Samsung reveals its Galaxy Note 2

Is it a phone?...Is it a tablet? - Well from what I've seen I guess you could call it a "phablet"!
It remains in a class of its own with the huge AMOLED bright 5.3" display and classy stylus.


In some ways it's design is familiar with the Galaxy S III, with the same rounded edges, glossy finish and extra software piled atop its Android base. Powered by a quad-core Exynos processor clocked at 1.6GHz it houses a 3,100mAh battery. There's also Samsung's reliable 8-megapixel camera sensor on the back, capable of 1080p video-recording. Of course Jelly Bean will be the Android version.

Just like the Galaxy Note 10.1, the Galaxy Note 2 contains a host of new S Pen gestures. The stylus device now enables a virtual pointer/cursor on the Galaxy Note 2's screen. This happens without the stylus touching the screen and functions almost as a physical laser pointer would.

More info on the device here:
(Video courtesy of Android Central)

Why Android rocks

I like the robot.                                    
He's user friendly, open source and based on the Linux kernel.

Back in 2005 when the search giant was only 7 years old, Google did a very smart thing. It bought out and acquired a small but little known company called Android Inc.
Larry Paige and company understood the potential for this Linux kernel OS on a phone and went forward creating the Open Handset Alliance, Android Open Source Project, and built from there.

Today we have the newest Android version "Jelly Bean" which contains several graphics updates to make the animations more "fluidlike and buttery".

More of the features of "Jelly Bean" include:
User-installable keyboard maps
Expandable notifications
Ability to turn off notifications on an app specific basis
Bluetooth data transfer for Android Beam
Offline voice dictation
Improved voice search
Improved camera app among other improvements.

Besides the customization, the availability of apps on the market is enormous. Applications are a major driving force when a customer chooses a phone. Apple still has the lead over at the App Store but Google is fast catching up and is expected to overtake iOS apps numbers in 2012.

One of the best things about the openness of the Android platform is that if you're unhappy with the stock OS, you can install one of many modified versions of Android (called ROMs) on your device. Installing a ROM can be tricky as the device must first be "rooted", then the ROM needs to be installed correctly. It's alot like installing a newer version of Windows with the bells and whistles. If you want more info about  ROMS head over to the pros at XDADevelopers forums.

Google encourages open source and developing of apps.This gives developers the ability to
create & develop apps and post them on the Market (Google Play).
Both the Windows Mobile and the IOS from Apple are closed source. Until recently Microsoft had shunned the open source world but now realizes the importance of collaboration.