Samsung announced one of the most anticipated devices of the year, the Galaxy Note 2, at the IFA event in Berlin. The first Galaxy Note was also unveiled at the IFA trade show last year.

The Galaxy Note was a huge success with its bigger screen and S Pen technology. Consumers were even more excited after rumours suggested that the next-gen Galaxy Note would come with a bigger screen than the original Galaxy Note and a powerful processor.

Samsung promised that the Galaxy Note 2 will be available in Europe, Asia and the Middle East sometime in October. The device will come in marble white and titanium gray. As speculated, the Galaxy Note 2 will run on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and bundle 4G LTE connectivity. The bigger phablet also features an advanced S Pen. The Galaxy Note 2 carries a few features similar to that of Galaxy S3.

"Last year at IFA, we launched the Galaxy Note, which opened a new category of smart mobile devices. This year, again at IFA, I am proud to announce the Galaxy Note II, which will encourage users to unleash their inner creativity. With a perfect viewing experience and unique and differentiated features, users can discover information and capture their ideas faster, express thoughts freely and manage tasks more efficiently. For anyone who wants to be creative, expressive and unique, the Samsung Galaxy Note II will be the ideal device, allowing users to live a life extraordinary," J K Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics, has been quoted as saying.

Take a look how the original Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 2 stack up against each other.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2
The Galaxy Note features a 5.5in display. Samsung

Display

The first generation Galaxy Note features a 5.3in HD Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 800 x1280pixels and a pixel density of 285 pixels per inch (ppi). The display is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass and features TouchWiz user interface (UI) v4.0. The Galaxy Note was the company's first device to feature such a big screen with pen input technology.

The newly announced Note 2 comes with a similar screen technology like its predecessor but with a slightly bigger screen at 5.5in. The screen resolution and pixel density of the Note 2 are less compared to its predecessor at 720 x 1280 pixels and 267 ppi. The Note 2 also uses Corning Gorilla Glass 2 and TouchWiz UI.

The Note 2 with its 16:9 screen ratio will offer cinema-like video viewing experience and provide HD video even while on the move. A review by CNET suggests the Note 2 provides wide viewing angles.

Dimension

The Galaxy Note measures 146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65mm in thickness and weighs 178g. A review by Engadget suggests that the Galaxy Note is as thin as the Samsung Galaxy S2 and is portable.

The Note 2 measures 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4mm and weighs only two grams more (180g) than the Galaxy Note. The Note 2 is longer, less wide and thinner (9.4mm) compared to the original Note.

Operating System

The Galaxy Note was launched with Android operating system (OS) v2.3 (Gingerbread) and Samsung recently released Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update for the device. According to an IBTimes UK report, the Jelly Bean update for Galaxy Note is under heavy development and Samsung is likely to release the latest software update to the Note sometime in Q4.

The Note 2 will run on Android's latest OS v4.1 (Jelly Bean). The Jelly Bean offers several stated improvements, including revamped user interface (UI), a better notifications system and home screen management, as well as an improved voice search, text input with offline voice typing, camera and enhanced Android Beam app.

Processor

The Galaxy Note is powered by Exynos dual-core processor with Cortex-A9 and Mali-400MP graphic processing unit. The CPU runs with a clock speed of 1.4GHz and packs 1GB of RAM.

A benchmark test conducted by GSMARena reveals that the Galaxy Note with its dual-core processor defeated devices including Galaxy S2, HTC Sensation and LG Optimus 3D in the benchmark test such as Linpack, BenchmarkPi and SunSpider test. The Galaxy Note secured the second position in the NenaMark benchmark test with the first position being occupied by Galaxy S2.

The Note 2, in contrast, will run on Exynos quad-core processor which will be clocked at 1.6GHz. The device will pack a huge RAM at 2GB. It would be really interesting to see the performance delivered by Note 2 with a combination of quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

A benchmark test conducted by Korean blog, Smart Device, suggests that the Note 2 with its quad-core processor and 1,6GHz clock speed beat Galaxy S3 securing higher points in tests including Quadrant and AnTuTu.

Camera

The Galaxy Note sports a rear-facing camera of eight megapixel with technologies including auto-focus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection and image stabilisation. The camera is capable of capturing 1080p video at 30 frames per second (fps). The device also packs a front-facing camera of two megapixel.

The Note 2, like the Galaxy Note, is equipped with similar resolution rear-camera with all the similar technical features. But its front-facing camera comes with a slightly less resolution at 1.9megapixel.

Connectivity

The Galaxy Note offers Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP + EDR and Near Field Communication (NFC). It supports data speed up to HSDPA 21Mbps and HSUPA 5.76Mbps. The device supports 4G connectivity wherever available.

The Note 2 will also offer Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP + LE + EDR. It will also support data speed up to HSDPA 21Mbps and HSUPA 5.76Mbps. The device will also support 4G LTE network connectivity. The Note 2 features AllShare Play and Control, AllShare cast, S Beam and AllShare Framework.

Storage

The Galaxy Note comes with only two storage options-16GB and 32GB with a support for microSD card. The Note 2 will offer huge storage space at 16GB, 32GB and 64GB and also support microSD card.

Battery

The Note 2 will run with an even more powerful battery than the Galaxy Note (2500mAh) which has a capacity of 3100mAh.

Samsung Mali Android HTC