Samsung has high hopes for the LTE packing Galaxy Note I717 in the United States. Since its launch during CES, the AT&T exclusive device has enjoyed a marketing push like no other Samsung offering to date, including the Galaxy S II lineup. It appeared in a Super Bowl commercial, it starred in New York's Fashion week, etc.
Samsung Galaxy Note I717 official photos
The subject of this review is yet another case of an international Samsung device, gone through a character makeover before hitting the U.S. shores. To be in line with its American siblings, the I717 features four touch sensitive buttons under its screen. A Snapdragon S3 chipset with two 1.5GHz Scorpion cores has replaced the capable Exynos silicon of the global version.
The changes however are not in any case a downgrade. LTE connectivity has been added and with a 5.3" Super AMOLED screen and an S Pen on board, the Samsung Galaxy Note I717 has a market niche of its own.
Here is a look at the key features of the Note I717.
Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPALTE network connectivity5.3" 16M-color Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of HiDef resolution (800 x 1280 pixels)Android OS v2.3.6 with TouchWiz 4 launcher1.5 GHz dual-core Scorpion CPU, Adreno 220 GPU, Snapdragon S3 chipset, 1GB of RAMPre-bundled with the S Pen active stylus8 MP wide-angle autofocus camera with LED flash, face, smile and blink detectionVideo recording of up to 1080p@30fpsDual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g and n support; Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi hotspotGPS with A-GPS connectivity; Digital compass16 internal storage, microSD slotAccelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensorStandard 3.5 mm audio jackCharging MHL microUSB port with USB host and TV-out (1080p through optional adapter) supportStereo Bluetooth v3.0Great audio quality9.7 mm slim and weighs a reasonable 178g2MP secondary video-call cameraFull Flash support and GPU-acceleration for the web browser permit 1080p flash video playbackDocument editorFile manager comes preinstalledExtremely rich audio and video format support2500 mAh batteryWon't fit comfortably in every pocketDifficult for one-handed use No dedicated camera keyThe Exynos chipset of the global version is significantly faster- both in benchmarks and real lifeHD screen uses PenTile matrix lowering perceived resolutionNo FM radio (the global version has one)As you can see, the AT&T Galaxy Note's spec sheet is long enough to satisfy even the most demanding users. As far as the phoneblet's disadvantages go, the substitution of the powerful Exynos chipset for a Qualcomm made one is probably the biggest letdown in the U.S. Galaxy Note. The Snapdragon S3 is simply not as powerful. You do however, get LTE connectivity thanks to it - a nice way to ease the pain over the lost oomph.
Samsung Galaxy Note I717 live shots
So, does the Samsung Galaxy Note I717 have what it takes to make people ditch their current smartphones and tablets for a device, which tries to do it all? Read on to find out. As always, we will begin with an unboxing, followed by design and build quality inspection.
Editorial: You might notice that this review is shorter than usual and doesn't include all of our proprietary tests. The reason is it has been prepared and written far away from our office and test lab. The Samsung Galaxy Note I717 for AT&T is a US-only phone, so it will probably never get to the shores of the Old Continent. Still, we think we've captured the essence of the phone in the same precise, informative and detailed way that's become our trademark. Enjoy the good read!
0 comments:
Post a Comment