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Samsung today announced a ‘PRO’ line of tablets during its CES 2014 press conference, unveiling four new tablets; the Galaxy Tab 12.1PRO, and Galaxy Note 12.1PRO, 10.1PRO and 8.4PRO.

Each features a display with an impressive 2560x1600 (WQXGA) resolution. That’s almost double the pixels of a ‘Full-HD’ 1080p display and is the reason Samsung has decided to slap the increasingly-common ‘PRO’ moniker on to the end of its traditional tablet names.

Bigger can be better

By increasing tablet size to 12.1 inches Samsung has been able to extend its multi-view system to include 4 simultaneous tabs. By swiping in from the right-hand bezel the user can pick what apps they’d like to run concurrently and where.

This is the kind of thing that really does make tablets more useful. While it doesn’t build any bridges, it definitely makes the gap in functionality between a full PC and tablets seem less wide. Not having to jump back and forth between apps, or pause a video stream just because you need to reply to a message makes for a smoother and more enjoyable tablet experience than you may expect.

It also makes the Pen Window feature potentially more useful. With such a large display, you could easily find a small, out-of-the-way corner in which to open a chat app or video stream while keeping the background app in full-screen mode.

Of course, a (comparatively) giant 12.1 inch tablet won’t be everyone’s favorite flavor, which is where the 10.1 and 8.4 inch Note PROs come in. The 10.1 should still offer a decent four-window experience, but 8.4 inch users may want to keep things to two.

Under the hood

All the new Note PRO devices will sport powerful 2.3GHz quad-core processors and 3GB of RAM. These specs are already familiar to us thanks to the Note 3, leading us to believe that the processor in question is the always-welcome Snapdragon 800.

All the new tablets boast 10 hours of video-playback worth of battery life and the same mottled plastic back plate as seen on the Note 3.

Despite their eye-massaging resolution, powerful hardware and the capacity to power these features without dropping below the standard 10 hours, the new Note PRO tablets keep things pretty slim.

The Note 12.1PRO measures in at just 7.95mm, the 10.1PRO at 7.4mm and the 8.4PRO at a super-thin 7.2mm.


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