Thought with my S22 Ultra arriving soon at the time of writing.
I'd look back on what I considered one of the best phones I ever owned.
With my rose tinted spectacles on. I remember the Galaxy Note 7 that it’s based on, to have been a fantastic device. Apart from the obvious battery issue.
Now by any stretch of the imagination, its not a patch on the performance etc, of the newer phones clearly. That said, there were features on the phone that were a brilliant idea.
So a bit of the back story for anyone not familiar with the Galaxy Note 7 problem.
Now my last Galaxy Note phone before getting the Galaxy Note 7 was the Galaxy Note 4. I really wasn’t liking that phone, and I used to call it the Galaxy Note Lag.
Just wasn’t very good.
What made it worse was Samsung never released the Galaxy Note 5 here in Europe. I was really gutted about that.
So when the Galaxy Note 7 came along I knew it was the phone for me. Wireless charging, great build quality, Iris scanning, Type C charging port, notification LED etc.
This really was proper cutting edge innovation in a smartphone. Samsung were way ahead of the game at the time.
So much so I bought both colours available here in the UK. Yes that’s right, I was carrying around two Note 7 phones.
I was that eager that I was one of the first thousand people to get their order in during the early hours of the morning.
Loved those phones and such was the technology advances in the phone, people who saw me with them recognised what I had and wanted to see and find out more.
Sadly it all came crashing down. So with the whole battery fires thing, and phones getting recalled. I was totally reluctant to send them both back. Then thankfully they revised them and replaced those with new phones.
Not more than two or three weeks later, reports of the replaced phones having the same issues. Again, bye bye phones.
I was gutted.
So I imported a Galaxy Note 5, as I wasn’t going back to the Galaxy Note 4.
Again it was a great phone with a flat screen and the back had curved edges.
Did enjoy using it, but it just wasn't the Galaxy Note 7.
Now the Galaxy Note Fan Edition wasn’t available here in the UK and I had to import it from Korea. Sadly a bit of bloatware, but I could live with that.
I was so happy to have what’s basically the Galaxy Note 7, but a smaller revised battery. I got mine in gold, which wasn’t a colour available originally here.
It’s had plenty of updates and it’s last one was in August 2021. I suspect that is and will be it’s last. Qudos to Samsung for supporting it for so many years. It’s on Android 9 and One Ui 1.0. It’s actually running really smoothly.
Now the phones at that time did have lag issues, but with the One UI. It made it a lot better. Still has some lag but, it’s still really usable. The software made battery life a lot better and even now I can stretch it occasionally well over a day. For such an old phone it’s still really good.
One of the big things about it was the Iris scanning. Scanning the Iris of your eyes ment even in a completely dark room you could unlock your phone.
It was a secure way of protecting the phone.
Bright sunlight it struggled with, but then you have the fingerprint sensor on the home button. Not the best but gets the job done. Slow by today’s standard.
Still had the heart rate sensor on the back with the camera flash that you rested your finger on.
Wireless charging was also something that got everyone excited, another new bit of tech in a phone for Samsung. Although Wireless charging was around, Samsung definitely made it easier to use without the fiddling to line it up for it to work on a charger.
Functionally the phone is very familiar with the new phones. S Pen still has all the smart select etc. It doesn’t have any Bluetooth functionality of course, but otherwise its a Galaxy Note after all.
Design of it is clearly dated now, but I still like the look of it. Some will have a big issue with the bezels. This phone was before the fixation on wanting smaller bezels.
In the top bezel there was still a notification LED, as well as front camera and Iris camera.
Only one camera on the back, but at the time it was definitely up there with the top of the range stuff.
Bit over saturated at times and low light it starts to grain. But passable photos now.
No swipe gestures of course as the recent and back options were in the bottom bezel with touch response. Home button is an actual button that has the fingerprint sensor in it.
Screen is still a beautiful thing to look at and use.
Screen off memo, live wallpaper, always on display etc.
The curved edges were just right for the Note screen, not as pronounced as the Galaxy S7 was. Gave the phone a just right look.
I used the phone again for two weeks, after I thought I would use it for a day or two. Whole experience took me right back. It was I think the last time I really really looked forward to getting a phone. I guess that’s still with me now a bit with the S22 Ultra.
I’m currently at the time of writing, waiting for my Galaxy S22 Ultra, and I’m looking forward to it actually with some of the can’t wait feeling. I wanted to get the custom website exclusive colour, hence the wait.
Really I was surprised at how the Galaxy Note Fan Edition held up to be honest. Its surprisingly still a very usable phone, and it’s a real shame that the battery fires set back Samsung for a few years the way it did.
But clearly Samsung have bounced back with some great devices.
The S22 Ultra is literally the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note combined to give a phone the Ultra badge properly, and can't wait to get my hands on it.
