Samsung Galaxy Note: 5 Things to Know About the New 'Phone with a Pen'

The Samsung Galaxy Note, which allows you to write directly on the screen's surface, was touted as the phone with a pen in its hit Super Bowl commercial. But the phone offers much more than just a stylus and a beautiful touchscreen.

It doesn't hit shelves in the United States until its American release on Feb. 19 for AT&T customers, but you can already pre-order it, so here are five things you need to know about this innovative new phone:

1. About the pen: Samsung describes the pen for its Samsung Galaxy Note as being very similar to an actual pen. Called an S Pen, it slides right into the top of the phone for easy storage. The pen can be used to generate anywhere on the phone's 5.3 full touch-screen, and has a wide range of top-of-the-line functions including pressure sensitivity, precision, speed and more. You can take notes with ease and speed, and you can even draw sketches, edit photos and more using the stylish stylus, which is integrated into the Samsung Galaxy Note's native applications for a rich interactive experience.

2. The nuts & bolts: The Samsung Galaxy Note is a powerful phone. Its serious hardware puts it in the phablet range, meaning that it is a good combination of a phone and tablet for those users who are looking to consolidate their phone and tablet into one device. The Galaxy Note is a serious piece of machinery with a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor and 16GB of built-in memory. It is ready for AT&T's 4G LTE network, comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and is expected to get an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade at a later date.

3. What's it look and feel like? The Samsung Galaxy Note is not a small phone, but it does have a sleek look to it. Available in black or white, it comes in at 146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65 mm, and features a full 5.3 1280x800 touchscreen, meaning this is a pretty large piece of phone hardware. It weighs 178 grams, which puts it near the heavier end of the mobile phone spectrum (the iPhone 4S, for example, only weighs 140 grams.) But the added size allows for a wide range of features, and the phone's battery life will be top-notch, as it features an impressive 2500 mAh battery.

4. What extra features does it have? Because it is by no means a tiny phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note is chock-full of features. Its photo and video capabilities are significant, as it boasts an 8-megappixel rear-facing camera with flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and can shoot 1080p full HD video. The phone has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support and a handy microSD card slot that allows for upgrading the phone's memory.

The Samsung Galaxy Note's screen is the world's first HD Super AMOLED display, which provides for an immersive, high-def experience. Its S Planner software is an advanced way of keeping your life in order, and S Memo is a neat way to take notes, compile ideas and integrate it all with multimedia.

5. How much does it cost? The Samsung Galaxy Note will set you back $299 with a two-year agreement. It is currently available for online pre-order from AT&T.

Watch the Samsung Galaxy Note's Super Bowl ad, featuring The Darkness' song I Believe in a Thing Called Love below: