Samsung has launched its long awaited Ice Cream Sandwich-based 10.1-inch Galaxy Note 800 in India. Its primary USP is its S Pen stylus capability, brought forward from the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note smartphone-tablet hybrid.
Samsung has priced the Galaxy Note 800 at Rs. 39,990 (MRP) in India, a price that could be justified with the 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos 4412 processor, Mali 400MP GPU, and 2GB of RAM of onboard, apart from built-in 3G connectivity. However, only the 16GB version of the tablet is being launched (and microSD expandability is up till 32GB), once again raising a question as to its value for money. The tablet had been listed for pre-order on Samsung’s India eStore a little over a week ago.
Announcing the launch of the Galaxy Note 800 in the Indian market, stated Mr. Ranjit Yadav, Country Head, Samsung Mobile & IT, “India is one of the first 10 markets in the world where the Galaxy Note 800 is being launched. With the Samsung Galaxy Note 800, Samsung provides a unique user experience that goes beyond passive content consumption to a new world of productivity, active creation and personalized communications. While the S pen offers both active content creation and passive content creation, the Multi screen capability finally enables true multitasking. I expect this device to in many ways to fuel the growth of the tablet market in India and help us further strengthen our market leadership in the tablet market here in India.”
Other specifications of the Galaxy Note 800 include a 5MP autofocus rear camera with LED flash capable of 720p HD video recording, a 1.9MP front camera, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, microUSB with MHL (TV-out), HSDPA 21Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, GPS with A-GPS (Glonass) support, and stereo speakers.
Samsung’s also boasting of some other special features on the Note 800, such as a multi-screen interface that lets users utilize two different apps, web pages, and videos side-by-side, apps supported for Multi-screen are S Note, Internet Browser, Video Player, Email, Gallery and Polaris Office (document editor).
The Galaxy Note 800 also offers the Pop up Play feature first introduced on the Galaxy S III (read our review), allowing users to playback videos in a floating window that can be overlaid anywhere on the screen. The Galaxy Note 800 will also allow users to adjust the size of the video window. The Galaxy Note 800 also comes with a mini-apps tray that can be used on top of others apps, such as Alarm, S Note, Music Player, Email, Calculator and World Clock.
The S Pen apparently features 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, and is “designed for natural and intuitive content creation.” Features like Shape Match (which converts hand-drawn shapes into clean and perfect versions), and Formula Match (which solve hand-written formulas), are also included. Samsung has bundled the S Pen optimized Adobe Photoshop Touch onboard, which is integrated with Adobe Creative Cloud, giving users free access to file syncing and sharing features, apart from 2GB of storage space. A video editor is also onboard.
Samsung’s also boasting of a new education app on the Galaxy Note 800, called ‘My Education.’ It is said to feature more than 10,000 free videos that have been curated by teachers, and is apparently the largest collection of educational videos mapped to the Indian curriculum. These videos are relevant for all students from Class I to XII. The app also offers more than 800 education text books, which would be the largest collection of educational e-books in India. Samsung says students will also be able to access assessment papers.
What do you think about the Samsung Galaxy Note 800? Has Samsung given it good enough hardware, and enough features to justify its price, and make it stand out in the market? Let us know in the comments section below. Do also check out our detailed hands-on with the Galaxy Note 800.