Fast-forward to the next day. I was at lunch with some colleagues, and my phone was malfunctioning -- it kept freezing and then shutting down. I decided to do a hard reset, so I peeled off the case to remove the battery and, of course, the entire inside of the case (and the back of the phone) was sopping wet.
Long story short, my Galaxy Nexus now sleeps with the fishes.
Anyway, I picked up a new phone -- the Samsung Galaxy Note II -- in San Francisco on Friday. And I love it! And yes, I still have my unlimited data (more on that later).
Here's what I love about it so far:
- The screen is huge, but not too huge. OK, so the Note II is definitely a monster compared to the iPhone...but it's not that much bigger than my old Galaxy Nexus. Plus, bigger screen = easier to read while driving. (Note: do not try to read things on your phone while you're driving. It's dangerous. And illegal.)
- The S-Pen is...nicely done. I don't really use the S-Pen for basic tasks, such as tapping out emails or navigating through the OS, but I do use it for drawing in S Note and SketchBook. Because it's made by Wacom (which makes those Bamboo drawing tablets), it's excellent at detecting different levels of pressure.
- It has excellent battery life. I might be a bit biased -- my Galaxy Nexus had terrible battery life. However, yesterday I got about 16 hours before my battery dropped to 14% -- and that's with approximately 3 hours of active web surfing/email checking, 3 hours of gaming (casual games), and four 15-minute phone calls. Plus, I had GPS/location services and Wi-Fi turned on the entire time.
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| I drew this on my Note II. Clearly the S-Pen brings out the artist in me! |
I'm still toying with the Note II, but so far it's awesome. The size is an issue, since I love to put phones in my back pocket (and there's absolutely no way this would fit in my back pocket), and it's just large enough that it's awkward to use one-handed. Sure, there's a one-handed keyboard option, but that's not the only thing I want to use one-handed. I find my palm brushing over the soft-touch keys at the bottom of the phone when I reach for apps located in the upper left corner (or the notification bar).
That said, it's a great phone...tablet...thing, at least so far.
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If you're looking to grab your own Galaxy Note II, might I suggest you head on over to Amazon.com? If you're due for an upgrade on the line you want to put the Note II on (Amazon.com requires you keep the phone on the line you buy it on for at least 181 days), it's only $149.99 with a 2-year contract.
I did not buy my phone at Amazon.com, mainly because I wanted to keep my unlimited data (can't upgrade my specific phone line) and because my phone wasn't due for an upgrade. However, another phone on my family plan was due for an upgrade, so I just bought the Note II on that line and switched it over to my line. Yes, you can do that...as long as you don't upgrade the line with the unlimited data, you can still upgrade and keep your unlimited data.
