Samsung Galaxy Note

The Samsung Galaxy Note is a strong attempt at a cross between a smartphone and a tablet, but functions best as a small tablet device, with a host of apps and a large memory.

The 147x83x10mm device is just too large to be carrying around in your pocket, or answering calls on, although the weight at 178g does make it handbag friendly.

The Galaxy Note runs on the Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, which can be upgraded to the latest software when necessary.

The massive 5.3-inch WXGA screen has incredible colour, brightness and clarity with a pixel count of 1280x800 and Samsung's Super AMOLED technology, the blacks are deep and immersive and the colours really draw your eye into web pages and applications.

The device comes with a very useful stylus/smart pen (S Pen) integrated into the back, when used with the S Memo note application, you can change the pen nibs and colours, as well as save notes and drawings by clicking the button the side of the pen. It also allows you to share your masterpieces on Facebook, Twitter, MMS, email, WhatsApp and Evernote.

The 8-megapixel camera with LED flash takes decent enough pictures, but we had a problem with slight blurring on some of the images. Video resolution is up to 1080p HD and it records great quality videos, however, hand-shake is noticeable so you might want to find a hand rest while shooting.

The Galaxy Note has seven customisable home screens packed with a wealth of widgets and apps, it is fairly easy to customise each screen to the way you want it.

The device’s performance is lightning fast even with several apps running at the same time. There was no noticeable lag with five apps running. The Galaxy Note has a dual-core 1.4GHz processor.

There is 16GB of memory on board for storing media, videos and pictures, which can be expanded with another 32GB via microSD card.

The Galaxy Note does not have a huge battery life despite the 2,500mAh battery, delivering barely a eight hours worth of life after heavy use.

The device is a nifty gadget with a stunning screen and a wide range of useful apps, but its size makes it difficult to place. We used it primarily as a tablet device as talking on it feels a bit silly. It should definitely come standard with an earpiece.