The Galaxy Note concept has at last been brilliantly realised

Excellent display; Refined and useful pen input; Good power; Fast UI; Android Jelly Bean 4.1; Decent camera; Plenty of storage; Good connectivity; Highly customisable interface

Tacky and slippery plastics; Size can be awkward

Samsung unveiled its new smartphone/tablet hybrid the Galaxy Note 2 at IFA this year. Retailing for a hefty £530 SIM-free, the Note 2 targets the same top-end market, currently dominated by Apple's ever-popular iPhone 5 and Samsung's own Galaxy S3.

Large screen; reasonable camera and battery life; super-fast processor

Screen can very occasionally go blurry; S Pen can struggle with capital letters and spaces

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a huge improvement on the Samsung Galaxy Note and the best large format smartphone we've seen. With all the S Pen functions, Android Jelly Bean, nippy processor and of course, that largebattery, it's the first phablet we've seen that works as such.

For the people who crave larger screens and don't want a tablet, the Note 2 is the best choice available right now.

Design minimizes bulk; keeping this big phone slim-seeming; Android 4.1 Jelly Bean available at launch; Camera app includes robust feature set; User-replaceable battery; Improved S Pen functionality; Speedy peformance; Available on all major carriers; Long battery life

TouchWiz gets in the way of Jelly Bean too much; Some S Pen features only work in Samsung apps; Display resolution lower than previous generation

The list of specifications above put the Samsung Galaxy Note II among an elite group of smartphones. Not only does it pack a quad-core SoC and 2GB of RAM, but it's outfitted with a gigantic (relatively speaking) screen and the latest version of Google's Android mobile OS, a.k.a. Jelly Bean.

The unusual form factor will put some off but, in every respect, this is a superb device

The Good - Big, beautiful screen - Considerable processing power - Long battery life - S Pen The Bad - Occasional feature overload - Volume button placement - Drops some good Android 4.1 UI features - Capacitive buttons can be hit by accident When the Galaxy Note debuted last year, it did so largely...

- Big; beautiful screen - Considerable processing power - Long battery life - S Pen

- Occasional feature overload - Volume button placement - Drops some good Android 4.1 UI features - Capacitive buttons can be hit by accident

hey guys,i got my beauty 2 days back & believe me i am totally in love with this gorgeous. I was tracking this gadget from the day Samsung announced it in IFA Berlin and watched almost all the reviews, hands-on and unboxing videos on Youtube till date.

We spoke of a compromise solution in the precursor of Samsung's Galaxy Note II. Although the second Note's screen diagonal is bigger, we find it easier to categorize it now. The smaller width and the fact that smartphones currently seem to be getting bigger makes the Note II more of a smartphone...

Good workmanship; Very big screen; Powerful platform; Viewing angle stable; high-contrast screen; Very long battery runtime; Fairly good camera; Wi-Fi for 2.4 and 5 GHz; The courage to bridge the gap or; better; to fill the niche.

Mediocre choice of materials, Averagely bright screen, Slight bluish cast, Limited mobility, No LTE, A higher-quality material impression and a bit more brightness; LTE would be the icing on the cake

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is big. Colossally big. Comically big. Write down any adjective you can think of to modify how to describe something large and it will most likely fit the description of the Galaxy Note II.

Excellent camera and unique software capabilities because of S Pen and 5.5-inch screen

Large size may be too much for many users to overcome