[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mister_Mxyzptlk:
Sunday, May 13, 2012

souleater11, PHug, & XDA Members:

Have either of you ever had any serious hands-on time with an N7000? The reason I ask is because I am also a resident of the United States.

I purchased my blue, 16GB, unlocked GT-N7000 on Amazon for $730 at the beginning of January this year. At the time, it was the best price I could find. However, I was making a rather big leap of faith when I purchased my Note. I had never used, touched, or even seen a Galaxy Note in person before. To make matters even worse, I was transitioning to the Note from an iPhone 4. So I was really worried that selling my iPhone would turn out to be a ginormous mistake. I had just ordered a $730 device that I had never even been in the same room with. My decision to purchase was based solely on an Engadget review, a few YouTube videos, and the generally positive customer reviews I found in a Google search. Oh, and don't even get me started on the whole PenTile RGBG debate. I was coming from a phone that pioneered the extremely high dpi display. Honestly, there wasn't much that didn't worry me.

So anyway, I obviously went ahead and ordered it. Waiting for it to arrive was nerve-racking; but after three days, it showed up. I popped that sucker out of the box, fired it up, set the language to "U.S. English" and went to town. It was the most amazing device I had ever used! The Exynos 4210 is a beast. With "Chainfire 3D" installed, the Exynos blasts through any game I can throw at it. It truly is the best mobile phone I have ever seen!

Now, the screen issue. I have to be honest about this. At extreme and uncomfortably close distances to the display, the eye is barely able to detect the nature of the display's color matrix. Under normal circumstances, ALL normal circumstnces, the PenTile RGBG disadvantages are not detectable. I believe this is due to the fact that the Note's display is 285dpi. With pixels that small, the advantages/disadvantages of PenTile RGBG versus RGB stripe begin to disappear. In my personal opinion, the Galaxy Note's display matrix isn't even worth discussing. It is absolutely beautiful! I've yet to see a phone with a display that can match it. Aside from a couple of Samsung's other offerings, like the Galxy Nexus, there is no other phone with a comparable display. As a matter of fact, I'd have to say that it's PenTile RGBG color matrix is the display's ONLY shortcoming. If it were a Super AMOLED Plus HD display, it would be absolutely perfect. Anyway, I should go ahead and wrap this up. If I don't, I'm likely to rant myself a novel.

I decided to type this lengthy review/opinion of the GT-N7000 because, like I said, I am also from the U.S. and I wish that I had been more informed when I purchased my Note. If I had been, I still would have bought the Note, I just wouldn't have nearly had a heart-attack while waiting for it. Overall, the Note is a fantastic phone. I just upgraded mine to the official, German ICS build. That's another advantage of owning the GT-N7000 and living in the U.S. People in India, for example, are physically able to install the new German ICS build. However, the German build is missing all of the region and carrier specific software and settings for them. Living in the U.S. though, there are no carrier-specific settings for me. There is no U.S. build of ANY firmware for the GT-N7000. Strictly speaking, I can install any region/carrier's build without worry. All I have to do is change the device's language to "U.S. English", setup whatever APN(s) I need, and I'm all good to go. I also have a couple of other steps to "domesticate" the GT-N7000, but they require root, so I'll leave them out of this. Anyway, the bottom line is that the GT-N7000; no matter if you purchase it through Amazon, Expansys, Negri Electronics, or somewhere else, is a fantastic device. Look for a seller with a good price and a good return policy; but I seriously doubt returning it will ever even cross your mind once you've had a chance to use it.

I hope this has been both helpful and informative.

Thank you,

Ed (Mister_Mxyzptlk)