Samsung showed a lot of new appliances and televisions at its CES press conference back in January, but it also unveiled a reworked line of Note and Tab-branded tablets the company said would retail this year. True to its word, Samsung announced today that the Galaxy NotePro 12.2 (our hands-on) and TabPro 8.4 (our hands-on), 10.1, and 12.2 will be available in the U.S. beginning February 13.
Both tablet lines are clearly aimed at power users. Both the NotePro and TabPro 12.2 sport an impressively high-resolution WQXGA (2560×1600) LCD display, and will be powered by either an Exynos 5 Octa (1.9Ghz quad-core + 1.3GHz quad-core) or Snapdragon 800 SoC with 3GB of RAM. An 8MP shooter and an S Pen included with the NotePro round things off.
On the software side, the devices are the first (and probably last) to ship with Samsung’s Magazine UX, a highly customized Android launcher designed to make shortcuts for most-used apps more easily accessible. Features and programs such as Remote PC, Hancom Office suite, gesture commands, and Multi Window on the larger tablets also come pre-installed.
The tablets ship with quite a few extras. By registering through Samsung’s Galaxy Perks, purchasers can receive a $25 Google Play credit, three-month trial Hulu Plus membership, a one-year Bloomberg Businessweek+ subscription, six months of Cisco WebEx Premium 8, and 50 GB of Dropbox space for 2 years.
Pricing starts at $399.99 for the 16 GB Tab Pro 8.4, and goes all the way up to $849.99 for the 64 GB model Note Pro 12.2. The tablets come in two colors, black and white.
Samsung Launches World’s First 12.2-inch Widescreen Tablets in U.S.: Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro Series Available Feb. 13
RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. – Feb. 4, 2014 – Samsung Electronics America, Inc. today announced that the Wi-Fi enabled Galaxy Note® Pro 12.2 and Tab® Pro 10.1 and 8.4 will be available in the U.S. beginning Feb. 13. Pre-orders will start at midnight ET, Feb. 4 from Samsung.com, Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, Tiger Direct, PC Richard and Sons, Fry’s, and Newegg. The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 will be available in March 2014. Verizon Wireless will be the first to offer the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 with 4G LTE connectivity later this quarter. For more information, visit www.samsung.com/us/protablets.
Samsung’s new Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro series includes four models – Note Pro 12.2 and Tab Pro 12.2, 10.1 and 8.4. The new tablet lineup features premium materials, a suite of applications and services, unparalleled displays, a unique interface designed to simplify access and discovery of content, and many new productivity tools.
“The Note Pro and Tab Pro create a more meaningful user experience at the intersection of work and play,” said Nanda Ramachandran, vice president of emerging business at Samsung Telecommunications America. “With four completely revamped models featuring unique software innovations and impressive displays, these tablets offer users a premium Galaxy experience.”
The Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro series tablets will be available in two color options, black and white.
“The Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro series deliver an unparalleled tablet experience,” said Travis Merrill, vice president of tablet marketing at Samsung Electronics America. “As mobile usage habits have evolved, so have our tablet offerings. This Pro series is designed to meet the distinctive needs of today’s mobile consumer, whether at home, on-the-go or at work.”
Vibrant, Large Displays
Samsung’s Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro 12.2 are the world’s first 12.2-inch tablets with high-resolution WQXGA (2560 x 1600) Super Clear LCDs and widescreen aspect ratios of 16:10, with more than 4 million pixels. Engineered with 3GB of RAM and a larger screen for optimal viewing, the Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro 12.2 give consumers the power and screen real estate to view full HD videos and perform various tasks on a dazzling and vibrant display.
Developed and designed specifically for the 12.2-inch Note Pro and Tab Pro, Multi Window lets users view up to four applications simultaneously, offering improved multitasking. The Multi Window feature enhances productivity with impressive quick controls, like drag and drop for easy cut and paste and one-touch presets, to quickly launch commonly used Multi Window app configurations.
The Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 display is the most pixel dense tablet on the market. HD video, images and games take full advantage of the high pixel count, giving users a display quality not found on any other tablets in its class. With a Snapdragon 800 2.3 GHz quad core processor, the Tab Pro 8.4 is built to handle high-powered games and video.
Pro Series Amps Up Productivity
All tablets in the Note Pro and Tab Pro series are outfitted with Magazine UX, Samsung’s innovative new user interface that’s built right into the home screen layout. This customizable layout brings users’ favorite and most-frequented content—games, notes, apps, e-mail and more—to the forefront, offering direct access to content with a single touch.
To enhance productivity and give users a more effective typing medium, Note Pro, Tab Pro 12.2 and Tab Pro 10.1 feature a virtual keyboard that mimics the size and appearance of a physical keyboard, leveraging haptic feedback and hotkeys to offer users a more accurate and familiar typing experience. It includes directional keys and copy/paste functionality built right into the keyboard which allows you to create and edit documents more efficiently.
The Note Pro also includes Samsung’s S Pen, offering the precision and responsiveness that customers love, as well as features such as handwriting-to-text, Air Command, and Pen Window.
Both the Note Pro and Tab Pro come equipped with applications designed for optimal professional performance and mobile productivity. Remote PC allows easy access and control of a home or office computer directly through a Pro tablet, while a downloadable and touch optimized version of Hancom Office gives users the ability to create, edit and save documents, spreadsheets and presentations with the same functionality you would find on a PC. Samsung e-Meeting provides collaboration capabilities by giving users the ability to share content during a meeting without having to access a central server or network.
These devices come with a powerful and productive Samsung accessory ecosystem that includes keyboard covers, the S Action Mouse and USB LAN Hub adapters along with a variety of third party accessories including Bluetooth keyboards from ZAGG, Belkin and Logitech.
Extensive and Immersive Content and Services
Samsung continues to partner with leading entertainment, productivity and news sources to provide over $800 in premium bundled content for the Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro tablets through Galaxy Perks. With Galaxy Perks, consumers have access to popular and best-selling news, social media, and cloud storage applications including: $25 Google Play credit, three-month trial Hulu Plus membership, one-year Bloomberg Businessweek+ subscription, six months of Cisco WebEx Premium 8 package, and 50 GB of Dropbox space for two years. In the future, customers will have access to one year of Gogo inflight internet access (up to 36 flights). For more information on Galaxy Perks, please visit www.samsung.com/us/galaxyperks.
Pricing for the tablets are as follows:
Note Pro 12.2: $749.99 (32 GB), $849.99 (64 GB)
Tab Pro 12.2: $649.99 (32 GB)
Tab Pro 10.1: $499.99 (16 GB)
Tab Pro 8.4: $399.99 (16 GB)
This post was last modified on February 4, 2014 9:42 am