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 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

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

What ever happened to smartphones that were comfortably pocketable? Don't ask Samsung, as it's still too busy raking in the profits off its Galaxy Note range of mini-tablet-sized handsets. Phablets, as most people call them, have risen to dominance in world smartphone market.

A year ago, I wrote that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was the best big phone ever made. It had excellent performance, a great camera, and a refined design that was surprisingly manageable for a device with a large screen.

Lovely display; Fast performance; Reliable battery life; Excellent standard camera

It's enormous; It's expensive; Secondary camera is far inferior to main camera; Terrible fingerprint scanner placement

With the Note 8, Samsung is indeed back with a bang (pun intended). The Galaxy Note 8 is the best Note the company has ever made.

S-Pen; Great camera; Beautiful design

Expensive; Just a work day's battery life; Fingerprint scanner placement can be frustrating

Being Samsung's flagship-tier device, the Galaxy Note8 is armed with an Exynos 8895 SoC, ARM Mali-G7 GPU, and 6GB of RAM. This combo should mean that the Note8 crunches numbers very well.

Inarguably beautiful; Powerful enough to run most tasks smoothly; Rear camera setup is good; IP68 S Pen allows for underwater doodling; Plenty of biometric locks

Fingerprint sensor is poorly positioned; Sets a new high for smartphone prices

As with the first generation Samsung Galaxy Note, if you don't mind a very large phone and your use tends more toward web, email and video rather than calling, the Samsung Galaxy Note II is a unique cross-over phone that works both as a small tablet and a phone.

Huge screen, but slim phone; Digital pen, excellent custom software; Removable battery and microSD card slot

Big phone! Maddeningly slippery; Screen tech doesn't wow us

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 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