My Thoughts on the Samsung Galaxy Note II

Recently I had the good fortune, through work, of playing with the Samsung Galaxy Note II. I had 2 weeks to mess around with it, run some tests and get a good idea of how the phone functioned. Here are my thoughts.

• The phone is super fast and really responsive. Using it next to my Nexus made the Nexus seem really old and slow. 
• The battery life is really good. With pretty regular use I was able to go more than a day without charging (though I would recommend charging it every day).
• The display looks great. I really enjoyed using it for photos and even reading.
• The size generally wasn’t an issue. Yes it’s big, and sometimes I needed two hands to use it, but overall I didn’t shy away from using the phone because of it.
• Typing on it was really easy. Not only is the keyboard nice, but the size is pretty perfect for typing.
• I love the S Pen. The handwriting on it is rock solid and it’s fantastic for annotating photos and jotting down quick notes.
• I did not like the default launcher. Aside from some clutter, there was not an easy way to access the Play Store. I downloaded Nova Launcher almost immediately.
• I wish there was a more robust built-in photo editor. Jelly Bean comes with a really nice one, but it seemed to be missing from the Note II.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this phone. I’m up for an upgrade next month and it’s definitely on my short list.