- Location
- Flushing NY 11355
This is an early review of my Note2 on Verizon. I have used it for a very short time but it has impressed pretty me enough to write an EARLY review.
1)The Notes2 will be outdated by Note3, Sept, I was told, I bought it for the low price bundle from Verizon. It costed me $125 and a 2yr contract bundle. With all the features and power, Opinion, this is lowly priced!
2)If you are in New York City, the bundle will work for you. When I was using AT&T, I never can get proper signal in my workshop nor even at a job site right on the busiest part of Flushing. It's not the phone nor the communication technology used but the network service from AT&T that is failing. My friend and many of you guys who come to pick up things from my workshop knows, even other 4G LTE phones do not have good signal here when on AT&T, so Opinion: Verizon is Good, at lest in NYC
3)The Note2 is fast! All productivity stuff I used so far are snappy. Do not have a newer iPhone 5 handy or a Nexus 7(I had one before) to test them side by side but generally, I am satisfied with speed so far. But when the power of a machine is going up, new software will go up in complexity too. So if you are planning to use it for productivity and not mainly for consumption, then wait for the Note3. But then the problem of bundle is going to be a waiting game again. As usual, sucky AT&T will pick them up first and half year later the better Verizon will finally gets to bundle the new(but getting old) phone, say, 6 months to 9 months later when the next model(Note4 will be due in 3 months, LOL). Opinion: Test the application you are going to use from a friend's Note2. If you are satisfied then go buy one, else wait for another phone, there will be numerous competitive ones coming out in 3 months(even tomorrow.)
4)Experience in watching movies is great. I was on shuttle bus frequently and I can feel why people watching their movies on iPhones are peeking at mine instead. The screen is huge. This is a plus for sitting down and have the luxury to watch movies. But the size become a problem as well when you want to sit down in a public/semi public transit fearing people may just take it away or mislay it somewhere as not all pockets are created equal. This will not affect you if you are in your own car, you can throw it anywhere you want. Opinion: I don't see a problem with the bigger size of the phone which hinders you from putting them in a pocket unless you go clubbing every night.
5)Battery life is amazing! No matter how you try to argue, using points like technology difference, habits of users and so forth, the result is same, this phone just last much longer than the phones I have ever used. I do customer service and bookings for long distance and shuttle bus, With this phone and I don't have to put it back to charge for 3 days! I have to charge my old iphone 4 whenever I am near a socket. The energy saving comes with strings attached-it turns off the phone much quicker than my old phones. For a slower thinker like me, frequently, I have to turn the screen on before I have decided what to do next when making a selection during a call. You know all those hard to understand menu system that the corporate put on their end: 1 for A, 2 for B, 3 for A and B, you know what I mean.
6)S-Pen is good but could be better. I have only used the S-Notes. It clearly can benefit from more user orientated design such as scaling the text at will and the "grabbing hand" that Adobe like to use. Even the screen is bigger than most other smart phones, it is still not big enough for type thesis with. So you will want to move the "paper" a lot. Of course, you should not waste your time in other smart phones using the build in note pads to do any real productive typing. BTW, using the S-pen reminds me of the PDA era. Comparing to Live Scribe with the cel. phone sync, the S-pen/S-note is lacking but it still beats most other smart phones in this area. Opinion: All the added screen size, speed and the air pen still do not make this into a word processor but it has significantly increased productivity from the other style of smart phones. For those who want to use a tablet or a cel phone to jog down important notes and diagram, the best tools I found is Livescribe with cel. phone sync. Not only does it gets you a digital version, it also give you a hard copy to give to your client on the spot. It also can record the voice while you write, so you don't have pull your hair trying to understand what you are actually writing at the meeting.
6)I keep touching the buttons. Will report back this part after I put a case on it like all other older smart phones I used.
7)Using remote control functions on it to control my stuffs(not just PCs) is a pleasure with the bigger screen size. You just have to try it yourself to feel the difference. Opinion: If you need to remote control another PC or smart device, this phone make it meaningful.
Hope this article helps you to choose a more appropriate phone for you.
1)The Notes2 will be outdated by Note3, Sept, I was told, I bought it for the low price bundle from Verizon. It costed me $125 and a 2yr contract bundle. With all the features and power, Opinion, this is lowly priced!
2)If you are in New York City, the bundle will work for you. When I was using AT&T, I never can get proper signal in my workshop nor even at a job site right on the busiest part of Flushing. It's not the phone nor the communication technology used but the network service from AT&T that is failing. My friend and many of you guys who come to pick up things from my workshop knows, even other 4G LTE phones do not have good signal here when on AT&T, so Opinion: Verizon is Good, at lest in NYC
3)The Note2 is fast! All productivity stuff I used so far are snappy. Do not have a newer iPhone 5 handy or a Nexus 7(I had one before) to test them side by side but generally, I am satisfied with speed so far. But when the power of a machine is going up, new software will go up in complexity too. So if you are planning to use it for productivity and not mainly for consumption, then wait for the Note3. But then the problem of bundle is going to be a waiting game again. As usual, sucky AT&T will pick them up first and half year later the better Verizon will finally gets to bundle the new(but getting old) phone, say, 6 months to 9 months later when the next model(Note4 will be due in 3 months, LOL). Opinion: Test the application you are going to use from a friend's Note2. If you are satisfied then go buy one, else wait for another phone, there will be numerous competitive ones coming out in 3 months(even tomorrow.)
4)Experience in watching movies is great. I was on shuttle bus frequently and I can feel why people watching their movies on iPhones are peeking at mine instead. The screen is huge. This is a plus for sitting down and have the luxury to watch movies. But the size become a problem as well when you want to sit down in a public/semi public transit fearing people may just take it away or mislay it somewhere as not all pockets are created equal. This will not affect you if you are in your own car, you can throw it anywhere you want. Opinion: I don't see a problem with the bigger size of the phone which hinders you from putting them in a pocket unless you go clubbing every night.
5)Battery life is amazing! No matter how you try to argue, using points like technology difference, habits of users and so forth, the result is same, this phone just last much longer than the phones I have ever used. I do customer service and bookings for long distance and shuttle bus, With this phone and I don't have to put it back to charge for 3 days! I have to charge my old iphone 4 whenever I am near a socket. The energy saving comes with strings attached-it turns off the phone much quicker than my old phones. For a slower thinker like me, frequently, I have to turn the screen on before I have decided what to do next when making a selection during a call. You know all those hard to understand menu system that the corporate put on their end: 1 for A, 2 for B, 3 for A and B, you know what I mean.
6)S-Pen is good but could be better. I have only used the S-Notes. It clearly can benefit from more user orientated design such as scaling the text at will and the "grabbing hand" that Adobe like to use. Even the screen is bigger than most other smart phones, it is still not big enough for type thesis with. So you will want to move the "paper" a lot. Of course, you should not waste your time in other smart phones using the build in note pads to do any real productive typing. BTW, using the S-pen reminds me of the PDA era. Comparing to Live Scribe with the cel. phone sync, the S-pen/S-note is lacking but it still beats most other smart phones in this area. Opinion: All the added screen size, speed and the air pen still do not make this into a word processor but it has significantly increased productivity from the other style of smart phones. For those who want to use a tablet or a cel phone to jog down important notes and diagram, the best tools I found is Livescribe with cel. phone sync. Not only does it gets you a digital version, it also give you a hard copy to give to your client on the spot. It also can record the voice while you write, so you don't have pull your hair trying to understand what you are actually writing at the meeting.
6)I keep touching the buttons. Will report back this part after I put a case on it like all other older smart phones I used.
7)Using remote control functions on it to control my stuffs(not just PCs) is a pleasure with the bigger screen size. You just have to try it yourself to feel the difference. Opinion: If you need to remote control another PC or smart device, this phone make it meaningful.
Hope this article helps you to choose a more appropriate phone for you.
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