Samsung's Galaxy Note is easily one of the amazing smartphones which is currently available in the market. The device is touted as one of the most powerful smartphones around with a reasonable battery life.
I have owned a Note since June 2012 and since then I have run it through a number of benchmarks and the results have been impressive. However, it is important to know that with high power and performance, comes the issue of overheating, and there is no reason to lose your cool if you suddenly find that your device is getting heated beyond the normal. That said, I had no such problems earlier, which is before I upgraded the phone with Ice Cream Sandwich.
Now, I have compared this heating issue with my friend's iPhone 4S and found out that both the devices tend to heat up after heavy usage. However, in the case of an iPhone, when the device detects heating issues, it turns off without any real warning, but this is not the case with Note. The phablet keeps running even if you feel that the device is getting overheated. Nonetheless, what I found was that this only occurs if you've used the phablet continuously for more than 30 minutes.
Interestingly, I also found that the Note doesn't overheat while you are browsing the web, writing texts, making calls, and doing other similar tasks. However, when the device is going through heavy graphic usage (playing games or watching YouTube videos), eventually, it becomes pretty hard to hold it in your hand due to the heat.
This heating is noticeable around the camera area, which is where the Exynos dual-core processor is placed. When I first felt the heat I thought something had gone horribly wrong with my phone and the internal hardware would melt, but nothing like that happened.
To illustrate instances of overheating, once my phone started heating up while I was using the Maps to get to a location, but it was nothing major. However, after I reached the venue and was waiting for my friend, I started playing NOVA 3 and found that now it was getting difficult even to hold the phone.
This issue, although a minor one, can be a real problem sometimes. Research on the phone's Exynos processor revealed that it is based on the OMAP4 Cortex A9 platform (widely used for smartphones nowadays).To simplify things, the OMAP4 Cortex A9 platform specification shows that its normal operating temperature is 40° to 85° C (104° to 185° F). However, if that is the case then why is it that the Galaxy Note overheats when others sporting the same processor do not? The answer could lie in the thinness of the device. When operating the phablet, a users hands are placed very close to processor and, therefore, one feels the heat.
To surmise, the only way to deal with this depends on your ability as to how fast you can learn to live with the issue. The only way to avoid this heating is if you stop playing games, using Maps or watching videos, but that is not a permanent solution.
However, you can always take precautions to avoid the device from heating up. Apps like Battery Indicator can be helpful as its primary function is to give you a percentage battery notification in the notification area. If you pull down the notification panel, it displays the battery temperature in either Fahrenheit or celcius. For a permanent fix, wait till the company sends out official updates.
It is important to note that If your Galaxy Note gets warm while you are using it for only a few minutes, without pushing it to its limits, then your device could have some other issues.
A tip that helps the phablet function better is removing unnecessary apps. Try uninstalling the apps that you don't use regularly. Recently, I removed Angry Birds and a few more apps that take up space and draw data from the web, and now my device is as good as new.
Additionally, if you have heavy data consuming apps (like Google Currents), which keeps updating all the time to give you the latest information, try unchecking the Background Sync option. Post these alterations the Note hardly runs out of battery and does not need to be charged at regular intervals.
