Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Launches On U.S Cellular Today; What Reviewers Are Saying (VIDEO)

As of Monday, October 29, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is available for immediate purchase through three carriers in the United States. The only two major national carriers with release dates in the future are AT&T and Verizon.

If you're a T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular customer, you can go pick up the Galaxy Note 2 starting at $299.99.'T-Mobile does charge extra for the Galaxy Note 2, pricing the handset at $369.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate (meaning that you will end up paying $419.99 upfront). The good news is that the T-Mobile Galaxy Note 2 will run on T-Mobile's LTE network when its up next year in 2013, so at least it won't be outdated.

Both AT&T and Verizon are taking pre-orders, and have the phone priced at $299.99. AT&T's Galaxy Note 2 will release on November 9, with Verizon's to follow sometime after.

Initial reviews of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 indicate that the phablet is an excellent successor to the original Galaxy Note, and is one powerful handset.

The folks over at CNET describe the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as "a powerful, boundary-pushing device that gets a lot right. Yet its complicated features and high price raise questions about its purpose."

While the massive 5.55-inch screen makes it a great device for viewing videos and using the S Pen stylus, it seems that the large size makes it a bit unwieldy to carry.

"The size is not a problem for me per se and I believe that one has to use it for a day minimum to get hooked to it. Nevertheless, this is a complete phone / tablet for me and for my business use," says a user review from bzboy01 on CNET.

Most other reviews point to the blazingly fast 1.6GHZ quad-core processor that is running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which comes with various features that make the interface faster and smoother than ever before. The 4G LTE connectivity doesn't hurt here, and means that the Galaxy Note 2 will offer you some serious download speeds.

In the end, it looks like the only cons are the fact that it is bigger than the average smartphone (although Android smartphones are slowly trending towards a larger size), and that it costs around a $100 more than other popular smartphones like the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5.

If you're willing to look past those issues, as LaptopMagazine put it, "With its bigger screen, better pen features quad-core CPU and epic battery life, the Galaxy Note II raises the bar for large-screen smartphones."