I have been using the Samsung Galaxy note for over 6 months now and was fairly satisfied with the external package that was presented. In fact, the very first time that I saw the phone, I had wanted to own it! However, My experience as a Samsung Galaxy note owner has been far from satisfactory.
First a little about my usage.
- I belong to the set of users who can be classified as power users.
- I often flash latest firmware that is available, including custom ROMS limited to only Cyanogenmod.
- I mostly stick to Stock ROMs but then they are often modded enough by me.
- I use the handset heavily to play games, listen to music and watch music.
- My phone is connected to the internet 24×7, Mobile Data when out and Wi-Fi at home.
Beyond Samsung, I have 2 more different Android devices by LG and HTC. In terms of the sturdiness, I have been the happiest with the LG Optimus 2x that I own, although the software updates are bad I agree. The HTC Explorer belongs to my wife and I do not mess around too much with it.
Back to Samsung. Of the last few months that I have owned, my usage pattern has been fairly constant and uniform. However, I have had the worst experience owning the phone.
I have had to take the phone to the service center several times now. thrice for the same reason and for different reasons the other times.
- Thrice the phone had to be taken to the service center for a Motherboard replacement.
- Once the phone had to be taken to the service center to replace the microUSB port. This prevented the phone from successfully charging as well as connecting to the computer. This often led the phone being on charger for hours without getting even a percent increase in the battery charge. This has damaged my battery beyond repair now and I have to now replace it because I get no battery back up now.
- The power key froze on its own two days back. I could neither lock/power down/reboot the device. In fact each time I wanted to power down the device, I had to pull the battery out. Reinserting the battery would power up the phone on its own! No keys pressed!
Each time, Samsung has been a royal pain in delivering the device at the said time and often delayed things beyond acceptable limits. Despite asking them explicitly not to reflash the software, they always did reflash the software there by resulting in my loss of data.
I had really high hopes from Samsung when I bought their flagship device. Samsung has not been able to meet their promise of being the best. It’s a classic case of a company that tried too hard but when they were sure of not meeting their deadlines, pushed a half baked device!