Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - 2014 Edition

If you want your product to sound like it belongs in the future, why not name it after the future itself? Taking a page from the auto industry, Samsung named its new Galaxy Note 10.1 for the coming year, dubbing it the 2014 edition.

We first saw the Note 10.1 back in Berlin at IFA 2013, and were impressed with the thinness, the responsiveness and above all the beautiful 2560 x 1600 screen. The front of the note 10.1 shares the same capacitive and physical button placement as the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. But now the two capacitive buttons (menu and back) works with the S Pen.

What's most initially striking about Note 10.1 is what's going on behind it: the faux-leather rear. Here we have a soft, textured "leather-like" material that's meant to resemble a leather book cover. It provides a firmer grip than Samsung's usual cheap plastic, especially when your palms get a bit sweaty.  

The display is great. It's clear, crisp, and the resolution makes watching video or reading text a wonderful experience. Billed as a "Super clear LCD" the capacitive touch screen displays 16 million colors with a 2560 x 1600 resolution that gives the Note 10.1 a whopping 299 ppi density. Behind the screen is Samsung's snappy and high-powered Exynos 1.9GHz quad-core processor, plus a second 1.3GHz quad-core processor paired with 3GB of RAM. The 3GB of RAM is easy to understand, you have an extra GB to do more things faster. The Note 10.1 comes with the latest version of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. 

The Note 10.1 is equipped with an exceptional 8-megapixel camera on the rear, which snaps remarkably sharp photos in even dimly lit conditions. 

There are also some big new features built into the operating system. My Magazine is a very nicely done Flipboard clone, complete with news, personal data, social networking and local information built into the flip-card interface. Multi-window applications are there and work as designed, facial and eye tracking to keep the screen from blinking out are there, Adaptive sound, blocking mode, nearby devices — all that you saw from the previous Note devices is still around.

Air command encompasses the new S Pen features, and makes for a fine addition to the Note software. When you remove the S Pen from its holder it will automatically open, or you can just hover the S Pen over the screen and tap the button to activate it. Its menu shows a palette of Air command functions.

There are five Air Command functions:

• Pen Window, which lets you scrawl a square or rectangle door on the screen into which then magically pops a menu of seven compatible apps that, when you tap one, appears in that drawn picture-in-picture window.
• S Finder, an extensive universal (device and web) search tool, which also lets you hand-write symbols as part of your search.
• Screen write, which enables you to choose from a variety of stylus line thicknesses and colors to draw or write on any screen, then save and/or share that screen.
• Scrapbooker, which lets you circle and clip segments from any screen for saving and/or sharing.
• Action Memo, which lets you scrawl handwritten notes and can translate scrawled email addresses and Web URLs into actual usable email address and URLs.

All in all, this is the best version of TouchWiz yet. Right up front — this is a worthy upgrade from the original. It's faster, better built, and has better S Pen functionality. That's a no-brainer and if you're looking to upgrade last-years model you can buy with confidence. 

I see situations where the S Pen could be a huge time saver, and think it can boost the productivity factor of what is basically an entertainment portal. Artists, musicians, teachers, construction workers, warehouse employees — the list goes on and on of people who may find the Note features worthwhile and useful in their day-to-day life.

Full specifications

• Platform: Android 4.3 with TouchWiz
• Display: 10.1-inch Super clear LCD with 2560 x 1600 resolution, 299 ppi
• Memory: 3GB RAM; 16/32/64 GB storage; micro SD card slot
• Camera: 8MP rear with LED flash; 2.0MP front
• Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n/ac dual-band Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4.0; A-GPS and GLONASS
• Sensors: Accelerometer; proximity; compass
• Battery: 8220mAh Lithium Ion
• Dimensions: 243.1 x 171.4 x 7.9 mm, 535 grams