Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Review (T-Mobile) - The Phablet Returns
by Brian Klug on October 24, 2012 9:00 AM ESTWhen it comes to video, surprise, the Galaxy Note 2 performs like a Galaxy S 3. Samsung has always had good video encode compared to the competition and the Note 2 is obviously no exception. I’m starting to suspect that M5MO is doing the video encode and thus how Samsung is able to keep 17 Mbps H.264 high profile looking so consistent across devices and different SoCs and time. This has been a feature they’ve touted for some time now and continues here on the Note 2.
Unfortunately I shot my video on the same day I took my bench photos and it was a bit overcast, which doesn’t quite match the sunny to very sunny views we’ve had in previous videos at the test location. Nevertheless despite the lighting changes the rear facing video quality looks pretty sharp to me. Front facing seems soft or undersampled for some reason compared to the 720p video I’m seeing out of some of the other high end smartphones I’ve recently reviewed.
Users coming from the original Note will also find that they have a much wider field of view on the Note 2 while shooting 1080p video thanks to the fact that the different CMOS and possibly different ISP firmware reads out. It doesn’t appear to be a center crop anymore like the original Note took, instead you get the wider but still not totally full field of view behavior of the Galaxy S 3 era camera.
As usual I’ve uploaded the videos from the front and rear video to YouTube for easy viewing and also provided the original untouched output from the camera in a zip file (167 MB) for your enjoyment if you don’t want to view samples through YouTube’s x264 transcode blockiness.
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jigglywiggly - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
is samsung in a contest to creating the ugliest looking soap bars?They had it right with the GS2, then they just decided to fuck it with the GS3
Skiddywinks - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
That's because the SGS2 was basically an iPhone 4/4S, and they aren't allowed to make similar shapes, it would seem.Don't blame Samsung, they want to give you what you want, they just aren't allowed. I do agree though, I do prefer the SGS2/iP4 shape.
Samus - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Yeah its amazing how much my wife's GSII is mistaken for an iPhone in the line at ****bucks.I know what you mean, though, and its sad Samsung is basically banned from making "attractive" looking phones. Because appearantly, Apple invented attractive looking phones?
aegisofrime - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
I'm sorry, but anyone who can mistake the GS2 for an iPhone is an idiot.I mean, the size difference alone should be a dead giveaway. How about the rectangular home button vs the round home button on the iPhone? How about that big Samsung logo plastered on top of the GS2?
The only resemblance the two have is the shape. I simply cannot see how anyone can confuse the two.
sleepeeg3 - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
They confuse the two, because the average consumer doesn't know anything beyond iPhone. They think all phones are iPhones. When someone owns one of the more popular alternatives, the question I always get asked, "is that an iPhone?"Death666Angel - Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - link
When I had the SGS2 a lot of people around me asked if that was the new iPhone. But most of them thought that iPhone was a generic term like "PC" or "Console".I now have a Galaxy Nexus and find it and the new Samsung phones to be just as attractive.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
I am amazed by the constant artsy fartsy droning on how a device looks, and how all people are expected to agree, with of course, the iPhone as the "beautiful one".Of course it's brainwashing, just like all the lemmings want their computer parts and cases black - a thousand websites all have the drones exclaiming the same thing - black black black.
So, anything BUT the sad sorry rectangle of the iPhone is great by me. It's a freaking rectangle - and worse yet, the stupid public pubes in charge of the PC worshipping of a rectangle always claim thinner is also better.
Thinner is not better, especially when gripping. It's better in their lemming brainwashed gourds and not IRL, but their estrogen doused public opinion persona would have them believing anything peer pressure desired them to, so of course we have that thin to win crazed insanity everywhere as well.
It's a freakin rectangle. That's super, superior styling to these god for saken morons - it's amazing they can even drool.
medi01 - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
I'm sorry, but anyone who can mistake the GS2 (and GS1 for that matter) for an iPhone is an idiot.PeteH - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Depends. I can understand it at a glance, but not upon close inspection.n13L5 - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - link
I agree on the weird soapy curve of the S3, but the Note 2 looks more like a large SII, which is fine by me.By the way, in Boost mode, the Galaxy Note II works extremely well as a portable guitar amp. You just get a toggle for gain, rather than a knob for fine adjustment of the level of distortion :D