Samsung Galaxy Note gained an unbelievable popularity in Smartphone market. It was a new experience to users. It’s bigger than a phone and smaller than a tablet. This hybrid approach opened a still unnamed new category in mobile devices. You may call it a “Phablet”.

The huge display and smart-pen that still fit in to your pocket made Galaxy Note very popular among multimedia professionals. Lots of Galaxy Note lovers expected Samsung to release next version this year. And they did it. Few weeks ago in IFA, they introduced new Galaxy Note 2 to the world.

I was talking about Samsung Galaxy Note 2, before the release. There I tried to filter out rumors and express what I expect for next Galaxy Note.

Quick Catch-up

• Shape of Forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Note II

Last time I checked it was under FCC approval. Soon you will be able to buy your own Galaxy Note 2 with all major mobile carriers. Before you go for it, let’s find out what are the attractions and disappointments in Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

Attractions

Design is sleek and much better than previous Galaxy Note. If you have used a Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note is following the same design concept. Still it’s using physical capacitive button and having improved smart-pen.

Hardware muscle is essential to this kind of device. Understanding that Samsung packed, 1.6 GHz Quad Core Cortex A9 processor on Exynos 4412 chipset. Surprisingly they added another GB to RAM and made it 2GB. Storage options are 16/32/64 GB and expandable via microSD as usual.

This amazing hardware are powered with the latest and most advanced mobile operating system, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This combination made Galaxy Note 2, the most powerful android device ever released.

Battery life, one of the critical success factors for any phone. I expect them to pack Galaxy Note 2 with 2750 mAh battery. But Samsung took it further by packing 3100 mAh battery which is amazing.

Connectivity and multimedia features are almost same as previous Galaxy Note. No much surprises there and nothing to be disappointed as well.

Disappointments

The major disappointment in Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is it’s display. True, its 5.5 inches and Super AMOLED. But resolution is same as previous Galaxy Note. No point of having bigger screen unless it’s having bigger resolution. All you are going to get is less pixel density which leads to less sharper images.

Previous Galaxy Note was having 800 x 1280 px resolution in 5.3 inches screen which gave you 285 ppi of pixel density. In Galaxy Note 2, there is a bigger screen, but same resolution dilute down pixel density to 267 ppi.

Wrapping Up

Samsung Galaxy Note 2, a great Smartphone/Tablet hybrid device. Hardware muscle is amazing and it’s combined with latest Android. This would deliver a great Android experience like never before. This combination will take its multimedia application possibilities to next level.

Camera is same as previous version, display is only bigger not having higher resolution might disappoint users. But still Galaxy Note 2 will be a good upgrade to its previous users as well as new adopters.

« Previous Article

Next Article »

For the last few years most of the Android Smartphone took the lead in market, yet tablets couldn’t do the same. Samsung released a wide range of tablets and many other manufactures did the same, but did not succeed as expected. However, one Android tablet changed this picture and dominated a significant tablet market share. It’s Amazon Kindle Fire.

Quick Catch-up

• Amazon Kindle Fire – 7” Android Tablet Trend Setter

It’s the initiator of 7 inch tablet trend. This was the basic inspiration to Google Nexus 7. This popularity motivated Amazon to come up with better Kindle Fire and they did it. It came to market with the name Kindle Fire HD with much better features as well as competitive price.

Features Highlight

Display

Display is the major upgrade in Amazon Kindle Fire HD. As name says, display goes HD with resolution 800 x 1280 px. Same as the previous Kindle Fire, it has 7 inch IPS panel and giving you 216 ppi of pixel density.

Processor and Storage

Processor is the next upgrade. Now it’s, 1.2 GHz Dual Core Cortex A9 running on TI OMAP 4460 chipset. GPU is very popular PowerVR SGX540. The device comes with 16/32 GB internal storage options and RAM is 1 GB, another major upgrade.

Operating System

Previous Kindle Fire was powered with Android 2.3 and this time they have wrapped Kindle Fire HD with Android 4.0 ICS. However, you won’t be able to experience pure Android on Kindle Fire HD. It’s heavily customized to deliver Kindle branded experience.

Camera

Another attraction is, Kindle Fire HD comes with front facing camera. Now you make video calls with it. However this 1.3 MP camera won’t allow you to record video. Although it’s allowed, it won’t be practical since its front facing.

Connectivity

Kindle Fire didn’t support GSM or LTE connectivity from the first day and it continues to do the same. The primary connectivity in Kindle Fire HD is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Wi-Fi is using dual band dual antenna technology which will give you super speed data transfers. For PC connectivity there is a micro USB port.

Battery Life

Specified battery life is 11 hours but the battery capacity is not given. However battery life is highly subjective and totally depends on your usage style. Given value in specification would be true for most of general users.

Wrapping Up

Kindle Fire HD is an appropriate upgrade to previous Kindle and improved most essential features in optimum ways. High resolution display is a wise move and processing power is also in its sweet point. It’s very light weight, only 395g. Design is also great and highly portable.

If you are doing lots of web browsing, eBook reading and you need portability this is a good choice for you. If you are a big fan of gaming, Kindle Fire HD would work for you just great. It’s having decent processing power and great GPU to support it.

Kindle Fire gives you many Amazon specific features as well. It’s giving you unlimited free Cloud storage space for entire Amazon content. There are many other services such as Kindle FreeTime, instant video and lending library.

You can buy Amazon Kindle Fire HD only for $ 199, amazing price for amazing device. This would be a great upgrade for previous kindle and great choice for people who are looking for 7 inch android tablet, for web browsing, eBook reading, multimedia and gaming.

« Previous Article

Next Article »