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You may have heard of Samsung’s Galaxy Note, a hybrid of a tablet and phone which offers a massive 5.3″ screen. Packing an HD display and a stylus called the “S-Pen”, the Note is definitely one of the most stocked Android phones to date. It’s finally made it to the US carriers bringing with it LTE on AT&T’s network.  I recently decided to pull the trigger on one. What do I think of it so far?

Read on to find out.

The Galaxy Note is my first experience with the Android operating system in its full form and so far, I’m loving it. Transitioning from iOS wasn’t too hard at all considering most of the apps I use on a daily basis also have Android counterparts. TouchWiz 4.0m which is the skin Samsung users for the OS, is actually pretty good.  I don’t feel like it’s very obtrusive and it gives Android a nice visual pop. Due to the Note having a large screen with a high resolution, the home screens are 5 columns across rather than the usual 4.  This gives some extra room for shortcuts or widgets. All in all, I like Android and don’t think I’ll mind using this phone for the next two years.

The question that will be on most people’s minds is “is it comfortable to use” and the answer to that is really dependent on how big your hands are. I’m roughly 6 feet tall and I have biggish hands, so for me it isn’t too bad. There are times still where I have to rock the phone in my hands to reach the spot I’m trying to hit with one-handed use, but its not such a big deal. However, for people with smaller hands, I’d suggest trying one out before pulling the trigger. My sister for example, couldn’t use the phone easily without both her hands.

Once you get past the size though, easily the best parts of this phone is the display itself. Not only is it big, but it has a resolution of 800 x 1280 to back it up. The screen is gorgeous, colors absolutely pop and look vibrant, there’s no pixelation, and it’s really clear when reading text or watching video. I absolutely love the display and I’m sure you will too

One of the main reasons you might be buying this device is for LTE support, and here in Southern California it performs great. I’ve been averaging 20MBPS down and about 4-5 up on AT&T’s LTE network. It’s really quick to load and most webpages take an instant to be fully visible. The performance is amazing if you live where you have LTE. Even when connected to HSPA+, I still got speeds of 8 down and 3 up, which is respectable.

The S-Pen is also pretty cool. I didn’t buy the device for it, but after using it for a bit, I can say it does come in handy at times. For example, if you hold the button on the S-Pen down and double tap the screen, you can write out a quick memo. It’s useful when there’s something important on your mind that you don’t want to forget. Also holding down the button and holding on the screen takes a screenshot that you can then scribble on. It’s not as useful as the quick memos in my opinion, but still a nice feature to have.

Overall, my first impressions are that the phone is pretty excellent. Android runs quickly, the display is amazing, and LTE speeds are lightning fast (assuming you’re in an area with LTE). Is it worth the $299 on contract? So far, I’d say it is. If you don’t mind the size and want one of the best Android experiences you can get right now, then the Galaxy Note is your phone. I’ll be sure to have a full review of the phone once I’ve had some time to really use it and try out all the features.