SAMSUNG has beaten its rival Apple to market again, releasing a giant 12.2 inch tablet with a redesigned interface aimed at people who dismiss tablets as unsuitable as a productivity tool.
Samsung announced the Galaxy NotePRO at International CES in Las Vegas today as part of a swag of new Samsung tablets to hit Australian shelves at the end of March with prices yet to be announced.
Just as Samsung released its Galaxy Gear smartwatch last year while Apple is rumoured to be still working on its smart iWatch, the release of the 12.2 inch NotePro comes a few weeks after reports Apple is planning to release a 13-inch iPad Pro this year.
The NotePro will come in both wi-fi only and 4G models and has a 2560 x 1600 screen with more than 4 million pixels.
It has a 8 megapixel rear camera, weighs 750 gram and has a 9500mAh battery which is rated as lasting 10 hours for video play.
It runs on Android KitKat but Samsung has redesigned the interface, replacing the traditional Android screen of icons with Magazine UX, an interface that allows the user to have multiple screens of constantly updating live tiles.
The NotePro also lets people split their tablet screen into four windows, which provides an experience more similar to using a laptop computer for high-power users.
To further boost its appeal to people wanting a tablet to be more like a laptop, the range of extras for the NotePRO includes a mouse and wireless keyboard.
Along with the NotePro, Samsung announced three new tablets in its TabPRO range that will come in 8.4, 10.1 and 12.2 inch models.