One of the hottest areas in mobile at the moment is convertible notebooks, and this year’s CES is full of them. Some are able to convert from a notebook to a tablet in an instant, with the idea being that sometimes work just needs to be done. When it doesn’t, the user can detach the tablet and have a little fun.
With its Galaxy TabPRO and NotePRO, Samsung would like to clue us into the fact that work can be done on a tablet, too. That’s where the “Pro” comes in – these tablets are spec’d to support heavier workloads, offer higher resolutions, and just as important, adds the ability to view four different apps at one time (to the 12.2-inch models).
Samsung’s Galaxy NotePRO 12.2-inch Tablet
The NotePRO comes in at 12.2-inches, whereas the TabPRO will offer models at 8.4-inches, 10.1-inches, and 12.2-inches. All four models feature a panel that can support the ultra-high resolution of 2560×1600. Further, all models have an 8 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera, 802.11a/b/g/b/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, a microSD slot, and Android 4.4.
Wi-Fi versions of the top three models will make use of Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa SoC (1.9GHz quad + 1.3GHz quad), while all LTE variants will scale back to a Snapdragon 800 2.3GHz quad-core. Because the bigger 12.2-inch tablets are meant to used for the ultimate in productivity, they’re equipped with 3GB of RAM, versus 2GB in the 10.1 and 8.4-inch TabPROs.
Samsung’s Galaxy TabPRO 8.4-inch Tablet
What sets the NotePRO apart from the others is hinted in its name: It includes a stylus in the box and supports Samsung’s related apps (S Note, Air Command, S Planner).
Hardware aside, the 12.2-inch models feature Samsung’s “Multi Window” mode, which will allow the user to split their screen up into four different apps – they’ll even be able to open up multiple instances of the same app. For all models, Virtual Keyboard makes great use of the high resolution to make the typing experience much more enjoyable.
For the 12.2-inch models, Samsung will be bundling nearly $700 worth of perks for free:
For additional value and productivity right out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy NotePRO and TabPRO (12.2) will feature up to approximately $700 worth of the premium pre-paid, long-term subscription offers from best-selling news, social media and cloud storage providers, including: Bitcasa, Bloomberg Businessweek+, Blurb, Cisco WebEx Meetings, Dropbox, Easilydo Pro for Tablet, Evernote, Hancom Office for Android, LinkedIn, LIVESPORT.TV, NY Times, Oxford Advanced Learner’s A-Z, and Sketchbook Pro (content packages may vary by region).
The NotePRO and TabPRO models will become available in Q1. Pricing at this time hasn’t been disclosed.