Samsung presents Galaxy Note II in Berlin

Showing little outward remorse at losing a U.S. patent battle with Apple Inc after a federal jury last week found Samsung had copied critical features of the iPhone and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, the South Korean company saw to it that a packed hall of Berlin's Tempodrom was greeted to a showy presentation of the new Galaxy Note II.

After an opening that featured a live orchestra, a magician and a cameo by German film director Wim Wenders, Samsung's chief of mobile business, JK Shin presented the second generation Galaxy, promising it would outdo its predecessor.

"It was just one year ago right over here at IFA where we introduced the Galaxy Note to the world. I am sure many of you recall that at the time we said we were creating a new category, we believe we did just that and were pretty successful too and tonight you will see more innovation with Galaxy Note," JK Shin said, "I am pretty confident that the Galaxy Note II will surpass the success of the existing Galaxy Note," he added.

The Galaxy II, which JK Shin said would be ready to launch in October features a thinner and slightly bigger 5.5-inch screen, powerful quad-core processor, the latest version of Google's Android operating system called Jellybean, and improved stylus function.

At 180 grammes and 9.4 mm thin the Galaxy also features a built in S pen, that with 1,024 sensitised points allows the user to take notes on the phone while watching movies, talking on the phone and generally use the Galaxy as a phone-cum-notepad.

It's the latest product to illustrate Samsung's attempts to make bold design changes as it comes increasingly under pressure to differentiate its line-up from the iPhone, whose simple and large touchscreen-based design revolutionised the mobile industry and is still considered the gold standard of design.

Samsung is also working to introduce smartphones with bendable screens later this year as it seeks to cement its lead in the $200 billion plus global smartphone market and challenge Apple, which is expected to launch its new iPhone on September 12.

The new Note comes just three months after Samsung released the third generation of its Galaxy S smartphone, which has already sold more than 10 million, and succeeds the original 5.3-inch Note, which was introduced in late-October and was a surprise hit, selling more than 10 million within 9 months.

The Galaxy Note phablet, Samsung's second most popular smartphone after its flagship Galaxy S, is not included in the list of the potential U.S. sales ban, and Samsung hopes the phablet upgrade will lift any post-Apple gloom at the South Korean group.

Samsung also announced the launch of the world's first smartphone using Windows software. Samsung will ship its first Windows Phone 8 model in the fourth quarter, according to a company spokesman.