Hands on with the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2

It’s out of the bag — an actual photo of a working unit in the Philippines. Samsung was going to introduce a Pro series tablet for people who need even more stuff done. The bigger screen lets you multitask. Frankly, in my short demo I was able to play Space Team and the big-ass screen elicited the same joy of gaming on a laptop. On a side note, if you want the full details on the Samsung CES Keynote, we’re doing a live blog now over at Manila Bulletin with Art Samaniego on the CES floor!

Here are my first impressions:

1. Color matters! The Pro line is now in sexy black and this small aesthetic won me over. It’s absolutely beautiful.

2. It’s extremely light. My first reaction was that this tablet was Samsung’s direct competitor to the iPad Air. The weight won’t be much of an issue but the size might be. It’s huge. But light. Gets?

3. Just like all of the high end Samsung devices, the Note Pro comes with the in-house Knox software that allows for multiple users. It’s meant for Enterprise. Samsung is really pushing their Pro line into the office space.

4. They got rid of TouchWiz! Yay! The UI now resembles some sort of magazine style layout aptly called Magazine UX. Good.

As for the price? The original Note 10.1 sold for roughly PHP 26,000 so hopefully we will see this one replace it in price. Stay tuned.

Verdict

Buy this if you want a big tablet that’s super light. Buy this if you want everything about the iPad Air except iOS.

Some Specs:

9,500mAh battery
8MP rear cam w/ 2MP front cam
WQXGA LCD panel,
IR support (Yeah!!!)
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
USB 3.0
Bluetooth 4.0
LTE variant and WiFi variants available
Android 4.4 KitKat

* Similarly Samsung has also announced the 12.2 Tab Pro which is essentially the same thing without the S-Pen. Remember, “Note” = Pen. “Tab” = No Pen.