Samsung's smartphone-tablet hybrid gets NZ launch next week

Chris Keall and Alex Walls | Wednesday February 15, 2012 | 31 comments

UPDATE February 15: Samsung has set its NZ launch event for the Galaxy Note for February 22. The date comes on the heels of news that Apple is developing a smaller screen tablet, and amid a busy week for the local mobile market with Nokia's Windows Phone-based Lumia range launched today.

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January 27: Is it a smartphone? Is it a tablet? An innovative hybrid? A bit silly?

Whichever, Samsung’s Galaxy Note generated some of the biggest buzz of the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.

Yesterday, Samsung NZ displayed the smartphone/tablet hybrid at an Olympics event in Auckland. It said the Galaxy Note would be available here next month, for around $1000.

The carrier will be Vodafone, although a Telecom rep was reportedly also in the audience, suggesting it may be added as a carrier later.

The Galaxy Note, which has a 5.3-inch display, can be used as a fully functional cellphone or – with help from a pen – as a tablet computer.

The device features hand-writing recognition, and smarts such as drawing a thicker line when you press harder with the pen. The screen is a high resolution 1280 x 800 and under the bonnet there’s grunty, laptop-like 1.4GHz processing power. The operating system software is the latest version of Google’s Android.

Could it create a whole new category of gadget? The smartphone-tablet hybrid? Time will tell. Some at CES groused the Note is simply too big for a phone. Some could not hold it in one hand when making a call. But think of it not as a jumbo phone but a mini tablet – one that you can slip into a suit jacket pocket – and it looks more attractive.

Tech specs support for HSPA+ (for mobile downloads with a theoretical top speed of 21Mbit/s, a 1.4GHz Dual Core Processor, 16GB of memory (upgradeable to 32GB via SD card), 1280x800 5.3-inch Super AMOLED display, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread*), 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 2 megapixel front camera and 1080p video recording, A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n.

The Galaxy Note measures 146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65mm (by contrast, an iPad 2 is 88mm thick) and weighs 178g.

* Samsung has told NBR Notes sold during February will be upgradeable to Android 4, aka Ice Cream Sandwich.

MORE:
Gizmodo: The hand-stretching Galaxy Note
Engadget: Galaxy Note review

More by Chris Keall and Alex Walls

Comments and questions
31

These are brilliant. Only too big if you are a midget. The processing speed is phenomenal, and the screen size and resolution allows more functionality and ease of use while 'on the road'.

Samsung Fan | Friday, January 27, 2012 - 9:46am

These are Fantastic Phones. I've had mine for a month running on Vodafone. The best Hybrid phone. Full Tablet resolution on a 5.3 inch phone.(1280x800)

JohnG | Friday, January 27, 2012 - 10:00am

You mean this thing has a stylus? Oh gosh, in a couple of years, advanced voice activation will accomplish even the complex tasks on the phones/tablets.

Apple Fan | Friday, January 27, 2012 - 10:27am

Hope it has a proper software upgrade path not like the 10million users Samsung have left high & dry with 2.2 & 3

Anonymous | Friday, January 27, 2012 - 10:29am

I tried one. Its definitely not a chick magnet phone, unless you leave them in your trouser pocket. Its useless as a phone and mildly useful as a tablet.

Cloudy computing | Friday, January 27, 2012 - 2:43pm

In response to Apple Fan | Friday, January 27, 2012 - 10:27am

It doesn't really matter how complex voice actions are going to be... It's still very much a gimmick (except for hands free driving situations) for a very simple reason - no one ever actually wants to be yelling to their phone to do things in public or the cafe or work..

Voice commands have been around for a long time but who the heck uses it even for voice dialling, and unless driving?

Dictating your notes into your phone/tablet during class or at a lecture or the library or meeting will get you thrown out.

And you can't draw diagrams with your voice... Stylus is the best option for this kind of thing..

Voice commands will probably work best with Apple/Google TV and Kinect games (e.g. Mass Effect 3 demo was a nice example..).

NoVoicePlease | Sunday, January 29, 2012 - 5:06pm

In response to NoVoicePlease | Sunday, January 29, 2012 - 5:06pm

Yea,but he can't think so far.He's an Apple fan!

Anonymous | Thursday, February 16, 2012 - 8:29am

Wow, this is actually good to hear, I wanna get some reviews for those who tried this,,, anyone,, please share your testimony.

Samsung's smartphone-tablet hybrid gets NZ launch next week

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