Samsung is preparing for one of the biggest smartphone launches of 2020, with its Galaxy Note 20 line-up, which is to be unveiled during next week’s Galaxy Unpacked event, along with several other products. Over the years, the Note devices have earned themselves a cult status because of their larger form factor (at least till everyone started using gigantic displays) and the unique stylus branded as the "S Pen" (which too has improved a lot).  

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With less than a week left for the Note 20 launch, new leaks are appearing almost every day, hinting at major upgrades over last year’s Note line up. We thought this could be the perfect time to look back at the first Note smartphone and understand how far technology has come over the last decade.  

Just to recall, the Samsung Galaxy Note was introduced during IFA Berlin 2011 and was eventually launched in other markets, including India. The smartphone featured a 5.3-inch display – which was massive for that time – given that streaming platforms were yet to be become mainstream and smartphones were hardly used to watch content. In fact, there are several modern day smartphones that have almost similar or even lesser screen size, including the Apple iPhone SE (2020).  

What’s amazing though, is that the first ever Note smartphone had a Super AMOLED display – a feature that is missing on several smartphones even today. It measured 146.85 mm x 82.95 mm x 9.65 mm and weighed 178 grams. The screen has a resolution of 800 x 1280 pixels and 285 ppi pixel density. 

The display quality has definitely improved with most premium Samsung smartphones offering QHD+ display. And, the new Note line up is expected to get 120Hz screen refresh rate.  

The major change has come in terms of hardware. The initial Note device was powered by Dual core (when was the last time I read that!), 1.4 GHz, Cortex A9 processor which ran the Samsung Exynos 4 Dual 4210 chipset. And, hold your breath, because it had 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage.  

Those were the days when anything above 1GB RAM was a huge deal. Just look where we have reached now. Last year’s Note 10+ or the recently launched Asus ROG Phone 3 have 12GB RAM models selling in the market. Then, we keep hearing about others than could possibly come with 16GB of RAM as well.  

Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ overview:

The S Pen on the first Note device was used to navigate the device's user interface and write or draw in supported apps. Sounds cool, right? Well, after last year’s upgrades it has been transformed into a remote control with swipe gestures. And, a recent leak suggested that this year it could serve as a pointer for presentation.  

The way smartphone photography has evolved, changes in the camera department shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The first Note had a single 8 MP camera at the back. Yes, this was long before the marketing gimmicks around the number of lenses and megapixels had kicked in. For selfies, you had a 2 MP front camera. And guess what? Nobody complained. 

Lastly, the Note came with a 2500 mAh battery which has almost doubled by now. Not to forget, it ran Android v2.3.5 or as it was called, the Gingerbread. 

Where does the first Note device stand in 2020? 

At the time of its launch, the Samsung Galaxy Note was one of the biggest smartphones in the market. In 2020, it would find itself in the compact category which is kind of funny in the hindsight. The display should hold its own, both in terms of size and output quality. The hardware has outdated faster than anything else and just one lens on either side doesn’t satisfy customers anymore.  

Yet, the Samsung Galaxy Note has aged better than most smartphones of the time. And the direction in which tech moved since its launch, it is impressive to see how many things Samsung had actually got right.