Samsung has finally showcased the long-awaited sequel to its popular niche product, the Galaxy Note, and although the first iteration wasn’t exactly lacking in the hardware department, the Korean company has still managed to pack in a host of healthy upgrades.
Announced over at IFA 2012 in Berlin, the Galaxy Note II’s display will be bumped to 5.5″ as expected, and although it’s only one-fifth of an inch larger in diameter to that of its
predecessor, it’s still a noticeable amount of additional real-estate. Said display will be at 1280×720 resolution, so although the pixel density will be less than that of the first Galaxy Note, it will now be a true 16:9 aspect ratio.

As was the case with the first Galaxy Note, the screen will be a Super AMOLED HD, and a 1.6GHz quad-core CPU will keep things ticking over quite nicely. It’ll include a healthy 2GB of RAM, and seeing as though it’ll be running Android’s latest and greatest Jelly Bean (4.1) from the get-go, there should not even be a trace of lag.

The rear snapper will offer 8-megapixels, whilst the front will offer a 1.9-megapixel camera. The battery will be 3,100mAh – 600mAh up on the “smaller” Galaxy Note, and it does look as though Samsung has offered a similar transition as it did with the S II to the S III earlier this year.

As well as the hardware specs, there’ll be plenty unique new perks such as Air View, which will allow users to hover the redesigned S Pen over content in order preview without opening, which certainly sounds like an intriguing implementation.

The Note II will be slightly thinner than the current, measuring in at 9.4mm compared with 9.65mm, although it will be a couple of grams heavier. Depending on how much space you require, you can pick from the usual 16, 32, and 64 GB storage configurations, although the microSD expansion will allow you to bump your standards quota by a further 64GB.

Meanwhile, connectivity is HSPA+ 21mbps, and there’ll be a 4G LTE model available for those whose area / carrier permits.

It’ll begin shipping from October in Europe, and will be available in Marble White or Titanium Gray. No word has yet been said of the US release, although we’ll bring you that information as it arrives.