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Flash back to a year ago: Samsung's original Galaxy Note was widely thought to be too big for the average consumer and destined to be an also-ran in the crowded smartphone market. Twelve months later, the phablet's smashing success spawned a follow-up that's already outshining its predecessor, as Samsung announced today it sold a whopping three million Galaxy Note II handsets in the phone's first 37 days on the market.

 

The original Galaxy Note took two months to ship that many units, The Next Web reports, and its sales topped out at 10 million phones a couple of months back. In other words, the Galaxy Note was a hit, and the Galaxy Note II has already moved nearly a third of the original's total sales in just over a month.

 

Here in the U.S., Galaxy Note II sales have largely been limited to Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S Cellular. Expect the numbers to climb even higher once the device hits the shelves at Verizon and AT&T, the two largest carriers on American soil. They're already accepting pre-orders for the phone, and AT&T plans to start shipping said pre-orders on Nov. 6.

 

It's no wonder that demand for the phablet has been sky-high: our review of the Galaxy Note II found that it raises the bar for big-screen handsets in virtually every way, from its powerful quad-core processor to its vastly improved S Pen support. Plus, the Galaxy Note II lasts longer than any phone we've tested -- even with that big screen and those impressive internals.

 

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This story was originally written for LAPTOP and was reprinted with permission here. Copyright 2012 LAPTOP, a TechMediaNetwork company.