Perhaps Kalin333 might be a new post?
For that matter, so might the rest of my post below:
In answer to Janicek (any relation to the composer?):
There's a ton to say on the subject of Note2 vs the S2 I left behind:
Camera:
The Note2 camera has lots of functions and settings not found in the S2; including, for example, automatic shutter-click when the subject SMILES.
On the downside, the Note2 camera's optics seem to be slightly wider-angle than the S2, so (unless you needed a wider-angle) the same composition would need a slight pinch-zoom on the S2, which I suspect throws away pixels. So everyhting seems a little grainier. (But it may be just that I've not mastered all those many new camera settings. I confess I haven't investigated them yet.)
Display:
The display is, of course, much larger on the Note2, which is GREAT for all PIM power-apps (e.g., Palm-OS DateBk6, now ported to Android as PimlicalA) and powerful Office Apps (e.g., Polaris), because you can see and interact with more data at once.
And the Note2 is SPECTACULARLY BETTER for keyboarding. I have short-but-wide fingers and the Note2 is MUCH easier for me to type on, and without errors. (More space between the keys.)
I was disappointed that you can't get more icons&widgets in the grid with the standard launchers; the icons are just bigger than on the S2; but all the great launcher-folder-widgets (e.g., Elixer2 and FolderOptions) give you far more icons on the Note2's larger screen than on the S2.
I don't do much entertainment with my phone, but I expect the bigger video screen size would be nice for those who do.
The speech recognition is MUCH better on the Note2. It's actually more functional as a result. I mean, situations where I learned NOT to try it before, I now do it.
Also, the handwriting recognition is superb (even in my fast, sloppy cursive!) and fast. (And it works with your finger, not just with S-pen.) Faster than swype, and more natural. (But it took me a while to figure out how to switch quickly between input methods in the middle of inputting. For example to switch from voice transcription to cursive script when approaching a foreign word, and then back again.) Because voice recognition and cursive scrawl work so well on the Note2, I use the keyboard far, far less on the Note2 than on the S2.
I wanted the Note2 for the S-pen, because I thought that the higher screen resolution coupled with the accuracy of a pen-tip would finally reveal the arrival of a worthy successor to the Palm OS devices and apps. (There's still nothing as effective, powerful, productive, and bug-free as PocketQuicken, HandyShopper, DateBk6, and a pushbutton desktop sync for all PIM apps, etc. especially for people who create and manipulate and manage (rather than people who consume).
After several days, I found that I wasn't really using the S-pen for anything yet. Everything else works so well, I never reached for it! But that is starting to change. Today for the first time, I got a lot of really valuable use out of it. And I expect I'll use it more as I get accustomed to it being there and learn the byways of the S-note application.
Today, I was working on a lesson plan using my (pen-less) Windows laptop in Word, and I wanted to insert a drawing to copy onto the classroom board during the lesson. I suddenly realized that the easiest way was to grab the phone and sketch on it like an art pad. Then save the diagram as a jpg in the android's DropBox; and then insert it into Word from the PC's DropBox. Spiffy!
In connection with this, I should mention a really cool feature of the Note2. When you pull out the S-pen, or when you plug-in the headphones, and under several other special actions like that, an additional page gets added to the launcher and you are taken to it. Each special action has its own special launcher page that appears for it. And you can load them with any apps or widgets that you want. For example: when you plug in the headphones, the launcher could jump to a page with your Pandora, Netflix, Music Player, Video Player, and Radio Scanner widgets. And the page is not present when the headphones are not plugged in, so it doesn';t clutter your interface. Ditto for the S-pen. Whatever apps you are most likely to use with the S-pen can be collected there, brought up out of the depths of the folders. (I have a couple hundred apps, so only the most commonly used are on the surface. It's nice to have extra pages appear in specific contexts and not clutter things up the rest of th time.)
A final bonus from the S-pen: I have educational apps for my kids on the phone. They tend to arrive in our bed early each morning wanting to "play games" on my phone for a wwhile before getting dressed for pre-school. Some of those games teach alphabet-writing and shape-tracing. Without the S-pen, they'd be using a pointer-finger. But with the S-pen, they are getting training in proper cursive grip rather than just letter shapes and pointing-OT.
There is a button on the S-pen; but I can't possibly press it. It's way too close to the tip for me to use while holding the pen in a grip useful for using it as a pen. The position shift is so awkward that I've not pressed the button, and I've already forgotten what I can use it for.
I hope some third-parties will come up with accessory pens as was done for the old Palm devices. (For example, an S-pen with a real pen inside would be nice.) Also with a longer and fatter shaft and a more raised button. It wouldn;t have to fit inside the Note2 as long as it slid into a good Note2 holder, like a Bear Motion folio case made to hold it along with the phone.)
The Note2 has only three buttons, rather than five on the S2. I didn't like that at first. The more direct access the better. However, they are used really well:
The HOME key does triple-duty:
A double-press on the central HOME key opens the interactive Voice Control of the system for complete hands-off operation.
A long-press on the HOME key opens a list of recently used applications WITH LIVE SCREENSHOTS of what's going on in them.
A long-press of the MENU key opens the search function (similar to the S2's rightmost button).
A long-press of the BACK button opens Multi-View, a feature that lets you go back and forth between two running apps. Unfortuantely, so far it appears to let you open only a specific limited selecton of apps, not all apps. But it can do split screen. You could make it play something in a window while working with the rest of the screen.
Biggest disappointments with the Note2:
It's LTE, which means it is vastly slower than the S2 (since there's no Sprint LTE in eastern Massachusetts). It's basically a 3G machine where the S2 was a 4G machine.
AND
it means that I can no longer surf the internet or check email while continuing a phone conversation. There's only one working network!
It will remain so until we get LTE in our area. Will that happen before the Note2 becomes old? Who knows.
The integration of the Phone App and the Contacts App is MUCH better on the Note2 than on the S2. The S2 used to be good when I first got it. So much so that I buried the contacts app in a folder. But then came an upgrade, and you couldn't flip between them from within them any longer (although you could consult contacts from with the phone app to place a phone call). So I had to unbury the COntacts app. Well, the Note2 is nicer again.
Besides phones, I switched from YouMail to Sprint's VoiceMail transcription service, because YouMail was $7 per month and Sprint's was ony $1.99 per month. But I'm I'm switching back. The SPrint transcriptions are illegible garbage. Not one good one in over 100 so far. (It's especially pathetic when you consider that the phone's internal transcription capabilities are so much better.) With Sprint VoiceMail, you HAVE to play the audio to make any sense at all. YouMail's transacriptions were phenomenal. (Even the machine-made ones were great. And if you don't mind introducing a short delay, and a loss of privacy, they'll have a human touch it up at no additional charge, for near perfect results. The only times there where mistakes were with unusual proper nouns and with interspersed words in Hebrew or Yiddish.) I appreciate YouMail much more now. The Sprint transcrioption service sucks. Also, the YouMail phone app is powerful and elegant, while the Sprint service's interface is very clumsy. And YouMail's website interface, and setting custom messages by caller and so on, is just gravy! I'm cancelling Sprint VoiceMail and going back to YouMail.
Bottom line: Both phones are spectacular! I like both. As you know, I had no complaints about the S2.
I was using a Palm Pre (a Web-OS phone) when the first Note came out, and I liked the Note concept. But Sprint still didn't have the Note when my Palm Pre died. Instead of using up my renewal discount, I bought the S2 on Ebay to stay out-of-contract while waiting for the Note.
So when the S2 got the Sprint-ID Blues, and then after a week or two of wrestling with that, Sprint announced that the Note-TWO was here, it made sense for me to jump ship.
But I think they are both great devices for just about everything: phones/cameras/recorders/players/email.
The Note2 is better for surfing due to the large screen, but slower (in Massachusetts) due to not having WiMax, only LTE.
The Note2 is better for producers/editors/publishers of traditional data, diagrams, and documents.
