gdgt

Well I have used the galaxy note and i think its market is too niche....the phone is an extended version of the Galaxy S II and its hard to carry around. Its not portable as it seems as you will be using it more like a phone than a tablet. Its a personal choice altogether. For the Xperia S, i think its worth every wait..its specs speaks for itself....under Sony, the phone has good hardware support and a brilliant camera......

I find the Galaxy Note fits perfectly in my denim jeans front pocket [guy jeans] without restraining any movemnet. this is not to say that it is a small phone but you need big hands to be comfortable with it. But you can always use a headset to answer calls, though I dont as I dont really think its that big. Plus its thin, and if people can say that a PSP is pocketable the galaxy note which is no way as big and a thrid as thick is certainly a very portable device. then again its meant to replace portable gaming devices and tablets so if u are not looking for gaming madness allshare features hd movies and gaming and a Wacom digitiser for sketching you should go for something else. like the S2 or wait for the S3...as the Xperia S going to have issues with getting timely updates and even though is smaller than the Note its arc shape sticks out more in your pants like u have a devil in your pocket... Get the S2, 3 or Droid Razr Maxx which has Amazing Battery life 3300 Mzh. the Galaxy note has 2500 mhz which lasts me 2days without WiFi constantly on.

Depends on what you need.
I've been using a Galaxy Player 5, and I'm kinda liking the 5" screen. If you can handle a large device, the Note will come with a much larger battery, some cool tricks with S-Pen, and I prefer the look of an AMOLED screen to LCD.

They're both going to be ridiculously powerful phones, so you'll just need to decide which bullet points are more important to you.

First off, I own the Galaxy Note and I haven't handled the Sony Xperia S, so I might be some what biased here.

The size took some getting used to, but once I started using the 5.3 in HD screen I could probably never go back to anything smaller or lower resolution. I don't use it as a phone much, but when I do, it doesn't feel awkward at all. I am 5'7" so I don't have large hands.

It is near impossible to use one-handed unless you have large hands, but I have managed to setup up handy swipe gestures via a third party launcher to help with quick one-handed use. Also at least on the international Note, it has a voice recognition app called Vlingo built-in and can be activated by double pressing the hard key home button. It comes in handy when you need to open an app, make a phone call, compose and send a text, play a song/playlist, schedule an appointment, Google search, or navigate to an address.

The battery life is superior to any phone I have had before (Aria, Galaxy S, Atrix). I play my podcasts/streaming music through bluetooth for 6 hours with some light browsing, text and phone calls mixed in and my battery life will consistently be between 55-65% when I go home for the day.

The S pen is nice for taking notes and drawing. I didn't use it much for the first month, but I have been finding ways to use it more and more. For instance, like today it was rather cold outside, so I was wearing some light gloves and as you know you can't use the touch screen with regular gloves on, so instead of taking my gloves off to use the phone, I pulled out the S pen to use the touch screen with my gloves on. It might not be for you, but it is nice to have just in case.

Those are a few things that stand out for me right off the top of my head. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.

With that said, the Note is the best phone I have ever used.