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Samsung Galaxy Note appears in Europe. The rest of the world gets a TV commercial
One of the odd products announced this year is the Samsung Galaxy Note (initial preview), a device that looks like a smartphone, but thanks to the huge 5.3 inch diagonal screen can be better described as a tablet. The Super AMOLED display features a huge 1280×800 pixels resolution, so it makes it even harder to catalogue the Galaxy Note.
A stylus is included, which points towards a digital assistant that works like a good old PDA. But it’s more like a multimedia PDA, being capable of shooting 1080p videos and record 8 megapixel images. Runtime should be more than adequate thanks to the 2500 mAh battery.
All in all Samsung has started shipping the Galaxy Note to some retailers in Netherlands, with a price point of around 600EUR. I’m not going to convert that to USD, not because it amounts for over 800 bucks, but because pricing will differ in US, so it will be more likely $600. It’s more than I expected, but maybe we’ll be able to get it subsidized for 200-300, which would be more appropriate.
This is the first TV commercial for the Galaxy Note, a hybrid between a tablet and a smartphone. The final question “Phone? Tablet?” means Samsung sees the Galaxy Note as a device to replace the two categories, not a third gadget. We’ll see how it will play out, but I’m guessing it will be more of a niche product.
John (Ionut Popa in Romanian) is the Editor in Chief at AllTouchTablet.com. He studied Computer Science and worked in IT press since 2002. He’s now involved in his own projects. My Google+ Profile, Twitter
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- Ionut Popa (John Pope): Well, I hope the Note
- Cy: It wouldn't be wise for
- Dan: The uprated Exynos chip will
- Ionut Popa (John Pope): Samsung didn't say anything about
- Cy: I'm a professional and would
“The rest of the world gets a TV commercial.” Bwahahahahahaaaaaa! GREAT sense of humour, John! I can’t stop laughing over that comment! LOL
I subscribe to the Samsung emails so I read about this about a week ago. The only thing I could think was …???????? I had no idea WHAT to think and more importantly, WHO would by it?
When it says, “Phone? Tablet?”, is it a phone, too? Or not? The website and commercial are not clear on that. So, again, if you have a Smart phone like the Samsung Galaxy S II, WHY in the world would you buy this???
Niche market, indeed!
Well, it has the 720p screen resolution, that sets it apart from the other large screen smartphones. Comes with a stylus (but I guess no digitizer) and also has a large battery. If it lasts more than a day because of that battery it might be worth buying by those who don’t use the phone function that much.
To me, personally, a dream come true, at long last. Almost – handwriting recognition is still missing.
Being older than the “thumbing” generation, I don’t like pecking at virtual keyboards on screens. My preferred method of input, in the absence of a coffee table with a keyboard on it, is scribbling down notes, the old-fashioned way. With a stylus, mind you, not with a finger. The last time fingers worked for writing was in Neanderthal.
I know that Steve Jobs ridiculed styli. What I don’t know is how people take notes on IPads. Probably they just don’t. To me, if you are a working person, writing things down (e.g. at a meeting) is essential. Listening to ITunes is not.
So other than the Steve Jobs comments, I never understood why people consider something that you can write on “niche”. Quite the opposite, my view is that “if I cannot write on it, I am not interested in it”. That’s why I am a long-time (Windows) tablet PC user.
The two most important everyday tools are the phone and the notepad. It is more than natural to combine the two. Windows does the notepad (with handwriting recognition) part beautifully – about the only good thing about Windows. Samsung (with Android) does the phone part beautifully. Now, at last, Samsung is putting the two together. This is not “niche” to me, this is what a “smartphone” should be. Like, smart.
Google understands this, too, because Icecream Sandwich is full of stylus support features. The only thing missing in Android is the handwriting recognition part. Maybe they should license it from Microsoft. THEN we would have a smartphone. But the Samsung Note (and Icecream Sandwich) are definitely moves in the right (not “niche”) direction.
Just my thoughts.
Peter
Peter: very nice, well-thought out comment. Thanks for being the voice of the consumer who WOULD need/use this device. It’s always good to learn about the different consumers out there.
Ah, Steve Jobs. Yes, yes. If he didn’t deem something worthy, he put his “stink” on it. And of course, his hero-worshipping followers never swayed from HIS opinion. I’m a business owner and self employed so I agree with you, you don’t need iTunes at a meeting, you need Note Taking ability. Unless of course, you’re Clive Davis. He might need iTunes at a meeting. LOL