Launched by Samsung in Setember 2011, the original Galaxy Note was considered as an impractical combination between tablet and phone.with 5.3 inches screen, the first Samsung Galaxy Note was a really big phone in comoarison with other high-end devices of 2011, since most of them just had screen size of around 4 inches. However, the Galaxy Note is still a success of Samsung up to now with tens of millions of units sold worldwide.
Since the first generation was released, Samsung has launched other 5 version of Note smartphones (including Note II, Note 3, Note 3 Neo, Note 4 and Note Edge) as well as 4 Note tablets (including Note 10.1, Note 8.0, Note 10.1 2014 Edition and Note Pro 12.2). All units have Samsung’s S Pen Stylus, which is the highlight of the Note series.

As usual, when certain types of new products become widely used, the halo of the Samsung Galaxy Note had inspired other manufacturers to create similar products. This article is not about no-name Galaxy Note clone, but about the Note from big companies. We mention here in chronological order.

1. Asus Fonepad Note 6

Published in June 2013, Asus Fonepad Note 6 is the first Note not to be produced by Samsung. It’s a 6-inch-screen (1080 x 1920 pixels) Android device that has its own stylus pen, complemented by a SuperNote app. Besides being powered by a dual-core 2 GHz Intel Atom Z2580 processor, the Asus Fonepad Note 6 further features dual front-facing speakers, an 8 MP rear camera, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal memory that can be expanded. Last but least, it can make phone calls, too.

2. Asus VivoTab Note 8

This is Asus’ second Note: the VivoTab Note 8, which runs on Windows 8.1. This device has a stylus pen too, however it‘s a tablet not a phablet so it can’t make phone calls. The tablet has an Intel processor inside (a quad-core Atom Z3740 clocked at 1.8 GHz), while also featuring an 8-inch display (800 x 1280 pixels), a 5 MP rear camera, an 1.2 MP front-facing shooter, 2 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of expandable storage space.

3. Xiaomi Redmi Note

Released in the first half of 2014, the Xiaomi Redmi Note was Xiaomi’s first extra-affordable smartphone to feature a screen display larger than 5 inches (5.5 inches with 720 x 1280 pixels, to be exact). Though it doesn’t have a stylus, the Redmi Note is definitely Xiaomi’s attempt to allure customers who may pay more attention to Samsung’s Galaxy Note series but were unwilling to pay so much money. With prices starting at around $130, the Redmi Note helped Xiaomi sell more smartphones than Samsung in China in 2014.

4. Xiaomi Mi Note and Mi Note Pro

While the Redmi Note is an average-end handset at cheap prices, the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro are both high-end smartphones, and yet they’re still cheaper than Samsung’s latest Galaxy Notes (Note 4 and Note Edge). Both the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro were announced in Jan 2015, and are currently available only in China. With just $370 for the Mi Note, you will get 5.7-inch, 1080p LCD screen, a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 with 3GB of RAM – nearly top of the line specs – smartphone, a 13 MP rear camera, and a 4 MP front-facing camera. Meanwhile, with $530, the Mi Note Pro is offered a 5.7-inch, 1440 x 2560 pixels display, an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, and 4 GB of RAM, a 13MP main camera, a 4MP front camera and a 3,000mAh battery. No other than the Redmi Note, the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro both don’t have stylus pens.

5. Meizu M1 Note

This Meizu phone is the newest Note to be launched in the world, and is already available in China, where it costs about $160. At this low price, the M1 Notehas made a bang in the smartphone industry when offering it a 5.5-inch 1080p Sharp IGZOdisplay, 4G LTE, a 13 MP rear camera, 5 MP front-facing camera, 2 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of internal memory. The smartphone has two variants, one powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor, and the other that uses an octa-core MediaTek MT6752 CPU. Hopefully, this M1 Note will be sold globally soon at the price of around $200.