Samsung Galaxy Note to arrive in the U.S. in first half of the year

Samsung's bulky, but sexy Galaxy Note smartphone will arrive in the U.S. sometime in the next 6 months. The Galaxy Note AT&T model will sport something a little surprising when compared to its European brother from the same mother, NFC.

The Galaxy Note sports a 5.29-inch Super AMOLED screen with a Full Touch Bar, Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread (and not Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich), an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, the usual BlueTooth, USB, Wi-Fi, and then, NFC (Near Field Communication).

The most surprising thing in that spec list is that a premier Samsung product launching in 2012 not including Ice Cream Sandwich, but this may change between now and release. At the moment, the processor type is unknown, another strange thing about this release. For a full spec list:

• 5.29″WXGA Super AMOLED (C-type touch), Full Touch Bar

• Android OS: Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread

• 21M + HSPA, LTE

• 8MP AF with LED flash, 2MP Camera Front

• HD Recording (1080) / MHL ver1.0

• A-GPS, GLONASS / BT v3.0 + HS / USB v2.0 / WiFi (802.11 a / b / g / n) / OTG

• Sensors: Accelerometer, Compass, Proximity, Light, Gyro sensor, Barometer

• TouchWiz 4.0 for Android, Multistage, Augmented Reality, Integrated phonebookwith SNS, IM, Email, Face Recognition, etc.

• WiFi calling, Qik

• NFC