Samsung already knows how to draw a crowd to the Samsung Galaxy Note, an unusually large smartphone for AT&T with a 5.3-inch screen and a stylus for writing and sketching. At shopping malls, conferences, and popular plazas around the world, hired caricature artists in red berets sketch the likeness of passersby and then offer to print the resulting image on a t-shirt.
It’s a fun idea that works, judging by the lines of conference-goers at Samsung’s indoor booth and outdoor venue at Mobile World Congress, and by the independent Samsung Studio erected for the week in the humming Placa Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.
At South by Southwest (SXSW) this week in Austin, Texas, Samsung plans to show off the Galaxy Note throughout the Austin Museum of Art, and particularly at two events there.
Samsung is also teasing “an exciting special announcement” it’ll make on Friday, March 9, at 4:00 pm CT in the Samsung Blogger Lounge.
Samsung has just confirmed to CNET that the announcement will not focus on the just-unveiled Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 that Samsung showed off at MWC this past week.
Instead, Samsung will likely use the SXSW stage to host a product giveaway, a drawing contest, or the stateside debut of the pink Galaxy Note. The unbridled optimist within is a little disappointed that Austin revelers won’t get a chance to see the 10.1-inch tablet quite yet–the Galaxy Note 10.1 is even more advanced than its stylus-loving smartphone–although it makes sense that Samsung would rather drum up sales for AT&T’s jumbo phone first.
Never fear, you can still live vicariously through this hands-on video of the larger form factor, fresh from MWC.
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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
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Update, 12:35pm PT: Article updated with confirmation from Samsung that there will be no Note 10.1 at SXSW. Updated at 1:25pm PT to add speculation about the pink Galaxy Note.