London – Samsung unveiled a
10.1-inch version of its 5.3-inch Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet with pen-based
input for international markets, but a U.S. shipment date wasn’t disclosed.
The 10.1 will be available first
in a Wi-Fi-only version and Wi-Fi/HSPA+21Mbps version, with a Wi-Fi/LTE version
due later this year, Samsung said.
The Note with 5.3-inch screen was
earlier this year and has been
for Aug. 6 shipment date. The 5.3-inch model is sometimes
called a phablet because it offers traditional cellular voice calling, but a
Samsung spokesperson wasn’t certain whether the 10.1 version offers traditional
cellular voice calling.
If it becomes available in the
U.S., the Galaxy Note 10.1 will join another Samsung Galaxy 10.1-inch tablet in
the U.S., the Wi-Fi-only Tab 2 10.1. A previous-generation Tab 10.1 is blocked
from shipment in the U.S. by a preliminary injunction imposed by a federal
court in a patent lawsuit launched by Apple. A trial in that lawsuit is
underway.
The Tab 10.1 and Tab 2 10.1 lack
S Pen capability as do other Samsung tablets available in the U.S. Those tablets
are the Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and cellular-equipped versions of the Galaxy
Tab 7.0 models from Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and U.S. Cellular.
Verizon also offers the cellular-equipped Galaxy Tab 7.7.
Both the Note 5.3 and Note 10.1 come
with S Pen, which lets users sketch drawings, write notes, or compose
handwritten emails and texts. An app called S Memo lets users compile pictures,
screen shots, voice recordings, typed text, handwritten notes or drawings into
a memo for sharing. A one-step screen-capture function lets users instantly
capture any screen for annotation and sharing.
Both Notes’ Shape Match and
Formula Match apps correct and
digitize geometric shapes and solve numeric formulas handwritten with the S
Pen, and the S Note app is integrated with search engines so that content can
be obtained and then dragged onto handwritten S Notes without switching between
screens.
To these features, the Galaxy Note 10.1 adds side-by-side
multitasking, Learning Hub for accessing educational text books, and
Adobe’s Photoshop Touch photo-editing application.
The multiscreen feature lets
consumers use two applications simultaneously side-by-side, enabling users to
view web pages or videos on one side and use the S Pen on the other side to
write or sketch. Users can also capture and crop images from one side and paste
them onto the other screen with their personal notations.
The Galaxy Note 10.1 also lets students take notes directly on an e-textbook.
The S Pen slips into the tablet
and, when removed, automatically launches an S Pen-optimized application of the
user’s choice, including S Note, S Planner, Crayon physics, Adobe Photoshop Touch
and Polaris Office. Owners can also tap the screen twice while pressing an S
Pen button for quick S Note access via an S Note-dedicated widget.
The HSPA+ version of the tablet
features quadband HSPA+21Mbps wireless technology on the U.S. 850/1900MHz bands
and foreign 1900/2100MHz bands. Other features include 1.4GHz quad-core
processor, Android 4.0 OS, 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash on back,
front 1.9-megapixel camera, 1080p playback and recording, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0
with AptX music codec, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi channel bonding,
MHL-enabled video output, MicroSD car slot supporting 64GB cards, 2GM RAM, and embedded-memory
choices of 16GB, 32GB or 64GB.
Other features appearing in a
Note for the first time and also appearing in the
include Smart Stay, which tracks the owner’s eye to ensure the screen is always on
while being looked at, and Pop Up Play, which lets a video play anywhere on the
screen while other tasks are being used. Features new to a Note and appearing
in the S III include All Share Group Cast, which enables sharing of
video, photos or files via Wi-Fi to up to five other Wi-Fi devices at a time on
the same network.
Also new is DLNA-based AllShare
technology, which simplifies the sharing of videos and photos with
AllShare-enabled Samsung devices such as TVs, and AllShare Play, which is a
Samsung web service that lets users automatically sync content via Wi-Fi and
cellular among six devices, including a mix of Samsung mobile devices and
client-equipped PCs.
