Samsung Galaxy Note tablet phone in pictures

Samsung says the Galaxy Note is a new category of product, but those of us with longer memories know better. It's basically a big phone that's cashing in on the current craze for tablets, a little like the Dell Streak. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially with these specs.

First of all, there's the screen. You might think 5.3 inches is too big for a phone, but when it's as bright as this we're prepared to give it a chance. It's the world's first and largest HD Super AMOLED display -- the resolution stands at a mad 1,280x800 pixels.

We're expecting similar performance to that seen on the awesome Galaxy S2 we awarded four and a half stars to. That sported a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, and was amazingly bright and crisp, one of the best screens of any phone we've seen.

Add a bundled stylus, called the S Pen, and you've got some serious tablet potential on a mid-sized screen.

Inside there's a super-fast 1.4GHz dual-core processor, HSPA+ connectivity, and despite the large screen and heavyweight abilities, it's just 9.6mm thin -- that's only just thicker than the iPhone 4. Considering the screen is almost a full two inches larger than the Apple's, that's pretty impressive, we're sure you'll agree. And weighing just 175g, it won't sag your pocket like a bag of coppers.

It's running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is slightly surprising, considering it's not optimised for tablets. But then at this size screen, maybe it won't make too much difference. We'll have to wait till we get it in our hands to see for ourselves.

On the back, an 8-megapixel camera takes care of the imaging duties, and HD video is the order of the day, with 1080p recording at 30fps. Oh yes.

So there you have it. A big phone, or a small tablet, whatever you want to call it, the Galaxy Note looks seriously impressive. We can't wait for a hands-on.

Here's Samsung's official video showing the Note in action