Duly Note[d]: The Galaxy Note is missing at least one very important “note”

Duly Note[d]: Something the Galaxy Note failed to “note”

The rumors were answered at CES about the new Samsung Galaxy Note LTE for AT&T. The smartphone-meets-tablet device, or “superphone”, definitely created something to talk about. The two-in-one is available in carbon blue and ceramic white with AT&T. The highly talked about  5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen display crushes its competitors (HTC Titan and Nexus S) in size and appearance. The touch of 4G LTE is an added bonus especially for the U.S. market.

The Main Features Note[d]

As previously stated, the 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen (180×800) provides a brilliant display accompanied with a 2MP fixed focus front facing camera. The software still runs 2.3 Gingerbread, and there are no details when it will update to ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich). Of course, a 1.5GHz dual core processor is to be expected, but in addition is an Integrated S Pen and expandable memory up to 32GB with optional microSD card and 16GB onboard memory. On the back of the device is a 8MP auto focus camera with 1080p video and a speaker located at the lower left corner near the S Pen silo. There is 2500 mAh battery with three contacts like the original global model (we’ll come back to this), a mobile HotSpot capability and the first “Samsung Approved for Enterprise” (SAFE) device, along with the Galaxy Tab 7.7, marketed to directly to consumers who wish to use their mobile devices in both their business and personal lives. Samsung’s website tells us that SAFE is an exclusive suite of security features delivering enterprise-friendly capabilities above and beyond standard Android platform features to safeguard sensitive data and communications such as on-device encryption, mobile device management and corporate emails and contacts.

The Main Differences between models Note[d]

As far as the overall look and feel in terms of weight, size and layout the Galaxy Note is a mirror image to the global model. The main difference is that the two have the AT&T logo right below the earpiece and the four capacitive keys (menu, home, back and search) instead of the three-button layout (two buttons with the one physical button button in the middle) of the global model. The LTE antenna can be found inside the battery door, another difference is the S Pen because this one features a grey side button.

For consumers the Galaxy Note does deliver a new category to the U.S. market with the large screen and new user input technology with the Innovative S Pen™, while maintaing the pocket-ready design. With the S Pen it does effectively portray the ink pen and a pad of paper experience, allowing consumers to “hand write” notes or make edits to files during business meetings.

The missing note: Superphone meets Mobile Kryptonite

Everything seems pretty awesome for the superphone, right? Remember, earlier in the main features section I mentioned the battery had three contacts, like the original? Well, here is the kryptonite… that means no NFC. Yep, all the talk about the phone was all good until the rumor of NFC being built in was, well, no longer a rumor. Not good. Yes, it has great size and the super AMOLED HD touchscreen is something to drool over, but where’s the NFC? Wouldn’t it make sense to incorporate it in the first Galaxy Note to be able to collect data from consumer experiences on how to improve the next version? Am I the only one who is thinking this?

There are many possibilities of great user experiences if NFC was incorporated with this device. I don’t think I have to spell them all out to you, but simply being able to transfer your notes or edited files directly to your laptop or to another colleague’s device (USB, NFC tags, etc.) for a presentation is more than enough. Clearly when SAFE was first introduced to Samsung’s enterprise customers in October 2011 specifically, its purpose was in response to consumers’ overwhelming interest in devices that effectively and seamlessly meet their personal and business mobile needs. I am pretty sure without a doubt that NFC is a major piece to that puzzle. Word on the street is the Galaxy Note will call Verizon and Spring their next home. True? If so, hopefully they will have NFC. Until then…rumor has it. What are your thoughts?