In the end I couldn't do the note 2, so I picked up an S3 today! The note 2 is just too big for me; it looks like you're holding a hardcover book up to your head while talking on it, lol. The S3 is plenty big IMO and it offers the same effective real estate / resolution. The only thing I really miss is the S-pen, and the huge battery would have been nice too. Other than that, this monstrosity would only get in the way of my awesome mountain lifestyle so I had to go with the more reasonable alternative!
So far I'm loving the S3, it's definitely the best phone I've ever owned by far. More powerful than my office workstation, lol.