Settling in with a new Samsung Galaxy Note II

As mentioned in an earlier post, after my Motorola Photon 4G started flaking out on me, I upgraded my phone to a new Samsung Galaxy Note II.  They call this thing a "phablet" because, with a 5.5" screen, it's a cross between a phone and a tablet.  In fact, the size is exactly half way between my old Photon and my son's Nexus 7.  In the process, I upgraded from Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) to 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean).  After a few weeks with the new phone, here are my thoughts on it.  This post may seem a bit incoherent, so try to take each paragraph as an individual point.

Fixing a crackling speaker on a Nexus 7

My son bought a Nexus 7 tablet shortly after they came out in July 2012.  By November, we started noticing that the external speakers (but not the headphones) were putting out lots of crackly static, especially at higher volumes (above 50%).  This is a chronic problem with the Nexus 7, and one that Asus will fix under warranty if you catch it soon enough.  However, if you don't want to live without your tablet for a few weeks during the warranty repair, there are some things you can do to address the problem yourself.