10 Things About My Galaxy Note

After having 24 hours to play with my new phone, I've found out the following things (applicable to many phones I think):

1. Between the time that your new phone was manufactured and the time it lands on your doorstep a lot of time could have passed (like a year or more if you wait until the phone has been out for ages and is now on sale like when I buy them).  Which means it is a good idea to Google and see if your phone has firmware updates available.  I did this and it updated the entire operating system for free.  Yippee!
2. I know very little about apps because I use so few of them so I Googled "best android apps 2014" and came up with lots of good apps to check out.  I don't really play video games so I haven't downloaded any of them but I NEED the Kindle app and I also downloaded the Kingsoft office program since it was rated better than the Polaris office program that came on my phone (on the rare occasion that I write a document on my phone, I simply email it to myself and it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office on my computer).  Another app that I haven't had time to look at yet but may end up using is AirDroid which allows you to sync between your home computer and cell phone.  Cool!
3. The Note itself isn't as big as I thought it would be.  When I first saw someone using the Note a year ago I thought it was huge but then again, my basic cell phone at the time was tiny.  I do like how big and bright the screen is which makes everything from phone numbers to articles on CNN easier to read.
4. The thing is expensive.  When the Note first came out over a year ago it cost around $700.  When I started watching the price on it a few months ago it was at $520.  When I finally broke down and bought it the price was $460 (plus $10 for the new, necessary SIM card for it and $30 for a month's airtime which works just fine with my pre-paid plan).  Needless to say I really worry about this phone--everything from dropping it to it getting stolen--which is kind of a bummer because it is only a phone and one shouldn't have to stress out over a phone.  But I do.
5. Since the phone is expensive and relatively fragile, I hopped on Amazon and bought a gel case for it.  Amazon seems to have the best prices for cell cases compared to buying them at any brick and mortar store.  For the Note, the case cost $8.95.  For my previous smartphone I bought a similar case on Amazon for it and the cost was around $2.95 which included shipping from Hong Kong.  
6. The note has a stylus that comes latching inside the body of the phone.  It even has an alarm to alert you when you walk away and leave the stylus I guess so you don't lose it.  This phone does a million things but I think I have barely scratched the surface (however, again, Googling the name of the phone and "tips" brought up pages and pages of tutorials and quick tips to help people get acquainted with the phone which was helpful).
7. Whenever I get something new, I want to get hubby the same thing so I told him he may have a new phone as well in the near future.  He really doesn't need one as the only thing he does with his smart phone is make calls and send text messages (no internet, no games...due to lack of interest on his part and probably due to the fact that the screen is too small to see much anyway) but hopefully by the time I work at the WSOP and get some nice paychecks coming in the price will have dropped even more.
8. It isn't like the old days when you bought an item and the item was complete and you were done with the purchase part when you paid for it.  These days you get a nice, shiny cell phone in the mail and you aren't done buying stuff for it.  First the phone, then the new SIM, then it needs a cover to protect it, then it needs a SD card to hold all of your music then better ear buds, then maybe a car charger, etc.  Yikes!
9. The Note has a split screen (apparently, I haven't figured that part out yet) but I am not sure how useful it would be.  Even with my 14" laptop, when I need two screens I end up using a second computer just to have enough screen space to work so splitting a relatively tiny 5" screen into two sections doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.  Hmmm 
10. Finally, I saved my old smartphone and will get it unlocked.  This will be useful when we travel as when we end up in a different country we get local SIMs for our phones and use the local network to keep in touch with each other and our friends there.

Now back to playing with my new phone...