Samsung's thumb-achingly ENORMO Galaxy Note Pro 12.2

As if Samsung's Galaxy range of tablets wasn’t broad enough with its plethora of Tab and Note machines in various screen sizes, the company has added a new subgroup: the Galaxy Pro. Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 The line-up consists of both Note and Tab machines – the latter minus the S Pen …

[Anonymous Coward]

But...

Does it run Microsoft Office tablet edition?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Suely you mean...

...can I wipe it and put a PROPER LINUX on it?!?!?!?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: But...

6 thumbs down for asking a simple question? I take it fandroids are a little bitter about their lack of app support then? Lucky I didn't mention Bluetooth support, that seems quite a contentious issue for Android as well, with only 2-3 phone models supporting modern standards for Bluetooth 4 and LE :)

[Khaptain]

Yes, but only the kernel.

[DerekCurrie]

But does it have to so ugly and chaotic?

No elegant, functional simplicity? I'm reminded of eye-catching advertising inserts that assault you with dozens of colorful blasting and bursting items on sale within the dimensions of a single page. My instinctual response is to fling it at the nearest rubbish bin.

[Irongut]

Re: But does it have to so ugly and chaotic?

I assume you are referring to the shots of the home screen, which will be only as ugly and chaotic as the user prefers.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: But does it have to so ugly and chaotic?

"No elegant, functional simplicity?"

What you mean is: "Can I have my dreary Grid Of Icons™ please?"

You silly foofoo.

[Anonymous Coward]

£649? stupid money for a giant MP3 player.

[frank ly]

re. use in portrait orientation

With the S-pen and a proper handwriting recognition app, this would be great for note taking. Are there any apps out there that can do that? I realise that for me especially, some 'proper' handwriting would be needed.

[Justa]

Re: re. use in portrait orientation

All bundled as standard. Hence it's name. Love my 10.1, will be upgrading to this ASAP.

[mmeier]

Re: re. use in portrait orientation

Depends on what they improved since the 2012 version of the Note10.1 and the Note 2. Those had build in HWR on the "Windows XP Tablet Edition" (2003) quality level. Not bad but nowhere near what Win7/Win8 deliver. At least the initial versions where not learning. And user profiles did not exists either since the Android versions did not support multi user.

Actually simple note taking does not need HWR just a stable note taking app with some capabilities like being able to keep multiple documents open (tabs are ok). Say like MS Journal. Bonus points if it can do a Handwriting->Text conversion after the text is written. Last I looked SNote seemed to be stable if you did not take to long notes, lacked the hwr->text capacity and was "Samsung only" (Actually even the Android and Windows versions where not compatible)

Oh and if you do lengthy writing - get a proper pen. Any WACOM pen for tablet pc should work and they all fit the hand better than the toothpick S-Pen. A PL900 is a nice substitute and features an ereaser in the back (that works with the Note)

[James 51]

Re: re. use in portrait orientation

Buying a windows tablet with one note built in would be half the price. (Never thought I'd be saying something like that, I need a shower.)

[Charlie Clark]

Re: re. use in portrait orientation

Buying a windows tablet with one note built in would be half the price. (Never thought I'd be saying something like that, I need a shower.)

You can't get a Windows tablet that size for that price. In any case, Samsung's devotion to the high-end has created its own niche: people know what to expect from the Pro / Note devices whereas Windows 8 has just created confusion. The magazine UI is more than a tip of the hat to Microsoft but it is application specific rather than being force-fed it for everything.

Devices like this, especially if they get docking stations, are going to sell well. I personally like a smaller 8"-9" which is very good to go.

Well done Samsung and others for working hard at usable form factors and thoughtful additions. This is how competition is supposed to work.

[Mark .]

Re: re. use in portrait orientation

You're not comparing like with like though. I don't see how people know what to expect with Android anymore than with Windows 8 - there are plenty of devices to choose from (not that I think choice is a bad thing anyway, it's one of the things I like about those platforms).

People know what to expect with say the Galaxy Note, but you could say the same thing about specific Windows devices, e.g., Surface Pro, or Transformer Book.

[wikkity]

Re: re. use in portrait orientation

> Buying a windows tablet with one note built in would be half the price. (Never thought I'd be saying something like that, I need a shower.)

Did you know, lemons tend to be more expensive than oranges? So next next you want an lemon you know what to do to save some cash.

[Mage]

Re: re. use in portrait orientation

Or sketching?

[All names Taken]

Re: re. use in portrait orientation

There used to be a clipboard thingy that took whatever was written or drawn on paper, converted it to vector graphics (text as well), then allowed character recognition courtesy of ai.

It only cost £50 so could not have been too good?

[mmeier]

Does this mean

End of support for the N80x0 (Note 10.1) series? And what about the 2014 version of the 10''?

[Tom7]

Phones getting bigger?

Not sure on that. Actually I think as tablets become more common, phones will revert to things to make calls on.

My other half had a Galaxy S3 phone, then added a Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. The tab fits nicely in her hand bag without weighting it all down too much. So now she's got rid of the S3 and uses an old Galaxy Europa as a phone. So long as it makes calls and acts as a WiFi hotspot, she then uses the tab for anything where you'd want a reasonable screen.

Let's face it, the 4.7- or 5-inch screens on phones were always a pretty nasty compromise, developed because phones were gaining the sort of processor and memory you'd see in a netbook and so needed a screen to match. Once you have a 10" or 12" screen that you carry about with you, your phone can go back to being a radio with some basic functions.

[Mark .]

Re: Phones getting bigger?

Your post is "This one person does things this way, therefore everyone will". Personally I see no point in 10" tablets, as I'd rather have a more functional laptop/netbook (although the 2-in-1s are fine too). If you're going to do it that way, why both with a phone at all? (Some large tablets are actually smartphones, just use a bluetooth headset.)

A 5" phone isn't a nasty compromise - it's a decent sized screen, whilst still being small enough to fit in my pocket and come with me everywhere. I'm not sure someone really gains much by swapping the 5" phone for a 3" one, especially when they then also carry a 10" device everywhere.

The 5" phone doesn't replace a tablet or laptop, I have a 7" tablet and 10" laptop too, but don't have them on me all the time.

[Steve Todd]

The Exynos has two chips?

No, it doesn't. It has four pairs of cores on one chip, each pair being an A7 and an A15. Depending on CPU load a task should be handed off between cores and the other core switched to standby.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: The Exynos has two chips?

That's not quite right either. The 5420 can use all eight cores at once, with threads scheduled according to their priority or difficulty.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, now we've got a decent screen

start putting it on a normal laptop rather than that 1366 x 768 nonsense they insist on using

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ok, now we've got a decent screen

Exactly. How wonderful, a 12.2" 16:10 high-res screen, why on earth can't I have something like this on a laptop? Please!

It's no wonder laptop/desktop sales are diving when all the exciting tech is plugged elsewhere.

[hitmouse]

"does the world really need an Android tablet this big?"

Actually It could be bigger. A4 is 14.3", and I would be very happy with A3 (as an open A4 book), or a folding pair of A4 screens thus.

[Tom7]

Yep. There is this weird feeling around that maybe 10" screens are too big for us to carry around. Unlike, say, the A4 notebooks/printouts we all carried around before that.

The real problem with a 10", 12" or 14" screen is that, so far, they weigh too much. The 10" ones are getting into the realms of reality, but manufacturers can never resist the temptation to bung in a bigger battery and boost the run time between charges. So, as with so many other things in society at present, we await a better battery technology.

[Vector]

@Tom7

"The real problem with a 10", 12" or 14" screen is that, so far, they weigh too much."

I always find this humorous when I see it. The Note Pro 12.2 clocks in at 753g. My Acer A500 is 730g and I've never once thought it was too heavy. I don't think the extra 23g would even be noticeable.

That being said, the thing is still way too expensive.

[Anonymous Coward]

Allowing for bezels

A 12 inch screen tablet has roughly an A4 footprint (my Chromebook is almost exactly A4). On the other hand, A4 paper has margins, so a 12 inch (or perhaps more correctly a 12.6 inch) diagonal screen is workable A4 size.

It is, however, half as big again as a 10 inch screen, which is a big gain in practicality. I personally think that the most useful screen sizes are roughly A5 and A4 - which is effectively around 8.5 and 12.6 inch diagonals of effective area. Steve Jobs got it comprehensively wrong with the original iPad, and the growth of smaller and larger tablets just goes to confirm this.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Allowing for bezels

To clarify my own comment - I meant that Steve Jobs was wrong in opposing smaller tablets. I think that technically, when the iPad came out, 10 inches was chosen because that was what the LCD /touchscreen manufacturers were capable of producing that fitted into a suitably sized box with adequate cpu and battery that could run fanless, i.e. it was an engineering optimisation. Stating that it was a user optimal size was a bit disingenuous.

Larger and smaller high res screens and better batteries are now available, so the market can do its usual job of telling us what people actually want, rather than simply buy the only one available in a desirable new product category.

[hitmouse]

Re: Allowing for bezels

A4 paper may have margins, but the vast quantity of A4 formatted documents still need to be comfortably read without zooming. That includes not only text, but music, equations, diagrams.

So 12.6 is not, for me at least, an "effective" A4 implementation.

It's worth pointing out that large tablets have virtues other than portability. I have a number of uses for them which would mean they rarely left home or the office. Much like many large books I own.

[mmeier]

Re: Allowing for bezels

From my experience:

10'' is the smallest I can read long texts formatted for A4 on or take lengthy notes with. Anything smaller I find nice as "postit replacement" but to small for "notepad replacement)

12-13'' is the biggest I can hold comfortable and carry long term be it convertible or tablet pc both from weight and size without using a table corner etc. as a support. The 13'' T902 is useable cradled in the left arm for me but I am a big and resonably muscular guy

Bigger units (well due to Sony currently A bigger unit) do exist and have their uses in "semi-mobile" setups. If one is more into painting/diagrams etc. and less into Note taking a 15'' unit is quite useable and still more mobile than a Cintiq. Still these won't fit in the cradle of the arm all that well and make a T902 look lightweight.

Also once "packed for the walk" the units end up bigger than the screen. The N80x0 is nominanlly 10'' but once the "airpuck" is packed in the needed sleeve it's 90 percent of US legal. The EP121 is 12'' and "all screen" (no bezel) but packed in the book case it is A4 size.

[mmeier]

If you get an A4 sized unit you'll quickly go in "semi portable" weight ranges (1.5+kg). And once you are there - why not buy an Acer R7-572G. 15'', 5+h on Battery (core i5), dedicated graphics card, lots of memory. Sure it is heavy but you won't run around with a 14+ inch Android either.

[hitmouse]

I spent years "running around" with a 13+ inch M1300 tablet that weighed 3lb, and now run around with a Yoga 13 of approx same size.

I sometimes get the feeling that most reviewers don't have the strength to lift more than a skeptical eyebrow.

[Paul S. Gazo]

Actually, the size was the primary reason I bought mine. I do RPG gaming (Pathfinder, if anyone cares) and have a huge library of books in PDF format that I wanted to make portable. The physical books are great at home, where they reside in the library shelves, but when out and about, it's nice to be able to occasionally whip the NotePro out and look up some detail.

With this, when you zoom in to the text columns (ignoring the margins), it's exactly the same size as the physical books. Perfect.

I got a nice leather sleeve and carrying it around isn't any sort of hardship. All in all, this was the product I've been waiting for all this time, and ended my non-tablet-owning streak.

[All names Taken]

Internet of Things or Connectivity?

Maybe a better way would be to allow tablets to tether in useful ways to, say, bar code scanner.

The big tablet is on trolley affair BT'd or WiFi'd to small device to (a) protect big device and (b) allow small device (less expensive) to be placed in "at risk use"

You know just like how HP 2210 used to do things :-| (embarrassed smirk?)

(You earthlings always get so very close to a great working solution and zap it into non-connerce?)

[All names Taken]

[untitled]

Or a WiFi or BT linked earphone and mouthpiece so person can take n make mobile calls using any size tablet (ARM are u listening? I bet Intel are :-) )

So, there you go, tablet becomes base station devices become tethered to base station using WiFi BT or wire.

Suitable for next years markets and marketing dudes?

(Its a good job I've got IP on those?)

[Ian Michael Gumby]

Meh, Apple has them beat.

Why stop at 12" ?

Apple is rumored to be sourcing 65" panels.

Now that would be awsome except that it would be hard to fit in to your back pocket or backpack...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Meh, Apple has them beat.

"Now that would be awsome except that it would be hard to fit in to your back pocket or backpack..."

It's OK, it'll fit in the wife's back pocket.

What's that? Oh, apparently I don't have a wife anymore, nevermind.

[cambsukguy]

Re: Meh, Apple has them beat.

Nah, just roll it or fold it.

[Steven Raith]

Paging Dom Jolly...

Dom Jolly to the stage please, Dom Jolly to the stage, thankyou.

Has to be said, it won't take a huge amount more functionality for something like this to replace a tablet - the screen is nearly the same size as the shonky old Macbook I'm typing this on, and it's primarily used (at home, at least) for web browsing and pushing stuff to the Chromecast.

OK, I need far, far more out of it at work, but if I had a tablet like that (at a more reasonable price, come on economies of scale) I could leave the laptop in the bag when I'm not in work and just use one of these.

Then root it, so it can do some of the things the laptop does. Ah, bugger, I've gone in a loop again.

Anyway, nice to see the form factor (that I, many years ago, said I couldn't see a use case for!) being expanded to see what takes off. Be interesting to see what sales are like compared to the 8 and 10 inch variants.

Steven R

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

I had an opportunity to play with the Tab Pro 12.2, which lacks on the Wacom digitiser compared to this one. While sometimes 10" tablets can feel a bit big, this one being closer to the size of a magazine makes it more useful, and feel more "right".

I found the pentile screen a slight distraction on the 2014 Note 10.1 and Tab Pro 10.1 compared to the Nexus 10. The 12" screen makes it that much more noticeable.

[Antidisestablishmentarianist]

Fake stitching

Why? Not just Samsung here, but loads of things everywhere? Why why why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Fake stitching

Because in reality there is only one person in one design agency in the whole world that comes up with these things. Sometimes, he throws something in to take the piss just to confirm that everybody does in fact follow him quite slavishly.

It's exactly the same with advertising, where there is only in reality one art director in the whole world, which is why all adverts tend to look the same.

[CmdrX3]

WTF is the point of this thing. I might as well just buy a fucking notebook, at least that comes with it's own screen protector (or shall we call it a keyboard). Sometimes bigger is not better and if this thing sells in any big numbers I will be truly amazed, I know choice it good but seriously Samsung... stop taking the piss.

[Katie Saucey]

WTF is the point of this thing

My thoughts exactly. My Lenovo ThinkPad not only cost less, it runs win 7/linux duel boot, 500GB storage, and has about the same screen size. Granted it might be a bit heavier, and not look as cool, but on the road I can work and play. I view these an acceptable trade-offs.

[Mark #255]

Re: WTF is the point of this thing

... it runs win 7/linux duel boot...

What, they fight each other? To the Pain?

[elaar]

Surely with the weight/size of this thing, an accidental drop means it's 100% guaranteed to die a horrible death (and dent the floor) :)

I like how tablet technology is constantly improving, but the prices for top end models is far too high for what purpose it actually serves.

[mmeier]

If you want a dropable table - buy Panasonic or Fujitsu

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone who has the tablet

The sNote app is great but does not convert scribbles to text. The Samsung software keyboard does. I can set it to accept text and I can "write" within the keyboard window and the system will convert my scribbles to text. The accuracy is very good and only needs occasional correction. I can even go back and edit my scribbles. Do I use it to take notes at work, yes I do. Do I look like a right donut taking these notes, you betcha.

How good is web browsing and emailing, excellent. I can use Chrome and not need to use the mobile version of web pages. As someone who used to have a 10 inch tablet, that is a bonus I didn't expect. I haven't even talked about movies.

I certainly would recommend the tablet. The extra 2 inches does make all the difference

[mmeier]

Re: As someone who has the tablet

Did they fix the problems with text vs. numbers recognition. On the N80x0 I had to tell the HWR "recognize text" and "recognize numbers", mixing them was not working well.

Is SNote stable for text > 10 pages now? I had stability problems with lengthy notes (20+ pages). And how is the palm rejection? Didn't work perfectly either and touch could not be fully disabled

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: As someone who has the tablet

To be honest, I have not done any alpha-numeric note taking. The SNote app itself is stable but I've only tested it for 5, 6 or 7 pages. ADmittedly this is my first Samsung device so I do not have a frame of reference yet.

[Dazed and Confused]

What about the PC control app?

I'd been hoping the review would have given some details of this. Has anyone used it? Is it any good? Given that all modern laptops are shit and I suffer the need to run an app that is Windows only can I easily use this to run the app from the tablet,say when I'm in the living room, while the PC is in the study. What's the latency like? Can I attach to the PC running above the laughingly called "Full HD" resolution, Getting the full screen res of this thing would be nice, lets face it you can't buy a 2560x1600 monitor at this price. But even cira 2002 era 1920x1200 would be acceptable.

What's the input like on the PC control app? are any third party keyboards any good on these? Does anyone make a suitable case?

[Peter Brooks 1]

Drawing and painting

What about drawing and painting - are there good art packages and do they work well on the big tablet?

[Andy Hards]

So what was the A3 sized monster tablet I saw someone using on the plane a few weeks back? (From Barcelona to Gatwick just after the MWC?

[mmeier]

Sony Flip15 or an Acer R7?