Samsung fan first in line for new Note 4

Madam Zahra Aspar started queueing from 7am for Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 at the launch event at Marina Bay Sands yesterday. She got the phone for the stylus pen and its wide selfie feature.
Madam Zahra Aspar started queueing from 7am for Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 at the launch event at Marina Bay Sands yesterday. She got the phone for the stylus pen and its wide selfie feature. PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

AFTER getting her new mobile phone, Madam Zahra Aspar did the natural thing - take a selfie with it.

The 48-year-old senior administrative executive was first in line to purchase Samsung's latest offering, the Galaxy Note 4, yesterday.

"I got the phone for the stylus pen and, of course, the wide selfie feature," said the fan who has stuck with her original Note from 2011 for the past three years.

Determined to be the first, she started queueing from 7am at the launch event at Marina Bay Sands yesterday - three hours before the doors opened.

Other eager pre-order customers said they like the 5.7-inch phablet's large screen size for watching videos and surfing the Internet on the go. Homemaker Julie Lam, 44, is looking forward to using the phone's new heart-rate sensor for her jogs.

The Note 4 joins the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Alpha as phones which can take advantage of SingTel's faster 4G+ networks with surfing speeds of up to 300Mbps.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which were launched last month, run on the slower 4G networks. SingTel is the only telco here which has the 4G+ network but its coverage is limited for now.

Samsung vice-president for IT and mobile communications Eugene Goh said the number of pre-orders for the Note 4 was double that of its predecessor, the Note 3.

All three telcos said there was a good response to the launch of the Note 4. SingTel vice-president of retail and channel sales Diana Chen said: "The estimated demand for both the Note 4 and the upcoming Note Edge is about the same as that for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus."

LESTER HIO

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