Posting this here because I was the OP and its the first Samsung phone I have bought since the Blackjack. Figured I'd post here to see how my view has changed since I originally started thus thread.
Well, I was waiting for the HTC One, but got tired of waiting and decided to get a Note 2 to try out, I have a 60 day return window so I'll be swapping for a One unless it gets delayed again or if I end up really liking the note 2.
Had the phone for 3 days, and here are my impressions so far.
1. The design isn't as bad as I thought it was. I still don't like the feel of the glossy plastic and don't like the creaks if I squeeze it, but the look is kinda growing on me.
2. Still don't like touchwiz, but at least its pretty fast, multitasking performs much better than the HTC One X+ I had last week. Also after loading up my own wallpaper and widgets, I'm liking the home screen much better now. Really hated the stock Samsung widgets and wallpapers.
3. After changing the display settings to "natural", the screen looks great. Not as good as the One X or iPhone 5, but still pretty good. In sunlight however it is pretty bad, almost unusable here in sunny Florida.
4. The stylus is really a nice option, but I'm having trouble incorporating it into the way I use a phone, but it performs great.
5. Best performing android phone I have ever used. Everything is a lot smoother and faster than any other android phone I have used in the past. While still not as fast and smooth as the iPhone, it's pretty close.
6. Not enjoying the huge screen as much as I thought I would. I thought having the larger screen would mean things would be easier to read on webpages and I wouldn't have to zoom in as much, but I'm finding text is pretty much the same size, the only real plus is because there is more room, more stuff fits on the screen at once so there is less scrolling. The only real place where I really like having the larger screen is for games, videos, and typing. The keyboard is also more comfortable to use because of that larger screen.
7. Multi-window is an amazing concept, unfortunately none of the apps I use take advantage of it other than chrome. If netflix, hulu, and pocketcast get updated to take advantage of this feature, it would be a game changer for me.
8. I really like having a physical home button, I wish more would incorporate it. Don't like having a menu button instead of multi tasking, feels like a step back. Also don't like having the power button on the side instead of the top, I'm constantly hitting it by mistake.
9. Other than multi-window and s-pen, all the additional features Samsung has included feel too gimmicky and are pretty much useless for me.
Overall, not as bad as I thought it would be. The things I didn't like before owning one, I still don't like, but those things don't bother me as much as I thought they would, and the performance more than makes up for it. I still plan on switching to the One when released, but who knows how I feel when it comes out. If multi-window gets expanded to the apps I use, it might be tough to go back.
