As you might expect from its quad-core Exynos, performance was smooth... almost buttery smooth, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention a slight hesitancy between pulling out the S-Pen and the launch of that Smart Actions menu.

ENGADGET: Samsung Galaxy Note II for AT&T hands-on: an S-Pen phablet with 4G LTE (update: video)

Apart from an occasional stutter while scrolling in the browser, the Epic's performance felt in line with what we should expect of its Hummingbird core -- in other words, it was generally responsive and smooth (Linpack scores ranged between roughly 7.6 and 8.2 MFLOPS).

ENGADGET: Epic 4G review

Its dual-core 1.3GHz high-speed processor makes it highly responsive, smooth and faster than Kindle Fire HD for a nimble overall experience that is 80 percent faster when it comes to graphics processing for smoother, faster animations, renderings, apps experience and more.

ENGADGET: PSA: Barnes & Noble's Nook HD, HD+ tablets are now available in the UK

Performance from the Core i5 processor seemed zippy at first blush: apps close and open quickly, and transitions are smooth.

ENGADGET: Microsoft Surface Pro hands-on Hands-on