Gadgetory

if you're looking for an intuitive phone that you can use without a manual or one that slips easily into your pocket then skip over the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 completely but if you like an expansive screen and features at every turn then keep listening I'm Jessica's all-court for CNN and this is your first look at the note 2 let's start with the basics the Galaxy Note 2 has a zippe quad-core processor and will support 4G LTE and HSPA+ speeds it's initially coming to five US carriers AT&T Sprint t-mobile US Cellular and Verizon costs will range from carrier to carrier but expect introductory prices at about $300 with a new two-year service agreement it's a little pricey yes but the phone also packs in a ton of features the Galaxy Note 2 runs Android 4.1 jelly bean and it looks like a super-sized version of the galaxy s3 both phones share the same sleek lines and slim build and an 8 megapixel camera with flash both offer storage capacity of 16 32 or 64 gigabytes with up to another 64 gigabytes in storage here's one place where the two phones differ though the note 2 has a gigantic 5.5 inch HD screen that's terrific for viewing just about everything and for creating all sorts of stuff colors are vibrant and rich but screen quality buffs may note that the note twos display isn't as sharp as the much smaller iPhone 5 and it won't look as detailed as other smaller screens with the same high def resolution then there's the stylus Samsung's s-pen is larger and square on the note 2 than it was in the original note and that's a good thing because it makes it more comfortable to hold and it won't roll around when you set it down the button is now grooved to help guard against miss presses but I still accidentally pushed it anyway the S Pen brings with it a tremendous amount of features on top of what you already get with Android 4.1 pretty much anything you can do with your finger you can also do with the s-pen and it stays comfortable longer you can use it to scroll up and down if you have air view turned on the cursor will also pull-up tips and drop-down menus and you can use it to preview photos videos and messages in Samsung's email app in addition to navigating around and typing you can also handwrite into any keyboard just by switching the settings you can also do fun things like jot notes on the backs of photos objectively the writing quality is pretty darn good on the keyboard and also in the S note app yes your penmanship may take a hit but the screen is sensitive to over 1000 levels of pen pressure rendering and recognition are also fairly fast and accurate however in practice any errors that you or the software makes can slow you down correcting mistakes is frustrating and really highlights the absence of a spell checker one of my favorite features unfortunately isn't part of the US version of the note 2 at launch but hopefully we'll see it down the road on the global model you can press and hold the back arrow to open two apps on a single page taking notes or writing an email while also surfing the web is extremely useful you won't be able to use every app simultaneously but Samsung is off to a good start believe me when I say that the note 2 has heaps more features beyond what Google brings in Android here are a few more turning on one-handed operation to shrink the keyboard so you can use the phone with one hand loading on home screen widgets through the easy mode and transferring photos and URLs through a theme the note 2 comes with Samsung's s voice app but I prefer Google Voice Actions with Google now which you can easily access from many screens the note 2's camera and video recorder are very good and Samsung's quad-core processor is extremely speedy the phone's huge 3100 mAh battery kept my review phones going all day but I still needed to charge it at night remember that the more features you use the faster your battery will drain a few more thoughts on the note to size before signing off I won't deny that it feels as massive in the hand as it looks but I did quickly grow used to it and after using it for a week I have to admit every other phone looked tiny in comparison even though it has a huge honkin screen the note 2 is no tablet there's a lot you can do with that that you may also want to do with the tablet so one device could satisfy both needs depending on what it is you actually want at the end of the day the Galaxy Note 2 is Samsung's highest end smartphone to date it offers some really neat functionality that you won't find anywhere else and the specs are top-notch still the dimensions and s-pen aren't going to please everyone which makes a sort of a niche device however if you are leaning toward the note I think you'll like what you find I certainly did this is Jessica doll court for C net you can read my full review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 at cnet.com