Who could’ve predicted that the original Samsung Galaxy Note, a fairly monstrous 5.3in smartphone with a stylus, would go on to sell 10 million units across the globe? Not us.
Its successor, the imaginatively titled Samsung Galaxy Note 2, is one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of the year, and it’s finally here. How does it look? In a Barry White voice: Oh, baby.
The rumour mill has been jawing incessantly about the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for months, and it wasn’t far off the mark.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 display is, as predicted, a tad bigger at 5.5in. In fact, to be precise, it’s a 5.55in Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 (267PPI). Interestingly, that yields a 16:9 aspect ratio for super sexy widescreen movie viewing – sans black borders. We like.
As for camera stuff, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 packs an 8MP rear camera (not the rumoured 12MP) and 1.9MP front shooter. Video capture is 1080p. Pretty much the same as the original, then.
In terms of storage, you’ll be able to grab the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with 16, 32 or 64GB on board. The microSD slot welcomes an additional 64GB, so you’re looking at anything up to 128GB. Cripes.
Under the hood is where the really big changes are. While the original Samsung Galaxy Note had a 1.4GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 leaps to 1.6GHz quad-core with a whopping 2GB of RAM.
The battery is a little chunkier too (thank Moses), rising from 2,500mAh to 3,100mAh. Hopefully that’ll keep things ticking over for a reasonable amount of time.
Finally, it’s been confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 rocks not Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0? That’s so last year) but Jelly Bean (Android 4.1). That means Google Now and more. No idea what I’m talking about? Check out Everything you need to know about Jelly Bean.
Ooh, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2’s S Pen is worth a mention too. It can now be used as a virtual pointer with an on-screen cursor, and it comes with a button on the side that can be used – for example – to toggle brush sizes while painting. Nice touch.
Other Samsung Galaxy Note 2 specs include NFC (Near Field Communication), LTE in compatible regions, and Bluetooth 4.0.
Phe-ew. And despite all that, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 weighs just 2g – yes two tiny little grams – more than its predecessor.
Somewhat disappointingly, there’s no official word on a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 release date or price just yet, but we imagine this bad boy will cost a pretty penny.
What do you think? Is the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 potentially your next phone? It’ll be interesting to see how things shape up at the iPhone 5 launch party on September 12. Over to you, Apple…
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