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Samsung didn’t shell out lots of money to announced their new Galaxy Note tablet/phone today. They spent a few shekels in Germany, a few weeks back, doing just that for the international model of the handset.

But today they announced the U.S. version of the device. If it were a movie you would say that it's “opening wide”.

The new Galaxy Note II phones will soon (in November) be available from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile Verizon and US Cellular (just like the Galaxy S III phones). Prices have not yet been announced.

You might have heard about the original Galaxy Note. It's a BIG phone. It has a 5.3-inch screen and a stylus for handing some tablet-like tasks. It is a GREAT device. But, too big for smaller hands. And now, in late 2012, it's a year old design.

So, Samsung has slimmed down the new model. A lot. And by changing the screen ratio from 16-by-10 ratio to the HD standard 16-by-9, they've narrowed the width while being able to stretch the Super AMOLED screen to 5.5-inches.

They've also paired-down the device's weight while increasing the rechargeable battery's capacity by 24% (now 3100mAh). It should feel a lot more manageable in everyone's hands – and pockets.

Inside, there's a quad-core, 1.6 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (expandable with up to a 64 GB microSD card). It runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).

As for the " S Pen" stylus – it's been upgraded. Same for what it can do. Listing all the new stylus features would mean you'd be reading for the next 20 minutes. Overall, what you need to know is Samsung has taken the innovations in the Galaxy S III phones and have added more. Lots more.

I'm sure I'll have lots to say in the full review.