Samsung Galaxy Note II: 5.5-inch 720p display, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, S Pen gestures

This morning Samsung announced its newest smartphone, the Galaxy Note II. Following up on the original Galaxy Note, the second edition is highlighted by a 16:9 5.5-inch 720p HD Super AMOLED display. Powering that is a quad-core 1.6GHz Exynos processor and 3,100mAh battery, which should make running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on this one super-smooth. The device takes design cues from the Samsung Galaxy S III, which should be apparent by the curves and the similar color choices of Marble White and Titanium Gray. As far as optics go, expect an 8-megapixel rear camera that records 1080p video. Rounding things out, as you can see in the image, is the S Pen. Now sporting a rubber tip, Samsung believes the updated S Pen will have a feel much closer to pen and paper, and the Galaxy Note II has a bunch of S Pen quick commands and gestures. We've got no specific launch dates  yet, other than that the phone will launch internationally by the end of 2012.