Samsung unveils Galaxy Note II

With the original Galaxy Note out of the way, Samsung has finally unveiled the second iteration of its largest flagship phone: the Galaxy Note II.

At first glance, the new Note looks incredibly similar to Samsung’s other flagship, the Galaxy S III. The overall body design of the Note is indeed quite similar, with both the top and bottom coming together to make the Note II look like a nearly-exact replica of the S III – just a bit bigger due to its 5.5-inch screen. In keeping with Galaxy S III tradition, Samsung has also given the device two color choices (as of right now), both of which are “inspired by nature:” Mountain White and Titanium Gray.

Let’s talk about specs now. That 5.5-inch screen is of the Super AMOLED variety, meaning that it still uses the “subpar” PenTile subpixel arrangement. Personally, I think PenTile screens look just fine, but I do know that this one will be a disappointment. Whereas the original Note had a 5.3-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800, this new Note’s screen will have a slightly lower resolution of 1280 x 720 – and an extra .2-inches of screen real estate. Naturally, then, the new panel will look a little less clear than the previous one, but it shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.

Luckily, the screen seems to be the only true disappointment, aside from your personal feelings towards TouchWiz. Regardless, the software does seem to be fairly decent: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is installed, alongside a number of Samsung-specific apps and features to help utilize the new and redesigned S Pen stylus. One of those features is called Air View, which lets you hover the S Pen above your display and let the Note II show you previews of whatever it is you’re pointing at with the stylus. Other apps include: Screen Recorder, Pop-up Play (the window overlay for playing videos), and Photo Note – so you can write fun things on the back of your photos.

The Galaxy Note II is powered by a powerful 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 3100mAh battery. As for storage, Samsung will sell the device with three different storage capacities: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

The Galaxy Note II – in (presumably) CDMA/GSM varieties, as well as a planned LTE version – will launch sometime in Q4 of this year. Who’s excited?

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