Flashback: Samsung Galaxy Note - the phablet that changed it all

11 August 2019
This is the phone that started the large screen craze and brought the stylus back to life. 

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  • J
  • Jimbob
  • AJr
  • 12 Aug 2019

Look how small it is

    I remember I used to go on MacRumors and post how excited I was about the Galaxy Note. Someone PMed me and said she was excited as well and how cute it looked. People forget that females were drawn to phablets earlier on the most because they carried purses. Also for older folks with weaker vision.

    Many folks from my demographic in the 20s-30s male segment kept saying the phone was a novelty and big displays would be just a fad when all it did was become the norm. Now so many of us can't have a display smaller than "5.3 or the same display size as that first Note.

      S pen is amazing and when you are a graphic artist or illustrator, there's nothing else like that on the market in mobile phone. Curved screen nowadays is the only drawback..

        the screen size looks like a compact phone in 2019 lol

          My Note battery lasted all day with browsing. Mine is still in perfect working condition.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • RIL
            • 11 Aug 2019

            But now they got too instagrammer friendly and decided that a front cam hole on the screen "is a must"...on a Note where afaic are for mostly serious people who enjoys life and work without the need for selfies every 55 minutes. Now we got an annoying little point on the screen where our sketches/writings might get messed up.

            Gg Samsung keep this up and the Note's bloodline might just end after the 11th.

              • d
              • darkmax
              • ucB
              • 11 Aug 2019

              I am one of the lucky ones to get the original Galaxy Note so many years ago just a day before its official launch. I still remember the crowd gathering around me, muttering about its size and how it will not sit in the pocket. This was the only phone I have ever bought that made a profit when I sold it! Those were the good days!

                Riaz Madappally, 11 Aug 2019I was one of the early adopters of Galaxy Note 1. My friend... moreYou were ahead of the game, bruh. Today, the first two generations of the Notes is considered compact in height even though they're quite wide. Notes from the old days were shorter like S9/S10 height but wider. Now they've become narrower but also 15+ mm taller.

                I moved from SoCal to the Philippines in November 2011 and I remember seeing the first Note at the malls in early 2012. I wanted that phone so badly but I lusted for phones all the time. I knew it was going to change things and it did. I knew a revolution for larger displays was going to happen and it happened.

                In late 2012, I think Google and LG made the best Nexus design ever made with the Nexus 4. The dimensions are absolutely perfect. We got a 4.7" display that was shorter than an HTC One M7 & iPhone 6/7/8 and just as narrow. If manufacturers can make more phones the size of the Nexus 4, I would get them all the time.

                  One of the first Samsung smartphones I ever wanted. Look at the dimensions...

                  146.9 x 83 x 9.7 mm

                  146.9 in height is considered small. It's only a 1 mm taller than my Pixel 3. It was quite wide at 83 mm which is about 15 mm more on what I consider narrow.

                  I wanted this phone because I thought bringing the stylus back was cool. Although I was still into the compact phones and still do now, I knew the bigger display was going to change the industry and it did. The first Galaxy Note is one of the all-time greats.

                  BlackBerry Playbook (tablet)
                  BlackBerry Bold 9900
                  Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
                  Palm Pre 3
                  Nokia N9 / Lumia 800
                  Samsung Galaxy Note

                  I love 2011. A number of interesting devices even though many of them flopped. The first Note is the best and most revolutionary for that Class of 2011 even though the Dell Streak came a year before it. The first Note made bigger displays more accepted that it made them normal.

                  I remember watching this video in 2011. Look how young MKBHD looked! Marques has come a long way since.

                  MKBHD's Samsung Galaxy Note reaction
                  https://youtu.be/tAikHtGndGY

                    Ohhh yes remember and miss when a 5,7 inch 16:9 was a huge phone, today a 6 inch 19:9 is a tiny phone.

                    I really want the 16:9 format back.

                      I've had the pleasure of owning and using all of the Notes, except for the Note10, and I will not be buying that one. I always wanted the Note-devices for being a flagship but adding a larger screen and battery.

                      The S-Pen saw a decrease in my use from the NOTE 1 to the Note9 where it never gets used, and I can confidently say this is not the exception but the norm for users. For that reason, there are legitimately many competitors in the "Large Phone" category.

                      I would say, if money/time is no object, here's a hierarchy list of phones:
                      Note 1 -> Note 2 -> Note 3 -> Note 4 -> LG V20
                      (early to later, non-waterproof but removable battery)
                      (early to later, sealed battery but water-resistant)
                      S6 Edge -> Note 6 -> S7 Edge -> S8 Plus -> Note8 -> Pixel 2XL
                      -> Razer Phone 2 -> S9 Plus -> Note9 -> OnePlus 7 Pro -> S10 Plus

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • vIv
                        • 11 Aug 2019

                        Pabliell, 11 Aug 2019The only RGB AMOLED was used in Galaxy S2 and its variants.... moreI know S2 was my first Android phone, before that I extensively used blackberries

                          Krisbenea, 11 Aug 2019And today every single phone is just basically a phabletThe word "phablet" was misleading from the very beginning. It was meant for bigger phones, but some tablets with 10" screens also had phone capabilities with the SIM card. So they were basically phones too, since you could make calls.
                          And there's another thing. Screen sizes went up significantly, but the bezels were reduced.
                          The first Note is just 3 mm taller, but 13 mm wider than S10. And S10 has 6.1" 19:9 screen, which is 13% bigger than 5.3" 16:10 which the Note had. So now we have bigger screens with smaller overall body.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • Xqx
                            • 11 Aug 2019

                            Riaz Madappally, 11 Aug 2019I was one of the early adopters of Galaxy Note 1. My friend... moreYour story and mine are similar
                            Loved this phone and was still using it off and on the side until two years ago when it shorted out one day and the motherboard fried.

                            They were ahead of the game back then with removable batteries and a headphone jack.

                              Yeah, the first Note was far from perfect, but later iterations went closer and closer. For me Note 4 was the last Note, since I hate curved screen and I find it useless to use with the pen.
                              I wish Samsung could keep the Note and S series separate. And as far as possible. For few years now it was just a S phone with a stylus. And now they even cut features from the all-powerful device.
                              Shame.

                                • J
                                • Justine
                                • nDy
                                • 11 Aug 2019

                                Still today we dont have smartphones that wide like that ping pong phone and we still nobody has an spen ..simply because is not a major feature for a phone ,different aspect ratio and so on

                                  F1 fan, 11 Aug 2019i miss rgb amoled ;_;The only RGB AMOLED was used in Galaxy S2 and its variants. It was called Super AMOLED+. Galaxy Note series never used it.

                                    I was one of the early adopters of Galaxy Note 1. My friends use to tease me with the size of the phone. They use to say, why are you carrying a TV for calling.
                                    But I enjoyed a lot especially full show off by watching movies and all.
                                    I use to use it for office purposes also, uploading PF files, project reports and all. But that happiness didn't last much. Some short circuit happened and phone dead. Later I repaired it by taking spare parts from some other phone and sold it.

                                      Note is unique. You want to compare? take from S series. You can not just compare a Note with any phone out there.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • JEa
                                        • 11 Aug 2019

                                        Galaxy note literally doesn't have competitor until now, in terms of it's productivity.

                                        I'm using wacom tablet on my desktop, and if I'm going to buy a phone, it's definitely note. No other phone has the ability to draw and skething on the go...

                                        I can't go back. Other phones seem useless to me without stylus.

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