IFA 2012: Samsung Unveils Galaxy Note II, Windows 8 Devices

Samsung Unveils (Ridiculously Massive) New Phone

Samsung has unveiled its latest cross between a phone and a tablet - and yes, it's absolutely, ridiculously massive.

The South Korean company released its new line-up of devices at IFA in Berlin - the first public event for the company since it lost a patent lawsuit to Apple and was asked to pay more than $1billion in damages.

Leading its line-up of new devices was the Galaxy Note II - an upgrade to the device described as somewhere between a tablet and a phone - a so-called "phablet".

With a 5.5-inch screen the phone is certainly large, but is also thinner and lighter than the previous model.

It features a redesigned stylus ('S-pen') with improved note-taking abilities, runs the latest Android Jelly Bean operating system, has a new (larger) battery and has a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor.

In look and feel the device is similar to the Galaxy SIII, Samsung's flagship mobile device which was launched earlier this year.

Samsung said the device will launch in the US in 'late 2012' but there are currently no details about a UK launch.

Samsung also used the press conference to unveil the world's first Windows Phone 8-powered phone.

The Ativ S is the first phone to run the new operating system, and features a 4.8-inch display.

Among other announcements were an update to its Slate tablets which run Windows RT, the version of Windows 8 designed for ARM processors.

The 10.1-inch touchscreen tablet can work as a tablet on its own, or function like a laptop when plugged into a keyboard dock.

Samsung also unveiled the Galaxy Camera, a 16-megapixel, 21x optical zoom camera running Android Jelly Bean and featuring a huge 4.8-inch display.

Take a look at all the new devices in the gallery below.

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