The Best Android Choice

the best android choice

The Best Android Choice._We tested the international version of the Galaxy Note II, the N7100. We will follow up with full reviews for all the major carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.
The Note II looks like a supersized version of the Galaxy S III, complete with the same rounded corners and home button. Two capacitive buttons (Menu and Back) that disappear after a few seconds flank this physical key. We tested the marble white version with silver trim, but the Note II will also be available in titanium gray. The polycarbonate body felt solid (albeit somewhat slippery), and popping off the back cover is a snap for accessing the SIM card, battery and microSD card slot.
The big question is whether you'd want to carry and use this device on a daily basis. Calling the Galaxy Note II a large smartphone is like calling a motor home a large SUV. The 6.4-ounce heft not only weighed on our pocket as we walked down the street, we could feel the top of the Note II dig into our thigh as we stepped into a car and climbed stairs. As with the previous Note, we also felt self-conscious holding the device up to our head to make calls.
The good news is that the Note II's footprint is more manageable than the original. Although the Note II (5.9 x 3.2 x 0.37 inches) is taller than the first Galaxy Note (5.8 x 3.27 x 0.38 inches), the former is narrower and slightly thinner. Little changes, such as moving the power button further down on the right side, help the Note II feel less unwieldy when used with one hand.
Nevertheless, Samsung includes "one-handed operation" settings for a reason. For example, you can check a box that tells the Note II to shift the dialpad to the right when you're making a call. We still had to stretch our thumb awkwardly across the display to open the phone app.

Although the Note II's display is a step down from the original Note resolution-wise (1280 x 720 versus 1280 x 800 pixels), the 5.5-inch Super AMOLED panel is better in almost every way. Not only does the bigger screen display more information without scrolling--we could see more headlines on The New York Times home page--the picture is brighter.
Display
On our light meter, we measured 229 lux for the Note II, versus 165 lux for the Note and 213 lux for the Galaxy S III. We had some difficulty reading the Note II's screen in direct sunlight, but it was easier to see content than on the S III. The average smartphone is 298 lux, and the iPhone 5's 4-inch display (525 lux) is significantly brighter.
Software and Interface

For the Note II, Samsung combined its TouchWiz interface with the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean software, which means you get great features such as Google Now and offline voice typing. This is definitely a Samsung experience, though, as the company continues to be bold in adding features to Google's OS.
Take the notification menu, which now features a brightness control slider in addition to shortcuts for toggling Wi-Fi, GPS, Screen rotation and more. Another huge plus: there's a dedicated number row above the letters on Samsung's touch keyboard, which means you don't have to switch back and forth between letters and numbers to type things like addresses and passwords.
The Note II includes seven customizable home screens, with the time and weather widget front and center. Touch the Google search box and you'll be brought to Google Now, which learns from your searches to present handy info at a glance. For example, Google Now can show you how long it's going to take you to get home based on the traffic, the latest score from your favorite teams and whether your plane is on time.
The lock screen on the Note II not only lets you customize shortcuts to different apps, but also displays a news ticker at the bottom of the screen. You can even scribble a quick note by double tapping the screen with the S Pen while holding down its button.
Other notable features include Popup Video for watching clips while you use other apps, and you can now resize the window. There's also a new Popup Browser option that enables Note II users to view a Web page (say, in an email) without leaving the Email app.
S Voice hasn't changed since we reviewed the Galaxy S III. It's functional, but Apple's Siri is just smarter. When we asked S Voice for a five-day forecast, we got just the current conditions. You're probably better off using Google Voice Search. It's not as feature-rich, but it's faster and less prone to network errors.