Tech Blog

[#1]

Welcome to Galaxy Note day. 

There has been much said about this phone, tablet, phablet, on Tech Yeah this week - check out Elliott's tour of the device video and TeddyK's complete spec review - but let me round it out by serving up some reasons why the device won't be a winner.

Yes, I picked it as a favorite of CES.  Yes, I love the idea of the stylus (Samsung calls it an S-Pen) returning to the handheld space (I really loved my original Palm Pilot), but the limits are being stretched too far with this device.

Like the other bloggers on the site, I had a tour of the Galaxy Note from Samsung last week and I've had it for the past week.  When the tour was over, Samsung asked us to "give it a week."  I couldn't.  It's too big.  The interface is too clunky.  It didn't feel natural.

I chalked it up to being "iPhone Guy" so I brought it to a friend who has has a Samsung Galaxy II - a phone she absolutely adores - but she couldn't get around it.  It just felt a little too big.

Samsung admits they're trying to find the sweet spot with their devices.  That's why they have stretched the Galaxy II out to 4".  Asian markets saw a 7" tablet with voice ability, trying to bank on the fact few of us spend any real time with our phones up against our heads.  Despite headsets and bluetooth phone devices, the 7" voice tablet won't be coming here - so we have the 5.3" Galaxy Note.

It's too big to hold up to your head, but it's also too big to effectively manuever with one hand. On an iPhone (or similar sized device), your thumb can track the entire screen to peck out a note one-handed.  You can't do that with the Galaxy Note without having to jockey it up and down in your hand, it's a dangerous juggle that will see many a phone fall to the pavement.

Girls won't be taking this to the club, it's too big for a club purse and will look silly tucked under a bra strap. Guys won't make it their top choice either as it's too big for your pants front pocket.  Try using this device on a bus or train and your activity won't be so private. 

If it was "just a tablet" all these use cases are thrown out the window, but when it's a tablet trying to be a phone - a phablet - then you have to think about all the places you take your phone and then try to bring this thing there.

Once you play with the Galaxy Note for a few hours or a day, and then go back to an iPhone you're amazed at how truly small the iPhone is.  It's almost like you're back holding a classic Motorola Razr in comparison to the Galaxy Note's interface.  There's something to be said for small.

All that said, I think there may be a market for this device - the one that the BlackBerry PlayBook tried to hit and missed.  The Galaxy Note could be a workable business device.  It will fit in a suit pocket or briefcase.  There is voice, email, and data all built in.  It's not as big as a traditional tablet, so it's ultra portable, but it's not as small as a traditional smartphone, so you can do some bigger work projects on it.  The Android OS is becoming a mature operating system that has the app support and the integration of Google's tools makes it easy to integrate into an office setting.  

It's good, but not great.  Even the addition of a stylus is not enough to give up my iPhone.  Still, get ready to see others trying this 5" form factor, LG has one coming down the line later this year.

The Galaxy Note is available through Rogers, Bell and Telus for $199.99 on a three-year contract or $779.99 on no term.

[#2]

While I haven't spent much time with the Note (I was on vacation when last weeks media event was on) I personally don't think the size of it would be an issue for me.

The 7" Tab with voice capabilities you refer to is the first 7" Galaxy Tab, and both the European and Asian versions of the 3G model had a dialer (I believe the Euro and Asian versions of the new Tab Plus, Tab 7.7, and just announced 7" Tab 2 will also have voice calling included).  Over here the original 3G Tab was released on Bell & Rogers without the dialer software.  However I own one of these, and I actually installed a custom ROM that did have the dialer, and I used it as my primary device for about 6 months! (I have since moved onto the Galaxy Nexus, more for the OS than the form factor)

Yes, it was too big to hold in one hand and use.  Yes, it looked really stupid if you held it up to your face and talked (I also didn't help that it didn't have an earpiece, just a speaker so your calls weren't private).  And, yes, it certainly didn't fit in my pocket comfortably (but since I am a larger fellow, it did still fit).  However, none of the above mattered for the time that I used it.  I used a wired headset for the very little time I spent making voice calls, and it spent most of its time in my jacket side pocket and messenger bag, that never leaves my side. For me the advantages of the bigger tablet sized screen for content consumption far out-weighed the size issues.

I think the same will hold true with the Note for many people.  It's certainly not for everybody, and if you are somebody who goes out without a bag and shoves your phone in your jeans pocket then, no, the Note wouldn't work for you.  But I think, as you mentioned, that a lot (and, yes, mostly male) of urban professionals would find the Note an excellent device to have on them at all times.

It's a pity that is still comes with Gingerbread though...

[#3]

Thanks for that insight, Alex.  

I get that a lot of us don't really hold a phone to our head that much anymore, but it's still not a very portable phone and you can't access it one handed.  

For business, this might work, but you won't be seeing it being snapped up by the trendsetters.

[#4]

Yes, it's not going to a phone that the club kids and celebs have by their sides, but it's definitely the ultimate tech-geeks phone IMO - at CES I saw a surprising amount of European tech journalists using the Note as their primary device. Maybe it will become some sort of cult device, with a loyal, hardcore crowd of uberfans who will hold onto it long after the form factor has died - and a mint-condition Note will go for thousands of dollars on an unnamed auction website in 2022.