Note or Nexus?

jubei · 30 Oct 2011 at 20:24

Hey guys,

Had my desire since they came out n although its been good i am seriously bored of it now and looking to upgrade to something faster and with a bigger screen. My phone generally sees the majority of its use as a browser and music player i dont make many calls at all just text.

So which of the new galaxy phones is actually the most powerful? I am leaning towards the note for the extra screen real estate but wasnt sure if the nexus had something other than ICS that the note wont have?

Also if i were to go for the note, would u go for white or black? N whats generally the best payg carrier to go with for unlimited fast data? I am currently on contract wtih t-mobile which is unlimited but heard people say its apparently slow?

Cheers

geon106 · 30 Oct 2011 at 20:41

If you don't mind the size, get the Note.

Spec is amazing. Apart from the HD screen is better than the Nexus.

Its quite a large phone, similar size to the Dell Streak mini-tablet though.

jubei · 30 Oct 2011 at 20:48

geon106 said:
If you don't mind the size, get the Note.

Spec is amazing. Apart from the HD screen is better than the Nexus.

Its quite a large phone, similar size to the Dell Streak mini-tablet though.

thought it was pretty much same display as the nexus just on a bigger screen so slightly lower pixel density? N yeah there is nothing else nexus has over the note then? I was definately leaning towards the note anyway cheers

geon106 · 30 Oct 2011 at 20:51

jubei said:
thought it was pretty much same display as the nexus just on a bigger screen so slightly lower pixel density? N yeah there is nothing else nexus has over the note then? I was definately leaning towards the note anyway cheers

Your welcome. They are both hi res screens, but iirc the note isn't full HD. But i may be wrong.

I know everything else is higher on the note.

Note = SG2 on steroids lol

But yeah, its larger because of it

jubei · 30 Oct 2011 at 20:59

1280*800 apparently.

Anyone know how to find out how many texts i use on t-mobile? I have unlimited texts and data with 300 mins for 15 odd a month. Looking at 3 payg and for 15 a month i can get 300 mins, 3000 texts and unlimited data. 3000 sounds like a lot but i dont really make phonecalls other than the odd taxi i mostly text and have a feeling i prolly use a lot more than i think?

DIABLO · 30 Oct 2011 at 21:47

You just ask yourself do you send more then 97 texts a day. Look at your bill if you want to see how many you exactly sent. I personally would get a white one as every phone is black now plus black shows finger prints.

kylew · 30 Oct 2011 at 22:02

geon106 said:
Your welcome. They are both hi res screens, but iirc the note isn't full HD. But i may be wrong.

I know everything else is higher on the note.

Note = SG2 on steroids lol

But yeah, its larger because of it

Galaxy Note isn't full HD (that's 1920x1080) it is however still HD and is slightly higher res than the Galaxy Nexus. The note has a 16:10 screen at 1280x800 whereas the Nexus's screen is 16:9 at 1280x720.

The Note is of a higher spec in nearly every regard.

CPU of the Note is a 1.4Ghz Dual core where as it's 1.2Ghz for the Nexus.

Same amount of RAM (1GB)

GPU on the Note is higher spec than the Nexus, but I don't think this impacts much, but it'll mean it'll cope with 3D games better than the Nexus.

Note has a MicroSD slot whereas the Nexus has a fixed amount (16-32GB) with no expansion slot.

Everything else besides the size is very similar. The Nexus is coming with ICS/Android 4.0 whereas the Note will be shipping with Gingerbread, but ICS has been confirmed for it.

The ICS thing was the decider for me, as I was initially going to go for the Nexus because of ICS, but with it coming to Note, I now feel it's a no-brainer for me to get the Note because I prefer larger screens, I prefer 16:10 the stylus is a nice addition, and I think the better GPU in the Note will suit me better as I'm interested in emulators.

kylew · 30 Oct 2011 at 22:12

DIABLO said:
You just ask yourself do you send more than 97 texts a day. Look at your bill if you want to see how many you exactly sent. I personally would get a white one as every phone is black now plus black shows finger prints.

I'm leaning towards getting the White Note myself, I had a play with black and white Galaxy S2s yesterday and got a better feel for the white one, though I'm not sure why, maybe it's the contrast between the screen and the casing that I like?

Also somewhat unrelated, I feel like I've been missing out big-time with having an iPhone. I've had a play with Android a bit as the "Missus" has a HTC Hero, and I quite liked it, but on the Galaxy S2 it's something entirely different.

I know people claim iOS is highly polished compared to Android but I don't see it myself, iOS feels old, stale and dirty (yeah yeah hyperbole) compared to the Android on the S2, I've played around with an iPhone 4S and a few 4s and to me it's just more of the same with improvements making a difference to specific apps and things like web browsing (cameras aside). I'm really looking forward to retiring my iPhone 3G in favour of a Galaxy note, I think it'll take a very long time for me to get bored of Android OS.

EdwardTeach · 30 Oct 2011 at 22:26

I am very keen on the note myself. Like the op I primarily use my phone for non phone functions - web browsing, emails and media player. Therefore I think the note would suit me well.

Are there any pricings yet for what it will cost on a contract?

Robbo · 30 Oct 2011 at 22:54

Nexus.

Better overall size, ICS immediately with good future support and it has a much nicer design.

While it isn't quite as well specced as the Note, I expect the differences will be pretty small.

kylew said:
I'm leaning towards getting the White Note myself, I had a play with black and white Galaxy S2s yesterday and got a better feel for the white one, though I'm not sure why, maybe it's the contrast between the screen and the casing that I like?

Also somewhat unrelated, I feel like I've been missing out big-time with having an iPhone. I've had a play with Android a bit as the "Missus" has a HTC Hero, and I quite liked it, but on the Galaxy S2 it's something entirely different.

I know people claim iOS is highly polished compared to Android but I don't see it myself, iOS feels old, stale and dirty (yeah yeah hyperbole) compared to the Android on the S2, I've played around with an iPhone 4S and a few 4s and to me it's just more of the same with improvements making a difference to specific apps and things like web browsing (cameras aside). I'm really looking forward to retiring my iPhone 3G in favour of a Galaxy note, I think it'll take a very long time for me to get bored of Android OS.

I think the problem is more the 3G than the iPhone itself. I thought the HTC Hero was pretty nasty though, I got rid of mine fast. If you think TouchWiz on the Galaxy S II makes iOS 5 on the 4S feel 'old, stale and dirty', then that's a VERY interesting opinion you hold

kylew · 30 Oct 2011 at 23:11

Robbo said:
Nexus.

Better overall size, ICS immediately with good future support and it has a much nicer design.

While it isn't quite as well specced as the Note, I expect the differences will be pretty small.

I think the problem is more the 3G than the iPhone itself. I thought the HTC Hero was pretty nasty though, I got rid of mine fast. If you think TouchWiz on the Galaxy S II makes iOS 5 on the 4S feel 'old, stale and dirty', then that's a VERY interesting opinion you hold

I had a 4S in my other hand. But no it's not TouchWiz, it's the whole "Package" so to speak. It just felt like barely anything had changed since I first got my iPhone, other than things that should have been there in the first place like custom wallpapers and springboard wallpapers (it took them long enough to bring that in, then of course acted like it was a revolutionary feature).

I feel like iOS is too "app centric", like it relies too much on apps for functionality. For example I don't get why you can't have widgets on the spring board. Take facebook/twitter/email you can have them as widgets on the homescreen on Android, but with iOS you've got to open the app to get any info out of it, the most you'll get is a notification bubble on the app's icon to let you know you've got a new email, for example.

That's what feels stale about iOS. The main screen is just a row of icons for apps to give you info, I like the information readout you can set up on android. To me, the TouchWiz thing is just a means to get to somewhere else, like another app, which is what made iOS feel stale, as that's the "focus" of the home screen.

Plus the form factor, seeing an iPhone next to an S2 just made the iPhone look like a clunky toy. I know it's about perception, which is subjective but seeing the S2 next to the iPhone, and pictures of it next to the Galaxy note just make the iPhone look fisherprice to me.

I've used iPhones for years now and the OS still looks practically the same as it did from day one, which nowadays is quite stale.

Buttkicker · 30 Oct 2011 at 23:14

Note for me - my wife's SG2 is an awesome bit of kit so the Note with a bigger screen is right up my street now my eyes are not as good as they used to be

Robbo · 30 Oct 2011 at 23:14

Yes, that's entirely fair enough. iOS is an app platform mainly, which is what I like (and sometimes dislike) about it.

kylew · 30 Oct 2011 at 23:25

I think it'll be to Apple's detriment though because I highly doubt I'm in an extreme minority that have the same feelings about iPhones and iOS. There just seems to be a reluctance to actually change anything about iOS, they're going to have to start changing iOS at some point to keep it fresh and relevant.

I think it's obvious that's how they're operating with how long it's taken them to implement some basic features at times, like how I said about custom wallpapers and lock screens, notifications, MMS, video recording and tethering to name a few. It honestly seems like they're too worried to make any changes.

jubei · 30 Oct 2011 at 23:51

I got rid of my iphone 3 to make the move to android for the same reasons listed above. I was completely bored of how iOS looked.

Robbo · 31 Oct 2011 at 08:28

kylew said:
I think it'll be to Apple's detriment though because I highly doubt I'm in an extreme minority that have the same feelings about iPhones and iOS. There just seems to be a reluctance to actually change anything about iOS, they're going to have to start changing iOS at some point to keep it fresh and relevant.

I think it's obvious that's how they're operating with how long it's taken them to implement some basic features at times, like how I said about custom wallpapers and lock screens, notifications, MMS, video recording and tethering to name a few. It honestly seems like they're too worried to make any changes.

jubei said:
I got rid of my iphone 3 to make the move to android for the same reasons listed above. I was completely bored of how iOS looked.

That is because you've used it for so long, Android still looks similar to earlier builds (less so now with ICS), the main visual changes are new widgets and icons.

I don't think that Apple are scared to change iOS, I think they are happy with how it is now and want to develop it without making it too much like Android. If they overcomplicate it, it would work against them. It can do the vast majority of important things, in fact, there is very little (in the way of mainstream features) it can't do.

The iPhone is popular because it has a different approach to Android, Android as it stands is too 'geeky' for your average person to enjoy, they will not reap the benefits of it compared to an iPhone. They just want to launch apps (which is where iOS is unquestionably better) and use it as a phone.

If you want your phone to behave more like a computer than a phone, then Android and things like the Note are absolutely the way to go. Either way, any modern phone is a massive step up from a 3G, I have a 3G in a drawer somewhere...

Myshra · 31 Oct 2011 at 08:58

I'd really urge people considering the note to find one in person because they are that big. Sites that show them versus other handsets give some idea but the thing is boarderline un-pocketable using the tester we have. It's pretty nice to hold (pretty tough to hold one handed) and it works well, it's just the size of a brick.

Robbo · 31 Oct 2011 at 09:01

Myshra said:
I'd really urge people considering the note to find one in person because they are that big. Sites that show them versus other handsets give some idea but the thing is boarderline un-pocketable using the tester we have. It's pretty nice to hold (pretty tough to hold one handed) and it works well, it's just the size of a brick.

Have you got a Nexus in yet? I imagine they are considerably more comfortable to 'live with'.

Mr Krugga · 31 Oct 2011 at 09:03

Note is absolutely huge, it wouldn't work well as a mobile phone for me.

Nexus on the other hand is very tempting.

Myshra · 31 Oct 2011 at 09:11

Robbo said:
Have you got a Nexus in yet? I imagine they are considerably more comfortable to 'live with'.

Nexus is nicer to hold, not half as difficult one handed if you know what I mean. It's more SGS2 than note that's for sure. While the nexus size is a bit bigger than I'd like it's certainly more usable, the note is almost comically oversized, not really sure where the target is for this device considering the nexus announcement either - it now lacks power advantage (200Mhz isn't noticeable) and ICS in comparison.