The rumored October 24 event invitation with an S Pen graphic included is indeed what we think it is. The AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular variants of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will all be debuting on October 24 in New York City, as Samsung officially launches the second-generation phablet in the United States.
The event will feature all five Galaxy Note 2 carrier-branded versions, such as the 4G LTE-compatible CDMA Galaxy Note 2 of Verizon and the T-Mobile version that supports HSPA+ connectivity; among the five carriers, T-Mobile is the only one without a 4G LTE network. The United States will be joining certain European and Asian markets in offering the device, which was first released late September in Korea and earlier this month in the UK and other parts of Europe. Third-party retailers, though, have been offering the Galaxy Note 2 for some time, albeit at often higher prices.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will be a quad-core, 4G LTE-supporting device with an Exynos chipset and 2 GB RAM under the hood. It sports a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED HD screen, 8-megapixel rear camera, 1.9-megapixel front camera and ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the newest Android mobile platform available. The S Pen will be part of the device, as it has been one of the key features of the first-generation Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet released this August. Pricing has not yet been announced, but the contract versions may cost $199.99 on a two-year contract, a similar price point to devices such as the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. The unlocked version is expected to cost $750.
Apart from the Galaxy Note 2, Samsung’s end-of-the-year plans also include the Galaxy S3 Mini, a device announced just yesterday in Germany. The Galaxy S3 Mini is a lower-end smartphone with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, a 4-inch Super AMOLED WVGA screen, 5-megapixel rear camera and 1.2 GHz dual-core processor.
