Hands-on: Samsung's Galaxy Pro is the biggest new idea in tablets since iPad

Samsung’s new Note Pro series, launched today in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, marks a new phase in the tablet wars - it's a tablet built for work, and it’s loaded with one thing Apple's iPad range has been noticeably short on for years: new ideas.

It may also terrify Microsoft, as it's clearly aimed squarely at the declining Windows market  - it's slim, cheap, and does (nearly) all the things Windows 8 does, but if Samsung's past pricing is anything to go by, for far less money. Office apps, for instance, are built in.

The range is due out in spring 2014.

The first shock is that it doesn’t look like a tablet - and not just due to the fact that the flagship Galaxy Note Pro is 12.2in - don't expect page after page of icons for apps. It runs Android, but Samsung have customised it to an extent where it's barely recognisable.

But it isn’t in any way a joke (even though you can make calls, which is usually a cue for a Dom Joly gag) - you can multitask on this, running four apps at once on screen, and videoconference. With security software built in, it just might creep into workplaces, replacing the slowly dying BlackBerry.

Apple loaded their latest iPads with work apps - but this is a much, much bigger step towards a ‘work’ tablet. Microsoft will be sweating - especially if it’s cheap. So far, prices are not confirmed - but the range will be out in spring.

Going by Samsung’s previous pricing, it might well undercut Windows machines by a significant margin - their current top-of-the-line model is available for less than £300 - whereas most Windows 8 devices are still £700 or more.

Even typing, the Achilles heel of tablets, is (fairly) easy here - the virtual keyboard on screen vibrates as you touch the keys, so touch-typists don’t have to look down. You can also use shortcuts such as Control-C for “copy”. With predictive Swiftkey built in, it outpaces iPad by a mile.


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It’s the first real shift in the way mobile gadgets have looked since PalmOS in the Nineties. Instead, little windows (or ‘widgets’ to use the correct geek-speak), display your favourite apps.

Samsung describes the look of the devices (there are four, ranging from a vast 12.2 inch model down to a 10.1-inch, and 8.4-inch model - as a “magazine” - with pages for communication, entertainment, and work (you can, of course, tweak these to your heart’s content).

The second big shock is that you can really, properly use this for work - hopping between apps like you do on a ‘real’ PC, or quartering the screen with four apps running at once. If the stylus isn’t precise enough, you can add a Bluetooth mouse.

It has one big thing going for it - that old geek joke, BYOD - aka 'bring your own device', or 'bring your own disaster' - a security problem plaguing businesses around the world, as employees demand to use their own smart devices at work. Samsung's Pros are secure, and do more than just Netflix and Angry Birds.

Businesses are crying out for a gadget that does work AND play, and isn’t an open door for hackers - as more and more employees ‘bring their own’ to work, often without telling their bosses. A former head of security watchdog ISACA said that in many workplaces, 30 to 40 per cent of mobile devices were 'under the radar'.

This poses a serious risk of data leaking - or company sites being breached. Adobe's recent 'data breach', where hackers stole not only 38 million usernames and passwords - infuriating customers - but also 'source code' for Photoshop and other software, potentially leading to hacks directed against owners, is a clear illustration of how damaging a breach or leak can be.

Samsung’s devices have security built in to lock down private data, it’s own Knox software. Just to ensure no one misses the point these machines are ‘serious’, you can also remote-access PC desktops and run, say, Word, transferring documents between the two. In a demo, this worked in instants - with the tablet in America, and the PC in Korea.

You can also do videoconferencing, and middle-managers may clap their hands with joy at the thought of the ‘brainstorming’ software, where groups can work together on a document, annotating it with the stylus.

Although it’s still awaiting a final polish, it’s easy to use - and, crucially, perhaps easier than tablets studded with icons - magazine-style ‘pages’ of widgets do the job, with a ‘dashboard’ feel where boxes show off, say, emails, or news updates live. Swipe sideways, and you reach another page.

You can, of course, switch it back to normal Android if it’s all too futuristic for you - but that’s rather missing the point. This is a machine meant to kick Windows when it’s down - and from an early glance, it does rather a good job of it.

Samsung has built this specifically for doing more than one thing at once - just as you do on a PC, a ‘real’ computer. You can watch videos and play Angry Birds, sure - but you can also bore yourself stiff with an office suite Han Office, which lets you edit excel spreadsheets. Boredom might seem an odd selling point - but for IT departments, it's irresistible...