Why I'm contemplating returning the Note 10.1 2014 edition

[naivetiu]

I was in love with this device when I first got it, but after a week of using it at school and at home I have noticed a few things that really have started to bother me.

- I timed how long it takes for the screen to turn on when I press the home/power button and it's approximately 1.8 seconds. Might not be a huge deal to some people and it wasn't a big deal to me at all either but recently it's starting to get on my nerves.
- S Note is great most of the time, especially when I use it at home, but I've been using it at school for two days and it randomly glitches/lags/something goes wrong and then I have to restart the app while the prof keeps talking. Aka I'm wasting time and not paying attention to the lecture. I tried finding another app for note taking but they all suck. S Note would be awesome if it was smooth and lagless 100% of the time. Shame Thus I have learned that it's not so convenient writing my own notes on the S Note (although annotating pdfs has promise, yet once again no good apps for it).
- When using Adobe Reader to read my math textbook, when I go from, say, page 300 to page 1200, it takes 10+ seconds to load the page. That is completely unacceptable when I'm already frustrated by the math homework. I tried this same app on my HTC One and it loads in less than a second. I also tried this on my dad's freaking Blackberry Playbook and it loads much faster than on my Samsung Note. Wtf. Same app, same textbook. Once again I tried finding a better app in the Play store but nothing.
- Samsung never updates. This device will be outdated in a year and I can't even imagine how much it will lag then when it's lagging so much now. (Compared to the iPad that will get guaranteed updates for years to come)
- Not an amazing resale value (compared to iPad)

However, I am torn because there are things I love so much about this tablet. Some examples:

- external micro sd card (although I'm not too sure how useful this will be cause who keeps 10+ unwatched movies on their tablet?!?!)
- s pen
- multi window
- the screen is gorgeous and perfect for watching movies and reading manga.
- some other stuff I can't think of at the moment.

I was soooo excited for this tablet and I still really want to keep it but I showed some of the lag to one of my friends who is extremely patient and she said that if that happened to her she would throw it against the wall (half jokingly lol). So, I'm not exaggerating or being dramatic. I'm thinking of returning it and getting the iPad but I'm sad because I will be giving up some awesome features.... But if a device is laggy and I'm not 100% satisfied, should I keep it? I keep thinking it's somehow my fault and that there is a magic fix to all of this that I am not seeing.

TL;DR
How can I fix the problems I have stated, if I can even fix them at all? Should I just return this and get the iPad? I'm scared I will miss some of the Note's features. Sigh Can't have everything...

 

[dianehelen]

Halcyon posted this the other day. It did make a nice difference on my g s4 phone, and works on the note too.

Galaxy Note 3 Lag Fix Make It A Lot FASTER! - YouTube

 

[tomlh]

try ezPDF it's much quicker.

 

[Cody Spradlin]

LectureNotes is actually pretty damned good, if you haven't tried it yet. Acadroid also has a LectureRecording program that acts as a plugin for LectureNotes, that can start recording the lecture when you start taking notes. Or, it can be used separately, of course. I found LectureNotes to be almost the same as writing on paper, except I can have almost any kind of pen or writing tool in my hands at any given time. That, and no flipping pages. The pages scroll down instead! Continually! I've been using it for taking notes for my language practice.

 

[Ktrek]

In my opinion you should return it because I doubt you will ever be happy. Of course you'll find as much or even more to complain about the Ipad but so what? At least then you can take your complaints over to the Apple forums. Your 1.8 second lag reminds me of the whiners standing in line for five minutes at the grocery store. What an impatient lot we are. It's to the point of absurdity in our culture and getting worse. When I read posts like this I sometimes just have to shake my head and sigh and think that technology is not always a good thing. Maybe life would be better without it. Nah! We would just find something else to complain about!

Kevin

 

[jnichols16]

In my opinion you should return it because I doubt you will ever be happy. Of course you'll find as much or even more to complain about the Ipad but so what? At least then you can take your complaints over to the Apple forums. Your 1.8 second lag reminds me of the whiners standing in line for five minutes at the grocery store. What an impatient lot we are. It's to the point of absurdity in our culture and getting worse. When I read posts like this I sometimes just have to shake my head and sigh and think that technology is not always a good thing. Maybe life would be better without it. Nah! We would just find something else to complain about!

Kevin

But Kevin,

Without technology we would have to wait for the spring snow melt in the passes to get our mail.

 

[dianehelen]

In my opinion you should return it because I doubt you will ever be happy. Of course you'll find as much or even more to complain about the Ipad but so what? At least then you can take your complaints over to the Apple forums. Your 1.8 second lag reminds me of the whiners standing in line for five minutes at the grocery store. What an impatient lot we are. It's to the point of absurdity in our culture and getting worse. When I read posts like this I sometimes just have to shake my head and sigh and think that technology is not always a good thing. Maybe life would be better without it. Nah! We would just find something else to complain about!

Kevin

I had to laugh and agree with this in a wierd way. Those that complain about lag times, I would bet some, maybe not all, but some of those same people will sit outside a Best Buy for over 100 hours, in all kinds of weather, JUST to be the first to buy the new xxxx or whatever.. I went to Best Buy the other day to check out this tablet, and it was a WEEK before Black Friday, and there were already about 20 guys, (ya sorry, its usually guys doing this) waiting outside for the sales that were a week away, for an X box. Talk about some serious head shaking.. really? sitting outside a store instead of speding time eating turkey and being with family and friends? I just really do NOT get it..

 

[ddavtian]

I had to laugh and agree with this in a wierd way. Those that complain about lag times, I would bet some, maybe not all, but some of those same people will sit outside a Best Buy for over 100 hours, in all kinds of weather, JUST to be the first to buy the new xxxx or whatever.. I went to Best Buy the other day to check out this tablet, and it was a WEEK before Black Friday, and there were already about 20 guys, (ya sorry, its usually guys doing this) waiting outside for the sales that were a week away, for an X box. Talk about some serious head shaking.. really? sitting outside a store instead of speding time eating turkey and being with family and friends? I just really do NOT get it..

I agree with your about spending time with family. I just wanted to say they most likely were waiting for Friday midnight launch of new Xbox. I hope they're not crazy to sit there for a week

That 1.8 seconds is a killer, every time it delays enjoyment of this nice tablet by almost 2 seconds. I'd also say return it.
(I'm a happy owner of 2014 from first day)

 

[msavic6]

In my opinion you should return it because I doubt you will ever be happy. Of course you'll find as much or even more to complain about the Ipad but so what? At least then you can take your complaints over to the Apple forums. Your 1.8 second lag reminds me of the whiners standing in line for five minutes at the grocery store. What an impatient lot we are. It's to the point of absurdity in our culture and getting worse. When I read posts like this I sometimes just have to shake my head and sigh and think that technology is not always a good thing. Maybe life would be better without it. Nah! We would just find something else to complain about!

Kevin

1.8 seconds during a lecture is a huge amount. You miss that one small bit and then your confused about the rest of it. This is not simply an impatient person in society but an actual reason to be concerned.
If I were the OP, I would return the note and grab a tablet that doesn't lag or slow down but instead use a paper/pen for notes instead of a tablet. Use the tablet as a reference but not as a note taker and you solve all your issues. You can argue the benefits of a digital stylua but in reality the pen/paper are vastly superior.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[Haalcyon]

1.8 seconds during a lecture is a huge amount. You miss that one small bit and then your confused about the rest of it. This is not simply an impatient person in society but an actual reason to be concerned.
If I were the OP, I would return the note and grab a tablet that doesn't lag or slow down but instead use a paper/pen for notes instead of a tablet. Use the tablet as a reference but not as a note taker and you solve all your issues. You can argue the benefits of a digital stylua but in reality the pen/paper are vastly superior.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Why not just eliminate the lag?

OptimuS G Pro

 

[Ktrek]

1.8 seconds during a lecture is a huge amount. You miss that one small bit and then your confused about the rest of it. This is not simply an impatient person in society but an actual reason to be concerned.
If I were the OP, I would return the note and grab a tablet that doesn't lag or slow down but instead use a paper/pen for notes instead of a tablet. Use the tablet as a reference but not as a note taker and you solve all your issues. You can argue the benefits of a digital stylua but in reality the pen/paper are vastly superior.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Seems to me that if you are in a class that will require note taking you would already have your app open and ready. As Haalcyon stated why not just eliminate the lag. I tried the two tricks he posted in the video and I have no lag opening any app. I'm sure that in time Samsung will improve the Note with updates as well. I've owned several tablets and the Note 2014 is by far the best I have owned. I also sell tablets where I work and all tablets have some lag. Even the very streamlined Google Nexus. There are usually workarounds for most things people have issues with if they just take the time to research them out. I also think instally Nova Launcher (paid version) is a better option than Touchwiz if you want speed. Just saying....

 

[tomlh]

Seems to me that if you are in a class that will require note taking you would already have your app open and ready. As Haalcyon stated why not just eliminate the lag. I tried the two tricks he posted in the video and I have no lag opening any app. I'm sure that in time Samsung will improve the Note with updates as well. I've owned several tablets and the Note 2014 is by far the best I have owned. I also sell tablets where I work and all tablets have some lag. Even the very streamlined Google Nexus. There are usually workarounds for most things people have issues with if they just take the time to research them out. I also think instally Nova Launcher (paid version) is a better option than Touchwiz if you want speed. Just saying....

Agreed wholeheartedly, Nova launcher and the removal of the double tap on the home button and animations all to 0 has improved mine no end.
I use EzPDF paid version and have no lag of any substance.