Samsung vs. Apple: iPhone 4S Competitor the Galaxy Note to Debut in London

The first of Samsung's next wave of anti-Apple smartphones, the Galaxy Note, is set to be unveiled in London Thursday, leading to fresh speculation on whether Samsung's new plus-sized smartphone will be able to carve out its own section of the crowded high-end device market.

The Galaxy Note

Though shown off earlier this year, the main selling point of the Note remains its size. Samsung's Note is big, very big in fact, measuring in at 46.85 mm by 82.95 mm.

Yet beneath the plus-sized exterior of this behemoth smartphone, the spec listed by Samsung remains fairly impressive. The Note is listed as packing an impressive 1.4GHz Dual Core Processor and 5.3 inch Super AMOLED screen.

As shown in the promotional video below, the device will also come loaded with a special "advanced smart pen" -- which looks pretty identical to every other stylus ever made, but with a phone this big it could be useful.

The device will also house a front facing two-megapixel camera and eight-megapixel rear snapper capable of 1080p Full HD video recording and playback.

Unfortunately, the Note is currently listed as coming pre-loaded with Android Gingerbread, not Google's recently unveiled and much tastier looking Ice Cream Sandwich.

Strong Competition

Although the Note actually looks rather good, analysts and critics have been divided when it comes to sales estimates. Not only is the Note arriving just after Apple's already record-breaking iPhone 4S, but also just after Samsung unveiled its other, more widely known, high-end Galaxy Nexus.

As was expected, Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Nexus smartphone at the event. In keeping with previous rumours, Samsung confirmed the device will be the first smartphone powered by Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

Set for release in November, the device will be fairly fast, packing a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. Yet, despite its power, like the Note, the new Nexus screen is its primary selling point.

The new Nexus will pack a whopping 1280 x 720, 4.65 inch Super AMOLED screen, running at a native 720p resolution -- basically meaning the display will be so sharp it could slice a melon.

Add to this the news that Apple's iPhone 4S has already broken numerous sales records, boasting 1 million pre-orders in its opening 24 hours before breaking the 3 million sales mark by the end of its first week and can understand analysts' apprehension.

Stay tuned at the IBTimes for a more complete look at the Galaxy Note later in the week, when we get our hands on the jumbo device and offer you our initial impressions.