Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 to Launch in August; Ports Design From Galaxy S3

Samsung Electronics on Monday announced the official launch of its latest Galaxy Note 10.1 by the end of August, putting an end to the six-month wait since the tablet was first announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year.

The Galaxy Note 10.1, which is an extension of the popular Galaxy Note "phablet" category, will arrive with a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel resolution display, quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor, 2 GB of RAM, 5-megapixel camera and a 1.9-megapixel secondary camera.

Amongst other specifications the tablet will include are quad Band 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, HSPA 21-Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps, and a micro SD slot supporting up to 64 GB RAM. The device also comes inbuilt with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS backed by a powerful 7,000mAh Li-ion battery.

The tablet, which will be available in either 3G or Wi-Fi versions, will also come imported with the company's unique S Pen stylus, allowing users to create illustrations or write notes.

"History has shown that taking notes, capturing ideas immediately, and sketching to realize them is the most personal and natural way to be more productive and creative," Samsung exec JK Shin said in a press statement.

"The S Pen is embedded directly in the device and when removed, automatically launches specially optimized applications, including S Note, S Planner, Crayon physics, Adobe Photoshop Touch, and Polaris Office," Samsung said.

Latest images of the Galaxy Note 10.1 showed that the curved edge of the device looks quite similar to Samsung Galaxy S3. With the smartphone reportedly designed by 1000 employees, as revealed by recent court documents divulged to the media, the porting of a similar design in the Galaxy Note 10.1 hardly comes as a surprise.

On the hardware front, the soon-to-be launched Galaxy Note is 8.9 mm thickness, slightly thicker than the Galaxy S3's 8.6 mm thickness.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 also packs Exchange ActiveSync, On-Device Encryption and VPN support that will appeal to security-conscious users. Other options like Pop Up Play and Smart Stay is also included.

Though Samsung is yet to reveal pricing, US-based Negri Electronics has listed the tablet for $750 as a pre-order while certain reports show that the device will be priced for around $600 in Europe.