Samsung Galaxy Note Review: Is The 5.6-Inch Screen Too Big?

Reporter: Michael Nunez
Video/Editing: Nick Deel

Hi, I'm Mike Nunez with the International Business Times, and today we're going to be taking a look at the Samsung Galaxy Note -- a new genre-bending device that toes the line between smartphone and tablet.

The Samsung Galaxy Note is equipped with a massive 5.3-inch AMOLED display that packs in 285 pixels per inch, and it sports a 1280 x 800 resolution. In much simpler terms, that means that Galaxy Note's screen is huge and incredibly sharp.

The unusual size of the Galaxy Note's screen makes especially eye-catching, even when it's seen from several feet away . The screen size of the device is undoubtedly the most polarizing distinction of the smartphone. Power users tend to love the extra real estate, but for the fashionably conscious, the slab-like design appears a bit awkward when held up to the side of your head.

Despite its overgrown size, the Galaxy Note is actually very portable. It easily slips into jeans pockets , although it can bulge through your pants when you crouch or bend. We don't think that's a problem unique to this particular phone, though. For anyone that carries a bag or purse or wears a blazer with an inner pocket, you should have no problem carrying this phone around .

Beyond its size, the Galaxy Note also has one other unique feature, and that's inclusion of a proprietary stylus from Samsung dubbed the "S Pen." The S Pen slips into the side of the phone, and can be easily removed with the edge of a fingernail. The device is being marketed as a legitimate replacement to any paper notebook, but we think that might be a little too ambitious.

Even though the Galaxy Note is unlikely to replace your Moleskine or legal pad, we think there are plenty of things to love about the S Pen. The stylus is particularly handy when playing games on the device. For instance, we were already addicted to Draw Something, but the S Pen makes much more fun to play. The S Pen is also great to use when browsing the web or navigating through screens. Taking notes and doodling can be fun too, but the experience is still a little too far a way from actually writing in a notebook. Beyond its use in just a handful of apps, the stylus is basically a novelty, but we really enjoyed its inclusion. Users don't need to use the S Pen at all, but we still think it's fun.

If you're okay handling a large phone, there are plenty of reasons to fall in love the Galaxy Note. It's packed with several top-tier hardware specifications, and it all begins with the zippy Dual core, 1.5 GHz, Snapdragon S3 APQ8060 processor that powers the machine through nearly any task without much lag. The 8-megapixel camera is extremely sharp and comparable to most other smartphones on the market. You'll get great shots in both high and low lighting situations. One surprising feature is that the battery lasts about 10 hours -- much longer than you'd expect with such a large LCD display.

We give this phone a 4/5.

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[AsiaPacificTV]

Its too big