For the longest time, only AT&T offered the Samsung Galaxy Note in US shores. When you come to think of it, the massive phablet at first wasn’t supposed to hit US shelves. This much was revealed by Samsung when it unveiled the device late last year. However, AT&T was able to convince the Korean electronics giant otherwise and the carrier went on to have the Samsung Galaxy Note added on to its lineup of Android-powered devices. Since its release in our side of the world last January, the Samsung Galaxy Note became one of the hottest smartphones to be offered by the carrier in recent times.
Since then, AT&T had a sort of exclusivity over the Samsung Galaxy Note but there were reports in the past that the phablet was going to be released by T-Mobile as well. In fact, even before the said reports came out, several developers managed to get an AT&T version of the phablet to work in the T-Mobile cellular network by altering the radio firmware of the handset.
Since then, a lot of leaks have surfaced regarding the journey of the Samsung Galaxy Note to the shelves of the Magenta carrier. There were leaked mug shots of the phablet with a T-Mobile branding that surfaced back in the day. It was also reported that a device that could possibly be the T-Mobile version of the phablet showed up at the FCC for some certifications. Not only that, support documents of the phablet also at one time showed up at the support site of the carrier. If that isn’t enough yet, a T-Mobile poster showcasing the carrier’s line of Galaxy devices included the Samsung Galaxy Note.
Sad to say, until the very last moment, the carrier was very coy with all the reports that are coming up. The Magenta carrier neither confirmed nor denied the speculations but a tweet from the T-MobileHelp Twitter account of the wireless provider let it slip that the phablet is indeed headed T-Mobile’s way. This was still in no way an official announcement from the wireless provider but thankfully, T-Mobile has finally put the rumors to rest.
As it stands, the carrier via a press statement has finally confirmed what we all knew all along. T-Mobile finally announced the addition of the Samsung Galaxy Note to its lineup of Android-powered devices and confirmed that the phablet will hit the shelves in the coming weeks. Sad to say, an exact time frame or a price point was not mentioned in the announcement.
As for the T-Mobile version of the Samsung Galaxy Note, the handset is expected to ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box and will also be SAFE-certified. The phablet will also come with the Premium Suite of applications that are designed to enable a user of the phablet to take full advantage of its S-Pen stylus. In addition to that, T-Mobile staples such as Wi-Fi calling and Mobile Hotspot functionality are included in the resume of the Samsung Galaxy Note.
