Samsung's new Galaxy Note 10.1 brings refined design

Have larger 10-inch tablets had their date? Samsung doesn't think so. This is the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. It has the same name as last year's Galaxy Note 10.1, but there's a lot that is different about this tablet. For starters, take a look at the design. This tablet measures just 7.9 millimeters and it weighs 535 grams, that's down from 600 grams. It definitely feels a lot lighter than the last model, and as well, the bezels have become smaller. So, even though the screen is the same size, the overall tablet is smaller and that makes it more portable. Spin it around on the back and you'll see Samsung has ditched the glossy plastic look in favor of this leather-effect stitching. That's the same effect that you'll get on the new Galaxy Note 3 as well. It's not all design changes, though. Most of the hardware has been revamped. The screen now has a 2560x1600 pixel resolution. That's a very high resolution, and indeed, on-screen icons and pictures, it's all looking very, very sharp. The camera has been beefed up as well. On the back, this is an 8-megapixel affair. Spin it around on the front, this is a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for things like video calls. The battery is bigger and you get 3-gigabytes of RAM. This also has Samsung's own-brand 8-core processor which should make a very fast performance, though it's possible that you'll get a different processor depending on which country you live in. It's got Android 4.3 Jelly Bean on board. That's the recent version which is good and it feels very, very smooth to swipe around. It really is quite a fun tablet to use and I'm impressed as well with how bright the screen is. This tablet is going to come in lots of different versions. There'll be Wi-Fi, 3G, and LTE variants as well as 16, 32, and 64 gigabytes of storage options. That means you should be able to choose the perfect Note 10.1 for you, but of course, the fancier the technology and the more storage, the more you're going to be paying. Although it's called the 2014 mobile, this new Note is actually coming out later this year. What do you think? Let me know and check out cnet.com/ifa for much more.