Back in October of last year, Samsung did something that the world didn’t expect. They started shipping a smartphone with a 5.3 inch screen called the Galaxy Note. I’ll be the first to admit, I laughed at that thing till my sides hurt; I even declared it dead on arrival. Boy was I wrong. Just five months after being out, Samsung issued a press release saying they sold over 5 million Notes. Now our American readers have had access to the Note since February, just two months ago, and only on AT&T, but that’s soon going to change if this rumor from TmoNews turns out to be true. They have screenshots and a user agent profile for a Samsung device called the SGH-T879, which they’re declaring to be the T-Mobile variant of the Note. It’ll have a Qualcomm chip inside, just like the AT&T version, but unlike the AT&T version, which shipped with Android 2.3, the T-Mobile Galaxy Note will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Do we have an exact date and price point? No, not yet. That being said, CTIA is next month, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see T-Mobile announcing all the details there.
Now the important question: Should you buy the Note? That’s incredibly difficult to answer. I hated the Note when I first heard about it, but last month I had a chance to play with one for a few days. My short and sweet review: I fell in love, but then I realized something. The Note started shipping in October, and Samsung likes to refresh their products on a yearly basis, which means the Note is officially half way through its life cycle right now. Assuming the Note II is going to use the Galaxy S III guts, waiting half a year doesn’t seem all that bad.
And if I’m wrong about the Note II release date … oh well.