Samsung Galaxy Note
The Samsung Galaxy Note blurs the line between tablets and smartphones. Featuring an extremely large 5.3″ 800 x 1280 pixel display and sporting a dual-core 1.4GHz processor underneath, the Note looks like the new flagship of Samsung’s smartphone range.
At its core, the Galaxy Note is a pretty standard Android 2.3 smartphone, supporting HSPA+ data, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and all the usual Android features. Samsung have added their own social networking services and have integrated their ChatON service for instant messaging, and there are also enterprise applications for VPN connectivity and corporate email.
The large display is the key feature. This 5.3″ Super AMOLED panel dominates the front of the Galaxy Note with a noticeably small bevel surrounding it. One unusual feature about the display is that it comes with an integrated stylus for handwriting recognition, taking notes or very fine control of elements on the display.
This is a BIG phone, measuring 146 x 83 x 10mm and we guess probably weighing about 170 grams. That’s around 50% larger and heavier than the Galaxy S II, and at this size it might start to be up against the limits of what can be carried around in a pocket.
On the back is an 8 megapixel camera with LED flash, on the front is a 2 megapixel camera for video calling. Video capture is an excellent 1080p HD at 24 to 30 fps and the camera has been enhanced by the usual Samsung software.
Inside is a huge 2500 mAh battery which should hopefully power this beast of a phone adequately. The Samsung Galaxy Note supports quad-band HSPA+ with maximum download speeds of up to 21MBps where supported, and all the usual Android connectivity options are here. Internal memory is 16 or 32GB with a microSD slot as well.
So, the Samsung Galaxy Note is big, powerful and very versatile. We suspect that the price tag is also going to be very big, although Samsung aren’t saying our guess is that this might retail for something like €700 at launch.
There’s no word on when it will hit the shops either, and we wouldn’t even bet on the Galaxy Note being available by the end of the year, but Samsung fans will probably be prepared to wait.