Best Smartphone and Tablet/2-in-1 Combination

Welcome fellow note takers. I found that the only similar thread - companion for Surface device, is too confining as many of us have moved on from Surface. Hopefully this thread will be a bit broader and let us discuss all our general observations, uses, and tips regarding what we personally feel is the best smartphone combination with our preferred tablet/2-in-1. The ONLY ground rules for this thread are:

1. You must be using (and pairing) a tablet or 2-in-1 device capable of note taking in its own right.
2. It does NOT have to be a single vendor solution.
3. It does not have to be a Windows only solution.
4. Critiques are encouraged, but NO "mine is the only solution" posts.

I'll be focusing later this week on my Flex 13 plus Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (which should be here shortly). In the meantime, share what you are using now, getting soon, or see as the next solution on the horizon.

 

Mini cross-post from the Surface Companion thread - give me an S Pen with this device (regardless cost) and my quest for a companion device is complete...make it so next year Samsung...

Couldn't be any clearer that you have a front facing phone AND tablet in one device...aimed at you Duo...check out the multi-window multi-tasking at 00:45:

 

Yeah, if it’s as good as it should be next year I’ll be getting this instead of my iPhone and iPad mini and I won’t miss the two at all.

But I think I will need a holster of some kind.

 

First 24 hours with the "new" all Samsung combo:

• MUST WATCH if you are an Android newbie - Sakitech 50 Tips for Setting Up Your Note 20 Ultra
• Love my S Pen - although inking in OneNote not as good as S Note, and OneNote Android is a shadow of even OneNote iOS at this point
• The screen is amazing and a beautiful huge canvas compared to my 11 Pro
• The camera is first class - especially the optical AND hybrid zoom (out to 20x at least)
• A VERY SNAPPY PHONE performance wise
• Landscape - makes everything massive compared to my iPhone, and reading sites, books, email, etc. in that orientation is really nice
• I AM loving the whole Qi charging of everything. I have a 7.5w pad on my desk; topped off the phone then started charging the buds live (they are a very small pocketable case BTW). Same for the Watch 3.
  
• Buds Live - they are far more comfortable than my Powerbeats Pro, and the sound is great.
  
• Phone call quality: Speaking of sound, I've had three phone calls this morning and I would swear the other person was standing in my office (through the phone earpiece - not even with Buds - which from now on I'm calling "Beans").
  
• Link to Windows worked the first time, but a bit clunky and not sure of vaue proposition yet of running Android apps on your laptop, but like the text and phone call integration
• And now for the rest of the story
  • Android still sucks (or better still - a strongly acquired taste)
    • Settings are scattered EVERYWHERE and in multiple places - took me nearly an hour to figure out how to connect Contacts to my Outlook exchange server - still not sure where I finally found the toggle to use Outlook contacts
    • Surprisingly, the best app so far has been Apple Music for Android - almost a clone of the iOS app, which explains a lot
    • Lots of setup to continue - maybe my BP will drop as I get the hang of this - but maybe a walled garden ain't so bad - ain't feelin' the freedom yet
    • Keep mis-typing - both edge letters and mis-presses
  • It is a BIG phone, but pocketable and well balanced in the hand
  • Messages are still a mess, especially group texts, but I'm trying
  • The really need to ditch the curved edges on the Note line, but I guess if this is the last of the traditional Notes, not reason to raise that again.

Guess my big problem at this point is general disorientation brought on by fear of Android. In some ways I feel like I'm back in Windows 98 SE - strange huh - and Mr. Mom has asked for my woobie (iPhone)...

 

Not sure if this follows your listed criteria exactly... as I've ditched the 2-in-1 for now.

But I've gone from GB12/N9P with GN8, to a workflow using an ASUS ROG G14 and still using my GN8 via SuperDisplay to maintain a little EMR capability

I needed to convert to a good GPU setup as I'm doing far more 3D modeling and CAD now.

Pros:
The ROG is a beast for it's weight class (3.5 lbs). It's about an inch all around bigger than the GB12 and feels almost as thin, but I'm gladly trading that in that size gain for the Nvidia 2060 6GB VRAM. The Ryzen 9 has been super impressive at number crunching too. It has just enough power for what I'm specifically doing (simultaneous machine learning with 3D modeling).
When I'm not doing GPU intensive tasks, the laptop has easily lasted 10 hours doing productivity (browsing/emailing/doc) tasks.
I can still run native Android OneNote for note taking which then syncs with the PC version.
I like the matte screen on the ROG

Cons:
The ROG has no webcam, so conf calls are via GN8 which takes the pen notetaking out of the workflow.
SuperDisplay isn't bad, but definitely not as convenient as pulling out the S-Pen and drawing directly on PC screen. Obviously screen size is a major disadvantage too, although I'm drawing simple things like weight/texture maps.

At the end of the day, my daily gear gained about a pound, but now I can 3D model on the go which has been a productivity game changer.

I also treated myself to a nicer, more oblong 65W PD charger that fits outlets better, and carry two USB-C cords, one 10ft for charging and one 3ft for SuperDisplay connectivity. I'm glad to still not have to lug a power brick.

I might look into getting a Samsung Tab as a dual display/cintiq type of experience, but so far haven't needed it. Looking at G20 ultra for larger screen size, it will almost be like having the VivotabNote8 again I suppose. It seems like I'm coming back full circle to ASUS... and to full fledged laptops after spending the last ten years trying to figure out how to do pocketable setup using a small device with a folding bluetooth keyboard.

 

I've now gone full on Samsung, with G Note 9, Tab S6 Lite, and Notebook 9 Pro: so 6.4" to 10.4" and then 15". Now with MS and Samsung Android collaboration, any combo feels tight and work well together.

Also being able to use one Wacom UD EMR pen on any of them is amazeballs. Being able to draw with Clip Studio Paint on all three is amazeballs. IM LOVING THIS.

 

Nice! I'm curious, what is your file storage configuration like?

 

Trying to use their cloud service I guess for now. But gonna check if a file browser can fish out the .clip file from their Android set up...

 

Jebuschristmas.... Celsys buried them .clip files like ex wife's dead body...

Internal memory > Android > data > jp.co.celsys.clipstudiopaint.galaxystore > files > user data > celsys > clipstudiopaintdata > documentbackup > yearmonthdate"filename".clip

 

yeah, the internal file system is an unnecessary mess. The only rational I can think of is that since the Android build is more or less a port of the iOS build, they probably didn't figure to rework its file system.

Out of curiosity, are you noticing any significant differences between using Clip Studio on your Note 9 vs the Tab S6 lite? Aside from the interface/UI difference that is.