Mobilicity lists Samsung Galaxy Note II up for pre-order, will launch October 30th and will give $50 discount

The Canadian company Mobilicity has listed the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 up for pre-orders and will launch on October 30th. As an incentive for customers to pre-order their Note 2, they’re currently offering a $50 discount for the first 1,000 customers. There’s some fine print to it as you’ll have to sign up for their “automatic monthly payments” program. Here’s the full email response for when you pre-order:

Thank you! We have received your pre-order registration request for the Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone at Mobilicity. You are on the list of consumers eligible to be the first Canadians to get this smartphone when it launches in Canada on October 30, 2012!

You can also receive a $50 hardware credit on the Samsung Galaxy Note II from Mobilicity if you are one of the first 1,000 people to purchase and activate your Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone on Mobilicity’s unlimited network and sign up for automatic monthly payments by November 6, 2012!

Here is your confirmation number:

Please keep this confirmation number handy and stay tuned for more information. We will email you more details on how to take advantage of this special launch promotion by October 20th.

We appreciate your patience and look forward to launching the Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone, and providing you with a smart mobile experience.

Thank you!
Mobilicity

Will this extra incentive entice any of you Mobilicity users to place your pre-orders on the Note 2?

source: Mobile Syrup

American Airlines flight attendants to receive Samsung Galaxy Note devices as part of new InFlight Tablet program

Today American Airlines announced a new program for the 17,000 flight attendants working throughout their entire fleet. The InFlight Tablet program will see Samsung Galaxy Note devices deployed to all flight attendants. The tablets are being handed out so flight attendants can quickly, and electronically, access customer information. Flight attendants will be able to access traveler’s names, seat assignments, special meal requests, and loyalty program status. Flight attendants will also be able to provide connecting flight status, gate information, and weather updates when WiFi is available. According to Lauri Curtis, American’s Vice President – Flight Service, “By giving a device to all of our active flight attendants we are better enabling our people to deliver an exceptional customer experience.” In addition to the information about customers, American anticipates the devices will eventually be used for food purchases in flight. American also plans to eliminate the paper manuals used by flight attendants.

According to American, they tested several devices as part of their pilot program that has been underway the last few months. The Samsung Galaxy Note was chosen due to its thin, portable design coupled with the relatively large 5.3-inch HD screen. In a video describing the program, American also noted the devices were a good size to quickly slide into a pocket.

Check out the video below for more information on how American plans to use the Android-powered devices to improve the customer experience.

Click here to view the embedded video.

source: Yahoo! Finance

Original Samsung Galaxy Note to get Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III features via software update

With the launch of the Galaxy Note II just around the corner, the last thing we’d expect for the original Samsung Galaxy Note – besides a full 4.1 Jelly Bean upgrade – is feature-rich update. However, an update is indeed rolling out today for the international version of the Galaxy Note (GT-N7000) packing a host of features and UI enhancements plucked straight from the Galaxy S III and Note II. The update is still based on Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), however the updated features themselves are the stars of the show here.

International Note owners will now get to enjoy features like “Pop up Play” (mentioned in the Galaxy Note II link above), a Note II-style 3D gallery, the Galaxy S III launcher, and S Cloud contact backup just to highlight a few. This official update to version XXLRQ can be grabbed either over-the-air or through Kies for unlocked Galaxy Note devices in Germany. Other territories should follow suit with the update in the coming weeks.

source:  XDA Forums

 

Buzz Terms:

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 review: This time it’s a tablet

The Galaxy Note was a huge success despite many critics saying it was too big. Many wondered if it was a phone or a tablet. Some even called it a phablet, but it didn’t matter because sales were much stronger than anticipated. It’s no surprise that Samsung would try to capitalize on that success by coming out with a full-fledged tablet. Samsung is promising the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet is a multitasking powerhouse with features you won’t find on any other device. Is it original enough, do these features actually work, and do you need them? Hit the break to find out, but you can also check out our hands on from the launch event here.

Design

There’s no mistaking the Galaxy Note 10.1 is a Samsung product because it’s plastic and it’s shiny. It also resembles the design of the Galaxy Note 2 10.1, but with more shine based on my memory. I personally don’t like the shiny plastic so it’s not the most aesthetically appealing tablet. In fact, it was so shiny that it was nearly impossible to take photos of it because of the constant glare. If this were a cheaper tablet, I wouldn’t mind at all, but since it’s priced at $499, I’m having a hard time with it.

Most of the ports and buttons are at the top, which include (from left to right) the power button, volume up/down, microSD slot (with cover), IR port, and microphone jack. The bottom has the proprietary charging port and on the back, you will find the camera lens, while the front has the front-facing camera. The highlight of the design is the speakers. Just like the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, you will find the speakers on the front face with the left one to the left of the display and the right one to the right of the display. This creates the best separation and sound experience possible.

The S Pen fits neatly in it’s holder at the bottom right. In fact, if I gave you the Note 10.1, and you didn’t know it had an S Pen, you might not even realize it was there for weeks.

The Note 10.1 comes in at 8.9mm thick and weighs 597 grams, which is inline with high-end tablets.

 

Hardware

The Galaxy Note 10.1 features a 10.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) LCD display, a 1.4GHz Exynos quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 5MP rear camera, 1.9MP front camera, choice of 16GB or 32GB of storage, microSD slot for up to an additional 32GB of storage, 7,000mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, WiFi Direct, USB 2.0 Host, mHL, and iR LED.

Performance

The Galaxy Note 10.1 performs very well as it should with a quad-core Exynos processor and 2GB of RAM. You will have a hard time finding any hesitation when swiping through home screens, playing games, or running any other apps. The real question is how it performs when running two apps side-by-side on the screen (more on this later)? It actually does a pretty good job. Initially Samsung’s plan was for this tab was to sport a dual-core processor, and I think it was smart to delay the launch in favor of a quad-core.

You will find a lot of complaints in other reviews about the display, but I’m not sure why. WXGA has been a standard for 10-inch displays for a while now so this is no different. Will it blow you away? Absolutely not, but unless you’re a major connoisseur of displays, you won’t have an issue.

The accompanied S Pen is what makes the Galaxy Note 10.1 different from other tablets. Many consumers will call this a stylus, but it’s far from that. A stylus can’t tell the difference between how hard or light you’re pressing on the display, but the S Pen can thanks to Wacom technology. You can see what I mean in our hands on video. Of course this might not be all that important for simple notes, but if you want to do any serious drawing or anything artistic, it’s very important. This year’s S Pen has a better design and is definitely an upgrade. Things have come a long way since the Palm Pilot days.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 speakers performed very well. The fact that they are placed at opposite sides of the display is what makes it so pleasing. Not only is the sound directed towards the user, but it also gives you the best possible separation.

Battery

I ran my usual video rundown test in which I run continuous video while the display is turned up to about 2/3′s. I was able to get just about 9 hours and 30 minutes. This is a little lower than I would have liked, but I can’t complain. It certainly isn’t a deal breaker as most people should be able to live with that amount of time.

Software

The Galaxy Note 10.1 features TouchWiz on top of Ice Cream Sandwich, but that’s only part of the story. Samsung has a unique UI in that the Note 10.1 allows you to truly multitask. Android in itself does allow you to multitask by simply switching between apps, but the Note 10.1 allows you to display two apps at the same time (only compatible ones). For example, you can have the S Note application open on the left part of the screen, while the the Browser is open on the right. This allows you to look up things at the same time. You could also have the Gallery open on the right side so that you can crop part of a picture and drag it into your S Note. You can see how this works in our hands on video. Compatible apps that you can do this with are S Note, the Browser, the stock Email app, Gallery, Polaris Office, and the stock Video Player. It’s pretty slick, but I do have to ask myself how many times you will really need this?

Samsung also included PhotoShop Touch (a $9.99 value) and it’s S Pen optimized. There are so many things you can do with the PS Touch app that it’s overwhelming. Thankfully they included a bunch of tutorials that walk you through the process. I would say the tutorials are pretty good, but not great. Maybe I was just dense, but I had a hard time following a couple of them.

I mentioned the S Note app above, and that’s what you will use for most of your notes and journals. It works similar to the original Note’s S Note app, but they added a few things like auto shapes. If you draw a circle, it will automatically clean it up so it looks more uniform. It will also find answers to formulas that you jot down. If you don’t want your handwriting to show up on the page, you can easily convert it to cleaner text as well. Again this is all cool, but it’s not always easy to make things look good. For example, lining up text correctly on each line isn’t an easy task and editing is also a challenge at times.

Samsung also included the Kno Textbook App, which makes this ideal for students because they can purchase their textbooks. Each book has interactive 3D models and videos. You can easily highlight words or even look up the meanings of words quickly. There’s no question that eventually every child will go to school with a tablet as opposed to carrying textbooks, but the question is if the Kno app carries enough books? At this time, there are about 200,000 books, which seems like a lot, but then again it might not be. I also wonder how teachers will feel if you walk into their classroom with a tablet instead of the book. For some schools that have adopted tablets, that won’t be a problem, but for others, I suspect teachers might have an issue. As far as Android goes, the Kno app is only compatible with the Note 10.1, so if it’s something you desire, than this is the tablet for you.

Samsung continues the tradition of including the Peel Smart Remote app. It’s a really nice app that lets you control your home theater system as well as browse what’s on TV. I did a quick hands on with the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus so you can check it out below. It starts at about 4:20 in.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The full list of S Pen optimized apps installed on the device include: Crayon Physics, Kno Textbooks, Polaris Office, Adobe PhotoShop Touch, S Note, and S Planner. There are a lot more S Pen optimized apps available on Google Play or by going through the Samsung Apps Store / S Suggest.

The Note 10.1 also features many of the newer Samsung-only apps that were introduced in the Galaxy S III such as Popup Video, AllShare, and Share Shot.

Camera

Samsung threw in a 5MP shooter in the rear and a 1.9MP lens in the front. If you’ve read any of my previous tablet reviews, you know I don’t generally review the camera unless it’s an extraordinary offering. The camera in a tablet will most likely only be used in emergency situations, and if you find yourself in that situation, the Note 10.1 will get the job done. The front facing 1.9MP lens is definitely adequate for any of your video chatting needs.

Closing

You will have a hard time finding a positive review or a recommendation to buy the Galaxy Note 10.1. This is a tablet that is priced at $499, which isn’t cheap, but it really isn’t for the mainstream. To me it’s for the people that really like to create. If I were one of those people, I would probably buy it, but I’m not. Samsung pre-installed a lot of cool features that you won’t find on any other tablet, but I just don’t think that it will be useful to most people. There is a big difference between cool and useful.

We all know the Galaxy Note was very successful and the Galaxy Note II will probably be as well, but those are different devices. The Galaxy Note (and Galaxy Note II) is a phone that isn’t priced much higher than other high-end phones. I think most of the success of the Galaxy Note was because of the display size, and not the S Pen. Yes, the S Pen is cool, but I just don’t think that most people bother with it. I’m not basing that on anything other than my own feeling. Assuming that’s the case, why buy a tablet version of the same product? Unless you really are certain you will utilize the S Pen, there is no need to spend $500 on it just because. If you are a creative and think you will really utilize what the S Pen offers, than I have no problem recommending the Galaxy Note 10.1 to you. Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but it’s the only product of this kind, and it will continue to evolve. I just think this tablet is geared to a very small niche market, even though Samsung probably feels its more of a mainstream device. If you really want a 10-inch tablet and you know that the S Pen will probably stay in the slot more often than not, I would recommend the ASUS Transformer Pad TF300. All the specs are equal or better, it has already been upgraded to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and you will save $100.

Buzz Terms:

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Could this Samsung SGH-T889 leaked image be T-Mobile’s Galaxy Note 2?

 

Looks like this screenshot image could very well be T-Mobile’s upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The image shows SGH-T889, Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean and the UA proof also tells us it has a display of 1280×720. Let’s keep in mind that T-Mobile’s original Note was dubbed as the SGH-T879, so it wouldn’t be inconceivable that this slightly higher number will be the Note 2.

According to TMONEWS, T-Mobile’s Note 2 will keep the powerful quad-core Exynos processor made by Samsung and will run on the 42MB HSPA+ network. This would be great considering it will be one of the rare Samsung US devices that is able to retain the Exynos rather than using the Snapdragon processors.

I’m actually quite surprised that a leak of this magnitude (if legitimate) has surfaced so quickly. Perhaps this is the reason T-Mobile’s original Note was short lived. Either way I’m excited for this device to hit T-Mobile sometime this Fall. Would the Note 2 be something you guys wait for, or is the Galaxy S III powerful enough for you?

source: TMONEWS

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 image and specs leak just before Unpacked Event

We are only moments away from the Samsung Unpacked event in which we will finally see the Galaxy Note 2 unveiled, but the image and specs just leaked. As you can see in the image, it carries the same design as the Galaxy S III, which isn’t surprising. As far as specs go, there aren’t any surprises, but it has been confirmed to have a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED HD (1280 x 720) display, 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, 8MP rear camera, 1.9MP front camera, a whopping 3,100mAh battery. It will also be a little thinner than the original Note, coming at 9.4mm as opposed to 9.65mm. You will have your choice of 16, 32, or 64GB for internal storage and color options will be Marble White and Titanium Gray. As far as radios go, they will offer both HSPA+ 21mbps and LTE.

The S Pen in the image looks just like the one that comes with the Galaxy Note 10.1. There is going to be a new feature called Air View that allows users to hover the S Pen over an email to preview content without having to open it. I’m also sure we will see other S Pen features that come with the Galaxy Note 10.1 as well as Smart Stay, Popup Play, etc.

We are just about to see it in all its glory in a few minutes so stay tuned to see if all of this does indeed come true.

source: pocketnow

 

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 specs leak ahead of Unpacked Event

We’re only a few days away from Unpacked and the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (GT-N7100). We are expecting it to sport a 5.5-inch display and a quad-core processor.  A newspaper in Seoul confirmed that the Note 2 will indeed have a 5.5-inch (1280 x 720) Super AMOLED display and a 1.4GHz quad core Exynos 4412 processor. What about the camera? Some were hoping for a 12MP, but it looks like it will definitely sport an 8MP shooter.

The other very interesting news is that it will come with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. I guess this isn’t a shocker since the international Galaxy S III will get Jelly Bean shortly after the event. Other minor details are that you will have your choice of 16GB or 32GB of storage and the edges are more rounded than the original Note. We already heard that there will be two color options.

After Samsung unveiled the original Note last year, I never anticipated there would be this much anticipation for the second go around.

source: seoul.co
via: slashgear

Buzz Terms:

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T-Mobile cancels Samsung Galaxy Note

Earlier today, web surfers started noticing something odd about the Samsung Galaxy Note for T-Mobile. The intrigue began when the Galaxy Note’s status on the T-Mobile site started showing up as not available. Checking other sites resulted in similar dead-ends – “out of stock” on Wirefly, “Closeout” on Costco, and “Backordered” on Amazon Wireless.

As it turns out, T-Mobile does appear to be in the process of putting the Galaxy Note in “end of life” (EOL) status, with the projected final date around November 1st according to anonymous sources. This probably should not be a major surprise to potential buyers considering the Galaxy Note has been out for close to a year and the successor Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is poised for release.

Now T-Mobile users who are interested in one of Samsung’s Note devices need to hope T-Mobile is a little more on the ball in getting the Galaxy Note 2 into their pipeline.

source: Android Police

Samsung teams up with James Franco in new Galaxy Note 10.1 commercial

Samsung  released its first official Galaxy Note 10.1 commercial, and it’s a doozy. The 2-minute plus trailer features James Franco going about his “normal” everyday life, showing how useful the Note 10.1 is for such a busy multitasker. Apparently cooking, pillow fighting, treating illnesses and owning a tiger is all easier with a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 at your disposal. Be sure to check out the full video after the break.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 gets the iFixit Teardown Treatment

The folks over at iFixit have given the newly unveiled Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 one of their usual tear downs. Overall they give the new tablet a repairability score of 8 out of 10. Some of the highlights of the teardown are as follows:

 

• 16 connectors – a boon for repairability!
• The front glass and LCD can be separated and replaced individually (take that iPhone!)
• Easily replaceable battery, even compared to the Nexus 7
• Unscrewable EMI shield – first time seen by iFixit

 

One downside to note is that the battery capacity has been downgraded to 25.9 watt-hours, which was expected due to the device’s slimness. Is an easily repairable device a priority on your list? Hit up the comments and let us know what you think!

 

Source: iFixit