Samsung galaxy noteSamsung’s uniquely large 5.3-inch screen, top-tier smartphone features, and crossover market position targets Apple customers who lament the long wait for the next iPhone and the reality that the iPad 3 will most likely not come in smaller sizes.
Let me be clear: I’m no fan of Android smartphones. They are notoriously unreliable mobile devices, often plagued by crashing apps and poor performance. And to me, more important than cool features and a slick look is a reliable smartphone that makes and holds phone calls and operates seamlessly.
That being said, one thing I have always appreciated about Android is that its panoply of smartphone design partners allow for a wide range of innovation: while Cupertino gives us very concentrated bursts of innovations each year with its iPhone and iPad iterations, Android’s innovative offering are more diffuse and consistent. With Android, you can get an ultra-thin, ultra-small smartphone alla the Razr, a quirky dual-screen design such as the Kyrocera Echo, or a more full-bodied smartphone in the Samsung Galaxy S series.
The first quarter of 2012 is seeing the release of the hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note, a unique Android-based smartphone that straddles both mobile phone and tablet designs. With its beefy 5.3-inch screen, 1.5 GHz dual core processor, 16 GB of internal memory, an SD card reader, 4G connectivity. and even a recessed stylus pen, it is basically a conflation of the dreams of a disillusioned Apple devoteé who dreams of overhauled iPhone and a sub-9.7 inch iPad 3, all wrapped up in a release date that will preempt both the iPad 3 and the next iPhone.
Samsung is already taking orders.
With the Galaxy Note, Samsung has triangulated nearly every competitive niche in mobile computing. Their Super Bowl television ad, depicting demoralized iPhone users waiting endlessly in line outside of what looks like a thinly veiled Apple store, seeks to attract both the iPhone and iPad segments. The commercial even highlights a front-facing camera, matching the iPhone note for note. But the screen size and price of the Samsung Galaxy Note — $299 with a 2-year contract — also seeks to compete with the smaller 7-inch Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire as well. It is basically a catch-all mobile device that can wedge itself into virtually every price and product niche, save for ultra-small smartphones.
Will the Samsung Galaxy Note gambit work?
Probably not. The Galaxy Note might be the insurgent smartphone of 2012, but its buzz will be short-lived, once the iPad 3 debuts. The Galaxy Note officially goes on sale February 19th. It is very possible that a month after that, we will be preparing for the iPad 3 release. And given the fact that the iPad 2 was essentially a refresh, the iPad 3 promises to deliver big on new and as-yet-unforeseen features that will most likely not be a pastiche of the Galaxy Note.
And after that, we’ll have the new iPhone, most likely in June.
The biggest gap that Samsung has to cross in getting its Galaxy Note to the level of an iPhone or iPad is coolness. You’ll recall the infamous quote from Samsung’s U.S. CEO’s daughter trying to convince her father that the Galaxy series was way cooler than the iPhone, a notion that virtually no one bought into. Even Samsung wasn’t buying it, which is why the overarching theme of their super Bowl ad is to show that the Galaxy Note is way cooler than the iPhone.
In addition, let’s go back to how I opened this article: savvy smartphone users already know of the sketchy nature of the Android platform. For as much as the uniqueness of the Galaxy Note might be alluring, hardcore tech junkies will also envision the sheer frustration of their Galaxy Note fast becoming a paperweight on their desk, replaced by a reliable, new iPhone and/or iPad 3 just a few months down the line.
Of course, we’ll have to wait and see what the reviews for the Samsung Galaxy Note bear out; the thing has yet to really be vetted by the tech media. But for as much as it might fulfill some of our wildest dreams for the iPhone 5 and iPad 3, the Galaxy Note is still, after all, an Android.
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