Offered in either a Ceramic White or Carbon Blue chassis, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4G Android smartphone/tablet debuted this year in February on the AT&T 4G LTE network. The handset currently sells for $199 with a standard new two-year activation and data plan at select retailers, and the large screen and S Pen smart stylus technology deliver tablet-like functionality in many forms. The 5.3 inch display with 4G LTE smartphone capabilities helped create an entirely new consumer-electronics device category, the “Phablet”. A phone and tablet hybrid, online independent tech reviewer ABI Research defines a phablet as a smartphone with powerful processor and a display from 4.6 to 5.5 inches.
Buy the Samsung Galaxy Note starting at $199.
Multiple online industry analysts estimate between 7 and 10 million Galaxy Notes have been sold worldwide, and the Samsung TouchWiz UI meshes with the Android 4.0 OS over the air update that is currently hitting the Galaxy Note. Even with the oversized display and all the hardware packed on board, the Galaxy Note is only 0.38 inches (10 mm) in thickness, and can be easily held in one hand and manipulated with the other.
The 5.3 inch Super AMOLED display has a high end pixel density of 285 pixels per inch, for an overall screen resolution of 800 x 1,280 pixels. More than 16 million colors make up the display, and a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass offers glare reduction and scratch resistance. Standard light and proximity sensors are on board, and help conserve battery life. Talk time runs 10.00 hours on a single charge of the 2,500 mA battery, and that is approximately 25 percent better than the average 4G handset offers.
The Samsung Galaxy Note offers a respectable hardware package, centered around a Qualcomm MSM8660 Snapdragon microchip suite. Included in that chip set is a dual core 1.5 GHz Scorpion central processor and graphics dedicated Adreno 220 GPU. The handset contains 1.0 GB of RAM system memory and 16 GB of built-in, user accessible storage. A microSD slot is on board and accepts cards up to 32 GB in size, also supporting microSDHC cards as well.
Facebook, YouTube, Picasa and Twitter apps are pre-installed, and the rear facing 8.0 MP camcorder captures video in 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (1,080P HD), with the front facing 2.0 MP chat cam also providing video call functionality. The Galaxy Note also delivers Near Field Communications (NFC) support out of the box, and Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail and Google Talk apps are preloaded as well. Buy the Samsung Galaxy Note starting at $199.
