Lebron James and Kanye West are just two celebrity superstars that can be found on your Internet and television set hawking the Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone. The follow-up to the successful Samsung Galaxy Note which was an immediate bestseller when it launched on the 4G LTE AT&T network in the United States, the Samsung Galaxy Note II arrives on that same AT&T wireless system on November 9. The handset is also available from T-Mobile, where it debuted October 24.
The knock against the original Samsung Galaxy Note was its size. At 5.3 inches, the display was far and away the largest found on any smartphone. However, detractors said that would make the handset much too large to be popular across demographics. Bigwigs and supposed “know it alls” have been wrong before, and they were this time. The Samsung Galaxy Note was a runaway hit, combining the screen size which is nearly as large as a 7 inch tablet, while also making the device small enough to pop into a pocket or purse.
4G connectivity also made the Samsung Galaxy Note attractive, and that same 4G speed connectivity returns with even greater capability. The Samsung Galaxy Note II delivers a quad core processor which allows for much quicker speeds, and T-Mobile claims speeds of up to 42 megabytes per second (Mbps) on their HSPA+ wireless network. The handset is also slated to hit the Verizon 4G LTE network late November for Black Friday weekend, and the new Sprint 4G LTE network started offering access to the Galaxy Note II on October 25.
One of a very limited number of handsets to deliver the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system out-of-the-box, the Samsung Galaxy Note II 4G also offers the largest 4G smartphone screen at 5.55 inches. That large screen makes for an overall device size of 5.94 x 3.16 x 0.37 inches (151 x 80 x 9 mm), weighing 6.3 ounces (179 g). A protective layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 2 offers scratch resistance, and pixel density runs an above average 265 pixels per inch. That means that the overall resolution is 720 x 1,280 pixels, and the versatile smart stylus S Pen returns, delivering handwriting recognition capabilities.
The Galaxy Note II delivers up to 15.00 hours of talk time from a single charge, and a Samsung Exynos 4 (4412) microchip package is on board. That includes a quad core ARM Cortex A9 central processor clocked at 1.6 GHz, as well as 2.0 GB of RAM system memory and 16 GB of built-in storage. Video capture is provided at 1,080P HD resolution and 30 frames per second by the rear facing 8.0 megapixel camcorder, and a VGA quality chat cam is around front. The Galaxy Note II delivers Near Field Communications (NFC) support out-of-the-box, and comes equipped with a built-in YouTube player, built-in music player and Stereo FM radio with RDS.
