Is Samsung Galaxy Note Out Of Tune?

Is it a tablet? Is it a phone? Perhaps both, maybe neither. And whatever it is, it comes equipped with a stylus.

When Samsung unveiled the latest member of its Galaxy family, the Note, at the IFA trade show in Berlin this week, the brand heralded a "new category of product, developed through Samsung's deep consumer understanding and insight." 

For the brand’s sake, hopefully Samsung’s understanding and insight includes the knowledge that a similar bigger-than-a-smartphone-smaller-than-a-tablet Android device with a 5-inch touchscreen, the Dell Streak 5, ended its yearlong streak of confusing and annoying consumers when it was discontinued a couple of weeks ago.

“But don’t compare the Note to that piece of impractical hardware,” Samsung might be saying. “Our device, which we’re calling neither a phone nor a tablet – and don’t call it a phablet – has…wait for it…a stylus.”

Samsung might be going out on a limb to promote the Note as part of a new category, but that brand message was part of the initial appeal of the iPad: a mashup of disparate devices you already owned to create the latest all-in-one device you suddenly can’t live without.

The Note combines the elements of a phone and tablet with what you remember most about the PalmPilot or Nintendo DS, depending on your age and frame of reference. That stylus, which Samsung is calling the S Pen (does the S stand for “Samsung” or “stylus”?) uses “advanced pen-input technology” and promises a more precise and creative experience than you’d get from dragging your greasy finger across the touchscreen. (Consumers should hope that Samsung’s understanding and insight is deep enough not to charge 80 extra bucks for the stylus, as HTC is doing for its Scribe pen.)

CNET’s Stephen Shankland was able to tune up a Note, and cautiously praised it: “I don't think it'll be a mainstream hit, but a certain niche might enjoy it.” We’re not sure whether the enjoyment of “a certain niche” is the goal when a brand launches “a new category of product,” but amidst the keynote cacophony surrounding the Note, Samsung did release a number of traditional (if that’s the accurate term) products in the smartphone and tablet categories at IFA as well.

Perhaps Samsung’s understanding of consumers is deep, indeed. Unfortunately, the brand has no plans to sell the Note (or the Galaxy Tab 7.7) in the US anytime soon, so Americans who want an extra-large smartphone (or a super-compact tablet) will have to sing the same old song for a while.