6 ms·

Samsung Launches Galaxy Note 10.1 With Impressive Features

50 points by RaduTyrsina 14y ago

chucknelson 14y ago
Looking at the "note taking" screenshot, their virtual keyboard style is shameless. Screenshot: http://cdn.techpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Capture1.jpg http://cdn.techpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Capture1.jp...
- RaduTyrsina 14y ago
  what do you mean by that?
  - rajupp 14y ago
    He means it looks like a total rip-off of some fruit company
  - dkokelley 14y ago
    I'm guessing that it refers to the similarity to the iOS keyboard look and feel.
  - thezilch 14y ago
    They ripped off Apple's significantly contrasting, virtually elevated, rounded-corner button invention.</sarcasm>
    - georgemcbay 14y ago
      Well, they did. And I say that as someone who really dislikes Apple. That keyboard looks like someone took the iPad keyboard and beat it with an ugly stick a little bit. What makes this especially sad is that the default Android keyboard is really good and they should have just used that, but in an attempt to "differentiate" they basically just badly copied the iPad. As much as I dislike Apple for the current lawsuit mess, I'm starting to dislike Samsung just as much because unlike most of the rest of the Android ecosystem Samsung clearly DO have a problem with badly copying Apple's design elements to a confusingly similar degree which gives an unfortunate truth to at least some of Apple's claims which then makes it harder for the layman to see when Apple is overstepping. Fix your shit, Samsung. Hire a couple of real designers.
      - thezilch 14y ago
        Nah, I think it looks and functions as much like iOS keyboards as it does my G1's physical keys: http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/android-open.jpg http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/android-open.jp... Maybe even the G1 took hints from iOS, but I'd be dubious to believe Apple created or holds any merits over much of their design(s). Does Samsung lift Apple designs? I think so. Does Apple own much of the designs they have legal documents over? I think not. I don't believe this is about confusing customers; I think it is about closing the gap with customer awareness. I'd love for most of these interfaces to share common grounds; I think it is a large reason to why Windows, OSX, and GNU/Linux <insert GUI> are so fragmented and unfamiliar to those that have to or are looking to move between platforms.
    - pook1e 14y ago
      I'd rather not focus on this because the video showed off some great features, but when the keyboard first came up I honestly thought it was an iPad keyboard (this coming from someone who doesn't own a single Apple product). Maybe it was the colors, or maybe it was the positioning of the punctuation, but this is just an invitation for more lawsuits. I really wish they would have kept the stock Android keyboard. Sadly, the resemblance of the keyboard is going to be what generates the most discussion, not the new (and very impressive) features.
  - pooriaazimi 14y ago
    I think he means it resembles iPad's keyboard to the unexperienced eyes[1]: light keys on a gray background, "blue" glow on shift key, essentially the same (though much uglier) graphic for 'delete' key and placing '!' on top of ',' just like iPad's (they have a number row at top; why didn't they add it to '1' key like all other keyboards on the planet have done for the past 4 decades? and they have lots of keys on that gigantic keyboard, why didn't they add the much-used quotation marks and went with just adding '?' and '!'?). [1]: experienced eyes will spot readily that it's much uglier, and waaay less polished.
    - RaduTyrsina 14y ago
      Well, everybody ripped off everybody, it's just the fault of the patent system
      - wklauss 14y ago
        Not true. The last stock keyboard for Android doesn't resemble any other I know. Nor does the Windows Phone 7 / Windows 7 one. This "there's no other way to do an X" argument is getting really tiring. I don't really care about this Apple vs Samsung nonsense (let the judge decide) but i think theres pretty strong evidence that you can do innovative and creative design if you put yourself to the task.
- westerneq 14y ago
  ...not to mention the automatic typesetting of the handwritten diff. eq.
- donniezazen 14y ago
  Android has got a bazillion time superior keyboard than Apple's, not to mention other choices. Samsung just wants to continue game of lawsuits.
mikecane 14y ago
The pinch-shrink keyboard might even top the different-sized keyboards built into webOS. Samsung has some innovative UI stuff going on in that video.
ek 14y ago
Good on Samsung for continuing the trend Lenovo seems to have started of bringing the digitizer pen back. The fact that people are buying aftermarket styli for devices that don't have pens is an indicator that there should be more devices with them, since nothing really beats an actual digitizer pen. To me it seemed like a step backward when Steve Jobs first asked "Who wants a stylus?" at the iPhone keynote.
- mtgx 14y ago
  Can those pens work on other tablets as well, as long as the software/driver there supports it? Because I really wish Samsung started selling them off as accessories, at the very least for their other Galaxy/Nexus devices. The thing is I might want to use a pen like that, but with a Nexus tablet for example.
  - drzaiusapelord 14y ago
    No, digitizer technology is built into the tablet itself as well as requiring a special pen.
- Someone 14y ago
  IMO, at the time, he had to say that. If Apple had promoted an optional stylus on an iPhone, the UI would either not have been usable without one, or have been derided as 'a toy; they could have made fit more on a screen'. Also, once the App Store opened, I think we would have seen a zillion straightforward ports of applications that did not work with a finger at all. Now, times may have changed. Perhaps, customers are savvy enough to see which apps work nicely with fingers, and which require a stylus. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who wonder whether Microsoft makes the right choice with Surface, giving developers the choice between TUFKAM (The UI formerly known as Metro) and supplying straight ports of Windows apps.
- wmf 14y ago
  Steve also removed the arrow keys from the original Mac keyboard to force developers to support the mouse, then put them back later. Steve also said that native apps weren't needed because Web apps would be just as good.
mark_l_watson 14y ago
Really interesting that the resolution is only 1280x800. This is just a little more than the 1280x720 resolution of my Samsung Galaxy S III phone.
- MichaelJW 14y ago
  It's also identical to the 5.3" Galaxy Note phone.
postfuturist 14y ago
Love the stylus. I remember being able to enter text onto my iPaq about 10 years ago much faster than I can on my phone or tablet today. This brings tablets a step closer to being devices of creation as much as consumption. Call me a nerd, but I want to write code on this.
dmix 14y ago
Has a price been released yet?
- Someone 14y ago
  http://www.nu.nl/gadgets/2877081/galaxy-note-101-week-koop.html http://www.nu.nl/gadgets/2877081/galaxy-note-101-week-koop.h... claims €479 for Wifi-only, and €599 for 3G.
- fpgeek 14y ago
  Not just a price... http://negrielectronics.com/samsung-gt-n8000-galaxy-note-10-1-16gb-unlocked-white.html http://negrielectronics.com/samsung-gt-n8000-galaxy-note-10-... $750 (list $800) for a 16 GB 3G version.
guywithabike 14y ago
It's odd to me that no one seems to be noting that the video doesn't show a single second of actual use. It's all mockups and pre-rendered scenes. Is that not extremely concerning to the commenters saying that they already want to buy one?
- fpgeek 14y ago
  Speaking as someone who does want to buy one, I am concerned that the video didn't include any actual use. That being said, I've tried out the original Galaxy Note several times. As long as the new one is a step up in terms of responsiveness and pen performance (which seems likely, though not guaranteed) I will be more than satisfied. On the other hand, I'm also not buying one until I can try it out for myself.
runjake 14y ago
I understand strategically why Steve Jobs stood on stage and slammed the stylus, but I never really understood the practicality of being against a stylus. For many people, quickly jotting notes is natural, quick and easy. I've spent a lot of time with Windows Tablet PCs and latency issues aside, they have excellent recognition capabilities, even reading my slop. Aside from latency, it would also help to get the digitizer physically closed to the actual display elements. I'd kill for an iPad with a truly high-resolution digitizer. It would finally replace carrying a thin stack of index cards everywhere.
jay_kyburz 14y ago
I wont buy Samsung again. I still feel burnt by my purchase of a 7" GTP1000. The hardware is great but the software feels unpolished, laggy and really ugly in places. At the time I was expecting Samsung would follow Apples lead and ship updates for years to come. Instead... nothing. I'm going to stick with Apple from now on.

50 points by RaduTyrsina 14y ago

Looking at the "note taking" screenshot, their virtual keyboard style is shameless. Screenshot: http://cdn.techpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Capture1.jpg http://cdn.techpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Capture1.jp...

RaduTyrsina 14y ago
what do you mean by that?
- rajupp 14y ago
  He means it looks like a total rip-off of some fruit company
- dkokelley 14y ago
  I'm guessing that it refers to the similarity to the iOS keyboard look and feel.
- thezilch 14y ago
  They ripped off Apple's significantly contrasting, virtually elevated, rounded-corner button invention.</sarcasm>
  - georgemcbay 14y ago
    Well, they did. And I say that as someone who really dislikes Apple. That keyboard looks like someone took the iPad keyboard and beat it with an ugly stick a little bit. What makes this especially sad is that the default Android keyboard is really good and they should have just used that, but in an attempt to "differentiate" they basically just badly copied the iPad. As much as I dislike Apple for the current lawsuit mess, I'm starting to dislike Samsung just as much because unlike most of the rest of the Android ecosystem Samsung clearly DO have a problem with badly copying Apple's design elements to a confusingly similar degree which gives an unfortunate truth to at least some of Apple's claims which then makes it harder for the layman to see when Apple is overstepping. Fix your shit, Samsung. Hire a couple of real designers.
    - thezilch 14y ago
      Nah, I think it looks and functions as much like iOS keyboards as it does my G1's physical keys: http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/android-open.jpg http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/android-open.jp... Maybe even the G1 took hints from iOS, but I'd be dubious to believe Apple created or holds any merits over much of their design(s). Does Samsung lift Apple designs? I think so. Does Apple own much of the designs they have legal documents over? I think not. I don't believe this is about confusing customers; I think it is about closing the gap with customer awareness. I'd love for most of these interfaces to share common grounds; I think it is a large reason to why Windows, OSX, and GNU/Linux <insert GUI> are so fragmented and unfamiliar to those that have to or are looking to move between platforms.
  - pook1e 14y ago
    I'd rather not focus on this because the video showed off some great features, but when the keyboard first came up I honestly thought it was an iPad keyboard (this coming from someone who doesn't own a single Apple product). Maybe it was the colors, or maybe it was the positioning of the punctuation, but this is just an invitation for more lawsuits. I really wish they would have kept the stock Android keyboard. Sadly, the resemblance of the keyboard is going to be what generates the most discussion, not the new (and very impressive) features.
- pooriaazimi 14y ago
  I think he means it resembles iPad's keyboard to the unexperienced eyes[1]: light keys on a gray background, "blue" glow on shift key, essentially the same (though much uglier) graphic for 'delete' key and placing '!' on top of ',' just like iPad's (they have a number row at top; why didn't they add it to '1' key like all other keyboards on the planet have done for the past 4 decades? and they have lots of keys on that gigantic keyboard, why didn't they add the much-used quotation marks and went with just adding '?' and '!'?). [1]: experienced eyes will spot readily that it's much uglier, and waaay less polished.
  - RaduTyrsina 14y ago
    Well, everybody ripped off everybody, it's just the fault of the patent system
    - wklauss 14y ago
      Not true. The last stock keyboard for Android doesn't resemble any other I know. Nor does the Windows Phone 7 / Windows 7 one. This "there's no other way to do an X" argument is getting really tiring. I don't really care about this Apple vs Samsung nonsense (let the judge decide) but i think theres pretty strong evidence that you can do innovative and creative design if you put yourself to the task.
westerneq 14y ago
...not to mention the automatic typesetting of the handwritten diff. eq.
donniezazen 14y ago
Android has got a bazillion time superior keyboard than Apple's, not to mention other choices. Samsung just wants to continue game of lawsuits.

mikecane 14y ago

The pinch-shrink keyboard might even top the different-sized keyboards built into webOS. Samsung has some innovative UI stuff going on in that video.

ek 14y ago

Good on Samsung for continuing the trend Lenovo seems to have started of bringing the digitizer pen back. The fact that people are buying aftermarket styli for devices that don't have pens is an indicator that there should be more devices with them, since nothing really beats an actual digitizer pen. To me it seemed like a step backward when Steve Jobs first asked "Who wants a stylus?" at the iPhone keynote.

mtgx 14y ago
Can those pens work on other tablets as well, as long as the software/driver there supports it? Because I really wish Samsung started selling them off as accessories, at the very least for their other Galaxy/Nexus devices. The thing is I might want to use a pen like that, but with a Nexus tablet for example.
- drzaiusapelord 14y ago
  No, digitizer technology is built into the tablet itself as well as requiring a special pen.
Someone 14y ago
IMO, at the time, he had to say that. If Apple had promoted an optional stylus on an iPhone, the UI would either not have been usable without one, or have been derided as 'a toy; they could have made fit more on a screen'. Also, once the App Store opened, I think we would have seen a zillion straightforward ports of applications that did not work with a finger at all. Now, times may have changed. Perhaps, customers are savvy enough to see which apps work nicely with fingers, and which require a stylus. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who wonder whether Microsoft makes the right choice with Surface, giving developers the choice between TUFKAM (The UI formerly known as Metro) and supplying straight ports of Windows apps.
wmf 14y ago
Steve also removed the arrow keys from the original Mac keyboard to force developers to support the mouse, then put them back later. Steve also said that native apps weren't needed because Web apps would be just as good.

mark_l_watson 14y ago

Really interesting that the resolution is only 1280x800. This is just a little more than the 1280x720 resolution of my Samsung Galaxy S III phone.

MichaelJW 14y ago
It's also identical to the 5.3" Galaxy Note phone.

postfuturist 14y ago

Love the stylus. I remember being able to enter text onto my iPaq about 10 years ago much faster than I can on my phone or tablet today. This brings tablets a step closer to being devices of creation as much as consumption. Call me a nerd, but I want to write code on this.

dmix 14y ago

Has a price been released yet?

Someone 14y ago
http://www.nu.nl/gadgets/2877081/galaxy-note-101-week-koop.html http://www.nu.nl/gadgets/2877081/galaxy-note-101-week-koop.h... claims €479 for Wifi-only, and €599 for 3G.
fpgeek 14y ago
Not just a price... http://negrielectronics.com/samsung-gt-n8000-galaxy-note-10-1-16gb-unlocked-white.html http://negrielectronics.com/samsung-gt-n8000-galaxy-note-10-... $750 (list $800) for a 16 GB 3G version.

guywithabike 14y ago

It's odd to me that no one seems to be noting that the video doesn't show a single second of actual use. It's all mockups and pre-rendered scenes. Is that not extremely concerning to the commenters saying that they already want to buy one?

fpgeek 14y ago
Speaking as someone who does want to buy one, I am concerned that the video didn't include any actual use. That being said, I've tried out the original Galaxy Note several times. As long as the new one is a step up in terms of responsiveness and pen performance (which seems likely, though not guaranteed) I will be more than satisfied. On the other hand, I'm also not buying one until I can try it out for myself.

runjake 14y ago

I understand strategically why Steve Jobs stood on stage and slammed the stylus, but I never really understood the practicality of being against a stylus. For many people, quickly jotting notes is natural, quick and easy. I've spent a lot of time with Windows Tablet PCs and latency issues aside, they have excellent recognition capabilities, even reading my slop. Aside from latency, it would also help to get the digitizer physically closed to the actual display elements. I'd kill for an iPad with a truly high-resolution digitizer. It would finally replace carrying a thin stack of index cards everywhere.

jay_kyburz 14y ago

I wont buy Samsung again. I still feel burnt by my purchase of a 7" GTP1000. The hardware is great but the software feels unpolished, laggy and really ugly in places. At the time I was expecting Samsung would follow Apples lead and ship updates for years to come. Instead... nothing. I'm going to stick with Apple from now on.