Great Phone, Great Functionality, Clumsy Samsung Functionality

Traded in my Xperia X10 for this BIG phone. Everybody complains or complained about the size of this phone, but it just slips into everything easily and nicely. The display is second to none, and Android is an icing on the cake. Current version is 4.0.4 ICS with Premium Suite. The Stylus is a great tool if you are using it. I bought it thinking wow, stylus! i will do so many things with it, but yeh, it gets used occasionally for screenshots and stuff.

The biggest disappointment was the glass screen, it is very prone to scratches. A normal ding with your keys in the pocket brings on a small scratch in the screen. It is very hand/finger print friendly as well not in a good way, so first thing you should do it get a screen protector. It dims the display a little bit, but nothing startling, I still am in awe of the display after 4 months of use. It is a great tool to have, everything is crystal clear and big and readable and highly browseable.

The Premium suite is nice and the Samsung App sections is good too. However one disadvantage for me was clumsy WiFi functionality through Kies, Contact management could have been way better. This phone blows away any thing on the market for versatility and ease of us, although the quad core processor announced for Galaxy Note 2 will attract more gamers. It is great as a Car mounted GPS, and Bluetooth is good as well.

General phone functions are very well done, I have not experienced any call dropouts or internet lag of any sort. I am with Optus. network strength antennae is good, however you might notice some interference with the built in FM Radio when the phone is near other electronic signals (Myki readers, metcard readers), no biggy.

Camera is FANTASTIC! it is just fantastic, crisp clear resolution and pictures, and picture edit function is great on the phones, same with Video recording and playback.

Some other important good/bad stuff which some people might find useful

Charge holding capacity: 1 good whole day at least with near to 80% brightness level.

Ultimate config: Use it on 50% brightness scheme (still way better than any phone out there), and use Juicedefender (great free app). If battery is draining, using the display in Auto mode, lasts for ages, I was able to last this phone from Friday to Sunday afternoon with only 47% charge left on Friday.

Built in Speaker volume is low compared to other phones

Volume up/down buttons are badly placed, if your phone is in the pocket and is meant to be on silent, a dent on any of the buttons will active the general mode of the phone, the standby switch access also brings up accidental pushes to the Volume buttons which deselects SILENT Mode.