Sand, surf & Samsung in Bali

New tab from Samsung, new look of Bytes on Facebook

Sand, sun and the beach. That's what you expect when you head to Bali, Indonesia. You go there to chill except I was there for work. That meant tearing myself away from the natural beauty and trudging off to a seminar room full of people in suits. Okay, so it wasn't that bleak as I was actually looking forward to the seminar and suits. This was Samsung Forum 2014 held Feb 17-19, where all the cool stuff from Samsung for Asia was to be revealed.  
The whopper of the show was presented early on with the introduction of the largest curved screen UHD TV from Samsung. 98 inches. Blazing contrast ratio. Stuff to make tech geeks get a tingle in their nether regions. I can't imagine what the gaming experience would be like on the UD590 model. In fact I was trying to imagine as the presentation went through an automated vacuum cleaner and a refrigerator with multiple doors and hidden compartments. Yes, that refrigerator. Sleek, aluminum bodied, it featured layered doors that took into account that one common feature in families – opening a door and staring into a fridge to see what's ion there. What Samsung has done is create a glass door inside so you can stare into the content as much as you like without wasting precious cool energy.
That's not all, Samsung has also unveiled a new tab and a refreshed Note 3. The newer NotePRO tab is much bigger than the conventional models offering 12.2 inches of real estate. The octa-core with 3GB RAM provides fluid performance as tested. It also comes bundled with the S-Pen which should help not just with simple note taking but also those with an artistic bent. This is the tab to have if you want something big and light. It's pricing in India is set at INR 64,900. Not cheap especially when it comes to our shores but size just might be the tipping point for many. The vast Android market is icing on the cake. It seems to be the perfect blend for reading, gaming and web surfing.  
The tab lineup is followed up with a mid-low range device called the Tab3 Neo. Not quite sure how well that will be accepted herein Bangladesh considering alternatives have a sharper screen and pack more juice for similar price ranges. Unless this 1.2 dual core device is offered with very, very competitive pricing and a good bundle of software, I don't see it catching on very well.  It's priced at INR 16,490. Let's see what the rates are here.
The class leading Note 3 has also got a slight revamp with the Note 3 Neo. Leather back, classy stitching and a minty new color add more class to the previously cheap feeling plastic. Let's face it, you sell a high end device for a premium tag, you don't give plastic that creaks. Competitors like LG have shown how to make a device cheap but with plastic that oozes quality. No word yet on whether the S4 will see an upgrade.
I headed off quickly to the display hall where everything was there to be tried, tested and pushed to the limits. Our communication device market is booming like never before. Now with the advent of 3G, everybody wants a device that is faster, sleeker and cooler. I ran my most anticipated Samsung devices through their paces. Expect the 'First Impressions' next week. Suffice to say, the S-Pen had me drooling. Competitors? All that will come.
Samsung also unveiled their new line of speaker systems and office printing solutions. We'll have more on that later as soon as we get word on what's coming to our shores. Speaking to Samsung South West region President B D Park, he told us how the products will roll to BD in about a month following the India launch.
The tests and trials took most of the evening which meant less enjoyment of the Bali surf. It was a tight schedule albeit neatly arranged by Forethought PR. I did get my fill of tech for the day but I'm waiting to see how the devices stack up on a proper usage as soon as Forethought/Samsung BD brings us the test units. Emran Mahbub, my hard working PR contact from Forethought PR, who scraped his elbows falling off a bike, assured me that I'd get a device soon as it falls off a ship at the Bangladesh port. Watch this space for more.