Pricey Samsung Galaxy Note hits new highs in benchmarks

We have some good news and some bad news regarding the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Note. If you were impressed by this device at IFA 2011 and were looking forward to buying it, you better read closely. As usual, we will start with the good news.

Techblog.gr managed to run the Quadrant benchmark on a unit at the IFA and got some impressive scores. The Galaxy Note managed to snag a score of 3,624. To put that figure into perspective, theGalaxy S II with a 1.2GHz processor achieved 3,538 in our tests. One must also remember that along with a faster processor, the Galaxy Note also has a 1280 x 800 resolution display, with nearly 2.5 times the number of pixels on the Galaxy S II's display. Also, the Galaxy Note at the IFA are probably pre-production units and the scores could improve later on. This means you can expect some pretty solid performance from the Galaxy Note when it launches by the end of the year.

Now for the bad news. Samsung has announced the price for the Scandinavian countries and it doesn't look good. The Galaxy Note will be sold in Denmark in November for 5,600 Danish krone, which is approximately $1,066 (€750). Meanwhile, Norway will be getting it for 5,700 Norwegian krone ($1,052, €742), Sweden will get it for 6,000 Swedish krona ($929, €655) and Finland will get it for €799 ($1,133).

That price takes the Galaxy Note beyond the realm of smartphones and into tablet territory. In fact it is more expensive than even the most expensive iPad 2 ($829), which is where the problem comes in as the Galaxy Note cannot match full-fledged tablets like the iPad 2 or the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in terms of screen real estate. It will already be alienating smartphone buyers looking for something more compact. And now with a price like this, it remains to be seen who and how many will actually buy this device.