Galaxy Note Edge launches in Korea

Less than a week after Japan became the first market to receive Samsung’s eagerly awaited Galaxy Note Edge, South Korea is now set to go, with plans to sell as soon as the 29th or the 30th. According to Korea Times, the Edge will launch first on the country’s largest mobile carrier, SKT, with the smaller KT and third place LG U+ (yes, that LG) variants releasing around the middle of November.

The newsite also indicated the price will be 1.06 million Won, which is equivalent to $1,000 US as of the exchange rates listed at the time of writing this article. For reference the Japanese Edge is roughly $850 thus proving to be the cheaper of the two. For reference, the Korean Note 4 retails for 957,000 won ($902US).

Things aren’t so concrete when it comes to CPU details. Although the Korea Times reports the device will ship with the Quad-Core Snapdragon 805, Samsung’s own website spec page indicates the unit is shipping with an Octa-Core processor which therefore must be an Exynos chip. To make matters even more confusing, the phablet supports Quick Charge, which is only believed to work with the 805.

As readers might remember from my Japanese Edge impressions, there is some contention about battery drain with the 805, as I’m just not making it through a full day with solid use of the phone, unless power rationing is done. (It’s also possible the issue lies in the Edge having a smaller battery than the Note 4). Likewise, there is some major lag going on, especially when switching between Hangouts and other apps. It remains to be seen if these problems are caused by TouchWiz itself, the Edge screen, or the CPU.  On the other hand, the Korean model will support Broadband Cat.6 LTE-A, so who knows what will happen.

In terms of sales, things are equally unclear. Whereas Japan only gets the Edge, Korean customers have been able to buy the Galaxy Note 4 for several weeks already, on all three local carriers no less. Because Samsung didn’t give a solid indication of when the Edge would drop in Korea, its likely that many phablet-crazed customers have already sprung for the Note 4. Likewise there was no indication that the Galaxy Round was very successful when it launched there last year, so it’s possible customers are interested in more traditional form factors.

With the Edge now available in two major markets, it’s only a matter of time before the North American carriers announce their release dates and allow an entirely new part of the globe to experience the next evolution in smartphone design. As for Europe, let’s hope it’s not far behind. What do you think of the Note Edge, interested or not?