I saw a GS3 drop test video, it was pretty brutal to watch what happens when Samsung's 'cheap' plastic falls 4-5 ft. A few feet more and I think the phone would've broken in half like a candy bar. Not that I'm one to drop phones/electronics it still bothers me to know how minimal of a beating a Samsung product can take.
Well, there is this plasticky feeling, true, but I must admit that up to now I haven't had crackings or squeakings with the Note. The back cover fits well even if I have opened and closed it several times for battery changing, and the microusb port is still attached where it was meant to be (this hasn't been true for some other beloved devices ). Then, we should admit that in order to have radio waves pass through it without attenuation, and to make it light and cheap, they must go plastics, and not metal, even if those peripheral electrons of metal atoms are sooo shiny and feel cool. Carbon fiber who knows?