Just had a chance to play with the ATT Note.
Lots of bloatware! ATT promotional stuff and apps. Garbage.
One and only major physical difference i saw was the screen border - it is not flat like the International Note (IN), has a bit of a lip.
The ATT Note UI is super fast in stock form, seems a bit faster than my heavily modded IN (root, themed launcher and custom kernel)
It did shine with the network speeds. I'm in NYC and compared two Notes next to each other. My IN got less than 1Mb on HSPA+ and ATT Note got 10+ Mb on 4G LTE.
02/23/12 - UPDATE:
As of this 2/20/12, I have both the International and ATT versions of the Note. I will post a short video review of both tomorrow.
The International is rooted of course, with Rocket Rom v21 and Abyss kernel.
The ATT version is stock.
Both have same exact set up configurations, Widget locker, Go launcher and pretty much the same number of apps installed.
Some more quick observations after playing with both for a few days:
Pros:
-LTE speed. It's amazing, compared to HSPA+ or even to WiFi! i get 11-13 Mbps down and 8-10 Mbps up in NYC where my International Note was barely getting 1 Mbps up and .8 down... In NJ i am getting 20Mbps speeds, which is faster than my WiFi at home.
-ATT version is very smooth. I cannot comment on any lag.
-Battery life is VERY much comparable! I get about 3 hours of screen on time from both devices. Seems there is a difference of opinions on this one, so lets get more input from "dual" users.
-The amount of bloatware was slightly exaggerated - there is only a handful of ATT pre-installed apps and i was able to uninstall at least one of them just like a regular user app - no root access needed.
Cons:
- Lack of Video Editor. I ported the International .apk, but the install could not complete. Could be fixable by a custom rom cook.
- Lack of FM radio. I ported the International .apk, was able to install and run the app, but there is no sound. This must be the kernel limitation, as the chip should be able to support it. Could be fixed with custom kernel.
- Lack of screen mode selection - Dynamic, Standard, Movie. (available on International Note) Could probably be solved in a custom rom
- Some funky performance of the lock screen - does not always appear as expected and i can get right to the home screen.
- Some funky performance of the wallpaper - come wallpapers dont scroll, others do. Some get grossly zoomed in when installed, others dont.
While the last two points are relatively minor, as they could be attributed to a config issue with the actual software, the first two cons can be deal breaker for some people.
The LTE speed is definitely a huge selling point that can help overlook the cons.
02/24/12 - UPDATE:
Added: a side by side video comparison of two Galaxy Notes - International HSPA+ GT-N7000 vs US AT&T 4G LTE I717:
http://youtu.be/V6Jnl1xV3i8
Lots of bloatware! ATT promotional stuff and apps. Garbage.
One and only major physical difference i saw was the screen border - it is not flat like the International Note (IN), has a bit of a lip.
The ATT Note UI is super fast in stock form, seems a bit faster than my heavily modded IN (root, themed launcher and custom kernel)
It did shine with the network speeds. I'm in NYC and compared two Notes next to each other. My IN got less than 1Mb on HSPA+ and ATT Note got 10+ Mb on 4G LTE.
02/23/12 - UPDATE:
As of this 2/20/12, I have both the International and ATT versions of the Note. I will post a short video review of both tomorrow.
The International is rooted of course, with Rocket Rom v21 and Abyss kernel.
The ATT version is stock.
Both have same exact set up configurations, Widget locker, Go launcher and pretty much the same number of apps installed.
Some more quick observations after playing with both for a few days:
Pros:
-LTE speed. It's amazing, compared to HSPA+ or even to WiFi! i get 11-13 Mbps down and 8-10 Mbps up in NYC where my International Note was barely getting 1 Mbps up and .8 down... In NJ i am getting 20Mbps speeds, which is faster than my WiFi at home.
-ATT version is very smooth. I cannot comment on any lag.
-Battery life is VERY much comparable! I get about 3 hours of screen on time from both devices. Seems there is a difference of opinions on this one, so lets get more input from "dual" users.
-The amount of bloatware was slightly exaggerated - there is only a handful of ATT pre-installed apps and i was able to uninstall at least one of them just like a regular user app - no root access needed.
Cons:
- Lack of Video Editor. I ported the International .apk, but the install could not complete. Could be fixable by a custom rom cook.
- Lack of FM radio. I ported the International .apk, was able to install and run the app, but there is no sound. This must be the kernel limitation, as the chip should be able to support it. Could be fixed with custom kernel.
- Lack of screen mode selection - Dynamic, Standard, Movie. (available on International Note) Could probably be solved in a custom rom
- Some funky performance of the lock screen - does not always appear as expected and i can get right to the home screen.
- Some funky performance of the wallpaper - come wallpapers dont scroll, others do. Some get grossly zoomed in when installed, others dont.
While the last two points are relatively minor, as they could be attributed to a config issue with the actual software, the first two cons can be deal breaker for some people.
The LTE speed is definitely a huge selling point that can help overlook the cons.
02/24/12 - UPDATE:
Added: a side by side video comparison of two Galaxy Notes - International HSPA+ GT-N7000 vs US AT&T 4G LTE I717:
http://youtu.be/V6Jnl1xV3i8
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