Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet gets better for the end of the year

Thinking of replacing pen and paper permanently? Samsung’s answer to what note-taking should be like in the future has been updated to match the recent Galaxy Note phone, and now it’s ready for customers to get their hands all over it.

Pen and paper might still be around for a while, but there sure are a lot of options for taking notes digitally, and Samsung’s Galaxy Note series has been there for a while.

This year’s incarnation of the 10.1 inch Note tablet is now ready for primetime, and while it still offers a pen to help its users write and draw, that’s only one of the features Samsung is touting for the new unit.

Samsung’s pen functionality has increased in ways similar to the Galaxy Note 3, adding Scrapbook, Action Memo, and Screen Write functionality, while a new feature Easy Chart will make it possible to turn information into charts and graphs easily.

Like the Note 3 phone it sits alongside with, Samsung is making this device feel a little different, with a plastic leather-feeling back complete with fake stitching, which means it will match a Galaxy Note 3, or even a leather bag if you carry tablets in one of those.

The screen is another feature that Samsung has spent time on, pushing on past the regular 1280×800 HD resolution we normally see on its tablets, and moving so far past it that the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition comes with a 2560×1600 display, offering what is in essence around 300 pixels per inch, higher than the screen sharpness found on the Apple iPad Air, though a little under what the iPad mini with Retina offers.

Overall, it’s an impressive set of numbers, especially when most Android tablets feature HD screens, while a sprinkling of others support Full HD’s 1920×1080, and this is higher than that.

“We’re very proud to build on the success of the first Galaxy Note 10.1, a tablet that created a different category for Samsung by offering Australians the ability to experience content in engaging ways through a great display, constantly updated and refreshed digital content and S Pen functionality,” said Arno Lenior, Marketing Director for Samsung Electronics in Australia.

“Combined with a fantastic screen for an amazing multimedia experience, it is one of our most innovative tablets launched in Australia to date.”

The tablet measures 7.9mm thin with a 10.1 inch screen, and in Australia will be released in two different versions. The WiFi only version for $649 will come with two quad-core processors – a 1.9GHz quad-core and a 1.3GHz quad-core – that together act as an octa-core processor, while the 4G/WiFi combo model will cost $799 and come with a 2.3GHz quad-core processor.

Both units have identical specs outside of this discrepancy, however, with Android 4.3 “Jelly Bean” included as the operating system, 16GB storage, microSD expandable memory, 3GB RAM (above the 2GB sweet spot Android seems to like), an 8 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, and a battery holding 8220mAh of power.

While Android and Samsung’s Australian incarnation of the Touchwiz overlay take care of the software side of things, Samsung will also be bundling in 50GB of storage of Dropbox for two years, a 12 month subscription to Bloomberg News, eight weeks of free movie streaming from Quickflix, and Autodesk’s Sketchbook application so customers can get their drawing on.

Two colour options will be available for the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition, with black and white both available in stores from this week.