Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Review (T-Mobile) - The Phablet Returns
by Brian Klug on October 24, 2012 9:00 AM ESTSpeakerphone
The Note 2 puts its speakerphone in the same place as the original Galaxy Note, and thanks to the large size of the handset I bet there’s plenty of space for a big driver. The Note 2 also includes a new boost mode I didn’t see on Galaxy S 3 before that boosts speakerphone output volume considerably.
The tradeoff is that there is significantly more saturation and clipping with this mode toggled, but it is very, very loud.
Noise Suppression
Samsung has continually included Audience earSmart processors in its handsets for noise rejection and filtering, and the Note 2 is no exception. Both the original Note, and Note 2 include the Audience eS305 voice processor, though the Note 2 includes newer firmware thanks to its later release date. I’m told that both the Note and Note 2 were interesting challenges due to the extreme size of the handset and just how far apart the microphone pair is — there’s one at the very top, one at the very bottom on both models. In addition the T-Mobile Note 2 also has wideband AMR enabled (AMR-WB), which I confirmed inside ServiceMode by poking around. I called between two T-Mobile devices (the Note 2 and my own HTC One S) but it appears as though T-Mobile is still using AMR-NB over UMTS at least as evidenced by the 4 kHz maximum in the below spectral view. Either that or my HTC One S is the limiting factor.
Samsung is unique in that it gives a nice easy way to enable and disable the noise rejection paths by tapping the menu button, so we can easily test with it on and off just to see how much difference it makes. I’ve been supplied an industry standard babble track that emulates a loud cafe or restaurant, complete with a din of voices, doors opening and closing, and background bustle. I’ve found that playing this on loop in my office when I want that cafe vibe mitigates the desire to go and pay exorbitant amounts of money for the luxury of distraction, but I digress.
Galaxy Note 2 - Noise Rejection Enabled by AnandTech
Galaxy Note 2 - Noise Reduction Off by AnandTech
Anyhow I went ahead and tested the Note 2 with the babble track at a very loud maximum loudness of 94 dBA which is likely above spec, but a worst case. You can hear a dramatic difference between the Note 2 with the noise rejection turned on and off. I’ve heard eS305 do even better at rejecting literally all noise on the Xolo X900, but this is our first time using the babble track as opposed to music so my mental comparison isn’t quite fleshed out.
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leo jacsion - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - link
Preservance a professional <a href=" http://preservancetech.com/our-services/web-design... Designing</a> company based in the capital city of India that offers various services for website designing from a static website to CMS driven website to any open source website development to complete e-commerce site to travel portal.leo jacsion - Friday, December 21, 2012 - link
Preservance a professional <a href=" http://preservancetech.com/our-services/web-design... Designing</a> company based in the capital city of India that offers various services for website designing from a static website to CMS driven website to any open source website development to complete e-commerce site to travel portal.darwinosx - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - link
It is much more than that. Anyone who paid any attention to the trial knows that Samsung had pages and pages showing the iPhone interface and the S 2 interface which it clearly said to copy as closely as possible. But the Android kids want to be ignorant and trot out the Samsung line that is just about being a rectangle.cmdrdredd - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
The GS2 is ugly as hell next to the GS3.Samus - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
Yeah its amazing how much my wife's GSII is mistaken for an iPhone in the line at ****bucks.I know what you mean, though, and its sad Samsung is basically banned from making "attractive" looking phones. Because appearantly, Apple invented attractive looking phones?
Wardrop - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Dejavu?Spunjji - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Good to see I'm not the only one who got whacked by the comments system yesterday.n13L5 - Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - link
The way I got my home screen set up, nobody has ever asked if it is an iPhone, as there's no rows of icons to see, and given the Samoled's black values, you can't even see where the screen ends if your background is set to black.Sabresiberian - Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - link
I guess Samsung didn't consider what would be aesthetically pleasing to someone who would choose a screen name like "jigglywiggly". :DSeriously though, just like I'd never be caught using a screen name for a site like yours, there is nothing wrong with your choice, and there is nothing wrong with the looks of the Note II here. You just don't like it. That's fine, but please try not to talk as though you are the arbiter of beauty; you're not.
;)
kenyee - Monday, November 5, 2012 - link
Smooth, round, light, sleek. Not a brick like the iPhone :-)The SGS2 wasn't bad, but the pebble design aesthetic isn't bad IMHO...