Samsung Galaxy Note II (GT-N7100) Review

Captures good detail

Very good for macros

1080p video recording at 30fps is supported and there’s good amount of image stabilisation, if you’ve got shaky hands. Slight colour banding was noticed when we moved from darker to lighter backgrounds and vice versa, but nothing to be alarmed about.

Battery Life
The Galaxy Note II has been "awarded" a 3100 mAh battery, which is just what the doctor ordered for a handset of this caliber. This high capacity battery allowed for a usage of over 2 days without the need for a charge at all. In our tests, the Note II proved to be simply remarkable in handling the load. Our standalone Video Loop showed that the handset could run for over 12 hours non-stop (720p video playing in loop with no connectivity activated) without breaking a sweat. In our tech2 Loop test, the handset completed the first loop – 2 hours video, 2 hours audio, 2 hours audio streaming and 1 hour talk time – quite easily and started off into the second loop completing 1 hour of video, 1 hour audio and about 1 hour of streaming and about 45 minutes of talk time, with still a little juice to spare. That puts it in the 9.5 hour of non-stop usage range. A factor that is most certainly a major USP for the Note II.

A battery that will easily last you a couple of days

Verdict and Price in India
The Samsung Galaxy Note II will set you back a whopping Rs 40,000 and while that is a lot, you are getting a whole lot more than just an Android phone. So it does offer a lot more value than the S III. The Note II is possibly the first phone to ship with Google’s latest version of Android, so there’s a big plus right there. It’s also incredibly well-built, offers excellent multimedia and productive performance; S Pen works much better, split-screen mode is pretty cool and it has a great battery life. So, should you upgrade from your existing Note to the Note II? That really depends on how often and for what purpose you use the S Pen. The improved sensitivity is really good but if you’re just looking for the better handwriting recognition, then that will be possible on the old Note too, once Samsung rolls out the update. Since most of the improvements can be achieved via software update and the Note still has powerful internals as per today’s standards, I wouldn’t recommend switching over just yet. If you are looking for the best Android, then we would certainly recommend the Note II. Other than the sometimes uncomfortable size of it, it’s hands-down one of the best smartphones in the market right now.