Samsung Galaxy Note Gets Feb. 19 Release Date: Should iPhone 4S be Afraid?

Galaxy Note, Samsung's latest smartphone (or rather smartphone/tablet hybrid) is all set to hit AT&T stores in the U.S. on Feb. 19. The Android device, which will cost $299.99 with a 2-year contract, turned head at CES 2012 last month in Las Vegas and, according to Jeff Bradley, senior vice president of devices at AT&T, it offers a "unique all-in-one experience" that can simplify daily life of consumers, who wish to accomplish more. Perhaps, but can it pass the acid test - arrest iPhone's dominance as the single most popular smartphone in the world?

So far, the response from customers seem positive. In Korea, Hong Kong, France and some other parts of the world where Galaxy Note has already been launched, over 1 million units of the device has been sold.

And why not? Galaxy Note boasts of the largest display among smartphones (5.3-inch Super AMOLED display), features a powerful 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and is powered by a snappy 1.5GHz dual-core processor.

However, Galaxy Note's input tool, called S Pen, is what distinguishes the device from other smartphones - the stylus elevates Galaxy Note beyond being a simple multimedia consumption device. The S Pen is a sophisticated stylus that offers precise control over detailing that can only be expected from an ink pen and users can easily sketch drawings, jot down notes, or even write emails and texts quickly and easily in free-form handwriting.

But iPhone 4S is no pushover. Apple's latest smartphone has set new debut weekend sales record (4 million in three days), a feat that hasn't been beaten since October when it was launched. Can Galaxy Note change the flow of tide by drawing iPhone fans away? The answer is no and here's 10 reasons why. Start the slideshow to find out.

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Galaxy Note will be Samsung's latest smartphone to hit the market but surprisingly, it won't run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) OS.

Galaxy Note will run on not ICS, but Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. This is rather surprising as some Samsung smartphones which have already been released in the market, including Galaxy Nexus, are running on ICS.

Now why on earth would Samsung launch Galaxy Note with an older OS when a newer one is available, especially if galaxy Note is supposed to be built on the success of Galaxy SII, which has already been upgraded to ICS? Is it because Samsung is still in the process of finding out how to seamlessly integrate its TouchWiz UI overlay with the new Google OS? Whatever be the reason, the fact that the device is being launched with Gingerbread OS, even though ICS was launched in mid-November 2011, is a bad boardroom decision.

Galaxy Note boasts of 8-MP rear-facing and 2-MP front-facing camera. The rear-facing camera with LED flash is capable of taking stunning stills and full-HD (1080p) videos.

In comparison, iPhone 4S also features 8-MP rear-facing and a mediocre VGA front-facing camera. So prima facie, it seems as if Galaxy Note is the winner here because of the better front-facing camera.

However, that's not true because iPhone 4S has the better rear-facing camera. Though iPhone 4S camera may not persuade a professional photographer to throw away his trusty DSLR, yet it can certainly make a casual snap shooter lock away his pocket digital camera and throw away the key.

Why? Because in iPhone 4S, the camera's optics and software have been significantly improved - the camera boasts of 8-MP, 1080p full-HD video capability, a larger and brighter lens aperture (compared to iPhone 4) and extra-sensitive sensor for crisp, clear photos in various shooting situations. The camera's greater dynamic range and its tendency to keep colors - especially reds - from over-saturating are also some features that it shares with some of the best standalone digital cameras on the market right now.

The new 8-MP sensor and its hybrid IR filter also means Apple has improved white balance in the iPhone 4S.

Moreover, Apple has also used the power of the A5 processor (and its integrated signal processor) to integrate the image stabilization feature in videos as you shoot it and a face-detection algorithm to help ensure that your subjects are always properly focused and exposed.

The tech giant has also ensured that the new iOS 5 keeps shutterbugs happy by developing a short-cut function to bring up the camera app without the need of unlocking the screen.

However, iPhone 4S camera has some limitations - it doesn't have a long zoom range, a plethora of built-in features, and heaps of hands-on manual control that you would expect to see in a $200-$300 range digital camera. But then even Galaxy Note's camera doesn't offer all that.

There are plethora of voice assistants available in Android Market but compared to Siri, iPhone 4S' intelligent, voice assistant, most have a limited vocabulary and often require the user to phrase his inquiries very carefully.

Of course, Android users have alternatives to Siri such as Iris, Vlingo, Speaktoit, Skyvi, but unlike them, Siri allows the user to speak naturally and not sound stiff or formal.

According to Boris Katz, an artificial intelligence (AI) researcher at MIT, Siri is a "very impressive piece of engineering" as Apple has successfully combined established techniques from fields such as voice recognition and natural language processing.

But yes, Siri is not a tectonic shift in voice assistant technology. And, it is far from being perfect - it fumbles often and Philip Resnik, a computational linguist at the University of Maryland in College Park, said Siri is "very specifically focused on helping in particular domains" and if one goes out of those domains, "all bets are off."

Nonetheless, compared to most voice assistants available in Android Market, Siri is a far superior application as it seamlessly works with both hardware and software within the iPhone and can perform more tasks than other voice assistants.

Galaxy Note may be having a bigger screen but iPhone 4S' Retina Display boasts of 329 ppi (pixel per inch) compared to 284 ppi of the Samsung device. For comparison, glossy magazines are typically printed at 300 dots per inch.

Higher ppi means crisper display of text, images and video and so iPhone 4S is a clear winner here.

Apple claims Retina Display boasts of the sharpest, most vibrant, highest-resolution phone screen ever and we don't disagree. iPhone 4S boasts of In-Plane Switching technology, in which crystal molecules are oriented so their motion is parallel to the panel rather than perpendicular. It means, for viewers, the result is a very wide viewing angle — up to 180 degrees — with brilliant color.

Galaxy Note boasts of the largest display size among smartphones - 5.3-inch screen. However, that has put Samsung in a predicament because everyone, including the media, are unable to determine whether the device is a mini-tablet or a super-large smarpthone.

Samsung has attempted to label Galaxy Note as a smartphone but the fact that the device comes with a stylus (S Pen), puts it into a different category (whoever heard of a smatphone that comes with a stylus?).

No wonder, Galaxy Note is being labeled as a "tweener" device and this is where the peril lies - the device's form factor puts it in a category, where devices have met with lukewarm response.

For instance, Dell's 5-inch as well as 7-inch Streak tablets failed have to stay afloat - within one year of launch, both the devices were withdrawn from the market. However, the 7-inch HTC Evo View 4G has turned out to be a survivor, albeit after deep price cuts.

According to tech analyst Rob Enderle, sales of 5-inch to 7-inch tablets/smartphones have been slow to date and Galaxy Note faces a risky future unless Samsung adopts a successful marketing strategy. "That form factor has been problematic," Computerworld quoted Enderle as saying. "It requires a lot of marketing to be successful, which Dell didn't do with Streak."

Kevin Burden, an analyst at ABI Research, also said Samsung faces an acid test with Galaxy Note because "Tweener devices don't always do well."

Galaxy Note will be supported by AT&T network. And, that's bad news because the J.D. Power and Associates U.S. 2011 Wireless Network Quality Performance Study has ranked AT&T network worst among the four major wireless carriers.

For the study, J.D. Power had ranked network performance based on 10 key factors: dropped calls; calls not connected; audio issues; failed/late voicemails; lost calls; text transmission failures; late text message notifications; Web connection errors; email connection errors; and slow downloads.

AT&T network is also the wireless carrier for iPhone 4S but, fortunately, not the only carrier. Now Sprint and verizon are also supporting iPhone 4S.

Apple's one-stop, cloud-based photo, video, music and data backup and push out service, iCloud, is one of the main features of iOS 5, which powers iPhone 4S.

Through iCloud, a user can also access the App Store, buy apps, back them up and push them out to any or all Apple devices. Like the App Store, iTunes is also in iCloud, which means any music or movie purchased is automatically backed up in iCloud and can be accessed using any Apple devices.

Besides storing practically everything that is digital (including APIs for developers), iCloud also features iMatch. For just a flat $24.99 annual fee, iMatch will match the ripped songs of the user with 18 million+ songs in iTunes and upgrade them to higher quality 256kbps AAC DRM-free. The remaining songs that cannot be matched may be uploaded manually.

Google also has a cloud-based music syncing service called Google Music. This is a digital locker that allows users to store and stream digital music collections.

However, Google Music is only a part of Google's "cloud" suite and there's no one-stop destination that hosts all your media. You have to go to Picasa to deal with your photos, Gmail for your e-mail, Music Beta for online music storage and Google Docs for your documents. Each service offers at least 1 GB of free space and if you need more, you can pay an extra $5 per year to add 20 GB for most of its services. You can also rent up to 16 TB each year for $4,000.

iPhone 4S offers up to 64GB internal storage space while Galaxy Note maxes out at 32GB. More storage space means you can carry around more of your favorite stuff with you if you have an iPhone 4S.

Galaxy Note is less portable than iPhone 4S because of its size and weight. iPhone 4S is around 50% smaller than Galaxy Note (58.6x115.2x9.3mm versus 83x146.9x9.7mm) and it is 20% lighter than Galaxy Note (140g versus 178g).

Unlike iPhone 4S, Galaxy Note may not fit comfortably in every pocket.

iPhone 4S will give more access to more apps than Galaxy Note. Apple App Store has over 500,000 apps compared to Android Market, which has slightly over 400,000 apps.

Android Market is expected to overtake the App Store in terms of numbers of apps, around mid-2012. However, unlike the apps in the App Store, which have been sanctioned by Apple after being deemed safe, Google has often been criticized by many security experts for not subjecting apps submitted to the Android Market to the kind of rigorous screening process laid down by Apple.

Critics say Android Market lets in pretty much any app and though it screens for malicious content, yet, that's about it. The Android Market also has higher attrition rate than the App Store.

Galaxy Note has other gripes too. For example, it is much harder to use Galaxy Note with just one hand than iPhone 4S or any other regular smartphone. Unlike iPhone 4S, Galaxy Note has an all-plastic body (cheap, plasticky feel) and the device also has no dedicated camera key.

In conclusion, Galaxy Note may be a good device but it'll take more than a smartphone with a 5.3-inch screen and a stylus to beat iPhone 4S.