Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 preview: A closer look

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is the epitome of the "go big or go home" mantra. From the screen, processing power, through the software package and the revival of the stylus, everything has been pushed right to the very edge of current technology.

Samsung Galaxy Note II

The big Galaxy Note 10.1 slate took a lot of time getting to market and, for all its cool features, it probably won't be able to sort the Android tablet problem. The Note II will ride on the success of the original, not to mention that it actually beats its tablet namesake in some aspects - and no, we're not just talking portability.

Samsung threw everything but the kitchen sink in. If you don't believe us - just check out the following list.

Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps; LTE 700/2100 MHz, 100Mbps down, 50Mbps up
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phablet
• Dimensions: 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm, 180 g
• Display: 5.5" 16M-color HD (720 x 1280 pixels) Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, Gorilla Glass 2
• Stylus: S Pen, 1024 pressure levels, hover functionality
• Chipset: Exynos 4412 Quad
• CPU: Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 1.6 GHz processor
• GPU: Mali-400MP
• RAM: 2GB
• OS: Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Memory: 16/32/64GB storage, microSD card slot
• Still camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with backlit sensor, face detection and Best faces feature, touch focus and image stabilization;
• Video camera: Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, 1.9MP front facing camera, video-calls
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port with MHL features (TV Out, USB host), GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio, NFC
• Battery: 3100 mAh
• Misc: TouchWiz 4.0 UI, Extremely rich video/audio codec support, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, Smart stay and Smart rotation eye-tracking, S Voice

We've already seen the overclocked Exynos 4212 Quad chipset come out on top in a head-to-head with current high-end Androids and it will probably keep its lead at least until the arrival of Qualcomm S4 Pro with its four Krait cores.

Samsung has also packed the Galaxy Note II with so many various tricks and features and gestures that it gets hard to keep track. And while keeping things simple is generally a good thing, we can't help but love the gazillion or so tweaks to the user experience that the Note II brings.

We can't talk about the Note II without mentioning the signature feature of the series - the S Pen. The advanced stylus has been nicely integrated throughout the interface, sprinkling cool features all over the place and we'll do our best to cover them all.

Samsung Galaxy Note II live photos

Enough small talk, big things await on the following pages - like the brand new 5.5" 720p Super AMOLED screen.