You may think that why I am reviewing a phone released more than a year back and also a successor has already been released in the form of Note 3. Believe me it is still the king in its segment.
**==Why Note 2?==**
I have purchased this mobile in October 2013, few days after the release of Note 3. I have my own set of requirements for this choice
1. It has **quad core processor**, good enough or my requirements. My motive is to get any information on my tips at quickest speed without any performance lags. Interestingly I never play games so very high speed processor doesn’t matter much.
2. It has **2 GB RAM** so there is rarely a chance of performance lag.
3. It has **5.5in touchscreen**- well enough for me. It totally eliminates any option of tablet in my life.
I would have easily gone for Note 3 considering its higher specifications.
1. Galaxy Note 2 comes with a 5.5 inch S-AMOLED capacitive touch screen having 720 x 1280 pixels resolution. The Galaxy Note 3 comes with a 5.7 inch S-AMOLED capacitive touch screen, having 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution.
2. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is equipped with a 1.6 GHz quad core cortex A9 processor with 16 GB internal memory and 2GB RAM. The Galaxy Note 3 is equipped with a 2.3 GHz quad core krait 400 processor with 32 GB internal memory and 3GB RAM.
3. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 sports an 8 MP primary camera with and 1.9MP secondary camera. The Galaxy Note 3 sports a 13 MP primary camera with 2MP secondary camera.
I am well aware that technology comes at a cost but it seems worthless to invest 15k extra for features that don’t matter much in normal usage of a smartphone.
**==Positives:==**
1. It can easily replace a computer or tablet.
2. It is a pleasure to watch videos on this monster.
3. The **camera is best in its class and very quick**. The colors of pictures are sharp and neutral.
4. As expected the battery life of Note 2 is amazing with 3100mAh. It can **easily work for one day with heavy usage** and more than 2 days with normal usage. It is a big positive in an Android device.
5. It has already been updated to Android 4.3 and **Android 4.4 is expected by April 2014**.
**==Negatives:==**
1. 5.5 inch screen is not very comfortable to hold or to work with. You may sometime feel frustration as you have to give extra stress to use it single-handedly.
2. Due to its large screen, it is not very comfortable in shallow pockets, and a big no for shirt pockets.
3. **S-pen is rarely a utility in daily life**. It is anytime comfortable to work with fingers in comparison with pen.
4. Removing the back panel cover is always an uncomfortable job in Galaxy series of phones and the **cheapness of plastic prevails**. Thank God that Notes 3 is much better in the design aspect
**==Final words==**
The major question is regarding utility of this particular smartphone. I purchased this phone not because of the ‘Note’ feature of this phone or because of ‘Pen’ provided with it, I purchased just because I want a nice phone of 5in screen and above at a reasonable price. There is minimal utility of S-Pen provided with it or you will hardly need it in daily activities.
This phone was released in last year and a successor of this has already been released. But I can strongly say that if you want a phablet (5in screen or more), there is **no competition of this phone in sub-30k category**.
Read out the negatives of this phone and if you are comfortable with that, just go for it blindly.
I don’t think there are any other phablets even close to the capabilities of this device even after 1 year of introduction in the Indian market. Only phone that comes pretty closer to it is Nexus 5 but you have to compromise for 5in screen in that case. Other than that, it is the king of phone till 30k.