I got an MHL adaptor today: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005R5DCVW.

Video out over HDMI (through my AV receiver) to my flat screen looks really nice, but the test video I played (a rip of Avatar with AC3 5.1 sound) is only detected as 2 channel PCM on the Denon, and even with my AMP boosting the input volume by 12dB, it's still quite low.

I just tested with the stock video player - are there other players in the Android market that allow 5.1 sound out over the HDMI, or is this a limitation either of the Galaxy Note's HDMI audio output, or of the cheapo (£8 MHL adaptor I bought?

I now have the Note and like it very much. Rav pretty much hits the nail on the head.
As I also have a N9, I thought I'd indicate some differences between the two (with occasional
reference to n900), but I should point out that I'm not interested in being a "fanboy" of any particular device.
In my view I want everyone to succeed so, as a consumer, I benefit from progress made on all fronts.
Regardless, these are intitial observations and conclusions can change as I learn how to use better them or
take advantage of software that is available.

Swipe on N9 is great for managing tasks. Very intuitive and hard to go back to old ways once
you use it for a couple of days. The multitasking is a little clumsy on Note compared to
N9. For example if you edit a document and press home button, the editing is suspended and
you are placed at the home screen. You can then try something else like use web or maps and then
return to home screen again. If you now hold the home button down for a second you are
taken to the task bar which lists the most recent processes you have not closed yet. You can then
select document editor and you are automatically returned to the point you left off. Not sure of the
maximum number of items you can put on task bar but I had 4 or 5 there one time or another.
Anyways the Note's multitasking is not as nice as n9 or N900 but doable.

Speaking of editors, the Polaris editor is very good at reproducing somewhat sophisticated documents
with, for example, scientific equations. The only thing really better is open office on n900.
but the problem with the n900, in my view, is that it needs a bigger screen and more ram to handle open office.
The editing with Polaris is adequate for many typical documents. As mentioned in a previous post
having Libre Office would be a awesome on Note. Hope it happens. For the total control freak, nothing
beats Latex (which works nicely on N900 thanks to easy debian). The N9s document editor wasn't as
capable as Polaris. Reproduction a documents with equations was poor. It is ok for minor text editing.
Hopefully a better editor is in the works for the N9.

On Note, maps is very good. You can pinch and rotate which is nice. One thing I though looked cool on the N9 is how the street names snake along the roads when you move the map image around. 3D renderings are also nice on n9.

Well these comments just scratch the surface as I've just got the Note and N9 but if there is anything you
want me to compare between Note and N9 let me know and I'll give it a try.

EDIT: Actually task management is much better than I originally thought. See post http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=158

EDIT 2: In this comment I had previously indicated that the Nokia maps are about 5 years old based on not seeing a renovation I had done on my deck back then. Actually on closer inspection the renovated deck is probably in the image. It's hard to make out for sure as the image is a bit blurry. The Google satellite image was shaper and clearly shows the new deck. Up shot is that the Nokia maps are more recent. Probably summer 2010.

One good thing concerning Openoffice is that Galaxy Note owners are offered a free subscription to Power Office, basically a login to a fedora desktop with Firefox, Openoffice, Chrome and other goodies.
If you want it, Go to S-Choice and install "PowerOffice Business and Creative Suite".

I should note that so far I'm very happy with my Note.

also, rooting and installing Ubuntu in chroot on a sdcard was nearly as easy as EasyDebian. You can chroot or ssh into it and or access X11 via VNC.
there is also a native X11 server implementation in development http://groups.google.com/group/androix-users

USB-host is built in - I just need to get a USB OTG cable.

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming ICS upgrade which will integrate the inductive (!) S-Pen much better into the whole system.

The note fits perfectly into my jeans (even slim fit ones). I can even use one-handely for simple tasks.

Overall how is the build quality of note? I am waiting for its WHITE counterpart to arrive

Yesterday I used for the first time the Note as a otg device. What should I say? Perfect. No problem at all with flash sticks.

I also tried to connected a couple of terabyte-size hd's through a hub. This time didn't read them :-/ But I'll try again

One thing that bugs me in Android so far is the inability to find and mount Windows/Samba shares on a LAN.

There are third-party utilities on the Market that claim to do this, but all the free ones I've tried only let you browse through the files on a share and *download* them to the device, not *open* them directly from the share (like playing a video).

This is with 2.2 and 2.3 on a 7" Galaxy Tab. Are more recent versions of Android (Gingerbread, ICS) and/or other devices (like the Note) any better ?

I've taken a side-by-side photo of iPhone4/N9/SGS2/Galaxy Note.
Note is a monster of a phone...err...tablet thingy as you can see. =P

http://shootspeak.com/2011/11/24/qui...ne4n9sgs2note/

I've had a bit of play with it and I just love the darn thing.
- HUGE screen (awesome for video playback web browsing, anything....)
- Stylus (super accurate and very handy for drawing, navigating etc)
- Replaceable battery, MicroSD, best video playback capability etc etc.

Not so good for single handed Swyping though. =P

Is the sound quality as bad as the Galaxy S2?

This report was pretty scathing about the sound, saying it was below average for a high end smartphone, due to the use of a Yamaha MC-1N2 code, which is why I ask:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4686/s...t-redefined/13

can't comment re. SGS2 comparison 'cos I've never used that phone. The sound from the note on speaker is mediocre (similar in max volume to n900, possibly slightly louder but not much, and feels "piercing" rather than satisfying if turned up; mono speaker, positioned at back of phone which kills any volume/quality unless you flip the phone over). On the supplied headphones, I found the sound pretty poor too - lacking particularly in bass but generally dull & lifeless. However that was on the stock music player. I now have the cube player and fiddling with its 5 band EQ I've managed to get a reasonable sound out of the headset. Not brilliant, but on a par with N900's supplied earphones. I haven't tried it with a better quality headphone set, so again can't comment.