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Samsung unveils giant smartphone, tiny tablet [video]

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:27PM EST
BGR

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Samsung on Thursday unveiled two new GALAXY-branded devices at the IFA trade show in Germany, the Samsung GALAXY Note smartphone and the Samsung GALAXY Tab 7.7 tablet. The former blurs the line between smartphone and tablet — and usable and comical — featuring a massive 5.3-inch 1280 x 800-pixel Super AMOLED display that will likely make this device unpocketable for most consumers. The phone also curiously employs a stylus for note taking and drawing, though finger input is supported as well. Other specs include a 1.4GHz dual-core chipset, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, a gigantic 2,500 mAh battery and Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI layer. Read on for details on Samsung’s new GALAXY Tab 7.7 tablet.

Further extending the GALAXY Tab brand beyond the 10.1 and the new 8.9 is Samsung’s GALAXY Tab 7.7. The just-announced slate sports a 7.7-inch 1280 x 800-pixel Super AMOLED Plus display, the same 1.4GHz dual-core CPU as the GALAXY Note, embedded HSPA+ connectivity, up to 64GB of internal storage, dual cameras, a 5,100 mAh battery and Android 3.2 Honeycomb with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI for tablets. Pricing and availability have yet to be announced for either of these new GALAXY devices, but presuming Samsung is permitted to sell them, the wait shouldn’t be too long. A video highlighting the GALAXY Note and both press releases follow below.

Samsung writes the next chapter of the mobile industry with the Samsung GALAXY Note

GALAXY Note combines the market’s largest HD Super AMOLED display, supreme portability and advanced S Pen interface, creating a new type of smartphone

BERLIN, Germany – September 1, 2011 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced today the launch of the GALAXY Note.
The GALAXY Note is a new category of product, developed through Samsung’s deep consumer understanding and insight. It combines core on-the-go benefits of various mobile devices while maintaining smartphone portability, to create a whole new user experience.

The GALAXY Note has a 5.3″ display which is the largest screen size with smartphone portability. It features the world’s first and the largest 5.3″ HD Super AMOLED display, an expansive high-resolution screen that provides an immersive viewing experience. Taking full advantage of the large display, users will be able to do more tasks to create and consume more, with minimum scrolling and screen transitions, while on the go. An advanced pen-input technology, called the S Pen, is combined with the GALAXY Note’s full touch screen to introduce a new type of user-experience. Through this, consumers are able to freely capture and create ideas while on the go.

“The GALAXY Note is a device borne of our insight and innovation. We examined the fundamental elements of mobile culture, entertainment and communication in order to bring together the best experiences in a single, elegant device,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business. “The huge, 5.3″ HD Super AMOLED screen is the largest, highest quality display available in any phone; the touch screen and S Pen combine to produce a uniquely accurate level of control and finesse, along with rich expressions across the GALAXY Note experience, enabling the introduction of new smartphone experiences.”

“The artistic freedom of a paper notebook is coupled with the benefits of Samsung’s smartphone technology and services, allowing users to create, edit and share with more style than ever before,” Shin added.

State-of-the-art Display

The GALAXY Note features Samsung’s own 5.3″ HD Super AMOLED display providing vivid clarity that is superior to conventional HD displays. This ensures the best viewing experience for video, photo, document and web on the go with deep blacks and bright colors. The superior screen also offers a 180 degree viewing angle, allowing contents to be shared comfortably.

At 5.3″ the best-in-class display is the largest ever included in a primary mobile device; measuring just 9.65mm thick, the GALAXY Note fits comfortably in a pocket to offer true portability.

Full Screen Utilization

The high resolution display ensures that PowerPoint presentations, web-pages, news apps and e-books can be viewed comfortably with minimal scrolling or zooming. Minimizing the need to switch between applications, the GALAXY Note’s HD super AMOLED screen is large enough to allow meaningful split-screen operation in the most frequently used native apps.

Samsung has also included S Planner, a smart professional planning tool that makes full use of the device’s large screen. The management planner integrates the phone’s To-Do list and schedule; control and navigation is intuitive, helping users to comprehensively organize their lives.

Free Capture & Creation

The GALAXY Note’s advanced pen input functionality is combined with the full touch screen to create a new input experience. The incorporated digital S Pen can be used for accurate sketching and artwork, and instantly capturing ideas freely before they float away.
The GALAXY Note features S Memo, a multimedia application designed to record all forms of user-created content. Pictures, voice recordings, typed text, handwritten notes or drawings can all be captured via a single application and converted to a ‘memo’, to be edited, annotated and shared as desired.

A one-step screen-capture function also allows users to instantly capture any screen; captured images can also be freely and accurately annotated using the S Pen before being filed or shared.

The S Pen functionality has been deeply integrated into the GALAXY Note’s native applications to provide a richer interactive experience. Users will benefit from increased accuracy and control when editing or personalizing captured videos or photographs; and users will be able to draw and send handwritten images and notes via text message, email, and Samsung’s ChatON communication service.

Broadening the opportunity to create new user experiences, Samsung plans to release the S Pen SDK allowing app developers to create fundamentally new applications and services incorporating the pen functionality.

Superior Usability, Powerful Performance

The 1.4GHz dual-core processor ensures the device is incredibly fast and a smooth user interface ensures seamless usability. Lightning fast network speeds are enabled through the HSPA+ and LTE-enabled device’s super-fast connection, ensuring a quick and seamless browsing experience. This means that users can stream videos in real-time or engage with their friends through online gaming platforms.

Samsung is enhancing enterprise capabilities of the GALAXY Note through its partnership with Juniper Networks. Juniper’s Junos Pulse SSL VPN provides secure remote access to corporate network resources. The SSL VPN enables large enterprise and service providers to meet high-volume secure access and authorization requirements, protecting corporate data with centralizes control and supporting employees’ personal device efficiently.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, World’s First Mobile Tablet Featuring
Super AMOLED Plus Display Unveiled at IFA 2011

Pioneer of the 7-inch mobile tablet introduces next generation Galaxy Tab, delivering the ultimate in viewing quality and portability

BERLIN – Sept. 1, 2011 –Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading provider and innovator of award-winning consumer electronics, today announced the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, the world’s first tablet to feature the brilliant Super AMOLED Plus display. The powerful Galaxy Tab 7.7 with a 1.4GHz dual core processor measures just 7.89 millimeters thin and weighs only 335 grams (12 ounces), making this tablet one of the most portable devices in the market.

“The new Galaxy Tab 7.7 demonstrates Samsung’s commitment to offering consumers the most choice in the mobile tablet market,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business. “The Galaxy Tab 7.7’s ultra-thin design and WXGA Super AMOLED Plus display are impressive differentiators in the tablet marketplace and pillars of our ultimate goal of meeting a wide variety of consumer needs.”

Brilliant Super AMOLED Plus display
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the first tablet that incorporates Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus display technology, delivering brilliant, high-contrast colors and a beautiful, crisp viewing experience. The Super AMOLED Plus display allows for a wider range of colors with greater separation between lights and darks, making images incredibly vivid.

Sleek Design with Ultimate Portability
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 provides ultimate portability and viewing quality within the Galaxy Tab portfolio, featuring a brighter display combined with a thinner and lighter design that easily fits in your jacket pocket or purse. The elegant, linear design features a stylish metal casing and rounded edges for a sleek look that’s comfortable to hold while you’re sitting or walking.

Impressive Speed, Power & Battery Life
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 features HSPA+ 21 Mbps network for faster uploads and downloads. It also supports Wi-Fi Channel Bonding, bonding two channels into one for improved network connection and data transfer at up to twice the speed. The device is powered by a 1.4 GHz dual core application processor for fast web-loading, seamless multitasking and superior multimedia performance. Thanks to a 5,100 mAh battery providing up to 10 hours of video playback time[1], the Galaxy Tab 7.7 does not sacrifice battery life for its ultra-thin design.

Latest 3.2 Honeycomb OS with “Samsung TouchWiz UX”
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is powered by Android™ 3.2 Honeycomb, Android 3.2 has been optimized for a 7-inch tablet with a new compatibility zoom mode. This optimizes applications that are not designed to run on larger screen sizes, so they fit on the entire screen without distortion. In addition, the tablet supports MicroSD cards of up to 32 GB for direct media files transfer.

Samsung’s TouchWiz user experience is designed with a Live Panel menu for customizing the home screen of the Galaxy Tab 7.7 with digital pictures, favorite Web sites and social network feeds.

In addition, the TouchWiz UX includes a “Mini Apps” tray of commonly used features such as task manager, calendar and music player which can be launched while other major applications are already in use. The clipboard feature allows users to copy and paste texts and images.

Powerful Multimedia
Galaxy Tab 7.7 lets you enjoy video clips without limitation, featuring 1080p full HD playback, DivX included multi codec and Micro SD. The device also includes Universal Remote Control functionality, allowing control of the entire home entertainment system – TV, Set top box, DVD, Blu-ray player, AV audio system – from one device.

Samsung Hub Services [AVAILABILITY DEPENDS ON MARKET]
Samsung’s Hub Services offers easy access to content including games, eBooks, music and more. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the first mobile tablet to include a pre-loaded Game Hub, complete with easy social games, all delivered with lightning fast graphics. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 also features access to Samsung’s Music Hub service, which offers 15 million songs for preview, download and play. The Readers Hub service features a robust library filled with more than 2.3 million books, 2,000 newspapers and 3,000 magazines in up to 49 languages, and Samsung’s Social Hub service aggregates email, contacts, calendar and social network connections into a single interface.

Voice and Video Support for Better Communication
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 offers both voice and video calls for better communication. There is no need to bring a headset and BT for voice calls. In addition, it is possible to call privately in public places with Receiver Mode.

Google™ Mobile Services
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is preloaded with the full suite of Google Mobile Services including access to more than 250,000 applications on Android Market™, Gmail™, Google Search™, Google Maps™ 5.7 with 3D maps, and Google Talk™ with video and voice chat.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.