List Price: $549.99
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I've had this Tablet for over a week now and have to say that I am blown out of the water by its performance and what you can do with it! To be fair, there were a few laggy areas when I first got it (day after launch) but those have since been cleaned up by 2 samsung updates. This thing is smokin fast now. I don't really use the "My Magazine" app that people are complaining about so I don't have an opinion on that one. But everything else that I use it for is amazing. I really enjoy the web browser that came with it too. I never use chrome or dolphin now.
So far what has really blown me away is the split screen where you can have two apps open at the same time side by side. I really love this and do it often. Normally when I split, I have the tablet in portrait mode and have youtube in the top windowpane and the internet browser in the bottom windowpane. But on top of that in each windowpane can have multiple apps that you can switch with independently. I also love the fact you can have a windowed app (select few) that you can move around on the screen while you do others things. For example, I have my bank app up and want to figure out my finances for the next 2 weeks so I use the Spen to open a windowed version of the calculator and just start crankin away. It's awesome!
Honestly I don't use the Spen that much for drawing and didn't really buy it for that. I bought it for the beefy specs, build quality, and high resolution screen and have not been disappointed one bit. It is nice to take a screen capture and be able to write notes directly on it though.
One thing I think a lot of people are not taking advantage of is an app that comes pre-installed called "WatchON". It is a samsung app that uses the IR blaster as a universal remote control for all your devices that use a remote. In the tutorial you set up your tv model the cable you use, the make of the cable box, and voila you have a powerhouse remote experience. Let me tell you I use this every day now. So I open the app to the "guide" section and it shows everything that is on tv like your cable box guide. You then select what you want and it changes it on your tv! It's just nice to have a channel on and just peruse though the guide and select what you want without dealing with the cable box guide. You can star your favorite channels and switch between them with ease. Volume up,down, source, and many other options at your fingertips. I also have my AV receiver that I use for sound set up and it knows to use that for the volume, the channel for the cable box, and the power for the tv. Brilliant! On top of all of that, if you have a newer tv with WIFI direct you can click a button to connect the tablet with the tv and choose to watch whatever is on the tv on the tablet! I was blown away when I stumbled upon that feature! Alert: this app is awesome on football days when you want to switch through the many games that are on at the same time!
I'm rambling on here but also you can mirror your tablet to your tv (with wifi direct) and it shows what you see on your tablet on your tv. I played the new Madden game on it and it was flawless.
All in all this is a great tablet and I am very happy with my decision even though it was about $100 more than I wanted to spend. It is worth it though. The software you get with this compared to a clean android experience makes it worth it. I really think if i went to a nexus device from this I would miss all the features and Spen abilities. That is how I know the extras are worth it.
I will update this review as things change for the better or worse but right now I am thrilled :)
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Update 1: Well, I have had this tablet for just over 3 weeks now and it has successfully integrated itself in my daily life :) I thought it would be odd for a while considering I came from the HP Touchpad with android installed. The HP touch pad has a more square aspect ratio (like the ipads) whereas the Note 2014 is more "Wide Screen". I am happy to say that I am totally comfortable with the Note 2014 after just 3 weeks. :) I even use it in portrait mode mostly and it feels natural and great. Over all I still love this tablet and it is performing very well.
I've been through 3 over-the-air updates from Samsung and it gets faster and faster with each one. The only problem I had with the tablet was that it took a second or two to wake from sleep via the power button. The 3rd update seems to have fixed this mostly but there still are times where it will take a second...one Mississippi...there we go :) But honestly its not that bad. I use the MoKo case for it that I got on Amazon. It has the smart cover that wakes it upon opening so I don't notice a delay that much if there is one. Other than that I am still very happy with this tablet. I'm glad i did my research and waited for this one.
Something I didn't really touch on in the original review are the speakers. They are very nice and I love that there are two of them for stereo. They sound very good as well. The HP Touchpad had some pretty good speakers (shockingly) and I feel this tablet is on par which is good and above average in my opinion.
In conclusion, I am still very happy with my purchase even taking in account its price. I knew I needed at least 32GB internal storage so it was $600 or nothing :) Keep the questions coming and I will try to answer them as quickly as possible. Later!
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