Samsung launches the Galaxy Note II, will retail for Php32,999

Samsung recently launched their latest and best phone/tablet ever, the Galaxy Note II, to members of the media well ahead of the consumer launch which will happen this October 20.

The Samsung Galaxy Note II was not made just for people with big hands, it’s also for those who want to maximize the experience they can get on a phone with a big screen and a stylus. It’s made for creative individuals, for power users, for those who wants productivity on the go, and especially for those who wants more out of their touchscreen handset.

The Galaxy Note II gets an upgrade on screen size from the original Note’s 5.2″ Super AMOLED screen to a 5.5″ one but with a thinner 720 x 1280 HD resolution for true 16:9 widescreen viewing. The boost in screen size makes its multitasking features more appealing to use. What’s nice here is that it’s light weight doesn’t deviate much from the original one (180 g vs 178 g) and it’s even thinner (barely discernible) at just 9.4mm.

Powering the Galaxy Note II is a 1.6GHz Exynos quad-core processor with a whopping 2GB RAM which is more than my old desktop. Playing with it for a short time and there was virtually no lag when handling multiple tasks or switching from one task to another. Units sold here will also come with 16GB of internal storage with an option to expand via microSD.

The new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS will be running the show for the Galaxy Note II which adds to the fluidity when using this device. It’s also one of the few Jelly Bean devices that’s available in the country.

Samsung also updated the S Pen. It is now longer, thicker and ergonomically designed for a more precise and comfortable writing experience. The new S Pen also comes with new features to interact with the Note II. Air View lets you preview an e-mail, image gallery or video simply by hovering your Pen over the screen. Pressing the S Pen button enables Easy Clip which allows you to cut any portion of the screen from wherever app you are and send it to other apps that accepts images (Facebook, E-mail, Message, Instagram, Twitter, etc.).

What’s missing is LTE support as units being sold here will have HSPA+ network support at most. Still, it’s a very compelling buy for those who want to do a lot of different things on their smartphone.