Phablet!

I last got a new phone in March 2011 so after 18 Months with the HTC Desire Z it was time for an upgrade.

An upgrade to a "Phablet" - so called as it is basically a "PHone" but is bigger, more like a "tABLET". Yeah. Cringe.

Anyway, today was my first day with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - and it's awesome. They are both Android phones so most of my apps transferred directly from one to the other, and being able to split the screen and run two apps at once is pretty cool. The big screen is brilliant for web browsing, and means the on-screen keyboard is big enough for my rather large fingers. It also supports 4G so if I get offered a good deal I can switch to the new EE 4G network when it launches at the end of the month. It would have to be a very good deal though!

I think the Samsung software is a lot less sophisticated than the HTC Sense stuff though. I've had to download widgets and apps to do lots of stuff that was standard on the HTC, although I think I've got there now. I've not really used the stylus/pen function yet either - but I'll give it a go at some point.

The mail client seems to keep getting indigestion on one of my e-mail accounts too, which is really annoying because I keep having to kill it and restart it to get it to retrieve any mail. A bit more fiddling is needed to see if I can figure out which account is the culprit and find a way to fix it.

Apart from that though, I'm loving the Galaxy Note 2.

I always feel slightly sad retiring an old phone however. Only 18 months ago IT was the shiny new toy. Since then it has been in my pocket and in use every day. It has brought me good news and bad, connected me to those I love, and powered my working life. Farewell friend!