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Galaxy Note 10.1 may go quad-core to try leapfrogging iPad

updated 07:10 pm EDT, Fri April 6, 2012

 

Samsung may repeat tablet update to rival Apple


Samsung might once again be delaying a tablet after being caught out by Apple if claims by industry insiders are real. They purportedly told MK that the Galaxy Note 10.1 was being moved to June to upgrade from the dual-core, 1.4GHz chip recycled from the regular Galaxy Note to the quad-core, 1.5GHz Exynos 4412. What if anything else would change wasn't outlined.

The contacts were emphatic that the upgrade was an attempt to one-up the new iPad. In order to "outsmart" the A5X's quad-core graphics, Samsung was going to bring in a full quad-core processor, according to one of the contacts. The 1.4GHz chip in the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note is only slightly faster than that in the Galaxy S II in CPU power and well behind Apple in graphics speed.

None of the details have been confirmed by Samsung. It has so far been largely silent on when the Note 10.1 would be in stores at all, however, and may have had June in mind regardless.

An about-face on hardware wouldn't be unprecedented for Samsung. Last year, its original Galaxy Tab 10.1 design was slightly more unique, but relatively thick and aimed at beating the original iPad on the assumption Apple wouldn't update the iPad for a long time. The iPad 2, unveiled two weeks later, outclassed the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in thickness and weight and led Samsung to publicly swear that it would "not be outdone." By late March, Samsung had completely remade the design to make the tablet much thinner and lighter without sacrificing features, suggesting the company hadn't thought to make the best possible design on its own.

Leaving the Galaxy Note 10.1 to a June release would still give Apple a wide berth, as the new iPad will have been on sale for three months before the first countries get the larger Note. Pricing is also an issue, as the Wacom-based digitizer screen and the pen may make it difficult for Samsung to match or beat the iPad on price. [via PocketDroid]


By Electronista Staff

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industry, gadgets, Android, Samsung, Apple, iPad, Galaxy Note

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Previous Comments

  1. bigmig

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2004

    +6
    04/06, 07:20pm | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    Why bother?

    With that low-res screen, it would probably work okay with just a single core processor...


  1. icewing

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2008

    +7
    04/06, 07:21pm | report spam | reply

    Isn't Samsung tired?

    Tired of always being surprised by Apple's designs, and then having to reboot their own design...er, copy process?


  1. Jubeikiwagami

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Dec 2011

    +4
    04/06, 07:23pm | report spam | reply

    Do it

    It will be interesting how Shamesung can produce this with adequate battery life and thin as iPad 3 design. Without Apple quad core iPad in existence, Shamesung will have to try work out the engineering challenges on their own.


  1. Paul Huang

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Sep 1999

    +1
    04/06, 07:45pm | report spam | reply

    Dang, why is my 18-wheeler

    Not any faster than a VW Beetle.

    By the same token, why is my V8 much much slower than Porsche 911's flat-six?


  1. Salty

    Professional Poster

    Joined: Jul 2005

    +2
    04/06, 07:52pm | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    I'll be honest

    While I am not about to go buy a Galaxy note, I really wish Apple would work out a way to include the ability to use a pressure sensitive pen. If they did that anyone with an iPad could have a Cintiq at half the price, and the number of people who would want to draw on them would sky rocket.

    The fact is there's lots of people who like the idea of drawing digitally but for whom the idea of a tablet + Photoshop is just scary. Apple wouldn't even need to make a Garageband or iMovie like program, they could just rely on Autodesk, Adobe, Pixelmator etc to fill in the gap. Though it would also be great if they created a standard silo and even a format that would greater allow apps to work on the same documents, specifically so that you could get some apps great for certain drawing things and others for others.


  1. LMGS

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Dec 2011

    0
    04/06, 08:02pm | report spam | (1 reply) | reply

    Salty

    Already been done,

    http://www.tenonedesign.com/bluetiger


  1. russellb

    Junior Member

    Joined: Sep 2001

    +3
    04/06, 08:09pm | report spam | reply

    Does not matter

    When will the competition learn ... a successful tablet has nothing to do with the wether it is single core, dual core, quad core. It simply has to do with the user experience. If the product results in a better user experience then it gets customers thumbs up. Just playing the old PC better specs game is not the solution to competing with the iPad , unless of course it results in a better faster user experience.


  1. The Vicar

    Junior Member

    Joined: Jul 2009

    +3
    04/06, 08:21pm | report spam | reply

    It's for Linux

    This is called "catering to your audience". At this point, the only people who actually WANT a tablet from Samsung are Linux users -- more specifically, Linux users who haven't noticed that Android isn't really open source by the usual definition of the term, so we're talking really STUPID Linux users. And Linux users -- especially really stupid ones -- really ARE impressed more by specs than by anything else. Who cares if you can't do anything with it? At least you're doing nothing faster than an iPad would!


  1. Makosuke

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +1
    04/06, 08:22pm | report spam | reply

    Really doesn't get it

    It's of course at least possible that this isn't even true, but assuming so, it's pretty obvious that Samsung really doesn't get it.

    With their previous aborted-release launch, I could kind of see it--they might have been poisioning their own well by releasing an outdated, underdesigned tablet that just wasn't going to sell. At all.

    But in this case, if it's only a speed bump, it seems crazy to hold off your release. If it were out now, it's unlikely many people would care about how many CPU cores it has, and at least they could duke it out in the market.

    Wait three months, and people... probably still won't care how many CPU cores it has, except Apple will have been saturating the market, and they're out three months of sales, plus look like a latecomer to the 3rd gen tablet market. (Noting, of course, that the first gen tablet market consisted of the iPad and the iPad.)

    If Samsung genuinely thinks this is a good idea, they are clearly stuck in the specs-bragging-war rut that drove the desktop PC industry into the ground. Sure, everybody has one, but nobody is making money selling them except Apple and maybe Newegg.

    Actually, speaking of Newegg... come to think of it, maybe Android tablet buyers DO care about how many processor cores it has. But that's not exactly a big market to target for a company the size of Samsung--good luck with that, guys.


  1. macnnoel

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2005

    +6
    04/06, 08:37pm | report spam | reply

    they're doing it all wrong...

    eight core is the future!


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