Samsung Galaxy Note had a soft launch last night at Dusk Terrace, Radisson Blu, Dubai Media City. It was well attended by techies, bloggers, Samsung Mobilers, ambassadors and fans.
Galaxy Note is the latest mobile / tablet from Samsung. Looks like a really good hardware upgrade of the Galaxy Tab 1.0. This one looks more in between of a smartphone and a tablet. What I like the most is it comes with a stylus (S-Pen).
- It runs Android 2.3
- on 1.4 GHz Dual-core processor
- 16 GB memory upgradable up to 32 GB
- 8MP camera
- comes in 3G and wi-fi of course
- It’s 9.65mm thin, 82.99mm wide, and 146.85mm tall
It comes in a large screen display of 5.3″ HD Super AMOLED display. Big, if you’re thinking of a mobile phone. Won’t really fit in your pockets (I can, in my back pocket 😉 ). AMOLED provides an expansive high-resolution screen that enables faster pixel switching response times than traditional OLED displays. It also consumes less power and offers a high refresh rate not compromising superior image quality.
Galaxy Note also boasts of a multi-input feature, and it’s where I think the S-Pen is a winner. S-Pen, according to Samsung, is “the most advanced pen input technology featuring an array of functions including pressure sensitivity, preciseness, speed and more.” I look at it as a minified version of WACOM pen. In the few minutes I tried the S-Pen, I have to get used to pressing the tiny button in it to properly do some inputs and enable some commands. With the S-Pen, the Note by far is my most preferred alternative to a real notepad. I can screen capture, and easily can annotate anything in it. I can sketch, scribe and as long as it is neat, can accurately be recognized and converted.
The S-Memo looks cool too. I can write, draw, import photos, videos and audio – and you can edit and crop images too. For someone like me who loves to draw charts and wireframes, it would be essential.
It was just my 5-10 minutes experience. Like anything else, it still needs to be proven on a user-testing perspective. I haven’t reviewed it thoroughly. There’s still more in it that needs to be experienced and tested – the MS Exchange ActiveSync, its info security capabilities, the Cisco WebEx conferencing, instant messaging, telephony, etc. There are also some little gesture recognition issues when I’m trying it, but let’s see in actual. So far looks good.
Samsung Galaxy Note will officially be available today, 4th November at the Samsung Brand Shop in Dubai Mall. I’ve heard they’re launching it giving first buyers a free accessory pack. It’s now available in Dubai.