For work/productivity: Galaxy Note 10.1 or Nexus 10

[anon(20593)]

I am increasingly inclined towards the Note 10.1 for work purposes - and I wanted to know what people in this community thought.

The pros I see for the Nexus 10 are:

-> Better screen resolution
-> Faster/more powerful machine
-> Nexus
-> Better build quality

Now, the screen resolution, a major USP of the Nexus 10, does not matter to me so much since the tablet, my first, will not be a media consumption device for me. I am disappointed with the build quality of the Note 10.1, but I'm thinking that if I get that book case/cover, then it won't matter so much. The plastic rear which I'm not a fan of, will get covered completely, leaving few issues. Is that right? I suppose there is nothing which can be done about the faster/more powerful bit- the Nexus is a later release but is the Note 10.1. powerful enough with processor speed and RAM to work for most things - multi-tasking such as reading .pdf files and taking notes?

I don't mind Touchwiz so much. I've been able to disable Samsung apps and therefore get them off the app drawer in a non-Nexus phone, and overall I don't find Touchwiz terribly intrusive. But are there features of it that just suck big time and that I should beware of?

The S-Pen, and ability to take notes in a decent software and while resting the wrist on the screen itself is a big pro of the Note 10.1 for me. I tried my hands at a Nexus 7, and the smaller screen size notwithstanding, I found stock Android handwritten note-taking apps to be pretty lousy. But are there alternatives to the S Note that people recommend? Or, is it that on the Note 10.1, there is no need to look beyond it?

Is there anyone giving up the Note 10.1 in favor of the Nexus 10? If so, I'd love to know why.

 

[Xertion3]

I bought both of them. Couldn't decide. Now I use the the note in the office and the nexus on the couch. The note is unmatched with the s-pen and multitasking. You can't open email look at docs while you're browsing your calendar all at one time with the nexus. And the s-pen... I could on and on. The nexus is just better in terms of media ONLY.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2

 

[GMJeff]

Remember, the note only had a lower resolution due to the Wacom digitizer that is built in for the S Pen.

My wife uses my old note 1, and I have a note 10 and a note 2 now. The screen resolution on all of the devices is a moot point, as I have seen nothing to complain about. They are not retina quality, but look clear to me for my needs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Android Central Forums

 

[Xertion3]

Agreed.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tdkirk7]

Also I think the Note 10.1 has another advantage of having a MicroSD slot.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 on AT&T using Tapatalk 2...pebble blue, in case your wondering the color. XD

 

[Bulldog1377]

From my perspective, I have found the note 10.1 to be great for work and personal use. At work I use the multi functional windows to read documents while taking notes in meeting and still monitoring my email and voice mails. I have had a little issue with the S-Note application and hope that the improvements in the upcoming updates will improve this. After hours I have loved the ability to watch movies and television shown as well as the occasional word game.

Having upgraded from the Xoom, I am happy with the functionality of the note 10.1 and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to use it for both business and personal use.

 

[StuartV]

Remember, the note only had a lower resolution due to the Wacom digitizer that is built in for the S Pen.

Just for the record, this is flat-out baloney. A lame rationalization put out by some to "excuse" the resolution of the N10.1 not being as high as some other 10" tablets. In reality, there is no technical reason whatsoever that you can't have a 1280x800 (or whatever) digitizer working with a 1920x1080 screen. At least, not that I've ever heard from an actual official source. Besides, even if it were true, how would that statement help the OP at all?

Speaking of which... to the OP: The Note will do everything the Nexus will do. But, the Nexus will not do everything that the Note will do. Therefore, Note > Nexus. For your stated requirements, it should really be a no-brainer.

Regarding your statement that the Nexus is faster/more powerful, where did you get that? The Note is a quad-core 1.4GHz CPU. The Nexus is a dual-core 1.7GHz. And the Note has a LOT less pixels to process. I highly doubt that the Nexus is faster. My semi-educated guess would be that the Nexus would not perform as well as the Note, actually. Especially once they are both running JellyBean. But, if, in fact, the Nexus does offer better performance, I'll go out on a limb and assert that the difference would be so minor as to be completely inconsequential.

 

[G3TCASHM0N3Y]

Having owned both, I have found the Note to be far superior if you want to get any serious work done on your tablet. I do miss the Nexus screen, but the note has a high enoughost resolution to fit my needs. Concerning speed, the difference is inconsequential. This is one of the main reasons I returned the nexus. I was expecting blazing speeds and it would lag simply scrolling within programs. The home screen scrolling was a little more responsive though. Overall, couldn't be happier with my choice.,

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Android Central Forums

 

[LegalAmerican]

Just for the record, this is flat-out baloney. A lame rationalization put out by some to "excuse" the resolution of the N10.1 not being as high as some other 10" tablets. In reality, there is no technical reason whatsoever that you can't have a 1280x800 (or whatever) digitizer working with a 1920x1080 screen. At least, not that I've ever heard from an actual official source. Besides, even if it were true, how would that statement help the OP at all?

Speaking of which... to the OP: The Note will do everything the Nexus will do. But, the Nexus will not do everything that the Note will do. Therefore, Note > Nexus. For your stated requirements, it should really be a no-brainer.

Regarding your statement that the Nexus is faster/more powerful, where did you get that? The Note is a quad-core 1.4GHz CPU. The Nexus is a dual-core 1.7GHz. And the Note has a LOT less pixels to process. I highly doubt that the Nexus is faster. My semi-educated guess would be that the Nexus would not perform as well as the Note, actually. Especially once they are both running JellyBean. But, if, in fact, the Nexus does offer better performance, I'll go out on a limb and assert that the difference would be so minor as to be completely inconsequential.

I think the reasons i've heard for the lower resolution, is because a 1280 screen WITH the digitizer would do two things. 1) Slaughter battery life and 2) jack the price through the ceiling. When they make these devices, they have to cut some corners on newer technology or else the price will soar. Putting a digitizer in this thing is what I was really interested in. I didn't care too much about the 1280 HD screen because I love the battery life on this, as well as it being priced competitively.

If you haven't heard it from an "actual official source", how can you claim that it is "flat-out baloney"? I do agree that the comment isn't extremely important to the overall discussion and questions posed by the OP, but you can't call someone out like you do without some actual facts to back it up. Well.......I guess you CAN call people out like that, but you look pretty bad when you do so.

 

[J HighNote]

I was tempted to just say ditto to everything Xertion3 said but the Note 10.1 is the only tablet I've owned. I can't compare it to the Nexus or any other, but I do know I love the multi tasking, and could also go on at great length about the S Note app and how very handy the S pen is for everything from clicking on web links, to writing, to being able to tap out an email while wearing gloves when it's 20 degrees. lol Seriously, I can leap back and forth between the web on one side, writing and having it translated to typed text in a document on the other side, and there's no lag going back and forth. I tried one other note writer, Papyrus, because someone had said it could be configured that the button on our S pen could act like an eraser. It was supposed to be one of the better note apps. I used it several times but it just didn't have the flexibility of the S notes so I uninstalled it. I love the 10.1.

 

[StuartV]

If you haven't heard it from an "actual official source", how can you claim that it is "flat-out baloney"?

I'm pretty sure I'm wasting my time here, but just in case anybody else reads this and needs more of an explanation, I will respond to your question.

As I said in my previous post, I have never seen where any official source has stated that the Note 10.1 screen resolution is 720p because of the digitizer resolution. I can claim that is flat-out baloney for several reasons:

1) the statement has not been made by Samsung. Only by people who have provided no credentials to validate that they know what they're talking about (on this subject). And even if Samsung did say it, I would still call BS on it unless they provided the technical details to support the statement. Otherwise, it's just like Google's baloney "explanation" of why they have changed directions and are trying to eliminate use of microSD slots in Android phones. Hint: it's not really because it can't be done cleanly or that it's too confusing for users.

2) I have made my living for almost 30 years now as a software engineer. And if you measure software engineer success by either the amount of money people pay the engineer or the number of people using that engineer's software, I would say I've been very succesful at it (based on how my numbers in those 2 metrics compare to the many other software engineers I know). And I (perhaps improperly) extend that to mean that I think I do not totally suck at it.. And based on my experience as a software engineer, I feel quite comfortable in saying that the resolution of an input device does not at all constrain the resolution of the related output device to be as low as the input device's resolution. I majored in Mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University and I also feel pretty comfortable saying that the coordinate transformations required to relate input on a lower resolution device to output on a higher resolution device are not that hard. It might be hard for, say, I don't know, a lawyer, but definitely not hard for the people who were engineering the Note 10.1.

3) Further, I offer you to consider all the many graphics professionals who use Wacom digitizers all day every day and whose digitizers are all considerably lower resolution than the screens they are using them with.

In summary, that is how I can claim that it is flat-out baloney.

I do agree that the real reasons are most likely considerations of battery life, cost, and performance. I include performance because they could probably have gotten battery life and cost to their targets by using a slower, lower-powered processor, but then they would not have met their performance goals.

 

[StuartV]

ps. I should add that my experience as a software engineer has also taught me that sometimes the things that seem the MOST obvious and unquestionable are the things that turn out to be wrong. So, while the screen resolution thing seems pretty clear to me, I do realize that there could be something about the whole situation that I don't know that ultimately means that, yes, in fact the screen resolution WAS actually limited to what it is because of the digitizer.

In other words, I do realize and freely admit that, while I don't think I am, I COULD be totally wrong.

 

[LegalAmerican]

I'm pretty sure I'm wasting my time here, but just in case anybody else reads this and needs more of an explanation, I will respond to your question.

As I said in my previous post, I have never seen where any official source has stated that the Note 10.1 screen resolution is 720p because of the digitizer resolution. I can claim that is flat-out baloney for several reasons:

1) the statement has not been made by Samsung. Only by people who have provided no credentials to validate that they know what they're talking about (on this subject). And even if Samsung did say it, I would still call BS on it unless they provided the technical details to support the statement. Otherwise, it's just like Google's baloney "explanation" of why they have changed directions and are trying to eliminate use of microSD slots in Android phones. Hint: it's not really because it can't be done cleanly or that it's too confusing for users.

2) I have made my living for almost 30 years now as a software engineer. And if you measure software engineer success by either the amount of money people pay the engineer or the number of people using that engineer's software, I would say I've been very succesful at it (based on how my numbers in those 2 metrics compare to the many other software engineers I know). And I (perhaps improperly) extend that to mean that I think I do not totally suck at it.. And based on my experience as a software engineer, I feel quite comfortable in saying that the resolution of an input device does not at all constrain the resolution of the related output device to be as low as the input device's resolution. I majored in Mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University and I also feel pretty comfortable saying that the coordinate transformations required to relate input on a lower resolution device to output on a higher resolution device are not that hard. It might be hard for, say, I don't know, a lawyer, but definitely not hard for the people who were engineering the Note 10.1.

3) Further, I offer you to consider all the many graphics professionals who use Wacom digitizers all day every day and whose digitizers are all considerably lower resolution than the screens they are using them with.

In summary, that is how I can claim that it is flat-out baloney.

I do agree that the real reasons are most likely considerations of battery life, cost, and performance. I include performance because they could probably have gotten battery life and cost to their targets by using a slower, lower-powered processor, but then they would not have met their performance goals.

Yeah I see your point, I was just wanting to make a point that just as you have reasons to believe it's one way, someone else may disagree. I can respect your long career as a software engineer, but ultimately that wont automatically transition to a knowledge of what Samsung decided with this tablet. I just know for me, they made a great decision on these things when they put this tab together. There's some things that I wish it could do, but it's always hard to say what could happen with these added features. I can't help but wonder how this would perform if they tried to slap on a 1080 HD screen. Especially when in 3 months someone else would come out with something better and everyone would STILL whine about the screen quality. I just know I am very happy for what I spent.

 

[StuartV]

they made a great decision on these things when they put this tab together. ... I just know I am very happy for what I spent.

And on these things, we absolutely agree!

 

[Baramon]

I'm choosing tablet right now and i was also stoped at Note over Nexus because of the pen and now Wacom release Bamboo Stylus Feel which is like normal pen size it should be awesome.
Guys when you working with Multi windows is there any lag when you switched from one to another, and did any of you get rid of paper with Note 10?
And last thing But clearly device stats are liitle bit outdated, so question is pretty simple, will samsung release an updated version in 2013?

Thanks

 

[Zael]

As a software engineer who is just starting out (professionally. As a hobby I have been doing this for over a decade) I agree completely with StuartV. While we could argue about how technology has improved in 3-4 months time, the proof is right here: Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T (700T1C) | Samsung Tablet PCs

That said I believe I did read about processor limitations, and how the processor in the Nexus 10 is the first Samsung processor that is able to push that many pixels. There may have been a technical issue with pixel-pushing, but it wasn't because of the Wacom digitizer.

Baramon, the only thing preventing me from pulling the trigger on a note 10.1 for myself right now, is believing with 90% certainty that Samsung will announce a new Note 10.1 at MWC in February with the same resolution and processor that are in the Nexus 10 (if not better). The real question for me is whether they will still wait until Summer to release said tablet (like they did with the Note 10.1) or if they will release in early Spring. Given the lack of rumors right now, I think the next Note 10.1 won't be out until Summer, but I could be completely wrong. The current Note 10.1 was delayed for upgrades, if the next Note 10.1 is just a refresh, I could see it being released sooner.

 

[Baramon]

Tried it today at Mall, the Note 10, and it's doesn't catch my writing speed, so doesn't replace paper for me. I was also looking at Ativ smart Pc Pro, but price is not really attractive, need to see how digitizer performs there and is there any decent software that recodnize manual input into type text? Also battery life is big question for me.

 

[StuartV]

Guys when you working with Multi windows is there any lag when you switched from one to another, and did any of you get rid of paper with Note 10?
And last thing But clearly device stats are liitle bit outdated, so question is pretty simple, will samsung release an updated version in 2013?

Thanks

There is a slight lag when switching between windows. Maybe 1/4 second?

I have gotten rid of paper. I take notes in meetings, edit PDFs, and sign and return documents all using just my Note.

Why is the Note 10.1 outdated? What is out that's better? If nothing, then how is it outdated?

 

[Baramon]

For me it'll be perfect when there'll be 0 lag when switching in multi mode, and it'll catch up my writing speed so i won't see delay, i see it now, with current device it's aint possible. We'll see what 2013 will bring.

 

[LegalAmerican]

For me it'll be perfect when there'll be 0 lag when switching in multi mode, and it'll catch up my writing speed so i won't see delay, i see it now, with current device it's aint possible. We'll see what 2013 will bring.

Wow. How fast do you write? I've never seen any lag with the writing. Unless I'm using the conversion to type-face feature. Heck I've never heard anyone say there was lag. The thing has a quad core processor and 2 GB of Ram! Maybe it was a software issue because there is NOTHING outdated or wrong with the hardware. Except for the screen not being 1080HD.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 10.1