Samsung Galaxy Note question / help?

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Having seen how big the Galaxy Note is at the AT&T store, for the owners, I'm curious, do you ever hold it against your face/ear during phone calls or do you just use headsets?

and how you men carry it? Pocket or beltcase?

[macminer]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

and how you men carry it? Pocket or beltcase?

Me? Beltcase. I have never carried any phone inside my trousers pocket. I usually had a custom beltcase for the phone (snug-fit) with a clip to attach to my belt. With Note I haven't found a proper beltcase so I bought a tourist beltcase which can hold both the phone and my wallet.

Alternatively, when I wear a jacket (which doesn't happen very often), I put the Note in my jacket pocket.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by macminer

I am not sure what you mean by "only let me have one ringtone". I have a Note and I can have as many ringtones as I wish. In fact now I have one "general purpose" tone, and a separate tone for each member of my family. What's more, you can use any mp3 file as a ringtone, so you use practically any sound file, as long as you know how to connect the phone to your PC and transfer the mp3 to a directory on the Note.

Also, sound quality in my case leaves nothing to be desired, but sound quality always depends on two factors: the phone itself and the mobile network. Some mobile networks may push sound compression to the limits and with some phones this may result in unintelligible voice quality. I am not an expert in GSM technology, but I have been using it long enough to notice how different can the same phone sound in different conditions (eg. weak signal, overcrowded network, signal in places prone to interferences). From what I have read it seems that CDMA technology has its own problems with sound quality, but these are mostly related to the distance from the transmitter.

All in all, I have chosen Galaxy Note purposefully so that I won't have to carry two devices, as it can serve both as a phone and tablet (and car navigation and e-reader, and many more) and for me it works as expected.

I am in exactly the same place, except I came from an HTC EVO 4G on Sprint to my GNote on ATT. I agree about the ringtones, but I have to say that the voice quality, while adaquate, does not compare to the EVO. I'm not sure if this is due to the network or the phone; it just is.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

and how you men carry it? Pocket or beltcase?

Pocket; in fact the same pocket that I used to carry my 7" Galaxy Tab in. I have to say it make a much smaller bulge than the GTab did.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by jlg432

Graycyn - how are you dealing with the phone side of the device? I read earlier that you were only interested in it as a tablet with the occasional wifi access. I have the Galaxy Tab 10.1 wifi/4G and I keep my 4G turned off by having it de-selected under the "Mobile network settings" (Use packet data).

This prevents the radio (4g access) from being turned on while still allowing access to the wifi radio. You do not have to use "Airplane Mode" as this turns off all wifi/4g and probably bluetooth as well.

This may extend your battery time.

Sorry not to reply earlier, I was busy, then out of town.

So far I have just kept the Note in Airplane Mode.

I have purchased an inexpensive T-mobile SIM, and unlocked the phone successfully though! However, I don't actually think it will be that worthwhile to use any pre-paid plans at present, I don't need the device as a phone, I doubt I make more than 10-20 calls per year on my Tracfone as it is!

Since all I really want is some data access, I can get that for my VirginMobile MiFi for only $19.98/month and I get 1GB of data, which is usually more than sufficient. Once we have WiFi at home, I expect to only use the MiFi when traveling.

As far as I can tell, Airplane Mode doesn't seem to turn off bluetooth, as I have had the Note in Airplane Mode and successfully used my bluetooth headphones with it for listening to music.

Also for use of stand alone map/navigation access via the GPSr. Look into MapDroyd (free) and NavDroyd (small one time fee). You just download the maps that you need for your area and you have a fully functional GPSr. Once you purchase NavDroyd you can download it across both of your devices.

I believe the cell service is not required to do any OS upgrades as my tablet suggests using wifi (faster downloads of large files).

John

Thanks, I'll look into the GPS apps. I don't know that I really *need* that feature, but but it might sometimes be useful.

I guess I'll have to wait and see on OS upgrades, however, the "Software Update" from the "Settings" menu says to "check network or SIM card", so I'm not holding my breath.

[graycyn]

Just for fun and to see if it worked, I activated the T-mobile SIM card that I used to unlock the phone and made a test call. All worked fine!

I need to thank the person who mentioned the "use packet data" thing, because though I could make calls, I was not getting internet access to work. But then I thought to look under settings, and when I saw that was not enabled, I thought that might be the issue and sure enough it was.

So now if I want to use the phone for a day, I'm good. Opted for a $2 a day plan, since I mostly just want a portable tablet. I could see this occasionally being useful, like if I needed to bid on ebay while running errands.

Anyway, it's nice to know the unlock procedure worked. I'm not sure I'm brave enough yet to try rooting!

Next step is to get the anti-glare screen protector off and get a crystal clear one on.

[Synergi]

Originally Posted by graycyn

Just for fun and to see if it worked, I activated the T-mobile SIM card that I used to unlock the phone and made a test call. All worked fine!

I need to thank the person who mentioned the "use packet data" thing, because though I could make calls, I was not getting internet access to work. But then I thought to look under settings, and when I saw that was not enabled, I thought that might be the issue and sure enough it was.

So now if I want to use the phone for a day, I'm good. Opted for a $2 a day plan, since I mostly just want a portable tablet. I could see this occasionally being useful, like if I needed to bid on ebay while running errands.

Anyway, it's nice to know the unlock procedure worked. I'm not sure I'm brave enough yet to try rooting!

Next step is to get the anti-glare screen protector off and get a crystal clear one on.

You can use your mifi for both data and free phone calls. You only need a google voice number and download Groove IP off the Market for a one time charge of 5 bucks. Then as long as you are on wifi or mifi you can make and receive calls through Groove IP using your free google voice phone number.

That is what I do,. talked my hubby into doing it and we now spend about 40 bucks a months between us for our smartphones.

[ebusinesstutor]

To answer a few of the queries here.

1. Carry - I carry mine in my front pants pocket.

2. Phone Size - I don't make a lot of calls and I just hold it to my ear. If I made a lot of calls, I would get a bluetooth earpiece.

3. Data Plan - I was very annoyed that my Note used 200MB of my 500MB in the first two days when I was mostly at home. I realized that a whole bunch of apps were defaulting to the data plan instead of WiFi. So I turned off the data network and only enable it when I am out and need to browse the web. I also changed the settings on most apps and restricted them to WiFi only. Solved my data eating problem.

Had mine about 3 weeks and I love it. It has replaced my iPhone and old 7" android tablet.

[StoryEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by ebusinesstutor

2. Phone Size - I don't make a lot of calls and I just hold it to my ear. If I made a lot of calls, I would get a bluetooth earpiece.

This is the trend. We don't use the phone for voice calls much, so the size of the 'phone' can be much larger. One day we may have to call it something else instead of phone because the phone function will be too small.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ebusinesstutor

3. Data Plan - I was very annoyed that my Note used 200MB of my 500MB in the first two days when I was mostly at home. I realized that a whole bunch of apps were defaulting to the data plan instead of WiFi.

How sneaky

[wyndslash]

Originally Posted by StoryEnthusiast

This is the trend. We don't use the phone for voice calls much, so the size of the 'phone' can be much larger. One day we may have to call it something else instead of phone because the phone function will be too small.

it might just go back to its original size (back in the old days), except in rectangular form

[ebusinesstutor]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

it might just go back to its original size (back in the old days), except in rectangular form

No, apparently Apple patented rectangle phones so it will have to be circular or triangular...