

Samsung Launches Galaxy Note 10.1 With Impressive Features - RaduTyrsina
http://techpp.com/2012/08/06/samsung-galaxy-note-10-1/

======
ek
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.

~~~
vibrunazo
> The fact that people are buying aftermarket styli for devices that don't
> have pens

Are you sure about that? My completely unscientific anecdote is that people
buy the galaxy note for it's size, but end up never using the stylus at all. I
see a _lot_ of galaxy notes in the wild, but never seen someone who actually
used the pen. People usually tell me they tried, found it terrible and gave
up.

Are my anecdotes too off? Are you guys seeing something different? Maybe
someone has some good data on this?

~~~
ChuckMcM
People are buying styli. The Kagi Stylus is popular on the train I ride to
work. I saw someone using one on their ipad with Notable and I asked her where
she got it (it has a clear disk on the end so it feels more precise) and she
said ebay. Right from China to your mailbox. But it turns out that this type
of styli is hard to come by otherwise. In my email exchanges with the vendor
they claimed they were selling thousands of them, but I would not expect them
to say 'hardly any' so its not solid data, Ebay's 'how many are left' on their
buy it now auctions were starting at 100 and working their way down to 0
pretty quickly (a few days).

That said, one of the things I really liked about the iREX Illiad (RIP) is
that it used an honest to god Wacom stylus digitizer. That can capture tilt,
pressure, and doesn't require a conductive connection between your finger and
the tip. I've argued for a while that blending the two would provide a really
useful combination.

The Wacom only allowed single touch so using capacitive touch as 'modifier'
keys would allow for combined intent+action type things.

------
chucknelson
Looking at the "note taking" screenshot, their virtual keyboard style is
shameless.

Screenshot: [http://cdn.techpp.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/08/Capture1.jp...](http://cdn.techpp.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/08/Capture1.jpg)

~~~
RaduTyrsina
what do you mean by that?

~~~
thezilch
They ripped off Apple's significantly contrasting, virtually elevated,
rounded-corner button invention.</sarcasm>

~~~
georgemcbay
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
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.jp...](http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/files/2008/09/android-open.jpg)

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.

------
mark_l_watson
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
It's also identical to the 5.3" Galaxy Note phone.

------
guywithabike
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
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
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.

------
mikecane
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.

------
postfuturist
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.

------
jay_kyburz
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.

------
dmix
Has a price been released yet?

~~~
fpgeek
Not just a price... [http://negrielectronics.com/samsung-gt-n8000-galaxy-
note-10-...](http://negrielectronics.com/samsung-gt-n8000-galaxy-
note-10-1-16gb-unlocked-white.html)

$750 (list $800) for a 16 GB 3G version.

