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It’s been almost two weeks since Samsung sent me a Note 2 to try. I’ve used it as my primary phone since it arrived, and I thought I’d do a quick post about my experiences. In short, owning a 5.5 inch phone is a little like owning a really big car. It’s very comfortable and luxurious when you’re using it, but it’s somewhat impracticle when you’re looking for a place to park.

Size is relative

The Note 2 is often refered to as “the biggest mobile phone on the market today”. But it’s not. It’s probably the biggest non-ruggedized consumer level smartphone. Satellite phones are usually bigger, and so are rugged outdoor ones. In terms of volume, the Note 2 is probably smaller than most early Nokias. Remember those Communicator ones. Those were huge. In comparison, this is a slender, elegant phone.
The Note 2 is only slightly bigger than the S3 and the HTC One X, and it makes good use of the extra room. It’s got the fastest processor of any Android phone, the most memory, the highest capacity battery (two full days, easily) and a gorgeous HD display that’s prefect for browsing and watching video. In my opinion, it’s the best phone out there to view things on. And to create things.

Be creative

The Note series’ most innovative feature is the S Pen. Using a stylus may seem like something from the Windows Mobile era, but that’s not what the S-Pen is about. The phone is as finger-friendly as any phone out there. The Stylus just adds precision. It lets you create detailed sketches, where other phones make you finger-paint. Together with the large screen real estate, it makes this phone a plausible tool for creating things.
I’m not sold on handwriting recognition as a tool for text entry (although it works remarkably well). The S Pen is great for writing little notes, drawing and image manipulation. The software that Samsung provides with the S Pen is a little obtrusive (it auto-launches when you pull out the stylus), but I like the overall idea.

Pocketability

Surprisingly, the Note 2 actually does fit in the (front) pockets of most of my jeans. At least while I’m standing/walking. I broke my old phone, a much smaller 3.7 inch one, by keeping it in my pocket while sitting down. I’m going to avoid doing that with the Note. My coat, work bag, and even my car have perfect pockets to put the phone in. I may feel differently in summer, when the weather calls for just t-shirts and jeans, but so far the Note has been easy to take with me.

A keeper

I got this phone at precisely the right time. I was in the market for a new high-end smartphone. Something like the Nexus 4, the One X or the Samsung’s own S3. In all honesty, I think I would have dismissed the Note 2 as being too big. Now, after two week of using it, I don’t think it is. It all depends on what you look for in a phone. If you need one that’ll just slip into any pocket, the Note’s not for you. If your phone is your mobile office, or even your “art department on the go”, 5.5 inches is perfect.

A while ago, I read an article on Mac360 about how Apple is supposedly destroying Android “from the inside out“. It’s a “fairly biased” piece, and it somehow seems to argue that Apple’s ability to make money off of content is a good thing for end users. But that’s not what caught my eye (since we all know the iPhone is essentially a shopping cart). Here’s what did.

The question that tech media and stock analysts should be asking is, ‘How long before Android and Google’s partners give up the chase?‘

Huh, what?

Personally, I can think of nothing worse to happen to the tech industry than what Mac360 is suggesting here. And not because Apple would come out on top. I’m admittedly not a fan, but things would be just as bad if every single smartphone out there ran Android.

Monopoly vs. innovation and open standards

Just look at what happened in desktop PC market, or the so-called “browser war”. Windows, with its 95% market share, has shown very little progress over the last decades. And Internet Explorer’s all-but-monopoly from ten years ago still casts a dark shadow on web development. Monopolies are not a good thing. Monopolies kill innovation. And they also make it feasible to create platform-specific implementations as opposed to using open standards.
The reason I really want Microsoft’s Windows Phone effort and Blackberry’s new BB10 operating system to do well is because I care deeply for the web. The web is going mobile, and the very last thing we need is for one platform to dominate that arena. We really don’t want the mobile web to just target one browser, with some content locked to one app in one app store. We want a free and open web, built on standards, that can be used on any device.

Turf war

It’s important to realize that this is a turf war that isn’t about selling phones. It’s about gaining control of the mobile internet. It’s a clash of ecosystems that sell hardware, software, services and content. And I think that the net is better off with four strong camps instead of just two.