IFA 2012: Samsung officially announces the Galaxy Note II with Air View

The Samsung Galaxy Note II has dominated the headlines for quite some time and every other day a new rumour about the smartphone would surface. Ending speculation of the if-bes or would-bes, Samsung has now officially taken the wraps off the Galaxy Note II, the successor to the hugely popular Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone that was released last year.

We were really quite impressed with last year’s model and apparently so were 10 million people around the world as the company recently announced the said number of units sold across the globe since it had been unveiled.

Latest Note unveiled

The Samsung Galaxy Note II features most of the specifications that had been written about in the past but Samsung has thrown in a new feature that can potentially change the way mobile phones are used nowadays. Apart from the fact that it features Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box and is powered by a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, the major talking point about the Galaxy Note II is that it features an all-new Air View feature.

Here is a quick look at the highlighted features of the Samsung Galaxy Note II:

• 5.5-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen with a 1280 x 720 pixel density
• 4G LTE, EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz), Wi-Fi HT40, NFC
• GPS with GLONASS and A-GPS support
• Bluetooth v4.0 with USB 2.0 Host
• 8 megapixel AF/ Touchfocus camera with full HD video recording and playback, 1.9MP VT Camera, BSI front facing camera
• 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, all with expandable support up to 64GB
• 2GB RAM
• MHL for AV out

Samsung states that Air View allows users to hover with the S Pen over an email, S Planner, image gallery, or video to preview the content without having to open it. This feature enables users to quickly search and see more information in one view without screen transitions.

The brand has redesigned the S-Pen and Samsung states that the new S Pen is longer, thicker and ergonomically designed for the perfect grip. Therefore, it provides a more precise, comfortable, and natural writing and drawing experience.

Samsung states that the S Pen’s advanced features also provide enhanced capabilities to capture ideas instantly and to combine handwriting with any digital content directly on the screen. By simply pressing the dedicated S Pen button, the S Pen recognizes that users want to clip or edit the selected content on the screen. The Easy Clip feature allows users to outline and crop any content on the screen in any shape to save, share or paste. Once done cropping the image, users can freely edit the cropped content through coloring, shading, or their own personal handwriting.

Another expression feature called Idea Visualizer allows users to add illustrations by handwriting keywords on the S Note. It provides illustration images that match the handwritten keywords. It’s an illustration match function that will allow users to express, organize and visualize ideas in a more innovative and creative way. Users can even customize and add in their own illustrations library.

Other highlighted features found here include Pop-up Note, Quick Command, Screen Recorder and a host of other interesting features that raises the bar over the previously launched Galaxy Note smartphone. For those who are worried about major battery drain, Samsung has added a 3100mAh battery here.

Available in Marble White or Titanium Gray colour options, the Samsung Galaxy Note II is set to launch in October starting in major European, Asian, and Middle East markets. As of now, no pricing is available but more will be known closer to the date of launch. For more information on the Galaxy Note II, click here.