phone / tablet, but the home screens only display in portrait mode (the Streak has it well beaten in this area). The interface restricts the customisation options to and extent too. It is like a poor copy of the HTC Sense UI in some respects.

S Planner. Samsung have decided to not include the basic but excellent Google Calendar. They put S Planner in instead. This offers increased functionality, but it also takes more operations to get an appointment into the calendar. If your appointment is not for 1 hour, starting on the hour, you need to enter the start time in the first screen and then edit the appointment in another screen. Really irritating.

Text messaging, again, Samsung give us a fancy looking but more cluttered interface to work with.

Charging the battery. The Streak had a high current charging system that enabled the phone to be charged up from fully flat in about 1.5 hours. Running low during the day? A 15 minute boost would see you through an afternoon and into the evening provided you kept browsing to a minimum. The Note seems to need a minimum of 8 hours from drained, more if it is not fully powered down while charging.

So all in, a pretty good phone but with some irritating elements in it's daily use, mostly of Samsung's making with the touchwiz skin. Shame it cannot just be switched off leaving the basic Android system. Still, an excellent piece of kit that is working well for me.

Chris

the beauty of android is that you can customise. If you don't like touchwiz just install something else. I have a galaxy s2 and an s3, both run go launchewr ex instead of touch wiz.

Thanks, I will have a look into that. My last two phones have been remarkably free of bloatware, so installing new launchers is new to me.

Can even flash a new ROM with loads of bloat removed.

Also use Go Launcher EX on my One X. (with a custom rom)

Go launcher ex seems very customisable, been trying it out on the streak. Still not as slick as I would like, but with a little dabbling, it will get me where I want to be. I think.

Go launcher ex seems very customisable, been trying it out on the streak. Still not as slick as I would like, but with a little dabbling, it will get me where I want to be. I think.

Lots of launchers to try.

I literally just got a Galaxy Note yesterday.

It's bloody massive.

I like it though. Find it a huge improvement over my HTC Sensation.

Hate the text functions at the moment, but I'll get used to it. Handwriting function is awesome. Very accurate.

Yeah, the text message handling is a cluttered and less than simple affair. Are you running 2.3 or 4.0.3 on it? I have been looking at various lanchers, all very custom configurable, but none really appealing at the moment. May just stick it out with Touchwiz for a while and see if it irritates me less with familiarity.

Chris

Gingerbread currently- updating when i get home!

I definitely prefer it to my old HTC. The screen is simply incredible. Love the memo function.

Chris- updated to 4.0 last might. Tonnes better. More streamlined operation, nicer graphics.

Found a way to fix Samsung's crap texting too. Use the Swype keyboard. You 'paint' your words in. It's so much quicker! If you don't feel like scribbling to text, you can still just hit the keys too. Most importantly, you get the shortcuts back for grammar and numbers... now it's so much better!

I have been using the Swype keyboard since day 1, used it on the Streak too. The issue I have with it is that it looks pretty, but is cluttered and the presentation hops about. Also, it lacks the dial from message functionality that I had on both the G1 and the Streak.

Chris

I find swype too slow, now using smart keyboard pro.

After a couple of weeks use, battery life on the Note is now very good. Looking it more and more!

Chris

How did you break it in, running it right down and then recharging? They do a 5000mAh battery with a hench outer case (as if it isn't big enough already! )

I've bought a second battery as a backup. With the work I do, I never have access to a charger... unless there's a new breed of plant that sprouts mini USB connectors and relevant power...

I fully charged it before first power up, then run it down until it switched itself off several times, always an overnight charge to ensure no part charging. The other thing I did, which made a big difference, was to set the screen to auto brightness, with the slider about 1/4 the way up from zero. Doing this adjustment seemed to make a really big improvement. Not sure why, screen is still bright enough to read in direct sun (like it is while I am typing this), but seems to scale the brightness down more in dark conditions.

Chris

are you selling your dell streak?

are you selling your dell streak?

Would consider it, for the right offer :-). No idea what it is worth, will have a look.

Chris

Charging the battery. The Streak had a high current charging system that enabled the phone to be charged up from fully flat in about 1.5 hours. Running low during the day? A 15 minute boost would see you through an afternoon and into the evening provided you kept browsing to a minimum. The Note seems to need a minimum of 8 hours from drained, more if it is not fully powered down while charging.

What are you using to charge it? I find the Note can charge quickly but it needs a decent amount of juice to do so, I use a Nokia N900 charger (delivers higher current than the stock Samsung charger), the 1,5A port on my emergency charger or a small adapter which disables data transfer on the USB port and increases the current (bought for my Tab, seems to work fine on the Note) all of which means the battery charges up quickly. It could mean I'm reducing the long term batterylife but I've had the Note since it was released in Germany and battery is fine so far, if it does die then it's easily replaced.

I've kept mine on Gingerbread as it seems to work very well that way and doesn't suffer some of the problems you've mentioned, start and end times are set the same screen on the calendar and the text messaging is basic but functional rather than cluttered.

As mentioned above there is strong community support for the phone if you want to change it.

John

I am using the supplied mains charger. Like many phones, it shows fully charged after a few hours, but needs an overnight charge to really perform the following day. The Streak used to charge at 1A.

Chris

moved from iphone 4s to Note about week ago

pretty awesome, screen it immense

although my apple fan boy mates do laugh at the size but when they look at the browsing on it they shut up

dont think i could ever go back to small screen phone again now

one thing im finding hard to use is the keyboard, tried loads of them but not as good/nice as apples keyboard

using this rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1716088

very fast indeed

Note 2 out soonish too

Edited 9 July, 201214 yr by biggy7

I am using the supplied mains charger. Like many phones, it shows fully charged after a few hours, but needs an overnight charge to really perform the following day. The Streak used to charge at 1A.

Chris

The supplied Note charger is not a very high power one (only 700mA from what I remember) so I'd recommend getting a better charger if you want quicker charging as the Note is definitely capable of it. I charged the Note a couple of times from the stock charger then no more as it was slow and my charger had a very slight high pitched buzz to it.

John

Just had a look and it appears to be a 1A job supplied with the Note.

Chris

Buggrit, double post.

Chris

I've not flashed mine yet. Just using standard cream sandwich. Still a dam awesome phone as it is! Will be flashing soon to get best out of it. Best phone I've ever had and tbh when upgrades due be difficult to change unless note 2s out or I fancy the s3 but love the screen size of the note

Sent from my GT-N7000

Oh I don't use the original charger, hate the high pitch squeal it emits.

Sent from my GT-N7000