Meet the Samsung Galaxy Note 2

We loved the Galaxy Note when it launched last year, so you can imagine how eager we were when we first heard that it would have a successor.

That successor launched today in the shape of Galaxy Note 2. And just as the original note looked like an up-scaled version of what was then the top smartphone in Samsung’s range, the Galaxy SII so this new device looks a lot like a giant SIII.

That said, the phablet is a little squarer than the phone, so while they’re similar the SIII can retain its unique sense of identity.

On the physical side of things, the Note 2’s screen is, at 5.5-inches, a little bigger than its predecessor. That screen also packs a pretty hefty punch though at 1 280 x 720. Despite the screen size, it’s only 9.4mm thick, bringing us that little bit closer to a future when we’ll have trouble finding our devices on a flat surface.

The battery is 3 100 mAh, which is larger, and faster charging, than Samsung’s last phablet. Its internals brain seems pretty sweet too, given that it comes in the shape of a quad-core Exynos processor clocked at 1.6GHz.

At 8 megapixels the camera is pretty much all you’ll ever need for taking snaps of the tasting menu at the little restaurant you “just have to try to darling”.

Of course, not note would be complete without the ‘stylus that isn’t a stylus’ S-Pen. Samsung says the rubber nib on the new S-Pen means that writing with it is much more akin to writing on paper with a pen.

The feature that’s most exciting for anyone as absent-minded as me though is that the new S-Pen lets the Note 2 know when it’s been left behind. Praise be unto mighty Samsung!

The 2 will ship with Jelly Bean, with much of Samsung’s customisation weighted towards additional features for the S-Pen. It will now for instance have functionality in the calendar and the native email app.

One things for sure, whether Gearburn get’s its review model in Titanium Grey or Marble White, I’m calling shotgun on it.

The device is expected to launch publicly by the end of the year.