Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2 Preview

Introduction

There might come a time in a person's life when they ask themselves how have they remained productive so far without a 12" stylus-wielding tablet with extremely high resolution display. That's precisely the moment Samsung is betting on when it introduced the Galaxy NotePRO - the largest member of its Note family, that arguably started the whole big-screen mobile device swoop with the introduction of the first phablet.

Samsung argues that the 12.2” NotePRO offers PC-like productivity in today's mobile age that blurs the lines between computing device segments, and if we look at the specs of this Android tablet, the company has a point, so let's preview what will be on offer with the newcomer in the Note portfolio, taking some hints from our prototype unit.

Design

Samsung has used the artificial leather look with stitching accents pioneered with the Note 3 once again. It arguably gives its electronic devices a more buttoned-down and sophisticated look than sheer plastic, and we have to say you can be fooled it is a leather notepad looking from afar. It is still plastic, but nicer to the touch than the usual glossy coat. Glossy, however, is offering more traction for your hands, as it just sticks to your fingers, whereas the leathery back here is more slippery. There is a metallic-looking rim surrounding the sides of the NotePRO, further adding to the more premium looks.

Despite the elevated leather pattern with edge stitches, though, the tablet manages to stay in the sub-8mm category, which is where all the catwalk stars of the tablet arena belong, too. The exact dimensions are 11.64 x 8.03 x 0.31 inches (295.6 x 204 x 7.95 mm), and we'd say this is as compact as a 12-incher can get, while still leaving some bezel on the side for resting your thumbs during handling. For comparison, one of the closest competitors - the Sony Vaio Tap 11 - sports an 11" screen, and measures more at 12" x 7.40" x 0.39".

The issue here is weight, though - at 26.56 oz (753 g), Samsung's largest tablet isn't feathery to carry around, or keep in your hand for a long time. Sony's Tap 11 weighs about the same, but it carries an Intel Haswell processor with the respective fan, powering full desktop-grade Windows 8.1, plus a full USB 3.0 port. When you tack on keyboard folios, like the one Logitech introduced for the NotePRO, and you start thinking about ultra thin and light laptops, like Sony's Vaio Pro 11, which carry much more oomph than Samsung's tablet with this setup.

Thankfully, we get Samsung's excellent S Pen stylus with the NotePRO, which sits tucked neatly in a silo at the top right corner of the slate, ready to alternate your productivity urges with doodling sprees. It is very easy to take out or push back in, yet feels snug and not wobbly in the silo.

Display

Samsung is betting on such a high resolution display, which not many devices with this screen diagonal are able to offer yet. At 2560x1600, the 12.2" panel crams four million pixels on its surface, and that is more than enough so that even the hardest screen purists won't notice any icon or text jaggies, as well as detail imperfections, from a normal viewing distance. We examined it with a macro lens, and it it seems to be of the PenTile variety, as the pixels are arranged in a diagonal matrix different from the standard “stripe” RGB one, but you can only notice that looking very closely at solid colors, and if you know what to look for. Samsung calls the new screens Super Clear LCD, which is a term used for its LCD screens since the dawn of the original Galaxy S, so don't get your hopes high it is a brand new screen technology, much different than the PLS-LCD panels on Samsung's high-res tablets of late.


At 247ppi, however, this is the most pixel density you can currently get from a 12-incher, so who can complain about the screen. It looks good, comes with several modes to choose from, such as Movie or Dynamic, but we will pass a judgment when we get a finalized unit and run the panel through our screen benchmarks.

Interface and functionality

The tablet ships with the newest Android 4.4 KitKat, but Samsung's TouchWiz Nature UX interface we are accustomed to, has been given a fresh coat of paint. So fresh, in fact, that it has received a different moniker – Magazine UX – indicating a brand new tablet-oriented interface that Samsung argues is mimicking the layout of traditional magazines we are accustomed to ruffling through.

While our prototype unit doesn't sport the Magazine UX overlay, from the hands-on time at CES we can attest that the idea is simple - the interface is akin to a traditional magazine face, which the largish screen diagonal enhances, and offers tiled layout called "dashboard" for categorizing your favorite content in terms of news feeds and most frequently used apps. Those tiles can be various sizes, vertical or horizontal, and they can serve as static widgets, throwing info and notifications at you, or be interactive, letting scroll within the section itself.

Since we also get the S Pen, features like Pen Window come very handy for calling a hovering app anywhere on the display. Furthermore, we get a new Multi Window mode now to enhance your multitasking productivity, as you can now split the screen in four adjustable size sections, which are actually useful on account of the large screen real estate.

In addition, the Galaxy NotePRO will ship with a selection of pre-loaded apps, content and services, such as Bitcasa, Bloomberg Businessweek+, Blurb, Cisco WebEx Meetings, Dropbox, Easilydo Pro for Tablet, Evernote, Hancom Office for Android, LinkedIn, LIVESPORT.TV, NY Times, Oxford Advanced Learner’s A-Z, and Sketchbook Pro. Not all of these apps and services will be available in all regions, but in general Samsung is throwing a free or timed access subscription to most of those, which cover a lot of work or play scenarios.

Processor and memory

Depending on whether you want LTE connectivity with your Galaxy NotePRO or not, the tablet ships with two different chipsets. One is the new "true octa-core" 1.9 GHz Exynos 5 Octa, which can have all eight cores firing up at once, pushing those four sections of the Multi Window mode with ease, even when a Pen Window or two are running on top with more apps active inside. The LTE version will come with the no less powerful quad-core Snapdragon 800, clocked at the respectable 2.3 GHz.

These chipset alternatives won't leave you longing for more, no matter how you stress the NotePRO, as these are currently the fastest kids on the block. Samsung went the extra mile, though, and equipped the tablet with 3 GB of RAM, knowing full well that with this screen real estate and resolution, you might be using the split-screen and Pen Window modes more often than on a regular tablet, running a number of productivity and entertainment apps at once.

It also stepped up on the storage, starting the NotePRO at 32 GB instead of the typical 16 GB today's larger Android slates wield. Of course, this being a Samsung tablet, you also get a microSD slot for storage expansion.

Internet and Connectivity

We already mentioned that there will be an Exynos 5 Octa version of the NotePRO, which will be Wi-Fi-only, or carry an HSPA+ radio with up to 21 Mbps download speeds. The NotePRO version with Snapdragon processor will be able to get on your carrier's fast 4G LTE network. The HSPA+ model will cover the global 850/900/1900/2100 MHz bands, whereas the LTE one will hop on the 800/900/1800/2600＋850/2100 bands, which seem geared towards Europe and Asia, so US carrier versions of the tablet might come at a later date.

As for the other wireless radios, the NotePRO doesn't skim, sporting fast Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac in a dual-band MIMO (2.4 & 5 GHz) setup, Wi-Fi Direct, AllShareCast, BT4.0, infrared, and GPS with GLONASS support. Wired connectivity is taken care of with the microUSB port in the 3.0 standard, ensuring very fast transfer of files to and from the slate.

Camera

The 8 MP camera on the rear of the NotePRO is of the auto focus variety, and comes accompanied by an LED Flash. Featuring zero shutter lag, it takes advantage of the numerous shooting and scene modes the typical Samsung camera interface offers, such as Panorama, HDR, Sports, Night and so on. You also get a 2 MP front-facing shooter, which does 720p video recording, whereas the rear one is capable of 1080p footage. We are providing some camera samples below, but will comment on the quality when the final retail version of the tablet is here.

Multimedia

The gallery offers a split-screen view with folders on the left, and their content shown in grid preview on the right. The tablet offers very rich editing options, which are enhanced with stylus-friendly features to draw and annotate on your photos.

Your tunes catalog is also getting a split-screen view in the music player, with categories like artists, albums and playlists on the left, and content on the right. The NotePRO has a number of sound modes and equalizer presets, and the two stereo speakers on the sides are quite powerful.

1080p videos in all popular formats can be played without a hitch, and look beautiful on the huge and luminant high-res display, so watching movies or other footage would be one of the selling points of this tablet.

Battery

With a 9500 mAh, Samsung's Galaxy NotePRO is quoted to last 10 hours of video playback on a charge, which is above average for an Android slate, so you can rest assured it will get you through a whole day at the office or on the go when you are away from a charger. We will know how it stacks against the competition when we put the retail unit through our battery benchmark testing procedure.

Expectations

Samsung's debut in the 12” ring has added value in the case of the NotePRO, thanks to the S Pen stylus and its usage modes, as well as its tailored apps. It multiplies the productivity scenarios the largish tablet can be used for, and is a joy to use on a 12.2” panel. With great screen size comes great weight, though – anything over a pound or so is considered too heavy in the days of the iPad Air or Tablet Z fashion models, and the NotePRO weighs almost two.

The big and heavy slate is thus limited in portability, which is the whole point of carrying around a tablet. When you tack on keyboard folios and other accessories, you might be better off with an ultrabook or convertible, some of which weigh less than a NotePRO with keyboard accessory, and offer more, especially the Win 8.1 ones.