CES 2012: Samsung overview

Introduction

Samsung brought a range of new Android devices to CES with LTE and Super AMOLED being the central themes to all of them. All major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile) got in on the action. Most of the gadgets were GSM-flavored, but all of them had voice call capabilities to go along with their blazing fast data, even the tablet.

Okay, let's do a count and see if everyone's here.
On AT&T's side of the table, there's the Samsung Galaxy Note I717 "phoneblet", the eco-friendly Samsung Exhilarate and the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD, a Skyrocket i727 with the Galaxy Nexus screen.
On Verizon's side, there's just the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE I815, which takes up two seats with its roomy 7.7" Super AMOLED Plus screen.
Then there's the Samsnug Galaxy Nexus LTE for Sprint, which as the name suggests packs LTE connectivity in addition to the usual CDMA and EVDO. Other than that, there's no difference between it and the other CDMA Galaxy Nexus, the i515 for Verizon.
T-Mobile is also getting a new phone - the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G. It packs a 4" Super AMOLED screen and a Qualcomm S3 chipset with two 1.5GHz CPU cores. It's the one exception to the LTE rule, relying only on HSPA+ (which T-Mobile says can deliver up to 42Mbps downlink speeds).
Most of these devices should already be pretty familiar, so let's start with the Samsung Skyrocket HD. It features a 4.65" Super AMOLED screen with 720p resolution, up from 4.5" Super AMOLED Plus screen with WVGA resolution for the regular Skyrocket. The rest is the same - 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 8MP camera with 1080p video and LTE connectivity.
Anyway, the other new device is the Samsung Exhilarate. It's made of 80% recycled post-consumer materials, AT&T advertise it as "the first 4G LTE smartphone built to meet many environmental and sustainability standards". It's got a 4" Super AMOLED screen and eco-saving software features.
The third device for AT&T, the Samsung Galaxy Note I717 brings its usual assets - a 5.3" Super AMOLED screen with 800x1280 pixels resolution and the S Pen - but also LTE connectivity and a different chipset than the international version (this one uses two CPUs at 1.5GHz).
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE I815 has a name long enough for two devices and a screen to match that. LTE connectivity is in tow, but it offers CDMA too - for both data and voice.
We've already met the Samsung Galaxy Note I717 for AT&T and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE I815 for Verizon but we went on a second date and we have new photos to share. Join us on the next page.

Samsung Galaxy Note I717 hands-on

The Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T brings little surprises - it feels just like a regular Note. Except, of course, there are four capacitive keys below the screen replacing the one hardware and two capacitive keys combo of the international version. AT&T's Galaxy models typically feature this small redesign, so it didn’t surprise us one bit.

Samsung Galaxy Note I717
Both the Black and the White version were at the booth and the White one was wearing a snazzy white genuine leather protective flap over its screen.
The flap is attached to the left side of the back cover and features an embossed "Galaxy Note" logo and a slit for the earpiece, so you can talk even if it's closed. Now, the flap isn't strictly necessary as the Note has a Gorilla Glass to guard its screen, but it makes the sizable droid look a lot classier.

White leather protective flap for the Galaxy Note
There is a flip cover for the Black version of the Note too, but also a Brown and Orange ones if you feel like adding a little color. By the way, these covers aren't unique to the AT&T version, you can get one for other versions of the Note too.
The other interesting thing on Samsung's booth was a mini gallery of images drawn on the Galaxy Note using the S Pen. Next to this exhibit was the S Pen holder - a bigger version of Samsung's stylus that makes it much more comfortable to hold.

A selection of images drawn on the Note • Some accessories
Samsung is really pushing the Galaxy Note as the device for the artistic types or people who are constantly taking notes.
By the way, the Samsung Galaxy Note I717 uses Snapdragon chipset (two 1.5GHz Scorpion CPU cores, Adreno 220 and 1GB RAM) instead of Samsung's Exynos, but there's no way you'd notice that at first glance. We'll see if the brain transplantation lead to any major user experience changes when we get to spend more time with the Note.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE I815 hands-on

There's little new to report on the Galaxy Tab 7.7 since we saw it yesterday. We did see the leather pouch available for the tablet, it's available in Black, White, Brown and Orange versions.
There should also be a flap for the Tab 7.7 just like the Note's but that wasn’t present at the Samsung's booth. What Samsung did have to show was a Bluetooth keyboard with Android-friendly keys that you can use for long text entry. This one should be compatible with all droids, but if you're going to work with a long text, you'll really want the extra room that the tablet screen offers.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE I815
Other than that, it's pretty much business as usual. The weight (340g) and thickness (7.9mm) of the Galaxy Tab 7.7 haven't changed, and neither has the Exynos chipset with a dual-core 1.4GHz processor.
The screen is the same brilliant unit we saw when we reviewed the GSM version - standing at 7.7", it's marginally bigger than the one on the Tab 7.0 Plus, and it uses the Super AMOLED Plus technology with conventional RGB matrix (no PenTile here).

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7's screen is great
The LTE connectivity is the major change in the Tab 7.7 LTE I815. You can use the Wi-Fi hotspot feature to connect up to 10 devices to it (if you're using 3G, you can only connect 5).
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE I815 is SAFE certified, which means it packs a suite of enterprise-friendly security features including Mobile Device Management (MDM), on-device Encryption, Virtual Private Network (VPN) and corporate email, calendar and contacts.
We should note that Verizon's version of the tablet will come with 16GB of built-in storage (you can expand that with microSD cards up to 32GB).
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE I815 will launch with a TouchWizzified Android Honeycomb.
We'll be back with more images, videos and impressions over the next hours and days so stay tuned!