Galaxy Note Tips & Tricks

Jelly Bean

Top 10 expected improvements in Galaxy Note 3

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exynos5Almost certainly, Samsung will announce the Galaxy Note 3 during (before) IFA 2013. Galaxy Note was announced during IFA 2011, Note 2 was in IFA 2012.

There are some leaked images and specifications circulating around. But none of them accurate, because Samsung surely produced several prototypes for evaluation. A few additional prototypes may be just to confuse competitors.

Based on Samsung’s track record in Galaxy S series and Galaxy Note series, it is certain, that Galaxy Note 3 will be an “upgrade” to Galaxy s4, not just an upgrade to Galaxy Note 2. This is the product strategy for Samsung. When S4 was released, there is about one year time for competitors to beat S4 with newer hardware. Note series at least shorten this window to 6 months.

So, what will be seen in Note 3? Here is the top 10 list.

1. Full HD display

Galaxy Note 3 will surely have full HD (1080p) screen. And it will surely be Super AMOLED made by Samsung. Early this year, before Galaxy S4 was announced, there was a rumor that Samsung had problems with full HD on AMOLED.  S4 stopped this rumor.  So, Samsung definitely has no problems to produce full HD AMOLED display in a bigger screen.

Full HD on a 5″ screen like S4 may be a waste. But for a 5.7″-6″ screen, the pixel density (arounfd 370ppi) is human eyes’  limit.  More pixels will be just wasted.

For Galaxy Note 2 users, it is an upgrade from HD 720p to 1080p.

2. Exynos 5 Octa  5420 processor

Exynos 5 Octa 5420 will very likely be used on Galaxy Note 3.  This is an improved  version of Octa 5410 found in Galaxy S4.  The 1.8 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 and 1.3 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 provide 10% more CPU raw power than 5410. But the most significant improvement of 5420 is its GPU. It will pack the latest ARM Mali-T628 MP6 GPU, which provides 130 GFLOPS at 667MHz. The  OCta 5 5410 only has IT PowerVR SGX544MP3, which provides 51.2 GFLOPS.

If we compare this processor …

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Who stole my butter? Solving slowness probelms in Galaxy Note after Jelly Bean update

By 56 Comments · ·

slow-jelly-beanJelly Bean 4.1 updated for Galaxy Note has been rolled out in phases since February 2013. This update brings Galaxy Note owners many excited improvements, new features and apps. Some of the new features were explained in  the Top 12 new features you should try after getting Jelly Bean 4.1 update for Galaxy Note.

However, some users reported serious slowness issues after the Jelly Bean update in their Galaxy Notes. It seems the Project Butter is nothing, or Samsung stole our butter.

What are the causes, and what are the solutions?

First, Galaxy Note is powerful enough for running Jelly Bean smoothly. 1GB RAM, and dual core 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Dual 4210 chip are still decent hardware specifications even after1.5 years. A lot of middle range Jelly Bean handsets has far less powerful hardware specifications.

So, do not suspect your hardware. Jelly Bean is not hungry for hardware. Any hardware that can run Ice Cream Sandwich should meet the requirements of Jelly Bean. A lot of manufactures do not give Jelly Bean update simply because  they do not want to put more resources on an old model. In this sense, Samsung did an excellent job.

The slowness problem in Jelly Bean update lies on the update itself. When you update the system, most of your old settings will be kept, some are necessary, some are unnecessary . Some of these settings are fully compatible with Jelly bean; some are compatible  but with degraded performance. For the known incompatible settings, the update will handle them. The biggest issue is that some old settings are not compatible to the new OS/ROM, but it is unknown yet.  Therefore, for the slowness caused by such problematic settings, a factory reset will solve the issue.

Please be careful when performing the  factory reset because it will erase your internal storage. You need backup all your data in the internal storage, including your contacts and messages. Apps can be re-installed, but the settings will be gone. If you have rooted your phone, you can use Titanium Backup  to …

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Top 12 new features you should try after getting Jelly Bean 4.1 update for Galaxy Note

By 14 Comments · ·

jelly-bean-update-for-galaxy-noteJelly Bean 4.1 update has been available in more and more regions since February. Now our almost 1.5-year-old Note gets a new life again after the Ice Cream Sandwich update last year.

If the rumor can be trusted (and it is usually can be trusted), Galaxy Note will get Jelly Bean 4.2 update this year as well. Even better news for Galaxy Note 2 owners, Key Lime Pie (aka, Android 5.0) update will very likely be available for your Note 2. Well done Samsung!. Now Samsung is only second to Google in providing an update for their Android handsets.

Last November, we list top 10 expected features in this Jelly Bean update for Galaxy note. After testing the update recently, we found all features mentioned except Airview were included in this update.

Some of these new features and improvements are part of Jelly Bean update, for example, Google Now and popup browser. Some are Samsung’s extension or exclusive apps, for example, multi-window, Paper Artist,  and easy clip.

In this post, I will share with you 12 must-try new features in this Jelly Bean 4.1 update in your Galaxy Note. All these features are already available in Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 8.0  and Galaxy Note 10.1. So, if you own Galaxy Note 2, Note 8.0 or Note 10.1, you can also try all these features out of the box.

1.  Google Now (part of Jelly Bean)

Google Now is the killer feature of Jelly Bean. It was officially unveiled in Google I/O 2012. With Google now, you become the master, not the slave of your smartphones. Google Now essentially digs all your info in your Google accounts, then predicts what info you may need before you ask. The info is presented in “cards”, which are presented once you start Google Now. In Jelly Bean 4.2, more cards will be available.

Of course, you can also use Google Now as knowledge navigator: simple ask questions, Google Now gives you results in natural language. It works far better (not so arguable) than Siri in iPhones.

To …

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Is LG Optimus G Pro an Alternative to Galaxy Note 2?

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galaxy-note2-vs-lg-optimus-g-proIt is not a secret that LG wants to step into the phablet market which is dominated by Samsung’s 5.3″ Galaxy Note and 5.5″ Galaxy Note 2. The 5″ rectangle slab, Optimus Vu, and Vu 2, announced last year, failed miserably to get into this niche market.

So, this year, LG Optimus G Pro was announced during Mobile World Congress 2013. It will be released in selected regions next month. This time LG gambles on the Optimus G branding. Will it be successful?

The eye-catching feature of this phone is its 5.5″ full HD IPS display. So, the targeted competitor of Optimus G Pro is not Galaxy S3 or recently announced Galaxy S4. LG actually wants this phone to be the alternative of Galaxy Note 2.

From the timing of the announcement, it can be easily deduced that  Galaxy Note 2 is the target. By releasing a handset in the middle of Galaxy Note 2 and the coming Note 3, Optimus G Pro can get about 6-month lead in hardware specifications against Note 2.

LG recently started to know how to design a great Android phone after they worked with Google for the Nexus 4. LG then transformed Nexus 4 into Optimus G, which is the most successful Android phone LG ever made.

Design and build quality

From the exterior, Optimus G Pro likes  a sibling of Galaxy Note 2. It is totally different from Optimus Vu or  Optimus G. Physical home button and two capacitive buttons for menu and back are similarly placed like that in  Galaxy Note 2. However, Optimus G Pro has slightly smaller side bezels.

For the back, LG also abandoned  the all-glass design spotted  in Optimus G. Plastic was chosen for Optimus G Pro. The build quality is similar to Note 2.

One thing that some people may like in Optimus G Pro is the Q Button. This is a dedicated button in the left side.  You can configure any  (but only one) app for this button. Of course, you can configure it as a camera button, just like many …

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Galaxy Note 8.0: the largest smartphone in the history!

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Galaxy Note family now has a new member: Galaxy Note 8.0.

galaxy-note-8It is different from Galaxy Note 10.1, which is clearly a tablet. It is simply a larger version of Galaxy Note 2, a giant phone.

So, this is a smartphone, at least, not a pure tablet. This can be easily identified by: 1). an earpiece and, 2).the iconic Home button and two navigation keys.

The major difference to Galaxy Note 2 is the odd location of the speaker. In Galaxy Note 8.0, it is in the bottom, not on the back. Designer may come from the Mars.

Specification wise, this is surely not a top-notch smartphone or tablet. It is merely a not-so-bad device, based on today’s standard. Under the hood, you get a 1.6GHz quad-core A9 processor (it should be a Exynos 4XXXX), a 2GB RAM, a 1280*800 PLS display, a 16/32GB storage, a 4600mAh battery.

The weight is only 338g, thanks to its full plastic exterior, except display and bezel. Typical Samsung style.

The good news for Galaxy Note and Note 2 users is now you finally can use S Pen  for the menu and back buttons. You also get a new reading mode to make your reading more comfortable.

The bad news is it runs on Jelly Bean 4.1.2 (just like most Note 2 and Note 10.1), not the latest 4.2.2. Disappointed, although you will very likely get the update later.

More disappointed, the battery is not removable.

The most disappointed: the main camera has no flash. So you can guess its quality. The 5MP tag reminds you the price is not in the cheap side.

However, if you compare this giant phablet with the tablet with similar form factor (e.g., iPad mini). It is actually quite decent.

So, the imaginary competitor of this Galaxy Note 8.0 is not smartphones, but 7-8″ tablets.

Samsung probably hopes this giant phone will be the king or queen in this form factor. This could have been true if the specifications were slightly elevated.

It looks stupid to hold this giant phone near …

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S Note tutorial: how to change text styles (appearance)

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how-to-change-s-note-styleThis is our second S Note video tutorial. In this tutorial,we will learn how to change the appearance or typesetting of your text in S Note. This includes  font type, text size, text decoration, paragraph spacing, paragraph alignment, paragraph indent, pre-defined styles,  and list styles.

This tutorials works on Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 8.0.

Of course, this covers both typed (from keyboard) text, and handwriting recognition text (from Productivity tools). If you are not sure about productivity tools, you may check this post (http://www.allaboutgalaxynote.com/s-note-tutorial-how-to-use-productivity-tools/ ).

The transcript is attached below the video for your convenience.

If you have questions, please post in comments section below, or start a new thread in discussion forum.

More tutorials  for S Note app can be found here in  the S Note guide page.

More tips on Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Note 10.1 can be found in Tips and Tricks page.

Galaxy Note 3 online manual (HTML edition) is available here.

If you want to download the PDF version of Galaxy Note 3, Note Ii, Note 8.0. Note 10.1, or read the PDF version on line, you can find all of them in this User Manual page.

Transcript:

Hello guys, this is the second S Note video tutorial from AllAboutGalaxyNote.com.For more tutorials and update, please visit our blog at: AllAboutGalaxyNote.com.

The S Note Survival Guide e-book will be available in January 2014!

Today we will learn how to change the appearance or typesetting of your text in S Note. This includes font type, text size, text decoration, paragraph spacing, paragraph alignment, paragraph indent, pre-defined styles, and list styles.

This tutorial applies to S Note on all Galaxy Note series devices, including Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 10.1.
Font settings can be accessed by long tapping Text button. And you can put this font setting window on the screen when typing or writing text. This is very handy if you want to change font settings quite often.

The typesetting, or in other words,full text …

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Top 10 expected features in Jelly Bean 4.1 update for Galaxy Note

By 26 Comments · ·

jb-new-logoWe all know Samsung has been working on Jelly Bean (4.1) update for Galaxy Note, although this Korean company never officially confirm or announce this update. The information we have is the update may be rolled out as early as in December. and most users will get it in Q1/2013. There is no information on Jelly Bean 4.2 update yet.

Anyway, the waiting is almost over. Now, let’s list the top 10 anticipated features in this Jelly Bean 4.,1 update for our more-than-one-year-old Galaxy Note. For Top 10 new features in ICS update, please read this post: http://www.allaboutgalaxynote.com/top-10-new-features-in-galaxy-note-after-ics-update/ 

All these features are available on Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 8.0 already.

1. Faster, smoother, and more responsive as claimed by Google

Thanks to Project Butter, one major improvement in Jelly Bean is the performance: faster, smoother and more responsive. Of course, I guess Samsung’s TouchViz UI may degrade the performance a bit. Some carriers’ bloatware may also have negative impact on the performance.

But overall, we should notice significant performance improvement.

2. Google Now

It is a shame that Google Now has not got sufficient attention. Google Now is a true innovation on getting relevant information on a mobile device. It makes you the master, not the salve, of the information. Just as claimed by Google, Google Now gets you just the right information at just the right time. If you do not have any Jelly Bean devices now, you may get more info on the Google Now offical site

3. Multi Window

Yes, you can run two apps side by side. Although very limited apps are compatible with multi window at this time, it is a really nice feature for a 5.3″ screen. Of course, this feature is best for Galaxy Note’s bigger brother Note 10.1.

4. Offline voice typing

In Jelly Bean, a new embedded speech recognizer lets you use Voice Typing even when you don’t have an Internet connection.

5. New notification system

The notification system will have significant improvements: more info and more controls. Notifications from the …

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Galaxy Note 2: the first Jelly Bean phone will reach your hands as early as this October

By 13 Comments · ·

GALAXY-Note-IIAs rumored  (or expected), Samsung announced the second generation of Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, at IFA 2012 yesterday. Now, the first Jenny Bean(out of box, not through update) phone.

So, here is a short list of changes (from Galaxy  Note to Galaxy Note 2):

  1. Jelly Bean  (aka, Android 4.1), vs Ginger Bread (Android 2.3). So Galaxy Note is the first Jelly Bean phone.
  2. 5.5 inch display, vs 5.3 inch
  3. 16:9 ratio (1280*720, HD), vs 16:10 *1280*800, WXGA)
  4. Quad core 1.6GHz CPU, vs dual core 1.4GHz or 1.5 GHz
  5. 2GB RAM, vs 1GB RAM;
  6. dimension: 146.9 x 83 x 9.7 mm, vs 151.1 x 80.5x 9.4mm
  7. 3100mAh battery, vs 2500mAh
  8. NFC is included, vs optional
  9. Bluetooth 4.0, vs 3.0
  10. New S Pen, longer, thicker
  11. New feature: Screen Recorder (record a whole sequence of actions taken on their screen). most useful!!!
  12. New feature: Popup Note (open an S Note instantly as a pop-up window anywhere on the screen)
  13. New feature: Quick Command ( quickly activate frequently used apps with the S Pen)
  14. New feature: Easy Clip (quickly outline and crop certain kinds of content on the screen)
  15. New feature: Idea Visualizer ( provides illustration images that match the handwritten keywords), too fancy!!
We hope Samsung will port some of these features into Galaxy Note!!!
The shipment will start from October. So, just wait one month, you may start to try.
What do you think about this new generation of Galaxy Note?
Here is the full press release. For your reading pleasure, I quote it below.
Be Creative, Be Expressive with the GALAXY Note II
August 29,  2012

 

The most powerful smartphone sparks everyone’s creative inspirations
BERLIN, Germany – August 29,  2012 – At the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event held today at IFA, in Berlin, Samsung introduced the GALAXY Note II, a whole new level of innovation for the GALAXY Note category. The new Samsung GALAXY Note II enables unique experiences in personalized and expressive content creation, making it the ultimate smartphone for on-the-go creativity.

 

“Last year at IFA, we launched the GALAXY Note, which opened
…

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Why Galaxy Note 10.1 will fail?

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Galaxy Note 10.1 was announced in last February to take the momentum generated by Galaxy Note.  This is a wise decision to create a unique tablet with S Pen (and productivity tools).  The initial specifications announced in MWC2012 were not impressive and the design was just another out-of-the-mill Android tablet.

galaxy-note-10.1-poor-displaySo, Samsung decided to re-work it. Now after more than 5 months, pre-order of this tablet was announced by Negri Electronics at $750 (No Jelly Bean, still ICS). Maybe the price will drop to around $500 soon.

After reading the specifications, my first impression is this is just another DOA (death on arrival) Android tablet.

The specifications were bumped up: quad core CPU (initially, dual core), 2GB RAM (initially 1GB), 5MP primary camera (initially 3MP), 2G/3G/WiFi/ USB/Bluetooth connectivity. It sounds nice. But when you read the display, omg, it is still 1280*800 (WXGA), same as your 9-month old 5.3″ Galaxy Note, 17-month old Motorola Xoom, or similar to 2-year-and-4-month old iPad, and 17-month old iPad 2. 

This poor display will destroy Galaxy Note 10.1. Two years ago, this was a decent display. But, now it is 2012, and  people expect higher pixel density (thanks to Apple’s retina display in the new iPad, aka iPad3).

Don’t blame Android or chipsets. Acer has been shipping the full HD 1080p Android tablet (Acer A700) since this summer at $450. Full specifications of this tablet is here. Another Asian PC maker, ASUS, also is offering full HD 1080p (actually 1920*1200, WUXGA) transformer pad infinity. You can get it at $500 (32GB) or $600 (64GB).

As a comparison, the new iPad (released about 5 months ago, 9.7inches) has a screen resolution of 2048*1536 and the pixel density is 264ppi (pixels per inch).  Our Galaxy Note boosts 1280*800 pixels on a 5.3-inch screen. So the pixel density is about 285ppi. This is one of the major reasons users like their Galaxy Note: sharp and vivid display!

Of course, there is a limitation of human eyes. Normally, pixel density higher than about 250ppi will make no differences for …

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ICS 4.0.4 update for Galaxy Note is arriving, globally

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ics-4.0.04-galaxy-note-300After 2 months of the initial ICS update(4.0.3) for Galaxy Note, Samsung now quietly roll out ICS 4.0.4 globally. I was a bit surprised when I saw the update notification, because I just got the information the 4.0.4 update would be roll out gradually.

Apparently, immediately after releasing the ICS update for AT&T’s version Galaxy Note on July 11, Samsung also pushed out the ICS 4.0.4 update for Galaxy Note users in German. And today, more regions including most European countries and Asian countries get the Android ICS 4.0.4 update for Galaxy Note.

Hopefully, this update will solve some of the battery issues most users experienced in GB and ICS 4.0.3.

Now, all Galaxy Note users are expecting the next major update for Jelly Bean (Android 4.1). The information we have is that Galaxy Note  and S3 will get the Jelly Bean update, probably in Q1 2013.

Also, the coming Galaxy Note 2 (with ICS pre-installed, not Jelly Bean) will be very likely announced in the IFA 2012 (August 31-Sept. 5) and start to shipping in November (roughly one year after the release date for Galaxy Note) . So, hopefully, in the Q1 of 2013, both Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 2 will get the Jelly Bean (4.1) update.

Anyway,today’s minor update (from 4.0.3 to 4.0.4)  is about 100MB.  So, please try to download through WiFi or Kies if your mobile data is very limited.

Any questions? please post the  in the comments section below or in the Galaxy Note Forums.

ics-4.0.4-galaxy-note-updated…

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Top 10 questions on ICS update for your Galaxy Note

By 328 Comments · ·

galaxy-note-ics-update-girl-with-phonesYes, ICS update is available for about one third Galaxy Note users. To get the most current    status on the availability of ICS update in different regions, you may check this post (I will update it once new info is available).

I received some inquiries on ICS update for Galaxy Note: some are through comment of the post mentioned above; others are through Google+.  For all these questions, I tried my best to answer them, and will continue to answer them.

I noticed there are some repeated questions, so I decided to put some frequently asked ones in this post to save reader’s time. It will not be just 10, as I will always update it if it is necessary.

Question #1. Why did some users get the ICS update earlier than me? 

Normally, firmware update must go through local testing. For regions with more users (and so Samsung collected more money there), the testing usually is faster. And Samsung also may put some sorts of priority for such regions.

The second reason is that the local carrier may want to bundle more bloatware (in addition to that bundled by Samsung). This may slightly delay the update availability. If your handset is subsidized, the carrier always tries very hard to give you more bloatware.

Another possible reason is marketing scheduling. For example, if Samsung is planning to launch Galaxy S3 in your region, usually it is not a good idea to release ICS update for Galaxy Note (another flagship product) just a few days before the launching event. In this case, the update will be normally scheduled after the event.

Question #2. Why should I update to ICS?

ICS update for your Galaxy Note is just a software update. Software generally is getting better and better: more stable, more functions, more compatible apps. Android 4.0 (ICS) is a major update merging software stacks for phone (Ginger Bread) and tablet (Android 3.0, Honeycomb). So, it is almost perfect for Galaxy Note, which is somewhere between phone and tablet.

Specifically, with ICS update for your Galaxy Note, you get

  • Latest
…

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