Pre-SXSW goodness and the new Galaxy Note: Nice to know that the iPhone really isn't …

My friends at Samsung gave me the Galaxy Note to play with at this year’s SXSW.

It’s a sort of tablet-meets-phone. A smartphone with a HUGE screen and little drawing stylus.

I drew the cartoon above on the Note. No, I really did. With the little stylus that comes with it (You can alos use a regular-sized Wacom styles with it as well, if your fingers are to big etc). Fun!

Besides that, it takes pictures, which you can THEN DRAW OVER on the spot. Here’s a picture I did yesterday here in San Antonio (I’m here visiting with my clients at Rackspace):

As an artist, this Android-powered device allows me to do stuff on the the go that my iPhone simply doesn’t. That is HUGE for me.

Here’s another one; this time at a Texas Hill Country Beef Jerky place 100 miles West of town, yesterday morning:

I’ve had nothing but fun since I got it. I understand other artists were given one to try out at SXSW (Follow their campaign hashtag, #BeNoteworthy), so we’ll see what kind of collective interest can be gotten over the weekend there.

My take? Frankly, I’m delighted by it. I’m not saying the Note is the new “iPhone Killer”; that being said, it’s quite reassuring to know that the iPhone is no longer the ONLY game in town. As a traditional iPhone user, I was accustomed to thinking that Android was just a poor man’s iPhone. And then the Note comes along and proves me wrong. Dead wrong.

I hope to be posting more photo-drawings as my busiest weekend of the year progresses. Thanks to Samsung for the great opportunity. Rock on.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamsungMobileUSA?sk=app_252790058139346

[Check out Guy Kawasaki’s post on the subject here.]

#BeNoteworthy #feed

[Disclosure: Promotional consideration by Samsung]