If you’re one of the many excited about the brand new Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone phablet we have both good and bad news. The good news is Samsung announced it today and it’s awesome. The bad news is as we expected it won’t be arriving in the US right away. Samsung today has just shed some light on what we can expect in terms of a US launch.
Before we break your hearts with the bad news you’ll want to check out the tons of pictures and details in our full our Galaxy Note II hands-on. Samsung has detailed the parts of Europe, Korea, Asia and other international markets will all get the Galaxy Note II starting in Q3 — so any time now. Sadly for those in the US the wait will be a bit longer. Here’s what Samsung US had to say:
“Samsung Mobile is planning a U.S. version of Galaxy Note II, which will be available later in 2012. Building on the success of the original Galaxy Note, we’re confident that the Galaxy Note II continues to redefine what consumers should expect from their smartphone and delivers a powerful, innovative and unique experience. Exact timing and retail channel availability is not being announced at this time, we will continue to share information as it becomes available”
The details were rather thin as you can see above, but they specifically mention later in 2012. How much later we don’t exactly know but are hopeful for a late October release date. The Galaxy S III received great praises from everyone and Samsung managed to get all carriers on board in a friendly manor. While we don’t expect the Galaxy Note II to launch on all carriers like the S3, there is a good chance we’ll see more than one adopt the large 5.5-inch phablet into their lineup.
Again this 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED smartphone packs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box and a quad-core 1.6 GHz processor — so surely many are excited to get their hands on it. We’ll be sure to follow along with all the details and will update the minute we know more. Stay tuned for more Samsung news live from IFA 2012.
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Pre-ordered one. I have been using the Galaxy Note since last year and find it extremely more useful than the iPod I was using/refreshing every year for years until then. I would probably not really need to change my current Note until next year, but I want to congratulate Samsung, and after all the device itself is not expensive when you think about it.
Last year’s iPod release was a disappointment : bascially exactly the same as the year before. No way I’d ever buy again the same thing. This year’s preannouncements (“rumours”) about the iphone5/new ipod are not appealing at all. Still no swappable battery, no additional storage through SD cards, technology seems already ancient… probably overpriced too.
The Galaxy Note was released as I was travelling to Korea. I bought one one that occasion, wonderful beast, fits in my handbag without a ceremony. Perfect for travelling, moving around without lugging a A4-sized case, super-readable screen -hey, I can read PDFs in full screen on that one !-, fast… the Pen also is a great find. Together with the inbuilt S-Note app, with its pressure sensitivity and thinness, it makes for a perfect pocket book. I jotted down several patent designs on the go as they came out (could be on a train ride, in the plane or even in the middle of the night), for example.
And I started developing my own apps for Android. Guess what, nothing common with the iOS framework, nothing. Ignoramus who say Android is an iOS copy are obviously not programmers. Java-based, very smooth to use. Entirely new experience. Also, no yearly 100$ membership bullshit, no censor at the app store gates. Freedom at last.
Obviously I was not alone to notice that sum of positive changes. In a few words, Apple==old and busted. Android==new hotness.
And for the past year, Apple, with its ridiculous “thermonuclear” legal parade, managed to disgust me from ever buying just anything from them. I don’t want to be used as a source of funding for any of their legal pantomimes around round corners and likewise obvious tricks.
Never want to hear from Apple again, for me it’s dead, like Microsoft. And I’m sad to have to say that. There used to be a time I liked their attitude, but nowadays, Apple is just another big corporate bully. I wonder if they don’t have engineers quitting for fresher air elsewhere…
The Galaxy Note 2, with a quad core processor and overall improved features, is obviously going to be even more responsive than the previous iteration. Very appealing perspective. Samsung is a big company out of a small country, they have to struggle and you can feel it from their progress (some would say “innovation”) which is fast.
I also have an Apple notebook (the “MacBook Air” from a couple of years ago). I usually keep my notebooks for around 5 years, after that the keyboard is generally ruined and the mother board becomes unstable, so I move to a different one. I won’t switch to another notebook computer for at least another couple of years, but since I need a Unix-based, lightweight, silent, SSD based one, that will probably be something with a Linux on it. Unless Apple has come to their senses, stopped harassing their competitors, and sells something interesting at a fair price…
Let’s see…