Galaxy Note Tips & Tricks

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Galaxy Note 10 LED View Cover Guide and Review

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Galaxy Note 10 LED View caseGalaxy Note 10 LED View Cover is one of the unique accessories for Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+.

This Galaxy Note 10 accessories guide explains the unique features of the Galaxy Note 10 LED Wallet (View) cover, shows you how to use the LED case and customize the LED icons on the cover, answers the questions you may have on the LED View Cover.  A quick review of the Galaxy Note 10 LED View case explains the pros and cons of the cover.

Although the dimensions of the LED Wallet Case for Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and for Galaxy Note 10+ are different, all features are identical on all Galaxy Note 10 devices. This guide applies to both Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+.

Unique features of Galaxy Note 10 LED View cover?

Galaxy Note 10 LED View Cover (aka LED wallet cover in some regions) is one of the “official” accessories of Galaxy Note 1o and Note 10+.  It is a typical two-piece flip cover.

The series of the LED case was first released with Galaxy S7. Samsung refined the features in the last few years.

The unique features of the Galaxy Note 10 LED Wallet cover include:

LED notification icons

Showing LED notification icons on an external case is one of the most significant selling points of the Galaxy Note 10 LED Wallet cover among the over-crowded flip covers.

When someone calls you or some apps get notifications, you will see the corresponding LED icons on the front part of the LED cover.

Samsung allows you to customize the icons for any individual contact (or contact group) and different apps so that you can immediately know whether the call/message/notification is important or not by looking at the icon without opening the cover.

Interact with the phone without opening the cover

Another unique feature of the LED wallet cover is that you can interact with the phone from the cover (without opening it).

For phone calls, you can accept or reject a call by swiping to the left or right on the LED cover.

You can …

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Galaxy Note 3 KitKat update: Top 5 disappointments and top 5 consolations

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galaxy_note_3_kitKat_updateSamsung released the Galaxy Note 3 KitKat update (Android 4.4.2) to more and more regions. You may check the update through your Galaxy Note 3 or through Kies. Some users may have to wait for the KitKat update a bit longer

The Galaxy Note 3 KitKat update equips Galaxy Note 3  with the latest version of Android, following Nexus (Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10), Moto X, Moto G, and some Google Play edition handsets (e.g., Google Play edition Galaxy S4 ).

However, just like other Samsung’s Android updates,  this Galaxy Note 3 KitKat update brings mixed experience: some disappointments and some consolations. If you are a Galaxy Note user, you probably still remember the battery drain issues in ICS update and slowness issue in Jelly Bean update.

In this post, I will share with you the top 5 disappointments, and 5 cool features (consolations)  in this Galaxy Note 3 KitKat update.

Disappointment #1: No ART options

One of the most important new features in KitKat (Android 4.4) for advanced users is the new runtime option: ART ( Android runtime).  Although Google baked this  new runtime as a beta feature in KitKat, most tests already reported significant speed improvement for almost all apps. In Moto X, we saw extremely good results when this runtime is enabled.

Unfortunately, Samsung totally disable this option in Galaxy Note 3 KitKat update. There is no way to try it in Galaxy Note 3 (with the official ROM).

Samsung may use the “beta” feature as an excuse of disabling ART in the Galaxy Note 3 KitKat update. It does not make sense because Samsung always bundles many alpha-level features  or apps in the handset. As one of the flagship handsets, Samsung should give customers the option.

We have to wait for next update if you want to try ART in Galaxy Note 3.

Disappointment #2: SD card support is limited

Update 1: the SD card issue in Galaxy Note 3 after KitKat update is apparently now solved. In some regions, there is another small update after …

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Samsung Galaxy Note Pro: is the super-sized tablet for you?

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In CES 2014, Samsung finally unveiled the largest tablet they ever made: the 12.2″ Galaxy Note Pro.

Galaxy Note ProFor Galaxy Note family, Galaxy Note Pro is a new member, of course, a super-sized member.  Although Galaxy Note series always are proud of their sizes (5.3″, 5.5″, 5.7″, 8″ and 10.1″), some may wonder whether the 12.2″ screen in Galaxy Note Pro is too big.

In this post, I will share with you our comments (not reviews yet) of Galaxy Note Pro.

The official Galaxy Note Pro specs

The official specs of Galaxy Note Pro are really impressive. But this is not surprising, because Samsung always put the best hardware (except camera) on Galaxy Note series.

Just for your information, here are the official specs of Galaxy Note Pro.

  • 12.2-inch Super Clear LCD display with 2560 x 1600 resolution (WQXGA)
  • 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor ( for LTE/WiFi version) or 1.9GHz Exynos 5 Octa processor (3G/WiFi, or WiFi only versions)
  • 3GB of RAM
  • Android 4.4 (KitKat) with TouchWiz and Samsung Knox
  • 32/64GB storage
  • MicroSD support up to 64GB
  • 8-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash
  • 2-megapixel front camera
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with MIMO technology
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • USB 3.0
  • GPS and GLONASS
  • Infrared sensor
  • 9500mAh battery
  • Dimension: 295.6 x 204 x 7.95mm
  • Weight: 750g (Wi-Fi version), 753 (3G/LTE version)

Is Galaxy Note Pro the best tablet?

Hardware specs surely put Galaxy Note Pro in the top tier of tablets. But tablet is not just hardware: it is about user experiences.

In addition to hardware specs, Galaxy Note Pro have some distinct advantages over any tablet in the market. So, Galaxy Note Pro may be the best tablet for some users.

1. The 12.2″ screen is perfect for everything

When the 12.2″ tablet was rumored last year, the first reaction of most people was “it is nice but it is simply too big”.

This was actually the identical response of the introduction of Galaxy Note in 2011. In 2012, I wrote a short post to address this concern: Is Galaxy Note really too large? The answer is always: size always …

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Top 10 New features of the New S Note in Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition

By 30 Comments · ·

Galaxy Note_3_S_NoteIf you are a user of  Samsung Galaxy Note, or Note II, you will find the S Note in Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is quite different from that in Note or Note II. For example, a lot of seasoned S Note users will ask “where is the productivity tools?”  in Note 3.

In this post, I will share with you the top 10 new features of S Note in Samsung Galaxy Note 3.  These include select and transform (replacing and enhancing productivity tools in old S Note), select and format (formatting your S Note), easy chart, line eraser,  searchable S Note, full screen by default, landscape template, preview S Note, default template and default cover, and add from scrapbook.

Please note, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition has almost  identical S Note as that in Galaxy Note 3. So this post also applies to Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition, although I just mention Note 3 in the post.

1. Select and transform (replacing productivity tools)

Productivity tools is one of the  most welcomed features in S Note. It is powerful and east to use. If you are not sure about the productivity tools in previous generations of Galaxy Note devices (Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Note 8.0, and Galaxy Note 10.1), you may check this video.

Once you  get the new Galaxy Note 3,  you will find you can not find productivity tools in the new S Note.  Quite a lot Galaxy Note 3 owners asked me where to find the productivity tools.

In Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the productivity tools are deeply integrated into S Note. The term is no longer used for the new S Note.

All of the functions  and features (except formula search in Wolfram Alpha) of productivity tools now can be easily accessed from select and transform in Galaxy Note 3. You can write/draw whatever you want in the S Note, tap the selection button, draw a closed (roughly) line to include the written objects,  now you have the options to convert/transform the written objects to text,  shape, formula, …

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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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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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S Note Tutorial: how to use productivity tools

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s-note-tutorial-productivity-toolsS Pen is something unique in our Galaxy Note. ICS (aka Android 4.0) update simply made our Note more useful with some new apps specially for S Pen. S Note is one of these new and interesting apps.

However, some Galaxy Note users are not sure how to use S Note, although, Samsung already includes the 6-page S Note tips, 6-page productivity tips, and 6 samples (not sure why Samsung guys like 6, 6=s) in the S Note app.

So, I created this tutorial to give you some idea how to use the productivity tools in S Note.

This tutorial works on all Note devices: Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 8.0.

For Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, this productivity tools is integrated into S Note app. So in the new S Note app, you can not find this tools directly. Please read this post for more info.

In the 8min 30s video (screen cast with audio), the following topics are covered:

  • 1). start and navigate through S Note;

  • 2). find and use the productivity tools button;

  • 3) handwriting to text;

  • 4). shape match;

  • 5). formula match;

  • 6) export S Note

Enjoy the video.

Tools used to create this video include:

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.…

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Why Galaxy Note 10.1 will fail?

By 34 Comments · ·

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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Top 10 new features in Galaxy Note after ICS update

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After the official release of ICS 4.0.3 update for Galaxy Note  in May and ICS 4.0.4 update last week, some users asked me what the new features are. Thanks to Samsung’s Touch Viz UI, most users will not visually find any changes after the update. Here I prepared the top 10 new features in your Galaxy Note after the ICS update.

Each update fixes some bugs and the performance should be improved, so we usually recommend users to apply the update, although some new problems may be reported, e.g. battery issues, RAM issues. Given the short lifespan (1-3 years) of samrtphones, it is impractical to wait for the perfect firmware.

In this post I will try to introduce you the features. I will create  tutorials for some of these features later.

1. Pop- up play (ICS 4.0.4 update is needed)

pop-up-play-galaxy-notePop up play was debuted on Galaxy S3  last May. In the Googl Play store, there are a few paid apps (e.g., Stick it! (Pop-up Player)) doing the similar job. What it does is quite simple, you can watch your video and use other apps at the same time. The video will be re-sized as thumbnail and you can move it to any locations on your screen. Pretty cool, right?

Of course, only the built-in video player support this. Once the video is open, you can find the re-sizing (or pop up play?) button in the top right corner. If you want to stop the video, just touch the video area and release your finger. If you want to go to full screen, you can long press the home button to get the task manager and open the video player.

Two limitations: 1). the size of the video cannot be adjusted, at lest I did not find any ways to adjust it; 2). If you want to go back to full screen, the video will be played from the beginning, not from where you stop in the pop up play mode. Thanks to julien for correcting me. (Tap the video,  it will go back to the full …

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Why did I get less free RAM after the ICS update in my Galaxy Note?

By 28 Comments · ·

Some users felt the sluggish immediately after the ICS update on the Galaxy Note. Some users even want to go back to Gingerbread, as commented by some users on the post of Top 10 questions on ICS update for your Galaxy Note and Ice Cream Sandwich is coming to your Galaxy Note

Of course, it is NOT necessary to go back to GB. Don’t over-react on the feeling. In this post, I will share with you how to read your available RAMs, and some tips to make your Note more responsive.

During the ICS update, for some unknown reasons, all apps will be started (we all know all apps will be re-installed by the updater, but I am not sure why they are started). So, after the update, your Note will not so responsive. A quick solution is rebooting your phone after the update. Most apps will not run automatically, so, after the reboot, only some apps started.

Now, you can check your memory (RAM) usage through Settings–Applications–Running. You should have 200-400MB free RAM. This is more than sufficient for most apps!! For example, for my note as shown below, it still have 299MB free RAM after running a few days.

But if I use the bundled Task Manager, it reported only 101MB free RAM as shown in the screenshot below. This is why a lot of  users get scared!. Do not trust any task manager or system info apps. Most of them suck. Most of apps report available RAM inaccurately.

Wait a minute, the specification says my Galaxy Note have 1GB ram, but it shows I only have about 800MB.  Is Samsung cheating us? Surely not. The about 200MB RAM is reserved by the system, mainly for GPU.  In your Galaxy Note, there is a GPU (Mali 400-MP, to be precisely) whose duty is to render whatever to be shown on the screen. All such embedded GPUs do not have “dedicated” memory: they have to share the system RAM (your 1GB RAM). As GPU need contiguous (both physical and virtual)  address, memory should be …

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How to solve battery issues after ICS update in your Galaxy Note?

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galaxy-note-battery-issuesUpdate: although the post was initially written for Galaxy Note with ICS, the method actually works for Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 3 and many other Android devices with different versions of Android.

After ICS update, some Galaxy Note users complained about poorer battery life compared with that with Gingerbread. Initially, I thought it is a problem of “feeling” because I personally felt similar battery life after the ICS update. I was a bit disappointed because I had expected some sort of battery life improvements.

Suddenly, last week, I encountered the battery drain issue: battery just draining crazily. In one hour it can drain 3-10% battery capacity when the phone is idle. So, I know the users complaining are not alone.

As I finished my investigation and found the culprit, now I share with you how to solve battery issues on your Galaxy Note after the ICS Update. If you already have battery issues or you feel you have battery issues, you may follow my steps.

First, I installed an free app called CPU Spy (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bvalosek.cpuspy), which will give you the duration of  each CPU state. When your phone is idle (screen off, no music playing, no downloading), normally, your CPU should be in “Deep Sleep” state. For example, after one night, you check your CPU Spy, it should look like this.

As you can see, this is the normal situation. In the night, 95%of the time, the CPU is in deep sleep, and after 11 hours, about 6% battery was drained (I also checked emails before sleep).  If your phone does not go to deep sleep, you will find the duration on other state is higher. Very likely, you have battery drain issues if more than 20% battery are drained when you are sleeping (6-10 hours),  You probably will find far larger percentage on 200MHz state. If more than 30% are drained in one night, very likely, your phone never goes to Deep Sleep state.

So, install the CPU Spy (free), use your Galaxy note as usual for a few hours,  fully charge your phone, disconnect …

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