Benchmark suggests 7-inch Galaxy Note is in the works
The Samsung Galaxy Note line seems to be coming full circle for Samsung. It started off as a 5.3 inch smartphone, that was then accompanied by a 10 inch tablet, the original Galaxy Note was handily superseded by the 5.5 inch Samsung Galaxy Note 2, and now it appears the OEM could be looking to introduce an option inside the middle of the pack, size wise.
A new NenaMark benchmark result shows information about one Samsung GT-N5100, a 7 inch tablet that would definitely appear to be a Note device. The structure of its model number is quite similar to the other phones and tablets released in this series so far so there’s no reason to believe otherwise.
According to the benchmark the GT-N5100 will house 720p HD resolution (surprised? me neither) and a 1.6GHz quad-core processor with a Mali-400MP GPU. It would appear that the chipset will be the same Exynos 4412 that’s inside the Note 2 based on those specs. Sure, a Cortex-A15 chipset would be nice but the Exynos 4 series is still a beast of an experience. It’ll also run Android 4.1.2 out of the box, apparently, but this could always change once the device launches.
Introducing a 7 inch tablet with S Pen functionality is a very smart move for Samsung. Everyday, more and more people are finding value in the less cumbersome 7 inch form factor. It’s already seen as the perfect size for a book-reading device, and it sounds like Samsung thinks people could find the size perfect for those who want it to be a note-taking and creative device, too.
It would be an absolute surprise to see this device coming out at any point before Christmas, but you never know for sure. I’d personally bet money on seeing an unveil at one of the big early 2013 events such as CES or Mobile World Congress and slated for a Spring release.
We can’t say for sure if this will end up being a device worth holding out for in lieu of affordable options like the Kindle Fire or the Nexus 7, but that S Pen functionality could be the X factor many of you need to save those pennies for Samsung’s next relatively smallish offering.
[NenaMark via NotebookItalia, thanks Lau!]