Official Samsung Galaxy Note Desktop Dock arrived!



Classy looking accessory, good job Samsung! Awesome speakers as well. The dock can be edited to fit any applications you want.

eBay, bro. It charges the Note when in the dock, if that is what you meant. Also becomes a speaker when the Note is docked, whether in portrait or landscape. Portrait nice as an alarm, landscape nice as as a movie dock with speakers.



Side by side, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note.

USD65.99 excluding shipping.

With the flip cover it's a tight fit but doable. With a case it's not possible.

Signs of a low bitrate movie. It might not be noticeable on your S2 because the resolution is qHD, but on the 1280x800 Note, you're upscaling the movie without improving the image quality with higher bitrate source. Hence the apparent macro blocking.

For the record, dark scenes on my Note are totally black. Check the "Light and Slimness" video in your Videos app. It's as black as that. Your personal videos are macroblocking because they are not encoded as per that video or encoded on lower bitrate settings to save file size from getting too big.

You can't magically get good picture quality by slapping in poor video source. I'm using 720p properly ripped sources, and I don't get macroblockings.

What is the resolution of your video? Next, what is the file size of your video as opposed to how long it is. A pristine HD 22 minute TV show episode on MKV format clocks in at 250MB, a feature length movie is around 3-4GB. Compare your video file sizes versus movie length on these figures.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Dec 5 2011, 03:02 PM

Not quite yet. Note is very close to dethroning my iPad 2, but the only reason why I still hang on to the iPad is the games. Same reason with the Nexus/iPhone 4S.

I'd rate the Nexus as a more "able" replacement of the iPhone 4S, than the Note as the "able" replacement for the iPad. Blazingly fast on the Nexus.

I seriously don't see anything wrong with mine, and I'm a stickler for details like these.

I'm more inclined to put the reason behind it as this post in the same discussion thread on XDAdev: Display hardware 24bit, video source 16bit or lower.

Honest to God, I don't see it on mine. It's on 2.3.6 if that helps, on full brightness, and "Dynamic" Screen mode, which should have made it worse, but it hasn't.

Or maybe I don't watch lots of movies with dark scenes in them, or they don't look off-putting or distracting enough to notice. I dunno.....

I'm rooted. 2.3.6 KK5, Sheep ROM KKA.

Is this what you're seeing?

The resolution/bitrate of this video clip you using? The video clip is the constant in this case, and the variables are the different screens shown by the images you quoted.

Let's say the video clip's resolution is 1280x720. On the S2, it is downsampled, from a higher resolution source (1280 x 720) to a lower resolution screen (800 x 480). When your source content resolution is better than the screen it is used to display, the result is always pleasing, you would expect lesser details, since the display is only capable of showing it at a lower resolution. On your Note, it is either being unconverted ( 1280 x 720 to 1280 x 800 ) or maintained at the screen resolution of the Note (1280 x 800), therefore retaining video detail. But video detail retained can either be shown as the right pixel information IF and ONLY IF the resolution the video clip is in be matched with sufficiently HIGH enough nitrate to maintain image detail and clarity. In this case, since the Note's Android OS architecture only supports file size of 4GB or smaller, you have to set a low enough bitrate to fit into a 4GB file size. Hence low enough bitrate and therefore restricted pixel information and image detail, to show macro blocking due to low bitrate.

You don't see it much on the S2 because the smaller screen size and screen resolution, artificially masks the macro blocking, or showing them as a more "gradual" banding. Compare that to the Note's 5.3" screen with higher resolution, but still having to play with the same 4GB file size restriction of the Android OS, you're stuck with the same low bitrate you can play around with the S2, but having to display it on a bigger screen, hence making those macro blocks more apparent. Similar to blowing up a snapped photo to pixel-peep.

So which would you rather have? A smaller sized screen but lower resolution giving you a more "forgiving" picture because flaws aren't readily apparent, or a larger sized screen but higher resolution, showing you more of the flaws because it's more apparent due to the limited bitrate to fit into the 4GB file size?

Isn't that better? I don't want to hunt around for patches of black macro blocks or color banding while watching my movies, so HW acceleration by GPU is more desirable.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Dec 5 2011, 11:38 PM

Fits in my back jeans pocket and the front pocket as well. Nothing to overcome. I don't wear skinny jeans, nor do I wear baggy rapper jeans. Normal Levi's jeans.

market.android.com, buy it from there, then click the (+) sign to expand on device compatibility. Click your Galaxy Note. You need to do this while signed into your Google account, and have a CC tied to that account.

Watched "Cars 2" MKV, the first 5 minutes is mostly dark. Also watched "The Walking Dead" episodes that are dark. Turned down the brightness to minimum and use Movie screen display mode.

The first thing I notice Movie display mode does is makes everything look dreary. I have a nice bright yellow wallpaper, and it turns it into murky orange, the colors doesn't "pop" anymore. The minimum brightness makes it even worse. Blergh.

But I still don't see any splotches, grey spots or the like. All I see is, because the brightness has been dialed all the way down, you lose details. Dark scenes now, instead of seeing some definition in the scenes where there should be details on the dark area, all now is black. I paused the video running on DICEplayer, went back to settings, turn back to Dynamic, and turn up the brightness to at least 50%, and the details are back again. I know it's back to normal coz this wallpaper of mine turn back to its original eye-popping colored self right after that.

Try this wallpaper and see how dreary and ugly it looks if you turn down your brightness to minimum and use "Movie" screen display mode.



Then turn to at least 50% brightness and "Dynamic" mode. See what I mean?

The way I look at it, if you're watching a movie, you'd want to see ALL the details, not sacrificing it in the name of conserving power. You might as well don't watch it at all. Sure turning up brightness and vividity eats into the battery power, but that's the price you have to pay to get a properly lit video with details meant to be conveyed. Plus, I don't watch a movie without knowing that I can recharge the battery back in the shortest amount of time, or that facility is available closely somewhere. In this case, I carry an external battery pack. Nothing too big, the size of two decks of cards, can be easily thrown into the Muzetto bag I'm carrying without even adding much bulk.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Dec 6 2011, 03:55 PM

Awesome find on Swiftkey X. I've been a fan of theirs since I used the beta version of their Swiftkey Tablet X version of their keyboard on my already sold off Xoom, and now this discounted price on their cellphone keyboard!

I'm using the Neon theme on my Note. Big fan of Tron here.

The app warns that it is not made for a tablet when setting up, most probably because it detects the Note's 1280x800 resolution and assumes it's a tablet. You don't need to get the Swiftkey Tablet X because the screen size of the Note is only 5.3 inches, and the phone version covers the screen nicely. Installing the Tablet X version will only make the keys super small, because the keyboard assumes that it is handling a 7/8.9/10 inch screen.

Why are you BUYING Asphalt 6 HD when it is available for FREE on Samsung Apps?

Personally, the normal Swiftkey X version works for me. The Note isn't that big of a phone, and certainly does not need a split keyboard. Holding the Note with my hands in landscape mode, my thumbs are even able to overlap one another to reach all the keys without much constraint. The reason why Tablet X keyboard was made was to cater to tablets which is wider in nature, therefore splitting the keyboard into two portions, reachable by your two thumbs when you're holding it in landscape.

Your choice personally. I think the normal Swiftkey X is perfect for the Note. I've purchase the Tablet X version for Motorola Xoom last time, and that version is perfect for the tablet Xoom.

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Added on December 7, 2011, 1:17 pmThe Tablet X version should work on your Note, it works for 2.1 and above. I suggest you install the Swiftkey Tablet X Free version and see if that works for you.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Dec 7 2011, 01:17 PM

I've already purchased that leather pouch. Got tired of waiting for bloody Samsung to bring it in, no news, went to eBay and purchased it. It's on its way here.

Samsung only knows to bring in the phone and have no business sense in making money from their own official accessories. Not everyone wants to wrap their 2000 ringgit investment in shoddy third party silicone/gel/TPU cases.

GBP19.90. Hardly breaking the bank as some would say. But then again, I see more people would rather wrap their phone in RM10 cases than invest a little bit more on proper protection.

GBP7 shipping. IT has since increased to GBP10 by that same eBay reseller.

Correction. The pouch already arrived at home. Nore pics later once i get back from dinner.