My Current Top 3 Daily Gear

Current Gear: MBP 2012 / Galaxy Note 3 / Google Nexus 7 (2013 FHD)

TOP THREE GEAR!

My current daily 3 items:

• Macbook Pro 2012 (Intel i5 Ivy Bridge 2.5ghz / 16GB DDR3 / 1TB
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
• Google Nexus 7 2013 (32GB)

Its funny because out of these three items, my Macbook Pro seems to be the most outdated gadget even though its the largest and heaviest.

Both my tablet (Nexus 7 MK2) and my phone (Galaxy Note 3 by Samsung) has a full hd resolution of 1920x1080 and above (1920 x 1200 for my Nexus!).

My Macbook Pro has a very sad and lowly resolution of.... 1280x800

Yep...

Perhaps its time for me to upgrade to the Retina Macbook Pro?

Anyhow, no matter how good your tablet is, nothing gets work done way faster than the traditional Laptop with Keyboard + Trackpad, honest!

I tried so hard to replace my macbook pro with my Nexus 7 or my iPad to get work things done (replying to emails, writing documentations etc) but I always get things done faster on my macbook pro.

So will tablets replace laptops? Maybe, but definitely not yet. Not now. There is still a place for physical keyboards and mouse!

Pioneer DDJ-SX Mini Review and Comments Part 2 (With Serato DJ Software)

This is the Part 2 Of My Pioneer DDJ-SX Review

A little bit of background info for those who are wondering why the review was split into two (Part one is HERE) - The Pioneer DDJ-SX was released a little too early in some places of the world (myself included - in Singapore here) and as a DJ Controller, it does not function fully without its proper "Engine", The software that is driving the Pioneer DDJ-SX is Serato DJ - The new software by the NZ based Serato Audio Research that is destined to replace their "Serato Itch" software

I Received the DDJ-SX on October 30th 2012 - about 2 days before the software went online, so for a good amount of time (that seemed like forever) I owned a controller that does not control... anything!

The interesting part of the DDJ-SX is that... it also fully functions as a mixer, complete with phono ground plugs, as in you can plug either cdjs, turntables, or both, into the Pioneer DDJ-SX and use it as a hardware mixer WITHOUT ANY LAPTOP CONNECTED - and the filters will work too as they are hardware filters - if you ever used the DJM900 in the clubs its kinda similar in which you get to choose which inputs goes to which channel - the switch are on the front panel of the DDJ-SX

So for the first 48 hours of owning the DDJ-SX I actually used it as an analog mixer  to play around with it... I even plugged in my Native Instruments Audio 6 DJ interface and ran Traktor Scratch on it! (Note that I used it strictly as a 4 channel mixer here... plus the Audio 6 has only 3 stereo channel outputs)

Now that the Serato DJ software is out (V.1.0.0 as of this writing) I can give my comments regarding this awesome (not so little) Controller!

This DJ Controller is Going To Sell Like HotCakes

Just like Apple (ahem!), Pioneer seems to command its own "reality distortion field" where everyone thinks that whatever its released is always good, Pioneer has been known to make solid, durable "high-end pricey stuff" and "sometimes not so impressive cheaper range", one would expect a killer, 4 DECK, PIONEER Serato controller to cost something like SGD $1800? (USD 1500)  or SGD $2000?  (USD $1700)

Just as a comparison, the Numark NS6 is being sold in Singapore at the price of SGD $1900+ (Thats around USD$1600 after conversion? WTH? I know right! so expensive compared to how much they are selling in the States). The Pioneer DDJ-SX is being sold in the States for USD $999, and surprisingly over here in Singapore its not too different at all, about the exact same equivalent after conversion - $999USD! (FYI I Purchased it for $1XXX SGD thru Valentine Music Store)

You may ask... if Why are Pioneer gear cheaper in Singapore even though its the more "premium" brand compared to those a little bit smaller like, lets say Numark? because Pioneer has the power and the distribution strength, being the "industry standard" CDJ's (have you ever seen anything other than Pioneer CDJ's in proper clubs?) they push a huge number of DJ gear regularly, and when they bring in and sell more quantity of item they are able to sell it a lot more affordable as well~

So.... USD $999 - for a 4 Deck, Pioneer controller, super precise jogwheels, full throw 100mm pitch sliders, dedicated Filters on each deck, and works as an analog mixer - with that Pioneer branding all over it this thing is really priced to sell like hotcakes!

Serato DJ VS Traktor Pro 2.6 initial comparison

I'm not going to lie - I am a huge Native Instruments fanboy and an avid user of Traktor Scratch, but that just proves that this controller is promising enough for a big Traktor fan like myself to "test out the waters" of Serato, before, perhaps... making the Jump? Just saaaayin! Nah I'm not ready to do that haha

There are a few features of Traktor that I really really miss dearly, for example, Quantized Hotcue's, hotcue labelling, and especially: The effects! Serato has always struggled to compete with Traktor's lethal offerings of FX - Traktor 2.6 further destroyed the competition in terms of FX when Traktor  introduced 11 all-new Macro fx for FREE - which all sound really really awesome and really really nicely made - they sound so good and are so easy to use!

New in Serato DJ is Izotope's offering of FX, which all sound great, given Izotope's excellent cred with the likes of Ozone, Stutter Edit, Nectar, Alloy etc (VST/AU Plugins that I use regularly in Ableton), but the effects still lacks the user-friendliness of Traktor FX - as of V.1.0.0 Serato DJ does not allow FX Combos (assigning multiple combos of FX chains in each FX banks ala Traktor). I kinda wish they would implement some of those izotope stutter edit goodness in Serato DJ's FX offerings! Imagine having the stutter edit built into the Serato DJ FX Bank!!

I am going to bring one thing up that I really noticed in terms of comparison between Traktor and Serato - Library management in Serato is much much more easier and practical compared to Traktor!!!! The smart crates and the sub crates are really really great, and remember this is coming from a Traktor-user, in Traktor lets say you have a folder, lets call it house - and then inside this folder you separate it into different playlists - electro, mainroom etc, ok by logic when you click on the folder "House" you should be able to see everything inside it right? RIGHT?? both mainroom and electro? in Traktor - NO. In Serato its just simpler and easier to manage music libraries~ create a crate, drag that crate here, create sub crate, smart crates, you see? it just makes sense? Traktor needs to learn A LOT from Serato in these parts...

Those Pads!

The DDJ-SX hotcue pads are SUPER AWESOME! I also own the Native Instruments Maschine and I find the DDJ-SX drum pads to be comparable in terms of feel and performance, they are so awesome that you just wanna smash them pads! Triggering hotcues with the Pads is super responsive, rapid fire triggering is also super easy and no problems at all - compared to the Traktor S4 hotcue pads the DDJ-SX wins 10-1 easily!

The slicer mode, something that is very alien to us Traktor users, is a lot of fun as well, I spend a lot of time saving / setting loops of well-known riffs and leads just so i can use the slicer to make epic edits - lots of fun indeed - I have not tried mapping the pads in ableton just to see how they go for beatmaking but I can't see why you can't do it - seems like a good idea!

Serato Beatgrids

The DDJ-SX has built in beatgrid setting/adjusting controls on the hardware so once you are plugged in you really rarely need to touch the laptop! I found that 90% of the time Serato will set PERFECT beatgrids, and coming from Traktor where it will almost always get the grids wrong when you set the auto grid, this is amazing, and if by any chance the beatgrid is slightly off, a quick press of the "Slide" button on the DDJ-SX and a tiny nudge on the DDJ-SX's large jowheels does the job - track preparation is fun and super easy! Plus in Serato you can see the waveforms of tracks easily so you can even ignore setting beatgrids altogether if you dont feel like to

The DDJ-SX Jogwheels in Serato DJ Software

The Jogwheels are great - coming from Pioneer CDJ's I'm going to say that they are a bit loose compared with the full-sized ball-bearing CDJ Series (800/900/1000/2000) - and also a lot smoother, you know that funny noise that Pioneer CDJ's make when you do a spinback? well that noise (produced by the ball bearings inside the jogwheels) doesnt exist in the DDJ-SX - it's all smooth and actually rather loose - there is a sensitivity adjustment sensor for each deck but unfortunately there is no TENSION adjust in which you can make the jogwheels stiffer - but regardless they are among the best and the most precise jogwheel I ever tried - I'm going to say that the Traktor S4/S2 are just as accurate (as I owned them both) but given the huge size difference between the S4/S2 versus the DDJ-SX, the DDJ-SX wins in terms of overall jogwheel feeling

The jogwheels are PERFECT for mixing and pitch bending, the outer rims of the DDJ-SX really emulates the bigger CDJd900/2000 series in terms of pitch bending sensitivity, I have no problem transitioning from the bigger CDJ's to these, but in vinyl mode you will feel a lot of difference, as the jogwheels are a lot more loose than the CDJ900/2000's - full spin back techniques are also really hard, if not impossible to perform

I find the perfect setting for the DDJ-SX jog sentivity to be at around 10-11 o clock position (default from the factory mine was set at around 12 o clock - right in the middle) but I believe most people would wanna play around with the settings to find what works best for them

The DDJ-SX Experience

I spent quite some time jamming with the DDJ-SX after purchasing it and I found one thing rarely found in other DJ controllers - the kinda feeling that you are jamming on a "Virtual" club setup, as in the whole feeling of using the DDJ-SX really emulates the feeling you get from using the typical DJM800/900 mixer in the club with HID CDJ900, the Pioneer-ish Jogwheels, the full length 100mm pitch sliders, Filters on each deck (like the DJM800/900 series!) the strip search bar (from the CDJ2000!), the SLIP mode (From CDJ900/2000nexus!), all these are all features you'd find in premium Pioneer Gear that costs WAY MORE individually than the DDJ-SX setup (For a price of one CDJ-2000nexus for example, you can get TWO BRAND NEW DDJ-SX units for the same price!!) and it is not hard at all to transition from the DDJ-SX that you use to jam for hours and hours at home -  with the Pioneer Gear they have at the club~  Especially if you play out with Serato Scratch Live!

The way I see it, If you are going to buy a pair of CDJ900/2000 and only use them as controllers in Serato - you are just paying a lot of money for a bunch of midi controllers, why not just get the DDJ-SX?

The DDJ-SX vs Traktor

There are no official Traktor mapping for the DDJ-SX yet - and I doubt that there will be one soon, however a quick check into djtechtools user mapping site (HERE) will lead you to a user-made DDJ-SX mapping that apparently works pretty decent (although I have not tested it yet as I am kinda waiting for an official release TSI - hopefully!)

If you plan to use this controller with Traktor - I would say that it might not be the wisest idea, from one Traktor user to another (myself), as this thing was really built with Serato in mind - just dont expect the same awesome jogwheel performance in Traktor with the DDJ-SX - it may never happen, I personally bought the DDJ-SX as my home jamming setup and I didnt mind jamming with Serato, I am actually intending to use Serato DJ with the DDJ-SX exclusively, while I still play out with my usual Traktor Setup when I play out - something that I dont think many people are keen to do as you have to manage two different libraries (Serato and Traktor)

If you are a Serato user, either Scratch live or Itch, the DDJ-SX is a no brainer, it is simply THE CONTROLLER TO GET! It is priced well, solidly built, and has enough features to entertain you for a long long time, and it shares the overall Pioneer feeling you get from the club-standard gear, for example, if you regularly use Scratch Live to play out anyway with Pioneer CDJ's, and you seek to find a solid, top of the range Serato jamming deck for you to practice at home - The DDJ-SX is the thing for you! Transitioning from the DDJ-SX + Serato DJ setup to Scratch Live + CDJ typically found in the clubs is super easy, plus they share pretty much the same core collection/library

For those who are getting the DDJ-SX and think it's too heavy to bring out to gigs - you can simply purchase a Rane Serato SL2/SL3 box to use with the club's Pioneer gear - you wont have a hard time transitioning!

I really hoped that they would release an alternative to the DDJ-SX for Traktor - the DDJ-TX perhaps? but given Native Instruments' recent venture in DJ hardware business, it is really unlikely that Pioneer will release a Traktor version, as Native Instruments even make their own DJ Mixer now - I dont think Pioneer will consider making the DDJ-TX as Native Instruments will probably release something of their own anyway pretty soon - The Kontrol S4 Mk2? or something? I think we'll see!

Summary

Bottom line - if you are a Scratch Live user - GET THIS! It's awesome, its well worth its price, and you wont have much problem transitioning to the club setups from this!

Traktor user? You might not be so happy with the lack of integration the way the DDJ-SX fits Serato DJ like a glove, we are still waiting for an official TSI (if we ever get one) and we can predict that the integration wont be comparable to the way the S4 did with Traktor, but if you wanna see what's on the other side (Serato!) and want to experiment, the DDJ-SX is still a good buy! It just might convert you over to Serato again just for you to keep your Library!

Get DDJ-SX From Amazon!

Pioneer DDJ Series DDJ-SX Digital Performance DJ Controller

Macbook Pro 2012 13 Inch (Ivy Bridge) Mini Review!

Macbook Pro 13 Inch 2010 vs Macbook Pro 13 Inch 2012

So... I was fortunate that my home phone/internet package was expiring, and my local telco "SINKtel" (ok its Singtel) offered a free 2012 Macbook Pro to those who are signing up for a 24 month Broadband/Home Phone / Cable TV Bundle

So being the broke University Student that I am that always seems to spend money on gear, even though I always wanted a new laptop I just cant seem to get it!

So the Queen Fortuna the Lady Luck happened to be on my side this time - allowing me to replace my aging 2010 Macbook Pro (Core2Duo 2.4 GHZ / 8GB DDR3 / 750GB HDD) with one of the fastest species for the 13 inch Macbook : 2.5 GHZ Intel i5 Ivy Bridge, 8GB DDR3 1600mhz (self upgraded) - and 500GB HDD

My old Macbook Pro 2010 was actually still doing its job fine, it is definitely a work horse, it pretty much does everything I require it to do, the aging CPU starts to show its age when I do very heavy CPU processing such as loading an Ableton / Logic Session file with a lot of high-CPU plugins such as the Native Instruments Reaktor, Camel Audio Alchemy, Izotope Ozone, Waves, having all those in the same session file usually equals to unlimited spinning beach balls on my old macbook pro - It just could NOT handle all those heavy duties!

For those who are looking into buying a second hand 2010 Macbook Pro - yes they are still fine! Dont let this review make you think that the 2010 Macbook Pro is inadequate, in fact for most applications, including Traktor Scratch Pro 2.5, and even playing Diablo 3 on basic settings (highly playable) - the 2010 Macbook Pro STILL does the job fine, so yes if you are able to pick one up cheap in good condition I'd say go for it!

On the other hand... If you are going to do extreme CPU intensive applications such as Audio/Video editing, I recommend you the i5/i7 CPUs as they will handle things a lot better!

This is my mini review of what i think of the 2012 Macbook Pro 13 inch (base 2.5ghz i5 model - RAM self upgraded to 8GB DDR3)

Blazing Fast - Cpu somehow Cooler!

First thing I did was to open one of my crazy session files in ableton, with 75 tracks in the session and a whole lotta plugins and fx units (NI Massive, FM8, Sylenth1, Waves plugins, Izotope, etc) , on my old macbook pro i can see the macbook crying for help, it does not handle it too well, i get glitches, pauses, and whole lotta stuff I dont really wanna hear, even when rendering out sometimes!

On the new Ivy Bridge 2012 CPU - The cpu meter barely hits the 30-40% mark! I was like... WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAA! This is good! I can actually have bigger session files with even more plugins than ever before!!

One thing I find with my old macbook is that Flash videos usually kick the Fan RPM to about 3500rpm to 5000 rpm - when I stream flash videos on the new Macbook Pro it stays still at 2000rpm with no sings of even attempting to cool anything down - Wow? I mean the CPU stays COOOL when playing flash videos~ pretty cool!

I have NOT tried to install Diablo 3 on my new Macbook Pro just because I know I'll end up playing it so much!!

OSX Lion - Where's my Installation DVD??

One thing that I dont get with the OSX Lion - Hey Apple... Where's my installation DVD??

Im one of those people who like to do FRESH re-installs after a few years or so in case my laptop gets filled up with junk or loaded with bloat - with the OSX lion, apple does not supply anything, the only thing there is , is in a separate partition on the same internal HD for you to re-format lion, but what if you bought a brand new Hard Drive, took it out, and want to install lion??

Well there are ways to get around this - you can create a bootable usb drive with some "trickery", or you can attempt to install lion over the internet (downloading 4GB installation over the net? uh...) , or you can always buy Apple's osx lion thumb drive for about USD $60 (Whaaaaa?)

OSX Lion definitely feels a lot smoother, Faster, and overall polished over the Snow Leopard, however let me warn you that some of your older applications may or may not run at all on OSX Lion.... Diablo 2??? Nope cant play it. Warcraf 3? I dont think you can install it either!! Oh no!!

So... if you have older applications that you feel that you really need, do check if they are Lion compatible!!

USB 3.0 - Good Addition or DJ's Nightmare?

As you may already know apple included USB 3.0 and thunderbolt on all the 2012 macbook models - including the 13 inch!

Well now... the bad news is many Audio Interfaces does NOT play nice with USB 3.0, there are various discussions on the Native Instruments Forum regarding this and there is a current WORKAROUND to this, basically if you want maximum compatiblity, you should not update your OSX Lion to 10.7.4 (YET), as this enables the USB into 3.0 and that is when things dont play too nice

Too bad as the improved USB 3.0 support will be awesome for external hard drives!

Thunderbolt drives cost an arm, a leg, and a kidney to buy (even the thunderbolt cable costs $USD50!), so the USB 3.0 external drives will be an excellent, cheap and speedy addition to the ever-growing storage needs of audio freaks and DJs alike!

Given the relatively cheap prices of good quality external hard drives that support USB 3.0 - i think with some time the USB 3.0 will be widely accepted and enjoyed by people with growing storage needs

The Screen - Seriously Still 1280x800??

From a company that pushes "RETINA DISPLAY" on its iPad tablets and mobile phones, its really a shame that the Macbook "PRO" (yes the PRO is in capitals) still gets a horrible resolution of 1280x800, I mean in this time and era when Apple themselves are pushing the whole "RETINA display" thing where you dont get to see individual pixels, well SURPRISE - the Macbook Pro 13 inch is REALLY PIXELLATED by today's standards!

The screen quality, other than the resolution, is really good, colors are vibrant, viewing angles are excellent, it still has that super glossy finish that many people will find annoying, but if you are not working outdoors it should not be a problem! but yeah... THE RESOLUTION of the screen, I mean im not sure if Steve Jobs would have allowed this to happen if he was still alive!!

Awesome Battery is Awesome

The Macbook Pro has AWESOME Battery Life! Remember the old days when your Acer laptop weighs a ton and barely can last an hour? Well the Macbook Pro, even with the updated horsepower, retains the awesome battery life, in fact I never bring my charger to the school as I know I always have enough juice to last me during Uni  class (2pm - 6pm) with a lot of juice left after school!

So battery life - 10/10!!! the reported battery life (7 hour) is pretty accurate with normal use! 

Everything Else is... Almost the Same

Yes the Macbook pro still looks identical to how it looked like 4 years ago, I mean put all the 13 inch models from 2008-2009-2010-2011-2012 and you will find it very difficult to tell the difference between then from the outside appearance! You still get 2x USB ports that are placed too close to each other (now 3.0 unabled), you get the Thunderbolt (which acts as the DVI as well), see, everything is pretty much identical

Conclusion

Is the 2012 Macbook Pro 13 inch is a worthy upgrade? Well that depends, if you already own the newer i5 models (early 2011 and late 2011 models) i really see no reason why you should even bother to upgrade, but if you have the older models (2008-2010) of macbooks, the MASSIVE SPEED BUMP itself makes it all worth it, compared to my old MBP 2010 the cpu is more than doubled!  (see geekbench here if you wanna see the full benchmark list of the apple computers)

If you have the newer i5/i7 models, you should wait for the rumored Retina Macbook Pro 13 inch, as it will make more sense to you more to do the upgrade, if you have an outdated machine and wants a MASSIVE speed bump and Raw Power, yes the 2012 MBP 13 inch is definitely a good upgrade!!

Or... if you dont need the Hard Drive space so much - what about the Macbook Airs? The 13 Inch Macbook airs offer excellent portability, but is pricier and has much smaller storage - personally I struggle to even fit everything in 500GB - 256GB is just not enough for me! and 500GB SSD is gonna cost you a kidney, so if you need the storage and horse power - definitely go for MBPs, if not, Macbook Airs + External hd might be an alternative


Amazon Link to the exact model reviewed:

Apple MacBook Pro MD101LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION)

Review: Slappa Hardbody Pro Headphone Case (With ATH-M50 Headphones!)

The Audio Technica ATH-M50 Headphones is by far, one of the best sounding headphones I ever heard (well in its price range anyways!), you can see my mini review HERE by the way

I normally use it for home Mixdown stuff for my Audio Engineering assignments when I need to work on them late night and I am unable to blast my Yamaha HS50M out loudly - the ATH-M50 does the job fine when you need them to!

Well, the ATH-M50 does come with a soft pouch that does not protect it in any way, being the OCD and overprotective that I am towards my gear, I felt the need to buy some kind of heavy duty, hard case to protect it when I take it out either to the Studio or anywhere else

Solution? The Slappa Hardbody Pro Headphone Case!

Here are some photos I took to show how it fits~

It almost looks like it wont fit...

I have included my trusty old Sennheiser HD25 as a size comparison next to it, (which wont fit by the way - I TRIED!)

As you see from the photo below, and above, it almost looks like I am not able to close down the case due to the extreme snug fit of the headphone inside the case, but it DOES fit, and i must say that It is almost the perfect fit, being snug it means the headphones wont bounce around inside the hard case, something that can potentially damage the headphones, lets say you jump up and down (for some weird reason), if there are too much space left in the case thats no good you see, so yeah I must say that It is a GOOD fit, a few milimetres of extra space would be really great, but as it is I must say It fits really well!!

But it fits - Snugly!!!

According to Slappa, this would fit most headphones that are foldable, there is a video online from slappa that shows the Pioneer HDJ-1000 and the Pioneer HDJ-2000 (very common dj headphones) inside them very well, im gonna embed the video below for you to see, in case you own those headphones and interested to see how they fit!




The Slappa Hardbody Headphone comes in several choices of style, Black, Camo (the one I have), white skulls, and a green/black skull thingie

Seriously, for the price ($16 - $24 on Amazon, depending on the style you choose), this is probably A MUST HAVE for anyone who wants to protect their precious headphones, I mean can you imagine what would happen lets say if you put your $200+ headphone inside the soft pouch that comes for free, and you either drop it or someone sits on your bag that contains the pouch - OUCH!!!

The Slappa Hardbody case is CHEAP,  strong, durable, looks great, and practically indestructible! It gives your headphones an instant +300 Armor Upgrade (hahaha too much Diablo 3 for me) and if your headphones fit, you REALLY should get one!

The Slappa Hardbody Cases should be available at your local DJ Shops (not in singapore though!) or online from Amazon, here are some links below for the various styles available:


Slappa SL-HP-01 Headphone Case  - Black

Hardbody Pro Headphone Case in Skullz

Slappa SL-HP-04 Camouflage Headphone Case

Bomber Dude Hardbody Pro Headphone Case

Samsung Galaxy Note - The Mini Review!

Samsung Galaxy Note Mini Review!

Sooooo.... After spending some time with my  new phone, the Samsung Galaxy note (previously I used the iPhone 4 32GB - for comparison!) I feel like I should write something about it, because I do have a rather mixed up feeling about the phone, some I like, some I dont, anyways the purpose of this review is to discuss both of the ups and downs and also in comparison to the iPhone, as a lot of people would be tempted to make the switch like I did!

Dat Screen...

Ok this is one of the highlights of the Galaxy Note - The Screen is just so damn awesome!!! The resolution matches that of my 13 inch macbook pro (1280x800) - makes my macbook pro seem PIXELLATED in comparison!!

The colors are great, the super amoled (whatever samsung man, call it whatever you want) screen's size and resolution makes every other phone becomes so tiny in comparison... I mean seriously I look at my old iphone 4 and.... Holy shit the iphone looks so small!!

One bad thing about the screen is exactly that... you can never look at other phones the same way again, once you get used to the super roomy screen, which is awesome for watching videos, web browsing, and reading pdf books (yeah im a tech geek and i read a lot of books, mostly about audio stuff hahaha), you kinda dont wanna go back to the old 3 inch screen of the iPhone or anything else!

The Size

The size is seriously.... unusual, too big of a phone, and too small of a tablet, you can say that its somewhere between the two - It simply replaces the need for me to use my iPad 2, now I use ONE device, the Galaxy Note, instead of both my iPhone and the iPad, as the iPhone is a tad too small for enjoyable browsing experience, the note just gives you that screen size you need for convenient browsing late at night when you are lying down in bed being lazy (come on you know you do it too!!)

Average Battery - Ice Cream Sandwich made it Worse

Ok this is a complaint I have - THE BATTERY COULD BE BETTER! Sure it packs a massive 2500 mh battery, but that Dual Core 1.4ghz CPU and 5 inch 1280x800 screen really drains the battery - FAST. The recent update from android 2.3 (gingerbread) to android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) really makes it worse

Im a moderately heavy user, as in I use my devices a lot for stuff like browsing, email, watching videos, and music, it barely (but somehow does - most of the time) survives a whole day of usage, the ice cream sandwich really makes it worse, it's plagued with this kernel bug called the "L2_Wakelock" OR "L2_HSIC" that just drains the battery without you doing anything, yes i left the phone fully charged overnight and when i wake up i get like 50% battery left - DAFUQ SAMSUNG???  I understand the drain when im doing stuff but when Im doing nothing? Come on... This needs to be fixed!

Well you see, Apple makes ONE PHONE a year, while samsung makes like 100s, galaxy this, galaxy that, blah blah blah, i think its kinda understandable that the software integration wont be as good as the IOS, i mean for the IOS apple really just needs to work on the iPhone and the iPad, so the hardware-software are pretty much tight, but Samsung really needs to work on the software part to integrate their promising hardware with Android, like the Android 4.03 is really buggy and plagued with issues, a quick search on forums will yield tons of results of people complaining about shitty battery life, lags, crashes, due to the 4.03 update - Well the Galaxy note is not the only phone Samsung made so, yeah, you kinda gotta wait A LONG TIME for updates or hot fixes!

So essentially... the weakest part of the Galaxy note is really not the hardware itself, but in its software, the Android 4.03 for Galaxy note is buggy, drains battery, and really could be polished a lot more, I sense laziness and lack of effort on Samsung's part to fix this - Fine I know you have that new Galaxy S3 phone as your flagship phone now, so are you neglecting the now not-flagship Galaxy Note updates? That's just how I feel...

Not Much Apps for DJing (And everything else too!)

Well so iPad users use a lot of the apps for performing, such as the awesome TouchOSC midi protocol, and the Jazzmutant Lemur app, on Android, there isnt much of those, yes you do have TouchOSC but they are limited to their own templates, as of the current version you cant upload your own templates to TouchOSC - so no awesome kick ass midi mappings for you for now!!!

Speaking of apps - you really cant compare the Android market (or GOOGLE PLAY whatever they call it now) to the IOS app market, Apple's app store kicks down the Android store 10,000 times in terms of quality apps and variety, like seriously, sure all the big name apps like Skype, Whatsapp etc are available in Android too, but some stuff that we love in IOS are just missing, hopefully for not too long!

Awesome Flash Support!

Ok this is good, I forgot how good to be able to view Flash content on a mobile device! The Galaxy note pretty much plays anything that your normal home browser can play - stream flash videos, show flash content, pretty much anything flash! IOS users will be surprised how easily Android phones play Flash with no problems! I remember using my iPhone to play flash content with browsers like skyfire, but still did not perform well, well Android definitely has awesome flash support!

The stock browser on the other hand - is not so good, I suggest you download Dolphin Browser HD immediately for a better browsing experience!!

Widgets and Stuff

Well one thing with iPhones: If you really wanna do crazy custom stuff you probably need to jailbreak it, the good thing with Android is there are TONS of customizable stuff, you can add widgets to your main home screen, customize the lock screen, change the keyboard style, change the phone dialer, customize the clock design, stuff like that, at the cost of... Battery life and Ram!

Its pretty cool to see your Gmail and Facebook on your main Home Screen that constantly updates itself - but keep in mind these things add up to drain the battery of your device and fills up the Ram pretty fast, so yeah while all these things are cool, power users would probably wanna conserve the energy for other things, but if widgets and fancy live wallpapers are your thing - you can have em!

No iTunes - is it a good thing or bad??

I Seem to observe a lot of people hating iTunes - not me, I have built up my itunes collection for almost a decade now and all my music, playlists etc are... in iTunes! I really miss being able to drag and drop playlists the way I used to do with my iPhone 4...

With the Galaxy note, its back on dropping music into folders, either on the Galaxy Note itself or on the  SDCARD - Oh by the way speaking of SD Cards, Yes you can add more storage with microSDCARDS!!! I have a 16GB Micro SD loaded up for my music and stuff, but if you want to Im pretty sure you can put in a 32GB Micro SD! They are getting cheaper and cheaper anyway~

So yes this is something pretty cool that no apple iDevices was able to do, lets say you travel a lot and you wanna have 16GB worth of music and another 16GB worth of movies on separate Micro SD's - yes you can! But whether you Galaxy Note would have enough juice to play back all those content is another different story - oh the irony!! If only we can have a device with UNLIMITED Power!!!

oh and keep in mind the sdcard slot is right next to the battery so you DO need to turn the device off before swapping the microSD over!

Predictive Keyboard - Not as Good as IOS but can be resolved!

The screen response of the Galaxy Note is really good, but their predictive text input is, really, really BAD! I had to purchase a custom keyboard called "Swift key 3"- this app really makes the whole typing experience much better in Android! (Video above shows off the swiftkey 3 - yes you dont really need it but its good to have it!)

Swiftkey had this 50% off sale (I ended up paying about USD $2 - which is a good price to pay for the functionality!), it is kinda unfortunate that one must pay to get a really really good keyboard, the IOS keyboard experience by default is already really good, but hey for just $2 i suppose its no big deal, you can even change the keyboard themes/colors and preferences, which offers much much more customizability than the IOS keyboard if you use the Swift Key 3!

Closing Comments

I love the Galaxy Note, I love the screen, I love the size, I love the hardware, I have no problems putting it in my front jeans pocket, I love the snappy fast browser response, but I dont like Android all that much, and I hate the battery life, Sure for something this size I quite understand it drains a lot of battery, but since i own the iPad 2 as well, the iPad 2's battery simply lasts THe WHOLE DAY on very heavy usage, yes the iPad2 has a much bigger battery, but thinking logically it has a larger screen too, so...

I was kinda expecting iPad 2-like battery life on the note, instead I get the iPhone-Like battery life, and with the current bugs on the Ice Cream Sandwich software update, the battery is actually a lot worse than the iPhone, Before I updated to Android 4.03 I actually got a much better battery life... Perhaps this can be resolved by an update by samsung - but when?? In fact if you can stay on the previous Android version 2.3.6 it will be a better idea, for now! I really hope the next software update will resolve the battery issues!




My advice, go to a store, spend some time with the note, and decide if its for you, its a love it or hate it thingie, or if you want something smaller (but a bit more expensive) you can always check out the Galaxy S3, or the now outdated Galaxy S2 (which should be cheaper by now!)

But you see even with all the things that I dont like about the Galaxy Note, if you ask me now I regretted changing my phone from iPhone 4 to Galaxy note? Nope, the Note is definitely a fresh change from IOS, until something new from apple comes out that is!

If Samsung can work on fixing the Ice Cream Sandwich OS on the Note, fix all the bugs (THE BATTERY DRAIN!!), I can really see myself using the Galaxy Note for a long time, or at least until the iPhone 5 comes out... ha ha ha......

UPDATE!! - AUGUST 1 2012!

New Update I added on August 1 2012 - After using this device for almost two months, I am going to add more stuff to this review

Firstly, the newly released Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.04 is awesome and adresses most of the bugs found in Android 4.03, that means much better battery life, improved stability, and overall it makes the Galaxy note a REALLY AWESOME PHAblet (phone tablet)

The Galaxy Note no longer drains battery for no reason (as it did with the previous version of ICS 4.03) and it is a lot more stable and very snappy to use, everything works perfectly and fast, response time is really really fast, the 1.4ghz dual core cpu and the 1GB of ram really shines here, opening multiple tabs in Google Chrome is a very enjoyable experience!


Wanna get the Galaxy Note Without a Contract? Here are some Amazon Links!

Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Unlocked Phone--International Version (Blue)

Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 16gb Unlocked Android Smartphone in White

Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 16GB Unlocked Android Smartphone - Dark Blue