UPDATE:
Thank you to everyone who posted comments regarding my original post.
I exchanged my Note for another about three weeks ago. I wanted to use it awhile to make sure the goodness wasn't going to be fleeting. I am happy to report that most of the problems that I had originally posted are no longer issues.
My new Note has Gingerbread on it and I won't be upgrading to ICS. When I purchased my original Note, it came with Gingerbread. Then less than two weeks of owning that Note, I updated to ICS. I can't say for sure if ICS created a lot of the issues because I didn't have it long enough on Gingerbread to know any better. It might have been the hardware itself that was the problem.
A co-worker had also updated his Note to ICS. He had owned his Note for several months. He complains that ICS isn't as good as Gingerbread. He misses some of the features that he had with Gingerbread. He thinks that ICS is actually a downgrade from Gingerbread. He says that his Note has always been freezing since the update. My ICS Note was freezing, too. The freezing issue was the reason that I finally exchanged it.
The only thing that I can complain about now is the lack of AT&T's LTE network in many areas (compared to Verizon's). But, as stated in one of my post, I knew about that before I bought my Note, but thought I could put up with the slowness because I wanted the Note's large screen.
Now, I'm happy with my Note, but still disappointed with AT&T's LTE coverage.
I appreciated everyone's comments and for providing me with ideas on how to resolve the issues. Thank you, again!
END of UPDATE
***************************************************
I'm sorry to post this, but people who are thinking about buying this phone need to be aware that this phone can't do some basic things correctly.
I bought the Note because I mostly use my phone for browsing the web and for navigation. I was attracted to the large screen - thinking that it would make both more enjoyable. However, the Note's large screen doesn't outweigh the disadvantages that I've listed below. For the past month, I have really tried hard to enjoy this phone, but the Note is the worst Android phone I have owned. I have owned a HTC G1 (on T-Mobile) and just recently replaced a HTC Thunderbolt (on Verizon) for the Note. Even the G1, the original Android phone, was better than the Note.
Here are some reasons I hate the Note:
I regret that I gave up my one year old Thunderbolt for the Note. It was faster and more accurate than the Note in many locations that I visit. At home, I get a LTE signal. Five miles away from home, I only get 4G. Don't be fooled on what AT&T calls 4G. As many other people have posted on this site, if it's not 4G LTE, AT&T's 4G is just enhanced 3G.
Currently, the Note is a bad phone on a slow network (compared to the other phones I've owned).
The two things that I hope for are, 1) AT&T expands its LTE coverage faster, and 2) The GPS is more accurate. Otherwise, I don't think I can live with the Note/AT&T for the whole two year contract.
Thank you to everyone who posted comments regarding my original post.
I exchanged my Note for another about three weeks ago. I wanted to use it awhile to make sure the goodness wasn't going to be fleeting. I am happy to report that most of the problems that I had originally posted are no longer issues.
My new Note has Gingerbread on it and I won't be upgrading to ICS. When I purchased my original Note, it came with Gingerbread. Then less than two weeks of owning that Note, I updated to ICS. I can't say for sure if ICS created a lot of the issues because I didn't have it long enough on Gingerbread to know any better. It might have been the hardware itself that was the problem.
A co-worker had also updated his Note to ICS. He had owned his Note for several months. He complains that ICS isn't as good as Gingerbread. He misses some of the features that he had with Gingerbread. He thinks that ICS is actually a downgrade from Gingerbread. He says that his Note has always been freezing since the update. My ICS Note was freezing, too. The freezing issue was the reason that I finally exchanged it.
The only thing that I can complain about now is the lack of AT&T's LTE network in many areas (compared to Verizon's). But, as stated in one of my post, I knew about that before I bought my Note, but thought I could put up with the slowness because I wanted the Note's large screen.
Now, I'm happy with my Note, but still disappointed with AT&T's LTE coverage.
I appreciated everyone's comments and for providing me with ideas on how to resolve the issues. Thank you, again!
END of UPDATE
***************************************************
I'm sorry to post this, but people who are thinking about buying this phone need to be aware that this phone can't do some basic things correctly.
I bought the Note because I mostly use my phone for browsing the web and for navigation. I was attracted to the large screen - thinking that it would make both more enjoyable. However, the Note's large screen doesn't outweigh the disadvantages that I've listed below. For the past month, I have really tried hard to enjoy this phone, but the Note is the worst Android phone I have owned. I have owned a HTC G1 (on T-Mobile) and just recently replaced a HTC Thunderbolt (on Verizon) for the Note. Even the G1, the original Android phone, was better than the Note.
Here are some reasons I hate the Note:
- AT&T's 4G LTE nework is smaller than Verizon's. When in 4G (not LTE) mode, the Note is so slow that it is practically useless for using the web. It's pathetic!
- The GPS, for the map and navigation apps, is not trustworthy. As a test, I turned on the map app on my way to work today. It was about a quarter-mile off my actual location for my whole 15 mile trip to work!!!
- The Note's screen freezes sometimes.
I regret that I gave up my one year old Thunderbolt for the Note. It was faster and more accurate than the Note in many locations that I visit. At home, I get a LTE signal. Five miles away from home, I only get 4G. Don't be fooled on what AT&T calls 4G. As many other people have posted on this site, if it's not 4G LTE, AT&T's 4G is just enhanced 3G.
Currently, the Note is a bad phone on a slow network (compared to the other phones I've owned).
The two things that I hope for are, 1) AT&T expands its LTE coverage faster, and 2) The GPS is more accurate. Otherwise, I don't think I can live with the Note/AT&T for the whole two year contract.