Stefan Mileschin

While we can't say it was a shock, Samsung's latest superphone has arrived -- and it's got a new stylus. The Galaxy Note II pushes the screen frontier to 5.5 inches wide, with another HD Super AMOLED display, this time at 1,280 x 720. Despite that expansion the phone is a mere 9.4mm thick, while it now houses a larger capacity (faster charging) 3,100mAh battery and a quad-core Exynos processor clocked at 1.6GHz. As the Galaxy Note was to the Galaxy S II, so the Note II takes some design riffs from the Galaxy S III, with the same rounded edges, glossy finish and extra software piled atop its Android base. There's also Samsung's reliable 8-megapixel camera sensor on the back, capable of 1080p video-recording.

The great news is that the Galaxy Note II will be launching on Jelly Bean -- no laborious waiting for those over-the-air updates for Google's very latest. Software additions are understandably heavily weighted towards the phablet's S Pen advances. The stylus itself now has a rubber nib, which Samsung reckons will offer an experience closer to pen and paper. User can add "Quick Commands" to their stylus gestures, while "Air View" allows you to peruse galleries and folders by floating the stylus just above the screen. Samsung's also added an Easy Clip ability to crop and share from anything beaming out from the Note II's 16:9 screen. Stylus functionality has been gifted to the calendar (S Planner) and the native email app, while the S Pen itself will now notify your phone if it's left behind. The device will launch in Titanium Grey and Marble White, arriving internationally before the end of the year. We've just managed to handle both the Galaxy Note II and that reformed stylus -- check out our hands-on here.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/29/s...alaxy-note-ii/