gdgt

The Galaxy Note 10.1 may be the best tablet available for graphic artists and designers, thanks to the S Pen and apps like Photoshop Touch. The pen is also good for note-taking, though it works best if you keep the Note's handwriting recognition turned off. I found that keeping it on slowed down input, as the Note attempted to make sense of my scribbles (which it only did about half the time, though that's more an issue with my handwriting than with the Note).

Samsung also adds a few other unique features, including its own multitasking functionality, called Multiscreen. While it's no match for desktop-style multitasking, and only works with apps that have been specifically optimized for it, Multiscreen is useful if you need to, say, refer to a web site while taking notes or sending an email. The Peel universal remote app, also available on some of Samsung's other tablets, works well with the Galaxy Note's IR blaster. Peel sells its own external IR blaster for iOS devices, but it costs $100.

Its display, though good, is somewhat disappointing, especially in a tablet at this price, which is being pitched directly to the creative community. Although I didn't expect a Retina display, Samsung should have included a 1920x1200 screen, like the one on the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity, which sells for about the same price.

If you're a graphic designer or artist, especially one with experience using a Wacom tablet (the S Pen's technology is licensed from Wacom), you're likely to find the Galaxy Note to be a better option than other Android tablets or the iPad, despite the price and lower-resolution display. Ditto if you'll be using the Note to actually take notes, and will be satisfied with notes saved as graphics (or are willing to work with the laggy handwriting recognition software).

If you're not, the Note is a little less compelling. While Multiscreen and Peel are useful, I'm not sure they're worth paying $500 for, especially when you can get a very good 7-inch tablet like the Nexus 7 for $200 -- or Samsung's own Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, which includes Peel and the IR blaster -- for $250. And with Microsoft's Surface RT tablet -- which will include stylus support -- coming out in a few months, it could make sense to wait, and see if Microsoft's long history in pen computing makes that model a compelling alternative to the Galaxy Note (though the RT will likely share the Note's lower-resolution display).