Samsung’s plus-sized Galaxy Note smartphone has proven to be a surprise hit, as the company announced today that they’ve shipped a whopping 1 million units worldwide. For an expensive and ostensibly niche phone, that’s a gigantic figure, especially considering that it’s only available in Europe, South Korea and a few other markets. US fans still have to import a Galaxy Note if they want to try out the 5.3-inch monster for themselves, but that may change soon enough: the company noted in its congratulatory announcement that it will be coming to the US in 2012.
Previously we’d only seen the barest hints that the Galaxy Note was headed stateside, in the form of a pair of FCC filings with AT&T bands. That’s indicative but not definitive – we’ve seen plenty of devices go through the FCC without ever getting a US release, particularly with AT&T’s internationally compatible radios. But if Samsung thinks the Note is coming to America, we won’t argue, and with consumers’ desire for bigger and bigger screens it could be a veritable hit.
For the uninitiated, the Galaxy Note represents the middle ground between Samsung’s high-end smartphones and tablets. The star of the show is a 5.3-inch 1280×800 screen using Samsung’s much-loved Super AMOLED display technology, with the added benefit of a Wacom digitizer and stylus. The specs are no slouch, either, with a dual-core 1.4Ghz processor and a full gigabyte of RAM underneath. Reviews from overseas have been overwhelmingly positive, despite the large size, and Korea is currently enjoying an LTE variant. We’ll be keeping a very close watch on the Galaxy Note, anxiously awaiting its US debut. A Note to Samsung: shipping it with Ice Cream Sandwich would be a great way to justify the wait.
[via The Verge]
please come to TMO. It’s not middleground, $700 for a phone? If it was middleground it would be same price as a table or a phone but it’s twice as much as either. If I could afford it i’d buy it because it’s what I want. Even having an accurate stylus would be nice I think. Maybe an SIII will be good enough can’t tell, really.
Isn’t that about what other phones cost if you get it without a contract? An iPhone 4S unlocked on amazon.com cost around $800.
Samsung have already confirmed ICS for the Galaxy Note in 1st Quarter of 2012. The Note is the reason I didn’t buy the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and I’m really pleased with it. I got a better camera, larger screen, faster processor, FM Radio, bigger battery and a MicroSD card slot – I can live without NFC and I can wait for ICS to come to the Note.
im surprised phones still cost as much as they do unlocked
I bought one of these from Amazon and it is hands down the best phone out there. from the text to speech to the big screen its great. I don’t have to have a tablet and a cell phone, its all in one. With the new kia software, you can update the OS yourself from a pc, and it is far easier than rooting the device. I already upgraded it to 2.3.6. It is very fast. Right now it will work on att if you put in the proper apn info in the phoine setup, and will work on tmobile but only at edge speeds. Also, if you buy it now you’ll need to get an extended warranty from a third party.
I will pay 700 800 just to find one the work for t mobile : (