Samsung Galaxy Note 2 from close quarters

Samsung Electronics launched the Galaxy Note 2, a giant-sized smartphone, in the US market on October 24. Attendees try out the new gadget at a launch event in New York.

Aside from the 5.5 inch screen, the Note comes with a stylus and runs the latest version of Google's Android operating system, Jelly Bean.

Kevin Packingham, chief product officer for Samsung Mobile USA, demonstrates the new Samsung Galaxy Note 2 during a launch event on October 24, in New York. Strong sales of Galaxy phones propelled Samsung's quarterly profit to a record high in July-September quarter.

Samsung's July-September net profit nearly doubled to 6.56 trillion won ($5.97 billion) from 3.44 trillion won a year earlier.

The innovating S-Pen of the earlier version has been polished and tweaked further in the Galaxy Note 2. As soon as the S-Pen is detached, the phone unlocks automatically and takes us to the S-Pen home page.

South Korea-based Samsung Electronics has said its Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 smartphones will help sustain its earnings momentum in the final quarter (October-December) of the year.

Holiday season fight: In addition to its Android-powered Galaxy series, Samsung plans to release ATIV series smartphones based on Windows Phone 8 OS before the end of 2012.