Galaxy Note II Hits Verizon With LTE

Does Verizon have the best smartphone line-up of any of the US carriers today? With Samsung's Galaxy Note II finally arriving, that may well be the case; the 5.5-inch phablet snuggles up on shelves next to the DROID DNA by HTC and the iPhone 5, and is priced at $299.99 with a new, two-year agreement.

That's the same price as AT&T is charging for its version of the Note II, while T-Mobile apparently isn't keen to actually sell any itself, with its $369.99 sticker. All demand a two-year agreement, though T-Mobile does have a prepaid option on the phone, with no monthly commitment but a $649.99 price tag upfront.

Still, even at $300 after subsidy, we can see demand for the Note II being high. It's certainly a fast phone, courtesy of Samsung's quadcore Exynos processor and – on the Verizon and AT&T versions – LTE, and the Super AMOLED HD 1280 x 720 display is bright and colorful, and works well with the digital pen for notetaking and sketching.

A 5.5-inch handset isn't for everyone, but the niche for the Galaxy Note II has turned out to be larger than perhaps many expected. Samsung announced earlier this week that it had sold 5m of the phones into the channel worldwide.