Samsung lengthens Note phone-cum-tablet to 10 inches

Samsung's pumped up Galaxy Note phone will be inflated to full tablet size this month as the Galaxy Note 10.1. As the numeral suggests, this is a 10.1in device - the resolution is 1280 x 800 - and it comes running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on a 1.4GHz quad-core CPU. Storage: 16-64GB plus Micro SD. Samsung Galaxy Note 10. …

[Jedit]

This has its ups and downs

On the one hand, you'd probably feel pretty silly holding a full-sized tablet to your head to make a phone call. On the other, you now have a large plastic rectangle covering your face so nobody will know who you are.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This has its ups and downs

I burst out laughing when I saw the press release and imagined a 10" phone too, but no, it's not able to do phone calls. Apparently Samsung are using 'Note' as a brand name for products with a stylus.

[John H Woods]

bluetooth or speakerphone, surely...

... but upvoted for the first LOL of the week.

[g e]

Uh-oh

They forgot to make it hexagonal or trapezoidal.

Lawsuit incomiiiiiiiiing

[Shagbag]

Re: Uh-oh

Lawsuit - IN THE USA - incomiiiiiiiiing

[N13L5]

Re: Uh-oh

Once Apple wins against Samsung's rounded rectangles in court, they can go after everybody who makes any tablets or notebooks or computer monitors or Televisions... even my ceran glass stovetop is a rectangle with rounded corners...

We'll have a single company we can buy our tech from...

Goes to show you, everybody fell for how important the WHEEL was, but they got totally blindsided by the Rectangle with rounded corners...

Coming to think... Bricks do have rounded corners too...

I can see the signs in the subburbs: "Apple construction materials" we got solid aluminum 'unibody' bricks and of course white plastic, if you're too short on cash.

[andreas koch]

Why do they bother?

...it'll only get banned anyway.

If you photoshop the grey vertical (if you hold it landscape) lines away, and the Samsung logo on the front and the back, and present it portrait and add a 'square*' button and make it look just like an iPad then it looks just like an ipad to any jury that has been promised a free ipad after the 'right' verdict.

Round 4 (or is it 5, or 6?)

* I'm pretty sure I saw that on a Playstation controller before there were iPhones.

Cheeky Sony again, copying the gloriuos Apple design before it even gets out.

Shame on them.

[handle]

Re: Why do they bother?

"...then it looks just like an ipad to any jury that has been promised a free ipad after the 'right' verdict."

Thank you - second LOL of the week.

[I ain't Spartacus]

3 cheers for Samsung!

The thing I still miss about my old Windows tablet PC is the pen.

St Steve said pens were horrible. And lo! He expelled them from the land, and everyone rejoiced because the interface of Windows Mobile was old and made them sore vexed. Except a man not called Spartacus, who grumped and moaned at the back, to general indifference. Saying that styli on phones may well be an abomination, but that they were Godly on tablets. And why didn't they ask Moses about it?

But the people shunned him, and drove him from the land with their derision. And lo! He bought an iPad anyway. And was forced into the outer darkness, to wail and gnash his teeth. And whine on internet forums...

So well done to Samsung.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 3 cheers for Samsung!

I have a Compaq TC1000. How they had the nerve to put this on the market is an absolute mystery.

It's v-e-e-r-y s-l-o-o-o-o-w.

Looks nice though. Wish I could think of something to do with it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Can they honestly not co-ordinate with Google's Android development plans so they don't end up bringing out a new device with an already-outdated OS on it?

Yet again you either have to root it and update it yourself, or pray that Samsung bring an update out quickly (if ever).

Google need to start owning the problem of keeping Android devices up to date instead of leaving it to community efforts like Cyanogen., especially if they're going to keep pushing updates out every 12 months

[PaulR79]

The Note 10.1 was already held back

I think this is probably a case of Samsung getting it out the door after a delay to change out Tegra 2 chips for Tegra 3. I can't remember when this happened but it was much earlier in the year so with that delay and various sales bans they probably just want to get this out the door as quickly as possible to see some return.

With regards to Google and Android they have asked (?) manufacturers to support devices for at least 18 months with updates and such. Whether those manufacturers are timely is another issue entirely but the new initiative they're doing where partners are involved far sooner than when the code drops for all should see delays drop from the current 3 - 6 months or more we get stuck with.

I like Nexus devices for their pure Google experience but aside from the Nexus 7 they haven't exactly been leading the way in tech. terms and things like this tablet from Samsung are a welcome change.

[MDevonB]

Re: The Note 10.1 was already held back

Samsung has their own chips, the Note 10.1 was changed over from a dual-core to a quad-core Exynos.

//Nitpicking

//Important Detail, Unimportant Context

[Khaptain]

The keyword is operators

You really need to understand that Samsung do not control when the "operators" will give their OK to release the updates.......

[Code Monkey]

Please Samsung, get Dom Joly to advertise this in the UK.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j6DpdJCf5dg/TZhXoZ6kYKI/AAAAAAAAD7w/-k8Wt74Hv8M/s1600/dom_joly_phone.jpg

[Anonymous Coward]

Why?

Just to validate your desires and prejudices?

[andreas koch]

@ AC 1019h - Re: Why?

wut?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sad times

You can't make phone calls on it!

[druck]

Resolution Resolution Resolution

It's a shame they didn't double the resolution along with the screen size.

[BristolBachelor]

Re: Resolution Resolution Resolution

Yeah, it's a bit crap. That resolution looks nice on the original note, but will lok very poor by comparison on a 10.1" tablet. Since almost my entire reason for a tablet is to show a portfolio, this comes in a very distant 2nd place to the new ipad. I was hoping desperately that they were changing the screen when they did the design respin.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: Resolution Resolution Resolution

Doesn't the new Asus Transformer screen come pretty close to the iPad?

Assuming there actually are any... I'm not sure I've even seen the Transformer 2 yet. And I really want to have a play with on...

In the end, I went iPad 3. But I'm determined my next tablet will either have a keyboard or a pen.

[KroSha]

Aside from the stylus, and just looking at the photo, which is all Joe Bloggs will do, how is this different from the Tab2? Same size & res, same OS, same storage, WiFi & 3G. The only thing I can spot is that it's quad core instead of dual. Really, is that it?

[Draenog]

Stylus is Key Selling Point

A decent stylus will allow you to use a Remote Desktop app without thick fingers doing unknown damage. You could also use any fiddly menus on your home PC from your tablet in the lounge, or on your work PC from the conference room. I for one have been waiting for a tablet with a decent stylus being buying one - if the price isn't too high I'm first in the queue! The stylus is the key feature of the Note, and not just a toy.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: Stylus is Key Selling Point

Decent handwriting recognition on tablets pisses all over onscreen keyboards. Admittedly Steve was right about them being annoying for normal YI navigation. But for use as a mouse substitute when on a remote desktop, I'd suspect theyre also dead useful.

[thomas k.]

one possible difference

Judging from the photo, it appears to have stereo speakers, like the Playbook.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: stero speakers

AFAIK so does the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1