[Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note II] BarryH_GEG:
Hey guys. I posted this in the DNA forum where a similar comparison thread's open. It might help some of you that are on the fence too.

There's no way you could replicate the functionality of the Note in a phone with as small a footprint as the DNA. Mutliview on the DNA would be useless because of the narrowness of the screen. Same thing for trying to ink on it. I'll give you some real world uses of multiview. I work on S-Note projects shared between the Note II and my Note 10.1 (they are kept in sync via the cloud). If I'm surfing the web or get something that's pertinent to a project in an e-mail I'll open S-Note so it's split on the screen with the other app and add what I just found to my S-Note project. I also open my calendar while I have e-mail or MMS up to set up meetings. And the reason the battery's mammoth (weight) is because a device being used heavily for notes and productivity is going to have a lot screen on time. While the display of the Note is lower resolution I'd bet it easily costs twice as much as the DNA's simply because of its size and that it's inductive using tech licensed from Wacom. The 10" 1080P display on the TF700 cost Asus $17 more than the 720P display they used on the TF201. Using your logic the SGS3 at $99 would be the winner because it cost $100 less and was smaller.

So a $299 (because of the cost of the accessories you mentioned) longer/wider/heavier DNA is the better choice? The DNA's a lithe sexy phone and I could see people being attracted to that aspect of it also being totally turned off by the bulk and enormity of the N2. But if battery life and storage is so big a concern that you're going to have to tote around a satchel of accessories then the DNA may not be the best choice.

Here's something interesting that I'm finding in using the N2. In spite of the larger display it's using the same standard 4x4 Android grid that smaller phones use. Because of that everything's larger on the display. And because of that I find myself holding the phone further away than I did with my One X. For example, I can leave it on my desk and read messages with the phone being 20-24" away. Since the eye can't resolve anything above 229PPI beyond 15" you wouldn't notice if the Note's resolution were higher. Where it would make a difference is in things where text is involved like reading web pages. But the trade off is because the N2's screen has so much real estate you can look at more information on the display. For example, you wouldn't be able to read the WSJ home page on the DNA without squinting no matter how crisp the fonts are without zooming where you wouldn't have to on the Note. So you get crisper fonts (15" or less away) on the DNA but are going to have to pan and zoom far more frequently to see the same amount of information. Same thing applies to reading and composing e-mails.

There's no way on earth I'd buy a giant 5.5" phone without some pretty significant advantages over something more traditional. S-Pen and multiview are those advantages. Depending on how you use the device it can literally change what you do and how you do it. Schlepping around and using a giant phone can be a chore sometimes. Especially when you're trying to walk while doing something like at an airport or going to a meeting. If someone didn't see value in the Note's features I'd tell them to buy another phone. Samsung will sell 10 N2's for every one DNA/Deluxe HTC sells. They sold 2MM Note 10.1's in two months which is the same number of N7's Asus said it was selling. They've also sold 5MM N2's since October. Whether retro or cliché a fair number of people see the value of adding pen-input to their devices. The whole reason I got the N2 was because of what I learned I could do with the pen on my Note 10.1. But, to your point, Samsung's Note series isn't for everyone.

So with the DNA you get a beautiful device with an industry leading display. The compromises being a weak battery and 11GB of user accessible storage. With the N2 you're getting a larger display, some significant and useful exclusive features, impressive battery life, and 74GB of storage. The compromises being a huge form factor, a lower resolution display, and Samsung's use of plastics which are not always well received. Neither phone is perfect and people are going to have to choose which features are important to them and which compromises they are willing to accept. The answer to which is the "right" phone are as different as the phones themselves.