Samsung’s “phablet” Galaxy Note 2 has been out a little while in the UK now and has already proved to be a popular successor to the company’s original Galaxy Note released last year. Now that you’ve had it a little while though, you may be wondering what accessories you should pick up for your 5.3″ smartphone. We’ve compiled a list of five of the must have accessories for your Galaxy Note 2.
1) Screen protector. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 may have Gorilla Glass but, at Gizmodot, we always recommend using screen protectors on your precious gadgets, especially those with quite a substantial screen size, which the Galaxy Note 2 definitely falls under. Some say they prefer going screen protectorless as it feels better and the touch screen is more responsive but, if you pick up a decent one, you shouldn’t even notice you have a screen protector on and will give you that extra bit of confidence that no damage will come to your precious smartphone when it’s in your pocket, or you’re using the S-Pen included with the Galaxy Note 2.
2) Case. Just like we recommend gadgets should have a screen protector, we rank cases highly as well. There are many different cases available for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and quite a few official Samsung ones. Which Galaxy Note 2 case you choose will depend on your personal preference. There are some that protect the front and the back of the phone, such as the official Samsung flip case (shown above), which actually replaces the Galaxy Note 2’s back cover and protects the front of the phone. There are also many different gel or silicon cases available which just protect the back of the phone but, this means they don’t add much, if any bulk to the phone.
3) Battery. While many will argue smartphones should now be at a stage where you don’t need an additional battery and indeed more and more smartphones are now adopting the non replaceable battery model, it never hurts to have a spare battery at hand as you never know when you might need it. The battery on the Galaxy Note 2 should last you all day but, with such a large display the Galaxy Note 2 does use more battery power than it’s smaller screened counterparts and depending on the number of tasks you use the Galaxy Note 2 for, one full charge may just not be enough, especially when many use the Galaxy Note 2 instead of an Android tablet, as well as it being their main smartphone.
4) MHL Cable. Whether you use your Galaxy Note 2 “phablet” as more of a smartphone, or more of a tablet the MHL cable allows you to see your work, or photos/videos on a big screen. The MHL cable allows you to connect the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 to an HDMI equipped TV which gives you the power to show off your photos and videos to friends, work to colleagues or just play your games via your normal TV, while using the Galaxy Note 2 as your controller. The MHL cable connects to the micro USB port on the phone and provides an adapter for a HDMI cable (not included) to connect to a TV.
5) TecTiles. NFC hasn’t really kicked off in the UK yet but, one of the most useful features you can do with it, apart from sharing media with other NFC equipped devices, is the ability to change settings just by touching your phone against one of Samsung’s NFC TecTiles. With the TecTile app, you can program each tag to perform certain actions. For example you could set one up to turn Wi-Fi off and put the ringer on silent while at work and another to turn Wi-Fi on and put the ringer back on normal volume for when you’re at home. Instead of changing each setting you simply tap your phone against the programmed TecTile tag and it does all of those things for you. The full list of things you can do with TecTile tags is listed below:
Connectivity
Turn Wi-Fi on/Off
Turn Bluetooth on/off
Turn silent mode on/off
Change ringer volume
Change ringtone
Change notification tone
Change brightness
Change screen timeout
Phone
Make a call
Send a text
Share a contact
Show a memo
Show a location
Open a web page
Set an alarm
Set a timer
Play music
Play video
View image
Application
You can select various applications to open, including S Planner, YouTube, Flipboard, Google Maps, Shazam and more.
SNS
Start a Google talk conversation
Update Facebook status
Share on Facebook
Send a Tweet
Foursquare check in
Facebook check in
Follow a Twitter user
