If only judging by the epic billboard-scale advertising plastered all over the CES 2012 convention center, Samsung's inventive (but admittedly odd) Galaxy Note is poised to make a big splash. Just outside of the pocketable size range at 5.3", the Galaxy Note is an strange bird indeed — but an interesting one. The original 5" Dell Streak (and to some extent, the 7" Streak follow-up) tried to pull off the same phone/tablet hybrid trick before, but the Note is a considerably cleverer device.
We spent plenty of hands-on time with the the Note, and had a blast doodling on the tiny tablet's gorgeous Super AMOLED screen with a pretty slick stylus. It actually felt almost like a little Wacom tablet that you could take on the go. Maybe it's the size and the stylus, but (beyond digital doodle masterpieces) the odd device seems designed for productivity — it's even a bit reminiscent of the Palm PDAs of yore. Unfortunately, for now the Note is bound up with AT&T, so you'd need a carrier contract to pick one up...making it a mighty big phone indeed.
Only time (and pricing) will tell if the Note can catch on among perplexed consumers. Is it too big or too small? Is it a phone or a tablet? We're not sure (and neither is Samsung, from the looks of it) but you can decide for yourself by taking a peek at our preview video above!
This article originally appeared on Tecca
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