Galaxy Note Tips & Tricks

Top 10 missing features of Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ you should know before buying

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Top 10 missing features of Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ you should know before buyingWhen you decide to upgrade or switch to Galaxy Note 10, you need to know these 10 missing features of Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+. You may check this page for the top 10 new features of Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+.

For the first time, Samsung announced two models of Galaxy Note line-up: Galaxy Note 10+ and Galaxy Note 10. Galaxy Note 1o+ is a successor of Galaxy Note 9, and Galaxy Note 10 is a stripdown (budget? but still too expensive) version of Galaxy Note 10+.

As pointed in this Galaxy Note 10 review, both Galaxy Note 10 and Note 1o+ are targeted at the mainstream users (mass market), instead of the hardcore Galaxy Note users (niche market). The comparison of Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ was discussed here.

After playing around Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, we summarized the top 10 missing features that matter for traditional Galaxy Note owners.

#1.  Notification LED light

When Samsung switched to the punch-hole design on Galaxy S10, they removed the notification LED light.

Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ followed this design and removed the notification LED light. This is the first Galaxy Note device without the notification LED light.

It is obvious Samsung is willing to sacrifice any features and functions if they impact the “look” of the phone.

Do we buy a phone to look or to use in 2019?

Such small convenience features in old Galaxy phones actually are a magnet for many buyers.  Sadly, Samsung will eventually evolve their smartphones into a beautiful brick without any functions.

#2. Capacitive fingerprint reader

Both Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ use an in-display fingerprint reader introduced in Galaxy S10 and S10+.

It sounds great. And of course, it “looks” great.

But in reality, it is a step backward because:

  1. It is slower than the traditional capacitive fingerprint sensor.
  2. It is hard to locate the area on the screen. The small working area of the in-display fingerprint reader makes it useless until you wake up the screen. FYI, if you
…

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Galaxy Note 10 review: the death of Galaxy Note

Samsung is destroying Galaxy Note with Galaxy Note 10

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Galaxy Note 10 review: the death of Galaxy NoteWith the official announcement of Galaxy Note 10 (and Note 10+), many long-term Galaxy Note owners are disappointed, although there are many BS articles claiming how innovative and how exciting Galaxy Note 10 is.

This Galaxy Note 10 review is an overall review about Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ (the difference between Note 10 and Note 10+ can be found here). The detailed review of the new features of Galaxy Note 10 (and Note 10+) is posted here. And the detailed review of the missing features of Galaxy Note 10 (and Note 10+) can be found here.

When the first Galaxy Note was announced in 2011, many are not convinced. They were correct, and they are still correct.

Galaxy Note is for a niche market where owners use two hands (instead of one) and like to use the S Pen to “write” (instead of touch). So, it is not for the mainstream phone users.  The screen size of the 5.3″ Galaxy Note is more than twice (actually 2.23 times, 81.4  vs. 36.5 cm²) of that on the 3.5″ inch mainstream phone (iPhone 4) in 2011.

The growing user community who enjoys the bigger screen helped Samsung lead the industry in adopting a bigger screen in the mainstream phones. Today, most smartphones have a screen larger than 5″.

But the success of Galaxy Note is not just the big screen.

The success of Galaxy Note is due to 1) Big screen, and 2) S Note

The early adopters of Galaxy Note consisted of two groups of buyers:

  1. People who prefer a big screen to read books/website, to play games or videos on the phone.
  2. People who like to write on the big screen with the S Pen.

For the first group owners, they have got more and more choices over the years because all smartphone manufacturers gradually increased the screen size of their flagship smartphones. So, they are not “loyal” Galaxy Note owners. They can easily get a phone with an even bigger screen.

S Note is the most …

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

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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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Top 12 new features you should try after getting Jelly Bean 4.1 update for Galaxy Note

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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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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 (https://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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Top 10 expected features in Jelly Bean 4.1 update for Galaxy Note

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jb-new-logoWe all know Samsung has been working on Jelly Bean (4.1) update for Galaxy Note, although this Korean company never officially confirm or announce this update. The information we have is the update may be rolled out as early as in December. and most users will get it in Q1/2013. There is no information on Jelly Bean 4.2 update yet.

Anyway, the waiting is almost over. Now, let’s list the top 10 anticipated features in this Jelly Bean 4.,1 update for our more-than-one-year-old Galaxy Note. For Top 10 new features in ICS update, please read this post: https://www.allaboutgalaxynote.com/top-10-new-features-in-galaxy-note-after-ics-update/ 

All these features are available on Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 8.0 already.

1. Faster, smoother, and more responsive as claimed by Google

Thanks to Project Butter, one major improvement in Jelly Bean is the performance: faster, smoother and more responsive. Of course, I guess Samsung’s TouchViz UI may degrade the performance a bit. Some carriers’ bloatware may also have negative impact on the performance.

But overall, we should notice significant performance improvement.

2. Google Now

It is a shame that Google Now has not got sufficient attention. Google Now is a true innovation on getting relevant information on a mobile device. It makes you the master, not the salve, of the information. Just as claimed by Google, Google Now gets you just the right information at just the right time. If you do not have any Jelly Bean devices now, you may get more info on the Google Now offical site

3. Multi Window

Yes, you can run two apps side by side. Although very limited apps are compatible with multi window at this time, it is a really nice feature for a 5.3″ screen. Of course, this feature is best for Galaxy Note’s bigger brother Note 10.1.

4. Offline voice typing

In Jelly Bean, a new embedded speech recognizer lets you use Voice Typing even when you don’t have an Internet connection.

5. New notification system

The notification system will have significant improvements: more info and more controls. Notifications from the …

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Galaxy Note 2: the first Jelly Bean phone will reach your hands as early as this October

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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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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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Top 10 questions on ICS update for your Galaxy Note

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galaxy-note-ics-update-girl-with-phonesYes, ICS update is available for about one third Galaxy Note users. To get the most current    status on the availability of ICS update in different regions, you may check this post (I will update it once new info is available).

I received some inquiries on ICS update for Galaxy Note: some are through comment of the post mentioned above; others are through Google+.  For all these questions, I tried my best to answer them, and will continue to answer them.

I noticed there are some repeated questions, so I decided to put some frequently asked ones in this post to save reader’s time. It will not be just 10, as I will always update it if it is necessary.

Question #1. Why did some users get the ICS update earlier than me? 

Normally, firmware update must go through local testing. For regions with more users (and so Samsung collected more money there), the testing usually is faster. And Samsung also may put some sorts of priority for such regions.

The second reason is that the local carrier may want to bundle more bloatware (in addition to that bundled by Samsung). This may slightly delay the update availability. If your handset is subsidized, the carrier always tries very hard to give you more bloatware.

Another possible reason is marketing scheduling. For example, if Samsung is planning to launch Galaxy S3 in your region, usually it is not a good idea to release ICS update for Galaxy Note (another flagship product) just a few days before the launching event. In this case, the update will be normally scheduled after the event.

Question #2. Why should I update to ICS?

ICS update for your Galaxy Note is just a software update. Software generally is getting better and better: more stable, more functions, more compatible apps. Android 4.0 (ICS) is a major update merging software stacks for phone (Ginger Bread) and tablet (Android 3.0, Honeycomb). So, it is almost perfect for Galaxy Note, which is somewhere between phone and tablet.

Specifically, with ICS update for your Galaxy Note, you get

  • Latest
…

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