 Hi, I'm Vlad with The Verge and this is the Samsung Galaxy Note. Equipped with a 5.3 inch Super AMOLED display, the Note is Samsung's attempt at a no-compromise device that balances the portability of a phone with the extra utility of a larger screen tablet. But that's not all. Samsung's also thrown in an integrated stylus, making the Note a candidate to replace your paper notebook as well. The obvious risk that Samsung is running by straddling so many categories is that the Note will exceed in none of them, exchanging excellence in any one area for greater versatility. That's partially true. As a phone, the Note inevitably sacrifices single-hand operation, it's pretty awkward socially if not physically to hold against your face to take a call and its ability to fit inside pockets can be described as questionable as best. The Note also won't replace your iPad, firstly because it runs Android Gingerbread and secondly because its screen isn't really large enough. If you can look past its one-size-fits-none form factor though, the Note is a truly excellent Android device. It has a 1280x800 display resolution, giving you a pixel density of 285ppi and its Super AMOLED technology means incredibly deep blacks contrasted against bright, vibrant colours. There's also a screen mode adjustment in case you find the saturation too strong, a common complaint with AMOLED displays. The dual-core 1.4GHz processor inside the Note is extremely impressive, reaching a score of over 4000 in the standard Quadrant benchmark and running every Android game and app with ease. Riptide GP looks spectacular in the Note and I'd love to see the higher graphical fidelity of the Tegra-optimised version of this game being brought to Samsung's platform as well. The Note's easily powerful enough to handle it. Games are also where the stylus comes in, with things like Fruit Ninja and some other drawing and slicing games making good use of it. You can use the stylus to take a quick handwritten note, to grab a screenshot of what's on the phone and annotate it, or to navigate exactly as you would with your finger. The only downside is that the capacitive keys don't recognise it, so you still need to use your physical digits to activate those. Beyond handwriting recognition in the core apps like messaging and email, Samsung doesn't really have any killer uses for its S Pen stylus. There's an SDK out and some recommended doodling apps like OmniSketch and Zenbrush, but they're not exactly deep on functionality. Additionally, text input with the stylus can be hit and miss. The Note made a few too many mistakes for me to want to write my notes instead of typing them out. Browser performance on the notes is excellent. Pages are rendered beautifully, whether zoomed in or out, scrolling is quick and responsive and so is pinch to zoom. The camera is also pretty quick in operation, though not as fast as the one on the Galaxy Nexus. On the plus side, the Note takes some really great pictures that almost never need to be reshot. In spite of the great processing power within it, the Note does have some software issues holding it back. The most immediate one is the delay in the screen waking up from sleep. It's manifestly slower than most phones. There's no lag around the touch-res UI, but there are some delays and the occasional stutter. Things that an upcoming upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich should hopefully rectify. Some of the smaller things that Samsung has done well include the Kies Air app, which has been around since the release of the Galaxy S2, but it's still one of the best ways to communicate between your phone and PC. 2500mAh battery is also great, it lasts like a champ, and the bundled in-ear headphones are actually very decent. In the UK, the Note also comes with an ingeniously designed power plug to save space. Ultimately, I feel like the Note's size is its biggest weakness. If you're after a tablet, I would wait for the Galaxy Tab 7.7, which has almost the same internal specs but comes with a bigger and better Super AMOLED Plus display. The Galaxy Nexus will take good care of you if you're after a more ergonomic phone than the Note, while the good ol' paper-based notebook still remains the easiest and cheapest way to take handwritten notes.