After spending a lot of time with the note 2, I took it back and got the iphone 5. At the end of the day, I found that the only thing the note 2 had going for it was its huge screen. I use a phone for
texting
email
calling
If I need to do any major web surfing I do it on my computer, not a phone. Even with that said, I'm able to web surf on the iphone just as well as I could on the note 2, and I can do it with one hand.
In these three areas, for me, the iphone is faster to use, easier to use, far more polished, and far more intuitive. There is a learning curve with the note 2. With the iphone there is hardly any learning curve at all. The interface is so simple and logical, unlike samsung's version of android.
Without a doubt the iphone has a much smaller screen. But when you look at the resolution, there is only about 12% less screen "real estate". That means that text will indeed be quite a bit smaller, but this is not a problem for me. If you enjoy much larger text then the note 2 is probably a better choice.
This is basically like the difference between a 46 inch lcd television and a 60 inch television. Everything on the 60 is going to be much bigger, but you are essentially viewing the same amount of stuff on both sets. Sit closer to the 46 and the difference in size is negated.
Speaking of screen real estate, apps on the iphone are made to take advantage of the entire screen, I would think this is not the case for the note 2, where an app is made the same for all the android devices and all their screen resolutions. So evernote on a small android device is simply going to be larger on the note 2, viewing wise. Speaking of evernote, I found the evernote app on iphone far easier to use and more polished than on the the note 2.
I guess each person has to decide what is important to them. Each device will have its advantages according to what is most important to the user. If you don't like viewing very small resolution text on the internet browser, then the note is probably the best bet.
I found the Iphone screen, while much smaller, to be far brighter , clearer, and more vibrant and with far better colors. Outside in the sun, I found it was very tough to see the note 2 screen, unlike the iphone screen.
Oh and then there is call quality. While the note 2 has a decent enough call quality, I found the iphone 5's to be much better. ( this is the same two phones on the same carrier, in the same location talking to the same person on their carrier) Plus the iphone feels much better up against the ear than the huge note 2.
Couple other things:
I kept finding small annoyances using the note 2. For example, when I send an image over email, text message or to facebook, the note 2 reduces the image quality. I never found a resolution to this and I don't have days to spend trying to figure out why its doing this.
With iphones default email, I tap in and I can quickly see how many new emails there are for all my accounts. With note 2's default email I have to select each account and then go into that account's inbox, then manually tally up all the new emails. To me, the iphones default email just works the way I think email on a phone should work.
Now some will say, "go get this third pary email app" Well what I kept finding with 3rd party apps on the note 2 is that they are totally buggy ( go sms for one ) or they take a long time to figure out. I just don't have the time.
Ive found I'm able to do everything I was doing on the note 2 far better on the iphone 5 with a much smaller screen.
In short I like the iphone's solid, intuitive, stable and user friendly operating system ( ditto for its apps ) a lot more than the note 2's large screen.
