I have personally progressed from a 'bag' phone (that was the definition of portable in 'the beginning' which with a New England Telephone and Telegraph adapter you could mount in your car (hence 'car phone')through, more recently, two iterations of iPhone. I was ready for 'unconventional'...what Apple used to be. Have had the Note II for barely a week. No longer carry my iPad with me (thanks largely to Kindle app on android devices)and can read books (place marked wirelessly from where I left off on the Kindle at home)without the use of a jeweler's magnifying glass to read the screen. As to the size...I have read comments like 'It looks weird at your ear.' This from a guy pictured with his baseball cap on backwards. Get over it, who do you think is looking at you any way, besides how often do you use your device as a phone? I have been a stylus user on my iPad...also on my implementation of Photoshop using Wacom tablet. The Wacom implementation of the stylus on the Note II is just terrific. Yes, initially its cost is higher. But when you average that over the time you will own it, contract periods keep me to a little over two years at a minumum, and the fact that you are buying one, not twenty, it is not a big deal for what you get in return. For those who have grown bored with Apple and its waves of minor changes...give unconventional a run...it will not be unconventional for you for long.