Despite mixed feelings about the Galaxy SII , I have just bought a Galaxy Note !

This decision was fuelled by a couple of things , firstly my love of the Dell Streak and its form factor, and secondly , my decision to "hold off" the iPhone 4S and stick with the iPhone 4 (which still chugs along nicely) until the iPhone 5 comes out left me with a "spare" upgrade - I pondered the Galaxy Nexus , but my aforementioned liking for Giantscreen devices made the Note an easy decision.
I'd have loved a white one , but this was not offered so I ordered the Black (or so I thought) - my heart sank when it arrived this morning and I saw the words "Blue" on the box .... Oh dear ... This only lasted a few moments , as it turns out the thing couldn't really be blacker !! I meant to try and look at it in outside daylight to see if it looked blue in daylight , but didn't get the chance , as far as I am concerned it is black.

Build quality is good enough , as with most Samsungs I've encountered it is the usual Glass with a flexible tear off back , which I hated at first , but it starting to grow on me ! it really does seem to be a lightweight & durable option. once the back is on , it feels robust and solid enough.

I have to say I prefer the styling of the Note of the GSII , Textured plastic is FAR more practical than Shiny plastic ! In fact this is the first phone I've had in bloody ages that I am not scared to put down without a case on !!

I switched the Note on - Now , as I have mentioned on here I was disappointed with the GSII screen. I had heard so many people rave about it that I was expecting far more. I found the GSII screen less bright , and over-saturated , Since the Note is a SAMOLED , (supposedly a notch DOWN from the GSII's SAMOLED+) I was prepared for the worst ... but the reality was , I was blown away ! I am not sure if is the scale of the thing , or the resolution (1280 x 800 pentile VS 800 x 480 RGB on the GSII) - I realise that RGB *should* be better , but no matter how I look at it , the Note's screen is much nicer !

Performance is good , but not as good as I was getting on the GSII with CM7, I'd say performance was on a parr with the stock GSII though , hard to tell because I didn't use it much as stock - Although I rooted the Note within minutes of getting it (far easier than the GSII was !) I am going to try and keep the Note stock and learn to embrace Touchwiz ....... at least until either Samsung release ICS for it officially , or CM9 is released , whichever of these comes first !

I haven't had a lot of time to play with the stylus ... When I first switched it on I scribbled a little picture , but haven't even tried to do anything with the stylus since , to be honest I can't see me using it ....but you never know !

I have to say , the size of this thing is alarming ! it makes the Dell streak seem slender - for this reason , although its not a problem for me , I can't see this being a big seller.

All in all , so far I greatly prefer it to the GSII