The tab s is a beast! - Galaxy Tab S General

My old tablet was a note 10.1 2014 which was heavy, somewhat slow and had a washed out screen when viewed on the sides. The tab s on the other hand is extremely light weight, fluid and virtually lag free (if you use Nova launcher)!! I can't believe Samsung did such a poor job of updating their previous flagship. These two tablets have virtually the same specs but the experience on the note was just painful because you always knew it could do more. Even opening the keyboard and typing on it was kinda slow.
I have no idea what Samsung is doing releasing these many tables to flood the market and I guess they're borrowing a page or two from apples playback regarding planned obsolescence for their hardware.
This is the best tablet experience I have ever had on Android and I have used both the nexus 7s, note 10.1 2014 and the nexus 10. Speed is on per with the note 3 which is a beast of an android.

yeah ive seen the 2014 edition as well as the tab pro tablets ive always noticed the screens are kinda washed out or im just used to super amoled on my notes lol

kingofthebraves said:
My old tablet was a note 10.1 2014 which was heavy, somewhat slow and had a washed out screen when viewed on the sides. The tab s on the other hand is extremely light weight, fluid and virtually lag free (if you use Nova launcher)!! I can't believe Samsung did such a poor job of updating their previous flagship. These two tablets have virtually the same specs but the experience on the note was just painful because you always knew it could do more. Even opening the keyboard and typing on it was kinda slow.
I have no idea what Samsung is doing releasing these many tables to flood the market and I guess they're borrowing a page or two from apples playback regarding planned obsolescence for their hardware.
This is the best tablet experience I have ever had on Android and I have used both the nexus 7s, note 10.1 2014 and the nexus 10. Speed is on per with the note 3 which is a beast of an android.
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I agree completely. I will also add that there was a hardware bluetooth issue, because the same bluetooth keyboard that would constantly disconnect on the Note 2014 now works without issue on the Tab S. I had made modifications to my Note and it ran great and battery life was good, but the Tab S is just better, in every way. The ONLY thing I miss is the S Pen and I wish they would just release all their products with an S Pen, because with their track record, I'm preparing myself to be pissed when in a couple months they announce the Note S (I assume around the time they release the Note 4) [emoji35]

toyanucci said:
I agree completely. I will also add that there was a hardware bluetooth issue, because the same bluetooth keyboard that would constantly disconnect on the Note 2014 now works without issue on the Tab S. I had made modifications to my Note and it ran great and battery life was good, but the Tab S is just better, in every way. The ONLY thing I miss is the S Pen and I wish they would just release all their products with an S Pen, because with their track record, I'm preparing myself to be pissed when in a couple months they announce the Note S (I assume around the time they release the Note 4) [emoji35]
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You know you can just buy an s-pen....right?

12MaNy said:
You know you can just buy an s-pen....right?
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It doesn't work like that. The S Pen works with the wacom digitizer which is built into the screen of Note devices. The Tab S doesn't have th3 wacom digitizer so no, the S Pen won't work with it (the one from my Note 3 doesn't work with it for example).

The N10.1-14, Pro's, and Tab S' are the same devices repackaged. They're all using the same SoC's, core UI (TW 4.4 with or w/o M-UX), and h/w components. Exceptions being form factor, LCD vs. AMOLED, USB 3.0 on 12" tablets, finger print reader on the S'. Therefore saying "OMG! What a difference!", either positive or negative, doesn't really jive with reality. I've always been kind of LCD vs. AMOLED agnostic. AMOLED colors tend to be more blown out (which I actually like), blacks and contrast speak for themselves, but white's are always blueish. LCD displays tend to be brighter, colors are less vivid and separated, blacks and contrast weaker, with truer whites. Counting Apple's devices LCD still outsells AMOLED 4:1.
AMOLED sucks battery on whites and kicks butt on darker colors. Most productivity apps have white backgrounds which is definitely going to be a problem for productivity users. As will browsing and using the Tab S as a reader.
As for Samsung's LCD QHD tablet displays, they are the best LCD displays currently available and by no means deficient. To each their own...

BarryH_GEG said:
The N10.1-14, Pro's, and Tab S' are the same devices repackaged. They're all using the same SoC's, core UI (TW 4.4 with or w/o M-UX), and h/w components. Exceptions being form factor, LCD vs. AMOLED, USB 3.0 on 12" tablets, finger print reader on the S'. Therefore saying "OMG! What a difference!", either positive or negative, doesn't really jive with reality. I've always been kind of LCD vs. AMOLED agnostic. AMOLED colors tend to be more blown out (which I actually like), blacks and contrast speak for themselves, but white's are always blueish. LCD displays tend to be brighter, colors are less vivid and separated, blacks and contrast weaker, with truer whites. Counting Apple's devices LCD still outsells AMOLED 4:1.
AMOLED sucks battery on whites and kicks butt on darker colors. Most productivity apps have white backgrounds which is definitely going to be a problem for productivity users. As will browsing and using the Tab S as a reader.
As for Samsung's LCD QHD tablet displays, they are the best LCD displays currently available and by no means deficient. To each their own...
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Click to collapse
I've had both, and the difference in battery life is more than a couple hours doing the same tasks. I didn't comment on the snappiness because your right, it's all the same internals however the software is tweaked differently which makes a difference as well.
My tablets are for web browsing and media consumption and for that I usually get by without any lags or jerkiness WITH power saving on. I posted in the battery life thread and you'll notice my even shots have power saving on as I don't really game anymore much less on my tablet. Either way, I've seen real world improvements but I understand your core point.
I also disagree that amoled whites are blueish, my note 3 and tab s have the truest whites of all my devices including my macbook pro to the point where I use them at about 20% brightness indoors, often times even less because over that the whites hurt my eyes. And this also has me thinking if the battery life test you posted was with brightness at 100% as with my tab s I get about 1 hour and 15 minutes per 10% battery while browsing so I'm not sure what they did to get those results.

toyanucci said:
I've had both, and the difference in battery life is more than a couple hours doing the same tasks. I didn't comment on the snappiness because your right, it's all the same internals however the software is tweaked differently which makes a difference as well.
My tablets are for web browsing and media consumption and for that I usually get by without any lags or jerkiness WITH power saving on. I posted in the battery life thread and you'll notice my even shots have power saving on as I don't really game anymore much less on my tablet. Either way, I've seen real world improvements but I understand your core point.
I also disagree that amoled whites are blueish, my note 3 and tab s have the truest whites of all my devices including my macbook pro to the point where I use them at about 20% brightness indoors, often times even less because over that the whites hurt my eyes. And this also has me thinking if the battery life test you posted was with brightness at 100% as with my tab s I get about 1 hour and 15 minutes per 10% battery while browsing so I'm not sure what they did to get those results.
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I didn't post to make anyone with a Tab S like it less. I really like the design, accessories, and larger display on the 10.5. But people can get "deals" on the Pro's and N10.1-14 that makes them worth considering (for some). I'm a 10" fan so have no interest in the 8.4 but a Pro 8.4 can be had at Best Buy for $229 which makes it pretty compelling; especially since it's S-800. Point being there's lots to like about the S' but their release didn't instantly make the Note/Pro's cow dung.
The white point average (closest to 6,500K is better) for the devices we're talking about is:
Note 3 - 7,126
Note 10.1 - 2014 - 6,821
Tab S 10.5 - 6,516
Tab S 8.4 - 6,295
IPad Air - 7,377
So the N10.1-14 does better on whites than all but the 10.5 Tab S and with a much smaller margin the S 8.4.
If you're interested, here are the links showing the detailed results for the Tab S and N10.1-14. There's no question the S' results are better (with the exception of brightness) but, for an LCD display, Samsung did a good job with their QHD panels. But let's face it, people judge displays based on what looks best to them and that's more important than statistics.
N10.1-14 - http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/3
Tab S' - http://www.anandtech.com/show/8197/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-review-105-84inch/2

BarryH_GEG said:
The N10.1-14, Pro's, and Tab S' are the same devices repackaged. They're all using the same SoC's, core UI (TW 4.4 with or w/o M-UX), and h/w components. Exceptions being form factor, LCD vs. AMOLED, USB 3.0 on 12" tablets, finger print reader on the S'. Therefore saying "OMG! What a difference!", either positive or negative, doesn't really jive with reality. I've always been kind of LCD vs. AMOLED agnostic. AMOLED colors tend to be more blown out (which I actually like), blacks and contrast speak for themselves, but white's are always blueish. LCD displays tend to be brighter, colors are less vivid and separated, blacks and contrast weaker, with truer whites. Counting Apple's devices LCD still outsells AMOLED 4:1.
AMOLED sucks battery on whites and kicks butt on darker colors. Most productivity apps have white backgrounds which is definitely going to be a problem for productivity users. As will browsing and using the Tab S as a reader.
As for Samsung's LCD QHD tablet displays, they are the best LCD displays currently available and by no means deficient. To each their own...
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Click to collapse
Same device indeed but the performance on responsive was on the software is staggering. My note was running a custom room with everything tweaked and it still cannot open a keyboard without a split second lag or two. Everything was always one step behind and never instantaneous. The tab s is the only Android device that made me feel it was on par with the iPad in fluidity and that's high praise.

BarryH_GEG said:
I didn't post to make anyone with a Tab S like it less. I really like the design, accessories, and larger display on the 10.5. But people can get "deals" on the Pro's and N10.1-14 that makes them worth considering (for some). I'm a 10" fan so have no interest in the 8.4 but a Pro 8.4 can be had at Best Buy for $229 which makes it pretty compelling; especially since it's S-800. Point being there's lots to like about the S' but their release didn't instantly make the Note/Pro's cow dung.
The white point average (closest to 6,500K is better) for the devices we're talking about is:
Note 3 - 7,126
Note 10.1 - 2014 - 6,821
Tab S 10.5 - 6,516
Tab S 8.4 - 6,295
IPad Air - 7,377
So the N10.1-14 does better on whites than all but the 10.5 Tab S and with a much smaller margin the S 8.4.
If you're interested, here are the links showing the detailed results for the Tab S and N10.1-14. There's no question the S' results are better (with the exception of brightness) but, for an LCD display, Samsung did a good job with their QHD panels. But let's face it, people judge displays based on what looks best to them and that's more important than statistics.
N10.1-14 - http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/3
Tab S' - http://www.anandtech.com/show/8197/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-review-105-84inch/2
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Hey, theres 1 thing I don't like about the Tab S display. In movies human skin has an orange tint which I can't get used to, I'm awaiting a custom kernel that allows synapse color editing as it's the only one that allows for negative values, all other screen editing apps only allow you to add, not minus.

kingofthebraves said:
Same device indeed but the performance on responsive was on the software is staggering.
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You realize there's six pages of counter opinion about performance and lag in this thread with folks coming from Note's and Pro's saying it's noticeably worse on the S? Not challenging you (I'm actually fairly lag tolerant as long as it's not in-app) but either the binning in 5420 got you a chip with super powers or people are having very different experiences.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/disappointed-tab-s-t2803856

BarryH_GEG said:
You realize there's six pages of counter opinion about performance and lag in this thread with folks coming from Note's and Pro's saying it's noticeably worse on the S? Not challenging you (I'm actually fairly lag tolerant as long as it's not in-app) but either the binning in 5420 got you a chip with super powers or people are having very different experiences.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/disappointed-tab-s-t2803856
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Lol to each his own. I setup my androids pretty much the same way so the basis for my comparisons are the same. I'm using the Lte variant BTW running on 800, I'm pretty sure most people are on the WiFi only model, perhaps a reasons for the discrepancy?

toyanucci said:
Hey, theres 1 thing I don't like about the Tab S display. In movies human skin has an orange tint which I can't get used to, I'm awaiting a custom kernel that allows synapse color editing as it's the only one that allows for negative values, all other screen editing apps only allow you to add, not minus.
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That's what you get for watching Jersey Shore ☺.
---------- Post added at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 PM ----------
BarryH_GEG said:
You realize there's six pages of counter opinion about performance and lag in this thread with folks coming from Note's and Pro's saying it's noticeably worse on the S? Not challenging you (I'm actually fairly lag tolerant as long as it's not in-app) but either the binning in 5420 got you a chip with super powers or people are having very different experiences.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/disappointed-tab-s-t2803856
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No lag on mine.

mitchellvii said:
No lag on mine.
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Aren't you using a third party launcher? Any comparisons I've made are stock<>stock. You shouldn't have to blow away features to get decent (whatever that means ) performance.

BarryH_GEG said:
Aren't you using a third party launcher? Any comparisons I've made are stock<>stock. You shouldn't have to blow away features to get decent (whatever that means ) performance.
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For me it isn't a matter of principal but just do what works. TouchWiz doesn't work so I replaced it with something that does. I consider anything which the average person can install from the Play Store without root to be "stock" and fair for comparison purposes.
I don't buy Samsung for their awesome software. ☺

BarryH_GEG said:
You shouldn't have to blow away features to get decent (whatever that means ) performance.
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Which features do you 'blow away' by loading Nova launcher?

BarryH_GEG said:
You realize there's six pages of counter opinion about performance and lag in this thread with folks coming from Note's and Pro's saying it's noticeably worse on the S? Not challenging you (I'm actually fairly lag tolerant as long as it's not in-app) but either the binning in 5420 got you a chip with super powers or people are having very different experiences.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/disappointed-tab-s-t2803856
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Click to collapse
All I needed was root. I deboalted and all was well, same as I did with the note. Others complained of lags there too but I was lag free after debloating there as well. I also prefer touchwiz on my tablet even though I use nova on my note 3. I'll post a review video sometime this week. If it's one thing I wish samsung would do is debloat by default lol.

Freakstyler said:
Which features do you 'blow away' by loading Nova launcher?
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The slow ones ?.

mitchellvii said:
The slow ones ��.
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Launchers change the UI of a device. They don't blow away anything, just a different interface to utilize.
Go to task manager and check the RAM with different launchers and the same things in use, the ram ain't going to change. Bloatware impedes performance and alternate launchers do not remove them so that is why folks want to root. One can also turn off featues like multitask if they don't use them.
TouchWiz is much better than it use to be. I can easily live with this UI on the S.

BarryH_GEG said:
I didn't post to make anyone with a Tab S like it less. I really like the design, accessories, and larger display on the 10.5. But people can get "deals" on the Pro's and N10.1-14 that makes them worth considering (for some). I'm a 10" fan so have no interest in the 8.4 but a Pro 8.4 can be had at Best Buy for $229 which makes it pretty compelling; especially since it's S-800. Point being there's lots to like about the S' but their release didn't instantly make the Note/Pro's cow dung.
The white point average (closest to 6,500K is better) for the devices we're talking about is:
Note 3 - 7,126
Note 10.1 - 2014 - 6,821
Tab S 10.5 - 6,516
Tab S 8.4 - 6,295
IPad Air - 7,377
So the N10.1-14 does better on whites than all but the 10.5 Tab S and with a much smaller margin the S 8.4.
If you're interested, here are the links showing the detailed results for the Tab S and N10.1-14. There's no question the S' results are better (with the exception of brightness) but, for an LCD display, Samsung did a good job with their QHD panels. But let's face it, people judge displays based on what looks best to them and that's more important than statistics.
N10.1-14 - http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/3
Tab S' - http://www.anandtech.com/show/8197/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-review-105-84inch/2
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Click to collapse
The pro 8.4 was $249 two weeks ago for a single week. They are back at $330 now and were last week as well.

Related

Question for Galaxy Note + S2 owners

I am thinking about upgrading from S2, can someone with both phones compare - what advantages (if any ) / disadvantages Note has over S2 ?
Obviously Note has bigger screen - but screen aside - did you notice any other area where Note triumphs S2 ? (GPS, wifi, battery life with screen turned on, sound quality, camera, sotware issues...) How about heat problems ? S2 can get pretty hot under high workload, is Note any better ? (afaik it basically runs the same chip just clocked higher which makes me wondering)
Also regarding the screen - are the colors / brightness / outdoor visibility etc. the same and the difference is only in size / resolution / ppi ? And finally: is there someone who tried both and actually preferred S2 ?
They're almost the same. For me the major difference is battery life and spen ... I love to sketch. So I switched. Battery is superb.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
I don't own either, but from what I've seen the battery is way better on the Note than basically any other Android phone. Colors will be slightly less vibrant because it's not a SAMOLED+ display, it's just SAMOLED. But honestly, who cares? It's 720p!
Yumunum said:
I don't own either, but from what I've seen the battery is way better on the Note than basically any other Android phone. Colors will be slightly less vibrant because it's not a SAMOLED+ display, it's just SAMOLED. But honestly, who cares? It's 720p!
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The colors are amazing. I find them just as vibrant as the S2. The only real difference is the pentile display, but the dpi is so high you can't even tell. I find the screen to be far more useful than the S2 with the extra size and resolution.
Battery life wasn't great at first but once I turned off latitude and froze a few samsung apps it got MUCH better. Oh, and using minimum brightness is a major factor too. I wasn't too happy about turning the brightness down but after a day you don't notice it. I just have a widget on the desktop so I can quickly turn up the brightness if I need to.
After using the phone for a bit more, the Note is better in some ares:
-GLONASS satellite system allows it very fast lock in and response, although its not as precise as GPS, maybe 5-10ft off, but realky isn't an issue at all.
-Better PPI, but can see grains if eyes 6" from the screen.
-Screen is slightly brighter.
Cons: Can't operate it one handed at all due to size.
Sound quality is the same, not bad but not great. Same camera I think. Both can get pretty warm, but a case helps.
battery life: qualitatively it seems note lasts longer.
sound quality: equally good but note louder esp on speaker.
heat: i suppose any phone will heat up under stress e.g. video, charging but by and large i have never felt much heat from either.
camera: this is one area note is better than S2. S2 had weird pink hues but this is less noticeable in note. the screen seems to respond better in camera mode for note too.
in short, unless size and portability are major concerns, note is a better get. hope this helps!
comrad said:
I am thinking about upgrading from S2, can someone with both phones compare - what advantages (if any ) / disadvantages Note has over S2 ?
Obviously Note has bigger screen - but screen aside - did you notice any other area where Note triumphs S2 ? (GPS, wifi, battery life with screen turned on, sound quality, camera, sotware issues...) How about heat problems ? S2 can get pretty hot under high workload, is Note any better ? (afaik it basically runs the same chip just clocked higher which makes me wondering)
Also regarding the screen - are the colors / brightness / outdoor visibility etc. the same and the difference is only in size / resolution / ppi ? And finally: is there someone who tried both and actually preferred S2 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Allrighty.
I currently own both, and can help you out with answering a few things.
I'll start off with something that I haven't seen many if any even, touch base on:
Typing is a dream. I used the stock Gingerbread keyboard on my Galaxy SII as it was the most comfortable one for me, but found it a tad cramped at times and landscape was just too wide to type anything on naturally. On the Note using the same keyboard, I personally had fewer mistakes and found that my typing speed had stayed near dead on to my thumbing on the smaller brother. I'd say it hits that sweet spot for completely comfortable portrait typing.
The sound quality in call is right on par with that of the GSII, dare I say even a little bit better. In any of the time I've spent talking on it, I haven't had an issue and it's clear on the other end.
Battery life is most certainly better. It's not worlds better, but I have no worries that I won't kill my battery come the end of my day and get home, whereas there were days were I was cutting it too close for comfort on the GSII. I'm a light to moderate user, with locally stored music playback anywhere from 1-7 hours, screen on time around 3-4 hours, bluetooth always on (for MBW-150), and no wifi every day.
I've found the software for the camera to be improved. It's not Nexus-fast in terms of snapping off a photo, but it's easily much faster at taking a photo on the Note than the GSII. Image quality and detail is on par with the GSII's snapper.
The Note is the same as the SII in terms of heat. That hasn't changed, but this is only if you're actually working it by playing games or watching HD video. Likewise, it stays cool with regular use, as does the SII.
Screen saturation is almost that of the SII's screen, but not enough to fret about. I've found the colour on the Note's screen to be a touch warmer, but that could very well be because it's a newer screen with less on time than my GSII. Outdoor visibility isn't an issue, at my usual screen brightness of 25% I have no problems making out what's on the screen throughout the day, even in near direct sunlight. This was the same case with it's smaller sibling, so no real differences here.
As a note about the Note's screen (pardon the pun), the screen is fantastic. Flat out. Text, images, and video are easily more crisp and enjoyable to view on the Note than the SII. Because of the high pixel density, you can't even make out the sup pixels while reading unless you bring the phone less than 6" away from your face and even then it's difficult.
I absolutely love my Note. Everyone I've showed it to has had the same reaction: "Wow. It huge!". So it most certainly stands out if that might matter to you. There are times where I miss the GSII for it's size and general 'feel'. It's definitely been tamed and feels a touch more responsive while moving through the OS, and the light weight was always a plus. There have been times where my hand was slightly fatigued from holding the Note, but again this really is a two handed device.
To sum it all up, I bought my Galaxy SII in August. I just got my Note about a week ago, never handling or seeing one in real life and I feel it was a worthy enough upgrade. My reasoning is of course biased for my wants in the device, but chances are if you're looking into getting this device, you'll surely be impressed.
It is interesting to see different experiences with SGS2 and Note. I own both, and here is my quick comparison.
Screen - I like the bigger format ( I love the bigger format) but the screen is not as bright as SGS2. White is little bit grayish. Colors are pretty much same, I don't see the problem with RGB or pentile display. So Note: 1 point.
Sound - I absolutely love the sound, all notifications are louder, in call volume louder, speaker louder and more bass. Note: 1 point
Wi Fi signal: I tested SGS2, Note, Galaxy Tab and my wife's Iphone 4G wifi signal strength in my house, I have latest Linksys router, super fast cable internet with latest modem capable up to 100 mbps, in real I am getting 54 mbps. Note performed worst of all of them. Around 16 mbps versus 22 for SGS 2 and iPhone. Very dissapointed with wi fi signal strength as well, loosing signal in places where SGS2 and iPhone still works ok. Note: 0 points, SGS 2 : 1 point.
Camera: oh boy, much much worse than SGS 2, I couldn't believe how bad this camera is. I will post later side by side pictures from both phones with same settings, you will be surprised. Not focusing as quickly as SGS2, white balance off, takes ages refocusing between light area and dark area, etc... SGS 2: 1 more point here.
Stylus: since SGS2 doesn't have it, Note gets 1 more point here, because I find this feature very useful for my business and it was one of the main reasons I bought this phone. (screen and Stylus)
Scrolling between home screens is little bit laggy, much more noticeable than SGS2. Stock browser scrolling is jerky, not iphone smooth as SGS2. Wake up screen delay is 1.5 sec from pressing any button ( home or power) compared to almost instant screen on with SGS2.
Both phones running stock firmware, SGS2 is on UK unbranded 2.3.4 rooted, Note is on 2.3.6. German firmware not rooted.(yet)
Using it on USA AT&T carrier. Phone signal more less same,somewhere SGS2 performs better, somewhere Note has better signal, but I am satisfied with both phones performances.
Overall I prefer Note right now, it may be because of it's novelty versus my "old" SGS2, but it will be very hard for me to go to smaller size screen phone after using Note. Probably the best phone I ever had so far. I bought Note without seeing it in real from Amazon.de and I am not dissapointed with the purchase.
enjoy it, life is short.
Well thanks everyone, my general impressions from what has been said are:
1.) Screen is much better
2.) Battery is much better
3.) Pen is a potential advantage (I almost forgot about the pen)
4.) Experience with remaining features can vary (probably due to manufacturing differences ?) but overall they are all more or less comparable to Galaxy S2
5.) With one exception being GPS, at least based on this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=arOYNNux_mg
it seems the Note's GPS should be quite superior (it may be the best GPS in any phone yet ?)
So if screen, battery life and GPS are improved over S2 then it's probably good enough for me. However it would be much cleaner cut if there would be more horsepower under the hood as well I'd love some faster CPU, 32GB of storage and faster stock sd cards. (Actually I'd love to see some SSD on it You can put SSD into a netbook so why not to a phone ? )
Also one thing I would probably prefer is to have 16:9 (720 height instead of 800) display and about 4.8 - 5" big, slightly more portable and less funny looking while making a call. Maybe they've opted for Note's aspect ratio as to give better support for note taking ?
ive had my galaxy note for a month. just picked up a free galaxy s2 today on vodafone AU's $29 cap. personally, i think i'll stick with the note. everything about the note is just more convenient for me. bigger screen makes portrait keyboard awesome, higher res makes everything look better. battery life is only better on the note with gaming and video watching, both are on par for web browsing battery life due to the weakness of samoled.
gps is much much better on my galaxy note. locks down fairly well when im indoors whilst the s2 cant even lock after running it for half an hour in navigation mode.
as for the screen ratio, samsung havent made a phone that uses 16:9 screen ratio for a fair while (if they have made any at all, cant seem to think of any). the slightly wider/taller (depending on how you look at it) makes portrait keyboard useful, but i must agree, the extra pixels are wasted on videos. if you want a 16:9 screen ratio, look towards the lg nitro hd and galaxy nexus.
one thing the galaxy nexus has that these phones dont seem to have is the correct positioning of the 3.5mm socket. the galaxy nexus has it positioned on the bottom, like my old n900. this is the perfect place for the socket since it means you can pull your phone out of your pocket when headphones are plugged in and it will be the right way up. it also means if youre plugging it into anything in your car, it wont have any silly cables coming out the top. its one of those little things that are nice and much appreciated. but im digressing a bit here.
overall, the phones will be similar, with the screen being the main difference and the unique advantage of the note will be the S pen. but that may be a bit of a downer in terms of update speed. for the galaxy s2, all samsung need to do is refine the experience, add touchwiz, and its all ready. for the note, they need to add touchwiz and then modify the S-Pen apps to run correctly as well. shouldnt delay the release of ICS for the note by too much considering samsung should have gained experience with ICS when working with the galaxy nexus, but its still a bit of a delay.
and i dont think SSDs will be needed on phones for a fair while. honestly, when will you need a read speed faster than 20mb/s? or a write speed faster than that? its only really useful when transferring files to and from a PC, but as to actual device usage, it has little impact. videos are encoded at what? 17mbps? thats still only 2-3mb/s of write speed needed. theres very little on the device that could take advantage of the added speed of an SSD. its just something that will drive up the product cost with very little benefit in realworld usage. apps load quickly enough so i dont think samsung would bother to consider an SSD for phones anytime soon.
Souai said:
and i dont think SSDs will be needed on phones for a fair while. honestly, when will you need a read speed faster than 20mb/s? or a write speed faster than that? its only really useful when transferring files to and from a PC, but as to actual device usage, it has little impact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Faster than 20MB/s - yes it's mainly for data transfer. But note also that while most android apps are small, some (especially games which can have couple of hundreds of MBs) should benefit from faster storage. And if you bench seq. write speed of S2 it's nowhere near to 20MB/s. It's more like 5-7MB/s - very slow for large data transfers (I don't know if Galaxy Note is any better). The internal memory of S2 is of course optimized for fast random reads/writes rather then seq. speeds. But if we can have high capacity USB3 sticks with read / write speeds above 100 MB/s and still very good random read/write speeds (e.g. 64GB flash for about 100€) then maybe to have phone with 32GB-64GB internal memory and 50/30MB/s and USB3 etc. could be done for similar price (which would be very fine with me).
Note seems to be well suited for video playback but with typical 720p movie at about 5GB I find the 12GB internal + 32GB external SD cards quite limiting in capacity as well as in transfer speeds (esp. considering that I need permanently at least 16GB for my music collection and lot's of free space for 1080p video recording) Surprisingly most netbooks have comparable RAM capacity and CPU speeds (at least for non floating point tasks) to those of highend smartphones, yet the storage capacity and seq. transfer speeds on netbooks is order of magnitudes higher.
I got it today ! It's very big AND unfortunately the side panel has annoying squeaking problem. It's only on one place - below the volume button, exactly where I tend to leave my fingers. Anyone else with the same problem ? Never had any squeaking problems on SGS2.
Is there a possibility that the back cover has not been clicked in place properly? I get squeaking too when that happens.
I have both phones.
When I got the Note I wanted to sell the S2, even had a buyer for it.
But after I used the Note for a day I start to have serious second thoughts.
The S2 is so much smoother ... Honestly, in this respect the Note is much closer to SG1 than SG2.
Hey mates
I have both of these phones myself, and I'm just wondering is there any possibilities to move memos from SGS2 to note??
Chagrim said:
Hey mates
I have both of these phones myself, and I'm just wondering is there any possibilities to move memos from SGS2 to note??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the backup feature on the PC, with syncing them to google, with the option to back them up with MyBackup, there are a lot of options Probably the easiest would be go into the options of your SGS2 Memo app and sync it to google, and then just redownload them on the Note. I like everything OTA. I dislike having to plug everything in to get stuff done.
zkyevolved said:
With the backup feature on the PC, with syncing them to google, with the option to back them up with MyBackup, there are a lot of options Probably the easiest would be go into the options of your SGS2 Memo app and sync it to google, and then just redownload them on the Note. I like everything OTA. I dislike having to plug everything in to get stuff done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, now I feel myself really dumb! Thanks for that
holgalee said:
Is there a possibility that the back cover has not been clicked in place properly? I get squeaking too when that happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not possible because I tripplechecked (by removing and putting back) the cover prior to asking here.
But there is more to Note than that: I saw videos of Note compared to S2 etc. on youtube I saw pictures in reviews etc. but nothing could prepare me to how big it actually is in real. I will be probably in minority here but I can't avoid thinking that it's actually too big - for calling it a phone at least. At the same time I could live with larger screen and res than S2 (mostly for comfortable video watching) So I think if I could spec and ideal phone for me, based on interpolation between S2 and Note it would have display comparable to Galaxy Nexus (1280x720 ~ 4.7" - 4.8", 120g - 140g) that should be a perfect balance between display usefulness and overall portability. Too bad they've crippled Nexus with missing SD slot and missing flash support. Hope that Galaxy S3 will hit it all right (I already can't wait ) Btw any chance Note's awesome GPS making it to other Samsung phones ? (can it be put to any phone regardless of it's size ?) As far as GPS goes the difference is stunning (basically a toy like implementation vs. state of the art awesomeness)
Now I have hard time deciding what to do with Note: I should probably return it but then the screen is so awesome that it's very tough to just return it, even when I don't need it Btw about the screen and pentile vs. non-pentile debate: there were only few occasions when I noticed there was some grain on the Note without looking for it, e.g. the red birds in Angry Birds Rio and orange balloon in Samsung demo video (from 0:36) On galaxy2 I never noticed any grain (even when looking for it), so yes Superamoled Plus would be even nicer but for 99% of practical cases it doesn't matter to me.
Where are those comparsion photos that someone mentioned. Has anyone had the camera perform poorly?
I own both, well I gave the S2 to the missus when I got the Note.
The Note is equivalent too, or better then the S2 in everything. I would find it impossible to have an S2 as my main phone now after having used the Note for almost a month.
You will hear a lot of negativity about the size of the Note, I kept hearing it is too big, it is uncomfortable to carry etc etc. Nonsense. It took me a day (max) to get use to the size, it fits in all my pockets comfortably and is very portable. Dare I say it I think it could even be a tad bigger, maybe 5.5" All other phones now seem tiny to me, and this has become the standard. I don't think I will be able to go back to a small(er) phone after using this.
I have found the camera and video recording similar to the S2. GPS on the Note is amazing, I get a lock in seconds, it beats every other satnav/phone I have ever owned. The screen... wow. One month on and it still impresses me. Games, Videos, Satnav, Internet Browsing even Ebook reading is all a joy on the Note, it is the ultimate all in one device imo.

Galaxy Note 2 VS GSIII VS Next Nexus

Hello everyone I'm just trying to get a general idea of your thoughts on the matter. I am currently an Owner of the Galaxy S3 (White Model) A couple weeks from now the new Galaxy Note will be announced and a little down the road the new Nexus device. First of all I've never owned a Note but it does intrigue me A LOT. Would I be better off staying with my GSIII or should I wait on the next nexus or Based on the use of your current Galaxy Note would you suggest I get the Galaxy Note 2? I love the 4.8in screen on my GS3, and heave even bought a stylus for it, but would like the larger screen that the Note offers. Is the screen that much of a difference?
averymlewis said:
Hello everyone I'm just trying to get a general idea of your thoughts on the matter. I am currently an Owner of the Galaxy S3 (White Model) A couple weeks from now the new Galaxy Note will be announced and a little down the road the new Nexus device. First of all I've never owned a Note but it does intrigue me A LOT. Would I be better off staying with my GSIII or should I wait on the next nexus or Based on the use of your current Galaxy Note would you suggest I get the Galaxy Note 2? I love the 4.8in screen on my GS3, and heave even bought a stylus for it, but would like the larger screen that the Note offers. Is the screen that much of a difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes in my view.
Sent From My GT-N7000 Using XDA Premium.
averymlewis said:
Hello everyone I'm just trying to get a general idea of your thoughts on the matter. I am currently an Owner of the Galaxy S3 (White Model) A couple weeks from now the new Galaxy Note will be announced and a little down the road the new Nexus device. First of all I've never owned a Note but it does intrigue me A LOT. Would I be better off staying with my GSIII or should I wait on the next nexus or Based on the use of your current Galaxy Note would you suggest I get the Galaxy Note 2? I love the 4.8in screen on my GS3, and heave even bought a stylus for it, but would like the larger screen that the Note offers. Is the screen that much of a difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES it is :good:
My friend got a s3 n I got a note. His s3 reminds me of my s2. Not interested in the s3 anymore.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app
The next Nexus sounds like a winner to me. A pure Google experience without the nasty touchwiz, sense, motoblur, etc ui, gotta love it!
Att.Fan1982 said:
The next Nexus sounds like a winner to me. A pure Google experience without the nasty touchwiz, sense, motoblur, etc ui, gotta love it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer the hardware of a flagship device, then AOSP from 3rd party dev's to get the best of both worlds.
Hence, an S3 with CM10 is better than a Gnex.
TO THE OP:
Don't take anyone's word for it. Wear some jeans and walk in to a mobile showroom.
Check out the size of it, hands-on. Slip it into your jean pocket. Walk around sit down. Run (no don't do that, you'll get caught).
If you can tolerate the slight heft, by all means go for it.
The extra screen estate and S PEN makes a world of a difference.
All-in-all, if you decide to get a NOTE, wait for the NOTE2 announcement, hands-on, release and the subsequent reviews by trustable sources (cnet's not too bad, even engadget makes good reviews). Patience is key !
In my opinion, the note 2 with jelly bean firmware, could be the best phone ever created...
The rumour going round at the moment is that the Note 2 will have a lower resolution screen than the original Note - 1280x720 vs 1280x800.
If this is true, it is a mistake in my opinion as it will remove one of the differentiators between the Note 2 and the S3, probably leaving only the larger screen and S-Pen.
It wouldn't necessarily stop me getting a Note 2, but I doubt that I would bother if I already had an S3.
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
The rumour going round at the moment is that the Note 2 will have a lower resolution screen than the original Note - 1280x720 vs 1280x800.
If this is true, it is a mistake in my opinion as it will remove one of the differentiators between the Note 2 and the S3, probably leaving only the larger screen and S-Pen.
It wouldn't necessarily stop me getting a Note 2, but I doubt that I would bother if I already had an S3.
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are the main differences that this lower resolution could bring that would be easily noticeable? I'm reading a lot of comments about this, but I thought DPI setting was more important than resolution.
Could you explain us why less 80 pixels would be so terrible?
By the way, if Samsung will really do this, probably it's for a great reason! Or not?
Kangal said:
I prefer the hardware of a flagship device, then AOSP from 3rd party dev's to get the best of both worlds.
Hence, an S3 with CM10 is better than a Gnex.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmmm, interesting point but the nexus is a flagship device
Sent From An Awesome Jelly Bean Galaxy Note
viniciusrsouza said:
Could you explain us why less 80 pixels would be so terrible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't say it would be terrible, just that if I had an S3, I doubt I would move to a Note 2 if it had exactly the same screen resolution.
However, from my perspective, I frequently connect to remote desktops using my Note, and those additional 80 pixels make quite a bit of difference in that scenario to what you can physically fit on the screen.
If the Note 2 does have a 720p screen, it is leaning more towards phone than tablet, and I rather like where the Note sits at present.
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
I didn't say it would be terrible, just that if I had an S3, I doubt I would move to a Note 2 if it had exactly the same screen resolution.
However, from my perspective, I frequently connect to remote desktops using my Note, and those additional 80 pixels make quite a bit of difference in that scenario to what you can physically fit on the screen.
If the Note 2 does have a 720p screen, it is leaning more towards phone than tablet, and I rather like where the Note sits at present.
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry Dave you've got it all wrong.
1280 x 720 isn't less pixels than the NOTE 1.
If its in RGB format, each pixel will have 4 subunits. Pentile has 3.
So you're effectively increasing the subpixel count by 30%
Sure you're "losing" 80 pixels on the width, but that doesn't really affect anything.
Videos would look better because of 16:9 size.
Browsing will have same content but "zoomed out" slightly.
That's pretty much it.
Comparing RGB to PenTile is a joke though, compare the SGS to SGS2's screen to understand.
Anyone with a small 4.8in PenTile screen going to a 5.5in RGB screen is effectively upgrading to much better display with a bigger size. I'll say it one last time, throwing pixels and resolutions at a phone is not going to make it easier/better to use. At one point it can become a moot point.
1280x800 has the advantage that when you use a video you can view full screen 16:9 video and the extra 80 pixels are for your status bar, so in a 1280x720 res screen you will need to expand the desktop to view 16:9 video. This is the main reason for 1280x800 and why I think its a better resolution ratio of 16:10.
This would be the same as if the next note would be 1920x1200 rather then 1920x1080 which I think would be nicer having a higher pixel density, if Samsung went to the full HD res though this would eat into performance and battery life. So going to full HD with the improved hardware over the current note performance would end up similar to what the current Note is but unless battery would be upped to 3500mah it would like reduce overall life.
I prefer the 16:10 screen ratio which in use is really 16:9 as the extra 80 pixels are your status bar, I would have liked the higher res even if pentile at 1920x1200, the density would be nice to have and as with the samsung screen used in the new Ipad that pixel density is quite possible. Not sure if they have managed it in Oled screens yet and if they can do it in RGB or pentile but I think it would have more then likely made me upgrade if this is the screen they want.
As is my contract has expired and I may upgrade from my current note but there isnt much in the specs Ive seen so far that is tempting me, if the screen is dropping to 1280x720 even if going always from pentile and being slightly larger. This isnt a good point to me in terms of wanting to upgrade to the note 2, most likely if this is the case they have got the extra .2 inches by keeping the width the same as in the current note and extending the height to go from 16:9 to 16:10. I like 16:9 aspect of the current note with those extra 80 pixels for the status bar taking them away will make the real ratio more like 16:8 if you keep the status bar on screen so I dont think this is a great move.
Touchwis and all the other samsung software on the s3 does nothing for me, I will end up with a cm10 version of paranoid android which I am currently more then happy with cm9 PA 0.5 atm. I tried the JB version but many things just dont work great on JB for the current note yet and we will need to wait on an official note release and source code of this to get the modders to final in cm10.
Kangal said:
Sorry Dave you've got it all wrong.
1280 x 720 isn't less pixels than the NOTE 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry - that is plain nonsense. Pixels are pixels regardless of whether you are using RGB stripes or Pentile.
Subpixels are a *completely* different issue, and given we've no reason to believe at this stage that the Note 2 will not have a Pentile screen, the point is largely moot.
Sure you're "losing" 80 pixels on the width, but that doesn't really affect anything.
Videos would look better because of 16:9 size.
Browsing will have same content but "zoomed out" slightly.
That's pretty much it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eye of the beholder. I'd much rather have those 80pixels back because it makes a world of difference on an RDP session.
Comparing RGB to PenTile is a joke though, compare the SGS to SGS2's screen to understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On small screens, as the resolution increases the disadvantages of Pentile become less and less apparent.
Anyone with a small 4.8in PenTile screen going to a 5.5in RGB screen is effectively upgrading to much better display with a bigger size. I'll say it one last time, throwing pixels and resolutions at a phone is not going to make it easier/better to use. At one point it can become a moot point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again - where is the evidence that the Note 2 won't have a Pentile screen? I'd be prepare to bet that it does!
Regards,
Dave
Pentile vs rgb will double red and blue sub pixels, this will improve colour accuracy but doesnt improve resolution. 1280x800 pentile is still 1280x800 pixels rgb 1280x720 is lower resolution but more sub pixels will improve colours but going up to 5.5 your reducing the actual pixel density but increasing the overall colour density if that makes any sense.
Nearly all digital cameras use a pentile type sensor in cmos cameras with a bayer sensor, I am pretty sure all phone cameras will have such sensors. There arent many complaints in this and even though a true rgb sensor would give best results as resolution goes up you will barely notice this.
Going to 720p is still a bad idea because if your status bar is using 80 pixels then in wide mode your video only has 1280x640 of useable screen pixels. The status bar can be shrunk to use less but as long as its on screen you wont have a standard 16:9 viewable area on the screen. Pentile or not your still losing pixels and also screen ratio so its not a good thing how I see it.
martcerv said:
1280x800 has the advantage that when you use a video you can view full screen 16:9 video and the extra 80 pixels are for your status bar, so in a 1280x720 res screen you will need to expand the desktop to view 16:9 video. This is the main reason for 1280x800 and why I think its a better resolution ratio of 16:10.
This would be the same as if the next note would be 1920x1200 rather then 1920x1080 which I think would be nicer having a higher pixel density, if Samsung went to the full HD res though this would eat into performance and battery life. So going to full HD with the improved hardware over the current note performance would end up similar to what the current Note is but unless battery would be upped to 3500mah it would like reduce overall life.
I prefer the 16:10 screen ratio which in use is really 16:9 as the extra 80 pixels are your status bar, I would have liked the higher res even if pentile at 1920x1200, the density would be nice to have and as with the samsung screen used in the new Ipad that pixel density is quite possible. Not sure if they have managed it in Oled screens yet and if they can do it in RGB or pentile but I think it would have more then likely made me upgrade if this is the screen they want.
As is my contract has expired and I may upgrade from my current note but there isnt much in the specs Ive seen so far that is tempting me, if the screen is dropping to 1280x720 even if going always from pentile and being slightly larger. This isnt a good point to me in terms of wanting to upgrade to the note 2, most likely if this is the case they have got the extra .2 inches by keeping the width the same as in the current note and extending the height to go from 16:9 to 16:10. I like 16:9 aspect of the current note with those extra 80 pixels for the status bar taking them away will make the real ratio more like 16:8 if you keep the status bar on screen so I dont think this is a great move.
Touchwis and all the other samsung software on the s3 does nothing for me, I will end up with a cm10 version of paranoid android which I am currently more then happy with cm9 PA 0.5 atm. I tried the JB version but many things just dont work great on JB for the current note yet and we will need to wait on an official note release and source code of this to get the modders to final in cm10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When watching videos the Status Bar hides. And if you have on-screen buttons, they hide too.
When using the NOTE, you primarily use it on Portrait mode. So the extra 80 pixels don't help for the Status Bar or the On-screen buttons. Its pretty much "wasted" on the empty spaces in the Browser and Apps, making things look a tad more "zoomed in".
---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:49 PM ----------
foxmeister said:
we've no reason to believe at this stage that the Note 2 will not have a Pentile screen, the point is largely moot.
On small screens, as the resolution increases the disadvantages of Pentile become less and less apparent.
Again - where is the evidence that the Note 2 won't have a Pentile screen? I'd be prepare to bet that it does!
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just arguing about the rumours, never claimed they would hit retail.
Samsung putting a 5.5in 1280 x 720 PenTile screen is a mistake in my humble opinion. It would be downgrading. If it is 5.5in 1280 x 720 RGB, I'd say its an improvement.
Sure the pixel density suffers a little.
And you might lose the Home button to wake the device, or comfortably push the Back and Menu keys.
A better screen (little less blurry, yes I can see the PenTile again, can't unsee it)
But what you get is a more modern design.
Virtual keys that we can mod the shlt out of.
And a larger screen when doing stuff like watching videos and toggling the Status Bar/Buttons off.
---------- Post added at 02:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:54 PM ----------
foxmeister said:
Sorry - that is plain nonsense. Pixels are pixels regardless of whether you are using RGB stripes or Pentile.
Subpixels are a *completely* different issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already addressed this in that comment which you haven't quoted.
You're right you are still losing 80 pixels.
....However the phone is held in portrait mode most of the time, so the 80pixel is lost from the horizontal axis.
It doesn't mean horizontally the screen is smaller, it means horizontally there's less detail.
Though in most Apps this is just loss of clarity (which is compensated by a much clearer RGB layout). Even in the browser, these pixels usually just fill up blank spaces.
THEREFORE, this is not a deal breaker.
And at least we fall unto a standard ratio and resolution. Otherwise I would completely agree with you.
foxmeister said:
Eye of the beholder. I'd much rather have those 80pixels back because it makes a world of difference on an RDP session.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. Others have also chimed in on this.
To be honest, I don't RDP or chroot anymore. It was handy at first, but its still feels like a beta test on each use. And its not a primary function of the NOTE, and I don't think the majority utilize this function. I know when I need those functions, and I just carry an Ultrabook.
Should be even easier in the future with Win8 hitting smaller form factors like tablets.
---------- Post added at 02:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:07 PM ----------
martcerv said:
Pentile vs rgb will double red and blue sub pixels, this will improve colour accuracy but doesnt improve resolution. 1280x800 pentile is still 1280x800 pixels rgb 1280x720 is lower resolution but more sub pixels will improve colours but going up to 5.5 your reducing the actual pixel density but increasing the overall colour density if that makes any sense.
Nearly all digital cameras use a pentile type sensor in cmos cameras with a bayer sensor, I am pretty sure all phone cameras will have such sensors. There arent many complaints in this and even though a true rgb sensor would give best results as resolution goes up you will barely notice this.
Going to 720p is still a bad idea because if your status bar is using 80 pixels then in wide mode your video only has 1280x640 of useable screen pixels. The status bar can be shrunk to use less but as long as its on screen you wont have a standard 16:9 viewable area on the screen. Pentile or not your still losing pixels and also screen ratio so its not a good thing how I see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The status bar DOESN'T consume 80 pixels. It uses 54 pixels (or 4.2% space).
The on-screen buttons consume 96 pixels (or 7.5% space).
They both utilize the space from the vertical plane, the 80 pixels, are lost from the horizontal plane.
On certain functions, like video playback, they Hide, and the content uses the whole screen.
On certain Apps, like Angry Birds, they Hide, and the content uses the whole screen.
On certain ROMS, like AOKP, they can be customized with any picture/logo, glow effect, order, function, or gesture. They can also be toggled ON/OFF at anytime or Pre-Set for any Apps (Paranoid).
There's just more opportunities to work with on-screen buttons, I think Google made the right call.
Kangal said:
I already addressed this in that comment which you haven't quoted.
You're right you are still losing 80 pixels.
....However the phone is held in portrait mode most of the time, so the 80pixel is lost from the horizontal axis.
It doesn't mean horizontally the screen is smaller, it means horizontally there's less detail.
Though in most Apps this is just loss of clarity (which is compensated by a much clearer RGB layout). Even in the browser, these pixels usually just fill up blank spaces.
THEREFORE, this is not a deal breaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Losing 80 pixels from the screen and then losing further pixels due to the soft buttons makes a *huge* amount of difference if your primary usage mode is landscape, and definitely roams into deal breaker territory for me. That would mean that I would be better off with an SIII since at least it still has physical buttons.
Whilst I do use my Note as a phone, I don't use it often in portrait except when actually making phone calls. That would not be the case if it had been a 720p device, but the Note changed my usage due to the dimensions of the screen.
What I'd like to see from the Note 2 is "like the Note, but better" - 720p with soft buttons is in my opinion not like the Note, and not better. Your mileage may vary of course, and I appreciate that, but the Note 2 as described here is just a bigger SIII with an S-Pen - I would never have bought the original Note if it had just been a bigger SII with an S-Pen!
I could possibly see myself living with 720p if there were physical buttons, or 1280x800 with soft keys, but 720p with soft keys? No thanks!
Of course, next week we should know for certain exactly what the Note 2 will be.
Regards,
Dave
Well I would imagine the Note 2 would be like the S3 except with a larger screen and S-Pen. In that nature that's a good thing because the GSIII has a vast amount of motion features that I use on the daily bases. As for a matter of fact I had put cm10 on my GSIII and after using it for a while converted back to stock because the Touchwiz camera, motions, and other features just outdid stock Jellybean. So a Note2 with GS3 features sounds like a win not to mention it should be a JB build so we'll get the new notifications and Google Now. But I think its fair to say everyone pretty much eliminated the New Nexus device. Do you think think theres that much difference between a 4.8in screen Vs a 5.3/5.5?
averymlewis said:
Well I would imagine the Note 2 would be like the S3 except with a larger screen and S-Pen. In that nature that's a good thing because the GSIII has a vast amount of motion features that I use on the daily bases. As for a matter of fact I had put cm10 on my GSIII and after using it for a while converted back to stock because the Touchwiz camera, motions, and other features just outdid stock Jellybean. So a Note2 with GS3 features sounds like a win not to mention it should be a JB build so we'll get the new notifications and Google Now. But I think its fair to say everyone pretty much eliminated the New Nexus device. Do you think think theres that much difference between a 4.8in screen Vs a 5.3/5.5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a quick rule of thumb just remember this:
1-On-screen buttons waste 0.3 inches.
2-A screen difference is notable for each 0.3inches.
So if you go from an iPhone to something like 3.9 inches (Desire); you're gonna notice the improvement.
To a 4.2 inch (Xperia Arc) device again, notice the improvement.
To a 4.5 inch (Epic Touch), then to a 4.8 inch (S3), then to a 5.1 inch (Streak), then to a 5.4 inch (Note 1/2).
....So Yeah, there is much difference between an S3 and NOTE.
I own the Note and the Nexus. I skipped getting the S3 to see what the Note 2 will bring to the table and I might hold off on the Note 2 to see how the next Nexus will look and to see if Asus or anyone else makes a good 7" tablet to counter the no rear camera, no sd slot and small storage on the Nexus 7.Before I pull the trigger I want to make sure I have the best combo of devices. I am looking to have a phone tablet combo for sure. Either a Note 2 and a Note 10.1 or a 7" Tablet with the next Nexus or S3:victory:

tab s processor

I like tab s 10.5 and I like to buy it but I wonder if the processor shiped in it is good enough or should I wait till they release The Note 2015 which I believe will come with amoled screen too ( which is my main concern in this tablet)
salahfathi said:
I like tab s 10.5 and I like to buy it but I wonder if the processor shiped in it is good enough or should I wait till they release The Note 2015 which I believe will come with amoled screen too ( which is my main concern in this tablet)
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I returned mine it was to laggy for me
5420 is a bit weak, 5433 would have been ideal.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
I'm honestly not seeing insane lag on mine. Chrome was pretty bad when I first got it but after an update that came through it seems to be a lot better, and I'm using TW. I wouldn't worry about the processor but if you need the pen that's another story. I'm happy with the Tab S which for me means a lot. My brother calls me the return master because If I'm not totally happy I'll return something in a heartbeat. I actually went through more than 15 Nexus 10's because of different issues but Im totally happy now with keeping the Tab S. The only things I would like is USB 3.0 and a 12.2 version but I only had a Nexus 7 on hand and didn't want to wait for them to be released.
Sent from my RM-938_lta_lta_905 (Unicorn) using Tapatalk
I already have note 3 with spen which I dont use alot but I think note 2015 will worth waiting if it comes with abetter processor , my main concern is will the note 2015 come with amoled or lcd screen ( Iam mainly interested in tab s due to its screen )
Thanks
salahfathi said:
my main concern is will the note 2015 come with amoled or lcd screen
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It's hard to say for two reasons. Inductive displays are pretty complicated so it's not as simple as just throwing a pen sensitive layer on top. The Tab Pro 10.1 has a totally different LCD than the N10.1-14 as they score very differently in objective testing. So the question is whether AMOLED's as big as we're discussing can be made to work in the inductive display model.
Conductive (traditional touch screen)
Inductive (Wacom, S Pen, etc.)
Secondly, Note's are typically used as productivity and creation devices. Most apps in that category use white backgrounds. Making the existing Tab S' "Notes" with the same size battery and the burden of the additional battery draw of the inductive display looking for its pen companion would yield horrible battery life. Battery performance on whites isn't exactly a strong suit as it stands.
BarryH_GEG said:
It's hard to say for two reasons. Inductive displays are pretty complicated so it's not as simple as just throwing a pen sensitive layer on top. The Tab Pro 10.1 has a totally different LCD than the N10.1-14 as they score very differently in objective testing. So the question is whether AMOLED's as big as we're discussing can be made to work in the inductive display model.
Conductive (traditional touch screen)
Inductive (Wacom, S Pen, etc.)
Secondly, Note's are typically used as productivity and creation devices. Most apps in that category use white backgrounds. Making the existing Tab S' "Notes" with the same size battery and the burden of the additional battery draw of the inductive display looking for its pen companion would yield horrible battery life. Battery performance on whites isn't exactly a strong suit as it stands.
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That last stat can be addressed by using Next browser in night mode. Though I know you were not talking about web browsing specifically but rather white apps in general I just thought I would toss that in there. I just wish the email app had a night mode....

Finally purchased a Tab S 8.4 yesterday!

First Impressions so far are great! I have been eyeing it for quite a while now, but decided to finally get it yesterday. I also bought the Book Cover. The screen is simply amazing. Darkest blacks I have ever seen on an AMOLED screen. And this is coming from an S5 user. Also the speakers are pretty loud and clear for a tablet of this size! Definitely owns the iPad Mini! :laugh:
Galaxy Tab S by deepen03, on Flickr
Galaxy Tab S by deepen03, on Flickr
2560x1600 Video Demo:
Galaxy Tab S by deepen03, on Flickr
Awesome Matey! I got the LTE Version. Am an iPad air user, this AMOLED Screen is amazing!
I ordered mine this afternoon and it should be here tomorrow. Still hunting down accessories. This will be my first tablet. Looking forward to it; who doesn't like shiny new toys? I did lots of research and this seems to be the best tablet right now. Went with the black.
Any accessories you looking to get for it?
Somehow I'm surprised by how thin it is... I don't think I've owned any portable device that what this thin, tablet or otherwise. It's one thing to read about it or even see it in a pic, but when you finally hold it...
I'm actually not a fan of the bronze trim, though, makes the device look kind of..."blingy"...Like an expensive wristwatch or something. Not sure how to describe it. It's aesthetically pleasing, but seems out of place.
Thing just feels too fragile for me to take it anywhere yet, though. Need to get a good cover/case.
Really impressed with the display.
Leonart said:
Somehow I'm surprised by how thin it is... I don't think I've owned any portable device that what this thin, tablet or otherwise. It's one thing to read about it or even see it in a pic, but when you finally hold it...
I'm actually not a fan of the bronze trim, though, makes the device look kind of..."blingy"...Like an expensive wristwatch or something. Not sure how to describe it. It's aesthetically pleasing, but seems out of place.
Thing just feels too fragile for me to take it anywhere yet, though. Need to get a good cover/case.
Really impressed with the display.
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I didnt think it looks too bad, the bronze fits well with the titanium.
I'm not so impressed
I've had the 8.4 Tab s for a few weeks now and tbh apart from the screen (even that has issues) I'm not overally impressed. The interface is a bit messy and extremely laggy. It stutters when scrolling and quite obviously the Exynos processor isn't up to the job for handling the 1440p screen. The Screen is highly reflective and forget about watching films etc in bright light it is almost impossible.
If they had used the 805 or K1 SOC for overall responsiveness and improved the screen for outside use I would far happier, I also have the Shield Tablet and that is so much faster for almost all tasks it's beyond a joke. Also I still find the Android Tablet interface lacking compared to Apple's. Anyway OP hopefully they will improve the responsiveness with a few updates and I hope you enjoy the tablet.
I just got it yesteday... amaizing... I used many samsung tablets... but this one is sleek and fast... loving it so far.
JustinL01 said:
I've had the 8.4 Tab s for a few weeks now and tbh apart from the screen (even that has issues) I'm not overally impressed. The interface is a bit messy and extremely laggy. It stutters when scrolling and quite obviously the Exynos processor isn't up to the job for handling the 1440p screen. The Screen is highly reflective and forget about watching films etc in bright light it is almost impossible.
If they had used the 805 or K1 SOC for overall responsiveness and improved the screen for outside use I would far happier, I also have the Shield Tablet and that is so much faster for almost all tasks it's beyond a joke. Also I still find the Android Tablet interface lacking compared to Apple's. Anyway OP hopefully they will improve the responsiveness with a few updates and I hope you enjoy the tablet.
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There seems to be a lot of disagreement here. Some people are saying it is smooth just being stock, some say can be smooth if you use a different launcher or de-bloat the device. I personally haven't noticed any extreme lag; mostly just quarter-second delays when doing something for the first time, e.g. opening the app drawer soon after waking the device up. But I at least saw someone's video of some pretty extreme lag. It's definitely worrying. I also don't have any tablet by which to compare this one, so it's hard for me to really perceive how slow the device might be.
I can't claim to understand the decision to use an 8-core CPU. It sounds fancy. But even the newest PC games utilize only 2-4 cores, so it seems like overkill for a tablet. Maybe I am misunderstanding how those cores are being used in the context of a tablet; perhaps they come into play when you are actually using the split-window functionality?
Leonart said:
There seems to be a lot of disagreement here. Some people are saying it is smooth just being stock, some say can be smooth if you use a different launcher or de-bloat the device. I personally haven't noticed any extreme lag; mostly just quarter-second delays when doing something for the first time, e.g. opening the app drawer soon after waking the device up. But I at least saw someone's video of some pretty extreme lag. It's definitely worrying. I also don't have any tablet by which to compare this one, so it's hard for me to really perceive how slow the device might be.
I can't claim to understand the decision to use an 8-core CPU. It sounds fancy. But even the newest PC games utilize only 2-4 cores, so it seems like overkill for a tablet. Maybe I am misunderstanding how those cores are being used in the context of a tablet; perhaps they come into play when you are actually using the split-window functionality?
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The SoC has 8 cores in two 4-cores-set, only one set is active on a given time, one set is battery optimized and the other performance oriented, the lagging is prolly caused -apart from bloatware- by the governor, too much to decide, switching from one set of cores to another/plugging-unplugging cores based on demand/scaling the cpu freq. to cope with load. There's much to be tweaked -maybe at the expense of lower battery life-.
I was also looking for the s800 version but given the lack of information/availability I just went on a bought today the Exynos based one. Apart from the lag of the TW interface, I noticed two things I didn't like: my screen has a slight green cast when viewing from an angle, and -I have a very good sight- I notice the pentile/diamond arranging of the pixels at normal viewing distance, just barely but enough to annoy me sometimes ... that's a disappointment, on the Galaxy S4 I can't notice individual pixels even looking for them
Provinomico said:
The SoC has 8 cores in two 4-cores-set, only one set is active on a given time, one set is battery optimized and the other performance oriented, the lagging is prolly caused -apart from bloatware- by the governor, too much to decide, switching from one set of cores to another/plugging-unplugging cores based on demand/scaling the cpu freq. to cope with load. There's much to be tweaked -maybe at the expense of lower battery life-.
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Ah. That's an interesting architecture. Almost sounds like it's too smart for its own good... Sounds like something that can be improved, at the very least. Thanks for the insight.
ozmoii said:
Awesome Matey! I got the LTE Version. Am an iPad air user, this AMOLED Screen is amazing!
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I have an S5, but the AMOLED screen on a tablet is Impressive! Samsung has really done it! I tested a 4k video on it and it was SMOOTH!
Df9 debloated and deodexed. Switching launchers to adwex, and latest chrome update, and this thing flies!! Think touchwiz and its new feeds arethe problem.
The screen is pretty reflective. Annoys me a bit.
Swiftkey rocks.
Battery life is decent browsing, sick long with video.
Pretty happy with it so far.
I ownedor a week and returned it ot get this. Pro was a little snappier, battery life wasnt bad.
Love the s screen better and the accessories are a big deal (got the free book case). The pro wont probably get the same love.
Cheers
I got the T705 (8.4" LTE) this weekend and found it to be a really blinding tablet! The screen and the thin format is absolutely lovely.
So far very happy and even exceeds the SGT 7.7 which I had some years ago.
/Per
Perus said:
I got the T705 (8.4" LTE) this weekend and found it to be a really blinding tablet! The screen and the thin format is absolutely lovely.
So far very happy and even exceeds the SGT 7.7 which I had some years ago.
/Per
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Lol glad to see some old.mates from 7.7. Tab S 8.4 could be the true successor of that device.
To OP. 1st of all. Congratulations on your new baby. Welcome to the club. Like your observation. The amoled in this unit is superb. Even in total darkness, you wont see any hint of glow or those 'newtonian rings' which plagues alder amoled display. Sometimes. I need to tap on back/menu button just to know that the tablet didn't sleep especially during a blackscreen loading time in some games.
So happy with this unit. Couple it with a tempred glass + samsung bookcase for protection. Got some battery issues at first but managed to resolve it. I paired it with my gear 2 and i couldnt be happier
-source

Samsung is working on the second generation of the Tab S

It took longer than I thought it would considering its Samsung but I read an article announcing their working on a second generation of the tab s. There wasn't much info nor were there any specs so I didn't post the link. Hopefully this one will fix all the minor issues. Considering what the original was this new one should be the top dog for awhile. Has anyone heard any other info?
Moto X 2014
Yes. Article in Android Authority. 9.x" and 8.0" Tab S2
They're gonna be 4:3 ratio which sucks for media.
Sigh, please be a rumor with this 4:3 crap! What are we reverting to a simpler time?
Grrrrrrrr!
4:3 is very good for everything else besides watching movies, but I guess if you use your tablet for watching movies mostly then yeah it's going to suck.
What I want is better speakers (probably not gonna happen) and I want less air gap between the glass and screen to make the screen look even better.
Better speakers would definitely be nice but I'm not sure how good they'd be in a slim casing. New tab will most likely get the toned down tw. I couldn't wait to root and get rid of tw, its the #1 that keeps me away from Samsung phones. I love the note 4...
Moto X 2014
Im pretty sure its going to have the new exynos chip. Like the ones made in korea that had a tad newer chip then the ones we have now. And probably a fix on the overheating issue.
DUHAsianSKILLZ said:
Im pretty sure its going to have the new exynos chip. Like the ones made in korea that had a tad newer chip then the ones we have now. And probably a fix on the overheating issue.
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+1 on the over heat issues, been having it all day(playing hearthstone)
I'm very happy with my 10.5 and looking forward to 5.0.1. It helped reduce lag on my note 4 considerably - its virtually non existent now, and the battery life is better so I can't wait to receive it on my current tab s - hoping it will kill the lag. I don't think I'll upgrade this time round to be honest. It all works well (side sync and throw to my samsung UHD TV works a treat).
Ok, perhaps it would be a change of pace having a smaller screen but.... I really hope they offer this tablet in 32 or 64gb (128, yeah right) this time and kill 16gb once and for all.
No tablet should have 16gb in 2015. I paid extra to buy the 32gb 10.5S just on principle.
Here are some leaked specs....rumored.
http://www.sammobile.com/2015/02/19...y-tab-s-2-8-inch-and-9-7-inch-specifications/
I think 4:3 would be an improvement. As some others have said, 16:10 is good for movies. For everything else 4:3 is better.
I think I'd actually prefer 3:2, but either that or 4:3 would make me upgrade from my Tab Pro 10.1. I can't really get used to 16:10, it only feels right when watching movies.
I felt the same way. I would absolutely positively never use a device with 4:3 aspect ratio.
Then I got a nexus 9. Figured I would hate it. But I found that movies were actually fine on it. It is more a psychological thing about unused screen space I think, because I found it no more distracting than 2.35:1 aspect ratio on 16:9.
But what made me really love it was having books, magazines, textbooks and comic books fill the screen completely. Very comfortable if one does a lot of reading.
And the strangest thing: I found myself surfing the web in portrait! Caught myself one day... though...whoa...when did I start doing that? Didn't even think about it. Its strange but 4:3 makes a web page feel like you are reading a book.
As a disclaimer, before someone gets on my case for daring to mention the nexus 9 on a Tab S forum: I own a Tab S 8.4 and a Tab S 10.5 so I do have a basis for comparison.
And for what its worth, I still watch most movies on the Tab S because the Amoled screen is unparalleled for movie watching.
A new 4:3 Tab S with Amoled I think I would be a remarkably versatile tablet and in retrospect I think I would be fine with the idea.
I disagree. Tablets are more for media consumption than anything else and 16:9 is the standard so anything closer to that would be better for me. I owned ipads and would upgrade every year up until the ipad air with I owned for a week and returned it. The black bars watching movies made the 9.7" screen feel a little bigger than my note 3! Switched to a note 10.1 2014 and it was so much more immersive because the video occupied more of the screen. On flights all the ipad people I sit beside usually ask about my tablet and the fact that the video looks so much bigger on my device than theirs, so I'm hoping the new device will be 16:10 and include an SPen, as it is so much more useful on a tablet than on a note device.
Digital Man said:
But what made me really love it was having books, magazines, textbooks and comic books fill the screen completely. Very comfortable if one does a lot of reading.
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Regarding comics, the resolution used by Comixology digital comics is 1988 x 3056 which is quite a bit closer to 16:10 than 4:3.
The thing with movies is depends on the software you can just zoom in and fill up the screen. Sure you are not getting the whole movie frame and not seeing the movie as the director intended, but nobody intended you to watch their movies on a little phone or tablet either [emoji20]
on the other hand, with non movies stuff things feel more proportional on a 4:3 screen. If you're browsing the web, in landscape you have wide space horizontally that may be unused and at the same time you see less of a page vertically and have to scroll down more to read. In portrait it's too narrow and text maybe too small.
With apps like Gmail or tapatalk where you have a split pane in landscape mode, again it is too wide horizontally so the space is a bit wasted but too short vertically so you see fewer messages. In portrait mode, split pane is just too narrow and awkward so they end up using a pull out drawer design instead. Thus you have basically turned your tablet into a giant phone. Take the on screen keyboard. On the 4:3 screen, it has roughly square keys like a real keyboard, as opposed to rectangular keys like the infamous chiclet keyboard on the IBM junior. (In dating myself lol)
When I moved from iPad to android tablet first thing I noticed was most apps are just phone apps on a big screen and not really taking advantage of a large screen. I think 16:10 has something to do with it. If you look at lollipop, Google didn't even bother to do anything different on tablet. The settings app for example doesn't even fill up the screen.
Of course a great deal depends on your use mix, but I think some people just reflexively hate 4:3 because Apple uses it and they haven't had much experience with it.
I'm going yikes at the choice of the 5433. My feeling was always that we got shortchanged in getting a 5420 after SGS5 released with a newer version. I can see myself passing to wait for a Snapdragon 810/Exynos 7420 processor so that my tablet is not outclassed by my phone.
As to the 4:3 vs 16:9, I'll try anything once. Sadly, post Nexus 9, I can see a world where 16:9 tablets cease to exist (apple has a majority of the tablet market in the 4:3 factor so other than Google's insistance, as a competitor, that's the way the world will work.
I got a Dell Venue 7840 (because I will try anything once). I can feel the speed bump. It doesn't impress me otherwise relative to the Tab S (screen is same to slightly worse, dimensions are within 10% on thickness and 2% of length/width and it weighs more. Post having that and playing at the store with a Nexus 9, I feel like samsung could take the tab s, do nothing but replace the processor and have a 2015 flagship.
My concern is that the rumor mill says the battery will be only 3800mah. My T705 has 4600. Battery efficiencies are always improving, so Samsung should be striving for as big a battery as possible, not just rely on newer chips and a lower resolution screen to save power. Better, bigger batteries are super important for all mobile devices. Just getting by is a mistake. Do you get that Samsung?
Itchiee said:
Here are some leaked specs....rumored.
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Click to collapse
I sure am hoping the Tab S 2 leaked specs are indeed just made up for clickbait! The screen - the one outstanding feature of the original Tab S and the main reason people (inc. me) bought it - sounds like it will be far worse. It will be shrunk, have a worse resolution and a 100% media-hostile 4:3 aspect ratio.
Having used my Tab S (with CyanogenMod of course) for a while now, I'm convinced that the quality of the screen is the most important aspect of a tablet (far more so than CPU/GPU/RAM specs) and if Samsung make the screen worse like the leaks claim, then they're not onto a winner in my books.
rklrkl said:
I sure am hoping the Tab S 2 leaked specs are indeed just made up for clickbait! The screen - the one outstanding feature of the original Tab S and the main reason people (inc. me) bought it - sounds like it will be far worse. It will be shrunk, have a worse resolution and a 100% media-hostile 4:3 aspect ratio.
Having used my Tab S (with CyanogenMod of course) for a while now, I'm convinced that the quality of the screen is the most important aspect of a tablet (far more so than CPU/GPU/RAM specs) and if Samsung make the screen worse like the leaks claim, then they're not onto a winner in my books.
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I've learned not to pay leaks any mind especially when it comes to samsung. They've hurt a lot of feelings over the years with expectations. They know they hit a hr with the tab s display it would be a shame and a death sentence to lose a products main feature.
Moto X 2014

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