First impressions: Very solid phone, literally. Well built, and has good heft/balance to it. If you're a smaller person, this may not be the phone for you, as it can be considerably weighty in the pocket. Feels good in hand though, the beveled edges make it more comfortable to hold than a typical square phone. The one thing I hate about the size/layout of the phone is the fact that the phone has about 10% of the face of it devoted to the stupid verizon logo. It's totally wasted space, where there should be dedicated UI buttons instead. The screen is good, slightly bigger than my S2, but the colors/picture is not quite as good. The camera is also behind the curve, especially the software which runs it (i.e. the settings). That is a typical refrain for this phone. Great hardware, nicely packaged, performs well, but it is limited by verizon/moto's crapware and the handicapped version of Android it runs. Once it gets Jellybean (december 2012), this may be a spectacular phone. Verizon's network is predictably badass, and finally having a reliable go-anywhere hotspot is just sooo nice. The battery is also great. Moderate use, and still get 32-36 hours out of this thing. Compared to the typical 8 hours I got out of my S2. It's not a perfect phone, but the stuff that holds it back can and hopefully will be fixed.
I've managed to hold out for a while. I keep pushing back when I plan to upgrade (in case I go back to working in Europe). I haven't used the Lumia in person yet, but it's between that, Note 2, or, if I can wait, the S4. Problem is, at this point I'll probably hold off until after the new year, and if I end up going to CES I'll just be tempted to wait even longer on another to-be-released device, lol.
So I'm facing quite the problem here. I'm pretty much in love with the Note II, but the problem is I have t-mobile's "value" plan, where you don't get phone discounts. I currently have the HTC amaze and idk what to do. Should I suck it up and pay ~$550 for a brand new note II off of craigslist and then sell my amaze?? Anybody else on the value plan have any other options??
Just saw this: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/11/24/exclusive-how-to-unlock-the-droid-dnas-bootloader/
just got it too and the hardware is absolutely amazing.... Its a shame HTC and Verizon **** it up with the software. Sense is just nasty and cartoonish looking compared to stock 4.2 especially the settings menu and notification bar. I'm clinging on to hope that I will see cm10 on this phone in the next month or so.
yep. will do this shortly. these vzw spam apps will be the first to go. i agree. one of the first things i did when setting it up was install nova launcher. batt life ain't to shabby either.
Donny Most, thanks for your review. I'm gonna get that phone. The battery alone is what impressed me.
Got a S3 today and amazingly there's 4g where i am (sprint). there's a samsung account thing on it, is it worth joining? upgraded from a nexus s, what apps should i get?
want a samsung galaxy s3..i have a tmobile account that is due for an upgrade..any deals going on now for t mobile??
Go Launcher SwiftKey ChompSms SwipePad Chrome Must have apps that you will use every day. As for Samsung account, I created an account for the photo editing features in the gallery app.
You may or may not be eligible, but the TMobile black friday deal goes through to December 20th. I got an S3 for $99 (after $50 mail in rebate), plus a $126 credit to my account, so the phone was basically free. Also, I got my last phone 14 months ago so I wasn't even due a new phone. TMobile is being pretty aggressive right now so you can probably call and get a good deal. You can always ask for the loyalty department and hint that there are a lot of good deals out there with other carriers, especially on the iPhone. (since TMobile doesn't have it, this statement always helps) Anyway, I'd definitely call them.
As far as launchers go, if you're on Android 4.0+ do yourself a favor and install either Nova or Apex. Not any gingerbread launchers.
Yes it is, especially if you use Chrome on your desktop. Chrome2Phone and Phone2chrome are both available in the PlayStore.
