Hasta La Gadget!

All we know so far is that it’s possibly coming to US shores at some point in November, but the good news is that Sprint brought along one of the world’s most famous phablets to a press event in New York City and, better yet, we got to play with it for a little while. Yes, we’re talking about the Galaxy Note II. Looks-wise, the Now Network’s flavor of that 5.5-inch behemoth hasn’t exactly changed much from the unit(s) we landed our hands on when it was first unveiled to the world, meaning there’s no “Sprint” branding anywhere to be found on the plastic shell — at least for now, and, frankly, we kind of hope it stays this way. With that being out of the picture, the oversized handset looked as shiny as ever in its Marble White attire, which is the only color Sprint was happily showing off for the night. And while this particular Jelly Bean-loaded Note II was capable of running on the carrier’s new LTE network, we weren’t able to test out out data speeds due to matters out of our reach.

On the software side of things, we didn’t notice any major hiccups worth pointing out, with the experience being rather similar to the one during our first encounter with Sammy’s second-gen Note — or, in other words, it felt very, very snappy and overall great. That said, the carrier, as it did with the Galaxy S III, looks to be pre-loading the device with some of its own applications, including ones such as Sprint Zone and other third-party apps like Polaris Office 4. Naturally, we popped the obvious question to Sprint of when we could expect the device to legitimately become part of its lineup, to which the carrier told us that it’d be sometime “this holiday season.” For now, it looks like the hands-on gallery below will have to suffice, but you can be sure we’ll let you know as soon as we find out the official release date.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note II for Sprint hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We already knew that US Cellular would be getting its hands on the Galaxy Note II alongside the four national players in the US, but the company just came out with specific pricing and general availability. The device will go for $300 (after $100 mail-in rebate and two-year commitment) and should be available in late October, though the carrier will open up its site for pre-orders starting today. If you’re considering just waiting it out until they’re in stores, pre-ordering the Note II comes with a perk: you won’t have to bother with the mail-in rebate. USCC only appears to be offering the 16GB titanium gray option, but we’ll still certainly take that over nothing at all. Check out the press release below.

Update: We just heard back from US Cellular that the full retail cost of the Note II will be $800.

Continue reading US Cellular will get Samsung Galaxy Note II in late October, will cost $300

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

US Cellular will get Samsung Galaxy Note II in late October, will cost $300 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re a fan of the Samsung Galaxy Note or the LG Intuition, 5-inch displays and all, you’ll be happy to see the competition continue to mount up with a new addition to the phablet universe from HTC. The following render and a bit of information leaked on the device lead us to believe that HTC will be taking the tall route – a 5-inch display with a whole lot more height than its got width. This device is ready for your palm, if this render is to be believed, while it still delivers a massive display and the full gamut of HTC One greatness – greatness we know and love.

Inside this device you’ll very likely be seeing a dual-core processor from Qualcomm if not the S4 Pro, a quad-core next-level processor from the Snapdragon masters. This device also looks very much to be sporting red flare like we’ve seen on a large cross-section of Verizon/HTC devices which makes us think that there may be some 4G LTE in this monster’s future. This device has also been called the DLX and the 6435LVW.

This device has three capacitive buttons up front near the bottom, a lovely speaker grill up top, and a center-top-mounted camera at the back that will almost certainly be at least 8 megapixels strong. You’ll likely be working with this device with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or – do we dare hope – Android 4.1 Jelly Bean by the end of this year.

This device may very well be shown off at the September 19th event in NYC that’ll have HTC showing off “what’s next”, whatever that may be. Here in this behemoth we’re inclined to believe that HTC is not aiming to be the last one left out of the phablet party. What say you?

[via Android Community]

HTC One X 5-inch phablet leaked to take on Note is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If there’s one solid idea in the modern mobile market that I agree with consistently, it’s that tablet-sized computers are made for entertainment first, and work only as a necessity. I’ve tried to bring a tablet to a press conference before, with and without a physical keyboard accessory to pad its ability to work as I need it to, and it’s never good enough. I’m not just talking about a Samsung Galaxy Tab or a Note, not just an iPad, not just an ASUS Transformer of any kind – all of them; they’re all made for entertainment.

I’ve certainly seen some of my compatriots and associates attempt to use a tablet to do work – lots of different kinds of work – and it just does not add up. When I reviewed the ASUS Transformer Prime, it was the first device that struck me as a “tablet first, notebook second” type of device that could make the cross-over a possibility in the real world. As it turns out, the price of the combination of the tablet and the keyboard dock racked up to be not that far from a used MacBook Air – or any number of notebook devices that could do at least as much in the work department, not to mention the entertainment department.

As it stands, it appears that mobile operating systems like Android and iOS, when sized 7-inches or larger, are at a point where their price does not make a good enough case for the consumer to choose them over a notebook if they want to do work. The market does not reflect this, of course, as the companies that make notebooks and tablets have come to understand – in quite a few cases, not all – that sensible choices in the computer consumption universe aren’t always the ones that are made. Instead we’re seeing tablets appearing more exciting than notebooks, notebooks being less newsworthy while tablets take the headlines – almost without fail.

If I had to make a cutoff where the tablet size starts and the smartphone (or in some cases “phablet”) size stops, it’d be a 7-inch display. Samsung made this distinction when they released the original Galaxy Tab, and it stuck. The word tablet should only apply to devices with 7-inch displays or larger with no physical keyboard and a touch-sensitive screen.

The difference between being able to do work on a smartphone and being able to do work on a tablet is the size of our hands. When we type on a smartphone – for the most part – we do it with our thumbs, and some people can do it really, really fast. Typing on a tablet is not so natural. We’ve not had keyboards as small as a smartphone up until very recently in our collective human past. The physical keyboard made for our hands – a standard-sized keyboard that is – has been around for many generations.

When it’s natural to type on an absolutely flat surface without physical feedback – see any number of science fiction films in the past 10 years – then it’ll be time to go to work on the tablet. Until then, the tablet is something you should buy only if you expect to use it to play games and watch videos.

Tablets are for fun, Laptops are for work is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The folks at iLuv have revealed their full Galaxy Note II collection of accessories for the new Samsung hero devices. This collection wraps the device, covers the device, and even adds a couple extra pens to the mix so you have options beyond the S-Pen embedded within the phablet. This group is letting you know that in addition to the Samsung-made collection of accessories made for the Galaxy Note II, they have their own set – fully prepped for the Fall season of devices falling out of your pocket!

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is a device that’s slightly enhanced compared to the Galaxy Note already on the market – with a slightly larger display at 5.5-inches, an exterior design that looks much closer to the next generation of Samsung devices, and technology inside that connects quite well to your Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 10.1, you’ll be bumpin’! Of course you don’t want to be bumpin’ against the ground too much without protection.

iLuv presents first the Pocket Agent – this protective leather case also works as a stand so you can tap away while eating a sandwich – two viewing angles included! The Gelato Shield will have your front face protected from scratches while a soft cover keeps your edges and back safe from harm as well. There’a Clear Protective Film in the works as well that’s just a bit thinner than the Gelato Shield and, like the Shield, is guaranteed not to interfere with your device’s functionality or viewing.

There’s a Glare Free Protective Kit that’s made specifically to allow your touchscreen to work with zero distortion, regardless of the sun blasting it right into your eyeballs. A couple of already-released accessories that’ll work well with your Galaxy Note II are the ePen and the ePen Pro – both will be stylish additions to your device, but wont be working with S-Pen functionality like your built-in S-Pen would. These should be considered mostly fabulous due to their stylish appearance and ability to fit in with your pocket protector.

This whole range will be priced between $12.99 and $44.99 and some are available straight from iLuv’s online store right now. The rest will be popping up closer to the release date for the Galaxy Note II – makes sense!

Galaxy Note II gets full iLuv accessories line is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.