Long term test drive: Samsung Note II

So I have been playing with my Samsung Note 2 for a couple months now, and once you get over the relative size of this near phone/tablet hybrid, it is a sleek device!

My test drive was courtesy of my friends over at AT&T, so it is powered by their 4G service, which in most cases proves to be pretty good for on the fly Google searches, social media, and even catching up on Scandal on Netflix.

That having been said, on a recent trip to Vermont, I did find places that companions with other carriers, including Sprint and Verizon, had better luck, but we can get into that in a little bit.

I had the opportunity to play around last year with the Note1, which touted much of the same in size and operation as it’s updated brother, so I was excited about the opportunity to get my paws on the second generation.  The biggest difference of note – see what I did there?? – Between the Note and the other Samsung handhelds, besides the extra large screen, is the stylus that is tucked up on the bottom of the phone.  When you pull this digital pen out, regardless of what you are working on, a small note screen pops up, allowing you to take notes in your own hand writing.

From there, the note can be saved on the phone, or shared to a myriad of places, including JPGs to other phones, attached emails, and even a Twitter entry.   Kind of cool. 

If you are texting challenged like yours truly, this is a nice feature.  Speaking of texting, you can also use the stylus, or

your finger for that matter, to draw letters that will translate into text.  Nice touch.

I also am an avid user of speech to text.  With my rather limited, and if you have ever received a text from me, you know what I mean, capabilities, the ability to speak my mind right to your phone saves me time, and the game of “what did Tyler mean?” is someone diffused for you.  I have tried the STT function on other phones, and I have noticed that with all carriers and handhelds, they are getting markedly better.  The Note 2, however, seems to be about as good as I have seen.  Nice job!

The Note is powered on an Android platform, so it comes with all the goodies you would expect, including the Google interface, maps, and Play Store for more apps than you can shake a stick at.  The phone seldom gets hung up, and can seamlessly and quickly cycle through screens, and arrangement is pretty easy as well.  Although there are menu and some function buttons that are touch driven, there is a great big physical button that will always take you to your home screen if you find yourself down a rabbit hole.

I have noticed an interesting thing about people and their iPhones.  They are loyal to a T, and love them to the end…that is, of course, until they see the pictures that this little phone can take.  With it’s 8 MP camera, it takes sharp, and I do mean sharp pictures and video.  So nice, in fact, that I have used many clips and pics on television.  So after seeing first hand what the camera on the Note can do, even the most loyal iPhone user will concede and ask me to take the pictures because they are that much nicer.

While we are on the physical, I did make mention of the screen, which measures 5.94x3.17 inches, and weighs just over 6 oz.   VERY nice when you want to read an email, look at a pic, or stream some video.  The nice thing I have found about the Note is because it is rather thin, 0.37 inches and not that much more with the case I put on it, it slips into a jacket pocket, or read pocket without any trouble or over bulge.

The processor is fact for online surfing, again thanks, in part to the AT&T 4G, running my demo system, but I can sit at an airport for hours, watching Scandal on Netflix with little buffering time or interruption.

While we are on the topic of service, let’s get into it just a bit.  As I mentioned a few paragraphs above, anywhere I travel, throughout South Carolina, and Charlotte, I have nothing to complain about.  The only places I can’t get service with my Note are dark spots that I can’t get any service in regardless of the carrier.  From the middle of the lake, in Charleston or on any of the corridors I travel on, I have no problems.  It was, however, in the rural areas of Vermont were I did notice a difference.  To be fair, much of the Green Mountain State, due to the relative terrain, struggles with consistent service regardless of the carrier or phone, as the mountains and other natural landscape makes for quite a signal obstacle course.

The Note seemed to be last to the party as we would travel into areas with more readily available service.  That having been said, once the connection was made, I was back to business.

Pros:

Awesome pictures

Quick processor

Size of the screen

Thin enough to slip in your jacket or jeans

Cons:

In rural areas, signal may struggle

Size may scare off some users who want a smaller physical handheld unit

No HDMI output

Bottom Line:

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a great phone, on almost every level.  From the screen size, resolution, and camera to the quick processor.  It is the right size to put into a jacket or jeans, but just don’t forget and sit on it! 

The stylus is a great touch giving you an old school notepad feel, as well as manipulation with pictures, and you can even use it to type a text if you find your paws are too big, or the weather impacts the screens ability to feel your warm heart.

I use it every day as my go-to unit for storage, checking email, taking pictures of my family or just in general.

It is a great phone, and the Consumer in Me gives it 4 out of 5.  What does that mean?  It rocks.

The Motorola Atrix - a phone that listens!

It’s a pretty safe bet that, like cars, most of us have had several phones in the last few years.  Like squirrels and shiny objects, we seem to be drawn to the latest and greatest phones that come down the pike, all promising to make our lives easier, faster, or better.

The Motorola Atrix

 Some live up to the hype, like our friend the Samsung Note, others fall a bit short of expectations.  Having spent a few weeks with the Motorola Atrix, sporting the AT&T service, this little number thus far as been on the impressive side.

Let’s start the basics.  The phone is less than ½ of an inch thick, so it is easy to tuck into pants or even into the inside pocket of a suit without creating a bulge.  With over 4 inches of screen, there is a lot of viewing room.  On the back, the Atrix sports a layer of Kevlar, which helps protect it, although I am not sure I would chuck it across a room. 

It also has an HDMI and 2, count-em 2 SIM card ports on the side.  If you are a budding shutter bug, you will be happy with the front and rear cameras, the later of which is an 8MP HD camera that shoots video in 1080p.  We’ll get back into the cameras in a few minutes.

Ok, so we can stipulate that it is a good looking phone, but unless you are thinking that you need a paperweight, the real question is: How does it work?

Glad you asked. 

The Atrix runs on the Android OS, and brags on its dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 processor.  It’s quick.  It comes loaded with all the usual goodies from Google and other partners.  If you have driven an Android or two, you understand the basic functions of the phone, but there are some nice touches to the Atrix.

First, let’s start with the some of the primal functions.  As safety continues to be a primary concern for phone users, texting is in the spotlight; both while driving and even walking.  Partially because of this, and the fact I am possibly the worst texter on the planet, (just ask ANTYONE who has ever received a text from me) I give the speech to text functions on my phones a workout.

The speech to text function gets a thumbs up from this textually challenged user, for sure!  Let me share a story – on my way into work the other day, I was voicing a quick message to my producer, and sent it. (Of course, I composed while STOPPED at the traffic signal)  As per usual, I listen to talk radio on the way into work, and as I pulled up to the station, I noticed that the Atrix had “listened” to the radio also, and had transcribed several minutes of the show.  I was, of course, curious, so I read what my little phone had heard, and it was nearly word for word.  WOW.

Speaking of other cool in-car functions, the Atrix offers a car kit for about $10 bucks when you buy it.  This is where it gets slick.  After you attach the car dock to your windshield, you slip the Atrix in, and click the connecter that fits smartly into the HDMI and USB ports.  The phone automatically changes to car mode, offering larger buttons, and customizable app options.  It’s pretty slick – and much safer than the alternative.  There is even a speech to text function that reads you any messages that come in as you motor down the road, allowing you to keep your eyes where they belong.

To add to this, I have paired, via Bluetooth, the phone with my Jabra Cruiser 2 speakerphone.  Once the initial pairing is made, the sound is good; however, it is a bit tricky to get the phone to talk to the Jabra on the fly, even once paired.  The Atrix’s “Smartactions” feature tries to second guess what you are trying to do.

The Jabra Cruiser 2

Call quality is good, with a volume that will give you some dB without distorting the caller, but do many of us really use our phones to actually make calls anymore?

Speaking of the Smartactions feature, the Bluetooth issue not withstanding, is pretty cool.  You can program the phone to do certain things for you…you know, turn the ringer off in the important meeting, ask it to hold “some of your calls,” like ones from work, when you are enjoying the family and the like.

As with most phones in this social media age, the Atrix is packed full of ways to integrate 17 social media platforms into your everyday life, and if the pre-loaded apps don’t suit your fancy, a trip to the Play Store will fill the need.

As of late, I have been making the most of my Netflix account, catching up on everything from Parks and Recreation to SOA, I made the most of the HDMI port, connecting it to my TV, and BOOM, Jax Teller on the big screen with nearly no buffer.  Pretty slick.  The Atrix certainly makes the most of the 4G AT&T network.

I am still in the middle of a long term test drive, and will continue to find some of the cool, and without a doubt some of the annoyances of the Atrix…let’s be honest, no phone is perfect.

For you tech-spec geeks, here is the Atrix by the numbers.

The bottom line:

The Motorola Atrix is a solid, slick phone.  The 4G is quick, there are several short-cuts and features that are in the Android based phone, and my favorite part, the text to speech is finely tuned.

  

The Samsung Galaxy Note - a big phone or small tab

Are you ready for a Phablet, a tone, a Phonelete or some other clever word merge of a cell phone and a tablet?  Having been a fan of the hybrid…from the mountain bike with smooth tires,  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to my very own Pomeranian Chihuahua, who are we to say that two great things can’t go together to make something awesome??

I must admit that upon initial inspection, of the Samsung Galaxy Note, one of the latest ideas to come the folks at Samsung was a bit awkwardly large, measuring 145 by 89 mm  Not quite a phone, and certainly not my AT&T powered Galaxy LTE, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  It appeared to be a bit much holding this communication device up to my ear, but it was about then I saw a rerun of Saved By the Bell, and saw Zack’s Gordon Geko phone, and thought “if Zack can pick up Kelly with this, surly, I can surf the web with it and still be cool…”

Getting past the relative physical stature of the Note, the phone is pretty sleek looking, in fact, only 9.7 mm thick, and Samsung made the most of the size, utilizing t majority of its front real estate as a touch screen.

There is also a stylus tucked in the bottom of the phone for guys like me who still struggle to get out a coherent text message without auto correct changing my message into something horribly different right before I send it to a client.  The stylus is pretty nifty, and when you use the “S memo” app, the Note becomes a notebook of sorts.

Getting into the performance, the Note I put through the paces was running the speedy Android 2.3.6, which meant, at least initially, it didn’t get hung up or freeze, which can plague a smart phone user.  The other sticky wicket, when it comes to phones that use more memory, multitask, and simply have a lot going on, is the battery life.  A few weeks into my test drive of the note has provided some very impressive battery life.

I say the last part with the caveat that I don’t use it as my primary phone, which burns through about 4,000 minutes a month, but thus far, when I have needed it for email, GPS, or a picture, it’s been ready to rock.

The apps are pretty standard-- phonebook, calendar, weather prognostication, and of course, I have downloaded every possible version of Angry Birds, which are all handled well by the dual core processor on the Note.  This is where we get back to my comment of “at least initially.”  Although I have shopped around the Play Store, and made the most of several news applications, Tweetdeck, and an alarm clock, I have not loaded the Note to what I would, to quote Duran Duran, “too much information.”  The phone, however, becomes a bit persnickety, freezing on screens, and in some cases requiring me to restart.

Web surfing is pretty solid, although working off the AT&T 4G network can be a bit sluggish at times.  If I were being honest, I might use the word “frustrating” at times.  I hear that the new network, which is close to launch, will change that.  When in Wi-Fi mode, the Note sends and receives data pretty quickly, and connects easily to my various email clients and of course, social media.  I mean, I gotta update my peeps, you know?

Moving on to the other major piece of hardware, the camera, of which the Note has the standard rear unit and self facing lens.  This is where it gets tricky, and I tend to be a pit picky.  I also use an HTC Thunderbolt, and it takes pictures that rival my Cannon Rebel, both in still and video mode.  Having tried other HTC products, various products starting with an “I” and others in between, I have certainly been spoiled by the Thunderbolt.

The Note boasts an 8 megapixel camera, if you know anything about digital pictures, bigger is better when it comes to numbers, right?  Not always...but the Note is right up there with my trusty HTC.  I decided to try it for the first time at night, opting to take pictures of a fireworks show.  Although some were a bit blurry, and the darkness, didn’t help the auto focus to do its job, there were some very awesome images I was able to capture.

If you are a fan of moving pictures, you are in luck.  The Note does produce a great looking video.  Like many phone cameras, the more you zoom, the more it struggles, but overall, it produces a crisp, sharp video.

In more traditional applications, I found the camera works best when you don’t need the flash.  In those instances, the Note focuses quickly, and it snaps off multiple pics with a quickness.  The Note does get hung up a bit, however, when it tries to use the flash, auto focus, stay focused, and take the picture quick enough that you don’t miss what you are trying to capture.

Let’s see, apps, size, camera…what was the other thing…oh yea, it’s also a phone.  Although I spend the majority of my calls on my HTC, the call quality on the Note is solid, and in fact, I have gotten used to its size, even when holding it up to my melon size head.  I have paired Bluetooth, used ear buds, and used the speaker phone, and have been very happy with the call quality and overall sound.  I also like some of the contact shortcuts on the phone.  When you are looking at your address book, a simple index finger over a contact to the left brings to you the texting screen, and to the right initiates a phone call.  Minor time saver?  Yes.  But pretty cool?  You bet!

Quick review:

Pros:

Call quality, shortcuts, stylus, screen size, camera in both non-flash still and video mode

Cons:

4G sluggish, flash still photo mode, processor gets hung up from time to time

In the initial few weeks of my long term test, the AT&T version of the Samsung Note in my hot little hands gets a thumbs up.  The battery life is great, calls are solid, the picture and video is very good, and overall, this consumer likes it.

No phone is perfect, but this little…or big…unit performs very well overall.

TR

Beats By Dre Beatbox

It was 2008 when Monster and Dr. Dre first paired up to launch a set of headphones that had his official stamp of approval, and more importantly to marketers, the name Dr. Dre.  Fast forward a couple of years, and various products, and the partnership proudly offer the Beats By Dre Beatbox.

The Dr. Dre Beatbox

The concept goes beyond a simple docking station for the I-Pod, although if you want to dock your personal music, it comes with just about every configuration that Steve Jobs came up with, and heads into the Bluetooth realm.  There is also a 3.5 MM input for various other smartphones.

The model I took for a test drive, or test listen, came from my friends at At&T, which started carrying the product in March.

Not owning an I-Pod myself…yes, I know, say what you want…I elected to put Beats through the paces via the wireless option.  Understand that I have tried the various wireless options that “broadcast” a signal to a station on my radio that is traditionally skip, so from the start, my bar wasn’t set very high.

I took it out of the box, and gave it a once over inspection.  Very slick.  With the docking station on the top, handles on both sides to tote it around, and man size speakers, which at least appeared to promise some very impressive sound.  In reading some of the press on the Beatbox promised “sound engineering to play the music how the artist intended.”

Although 6 D-cell batteries make it a totally portable sound source, I elected to plug it into the wall.  By holding down the power button for a few moments, it puts it into pairing mode, and with a tap or two on my phone to discover, the two devices were thick as thieves.

I quickly went through my musical playlist, selected a Bon Jovi tune, and stretched her legs a bit.  Quiet, yep…but how would “Lay Your Hand On Me” sound a concert level from the 5.25-inch woofers?  Freekin’ GREAT!

After a song or two, in which Jon and did a duet…me in my living room, him through the Beatbox, I decided to try it with my Samsung tablet.  After the same ease in pairing, I found the same audio response. 

The Beatbox in black

As of late, I have started watching entire runs of shows that may not always catch on primetime.  I fell in love with the Jason Bateman clan Arrested Development, and found myself walking around my house with Liz, Tracy, and Jack on 30 Rock, all through the $8 a month magic of Netflix.  Given this premise, I, of course, wanted to hear the sound of movies and other videos.  The Beatbox didn’t let me down.

Even the included remote control worked with the 4 different Bluetooth paired devices I tried it with, allowing me to turn the volume up and down, skip tracks, and quickly mute the audio.

So with rich sound, both with music and video, the Beats By Dre Beatbox is pretty solid, there are, however, a few thoughts I would love to offer the good Doctor for future versions.

First, the remote.  I understand that it would be hard to have a universal remote for all potential uses, and sources, however, perhaps one, since there is such a lean toward the I products, might be a link to play lists from the remote.

Also, understanding that in some cases, size matters, and to deliver the sound it does, there are certain physical requirements, taking a cue from other docking stations, perhaps a clock, or other useful cross gadgets might increase the overall usefulness of the box.

Let’s also take a moment and talk about the price.  I understand Dre has to eat, but with a price of $399, it will truly be a product for the enthusiastic music aficionado.

The bottom line: The Beats By Dre Beatbox is a solid docking station, delivering rich full sound with music or video, while remaining fully portable through battery power.  According to the AT&T website, it comes in white and black models, and includes all the various fittings for the I products.

TR

Here are some of the specs thanks to our friends at C-Net:

Speakers:

2x right/left channel speaker - 2 way
Right/left channel speaker: 1x Bass driver 5.25 in
Right/left channel speaker: 1x Tweeter driver 2 in


Connections:
1x Audio line-in 3.5mm

MP3 Player Compatibility:
iPod with video
IPod classic
IPod nano

iPod touch

iPhone