I pitched in some money for my mom for her birthday as she was due for an upgrade right at that time. I suggested the S3 as that's what I was set on for my own upgrade which would come a couple months later. She ended up going with the S3 and she really likes it coming from the iphone, but she did also say that she was looking at the Note 2 in the store when she upgraded and she was considering it... and when I upgraded to the Note 2 and she saw my phone she said "yeah I should have just gone with that one".
The S3 is a great phone no doubt (I messed around with my mom's quite a bit after she upgraded as that what I had originally planned to upgrade to) but the bigger screen of the Note 2, well words really can't do justice to how much nicer it is to have a bigger screen, whether you're texting or surfing or watching youtube or whatever. And then there's the S Pen if you're so inclined to use it. And the battery life. Where I'm getting an easy 30hrs out of mine, she says hers is on the charger every night. And I am pretty sure I use mine way more often than she uses hers, as I am constantly emailing, surfing, youtubing and whatnot.
I had planned all along on going with the S3 for my upgrade ever since it was announced, but chose the Note 2 instead once I found out about it, and since I've got the phone, I haven't thought twice about my decision. My only apprehension I ever had with the Note 2 was whether it could fit comfortably in my pocket, but after reading several reviews and then actually sticking the thing in my pocket, no regrets whatsoever. It's fast, it's smooth, it's got a huge screen... the only thing that could induce phone envy in me at this point might be the Note 3.