This year’s Samsung Galaxy Note 6 is going to be EPIC. And that is very good news for long-standing fans of the phablet line, because last year Samsung really dropped the ball and did not bring the Galaxy Note 5 to the UK.

Instead it pushed the Galaxy S6 EDGE+ — a bigger, more expensive version of the Galaxy S6. This initiative didn’t go down well at all. In fact, it was kind of a PR disaster for Samsung, who, at the time, wasn’t having the best of luck anyway.

Things are very different now, though. The Galaxy S7 is flying off shelves, analysts have their knives out for Apple, and the Android space, at large, hasn’t looked this strong in years — and we’re only just in Q2.

The rest of the year looks to be very exciting as well with BIG releases from Samsung, of course, OnePlus, Sony and BlackBerry. OK, granted the latter of which isn’t a MASSIVE deal, but I for one am very interested to see how BlackBerry’s Android project develops.

"Making some assumptions about the launch of the iPhone 7 range, the Galaxy Note 6 will have four weeks of retail sales, reviews, and articles, ahead of Tim Cook’s reveal of Apple’s new hardware. If Apple stays true to form those handsets will go on sale in the two weeks after the launch event," says Forbes. "Samsung’s launch strategy would mimic the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge release schedule which allowed the South Korean handsets to get the jump on Apple’s iPhone SE in sales, mind share, and positioning."

Mostly, though, I am looking forward to the Galaxy Note 6. And here are six points on why you should too!

Insane Specs

We already know quite a bit about the proposed specs and hardware for the Galaxy Note 6. Put curtly: this thing is going to be a monster, the likes of which never before seen in the mobile space.

We’re talking bleeding-edge CPU technology, top of the line connectivity and 6GB of RAM — yes, you read that right: SIX GIGABYTES of memory.

New Camera?

The Galaxy S7’s camera is phenomenal and is easily one of the best point and shoot phone cameras we’ve EVER tested. Period. But Samsung isn’t one to rest on its laurels. It knows the iPhone 7 will appear later on this year and the addition of the Galaxy Note 6 to its phone arsenal is its best line of defence against Apple’s hugely anticipated new iPhone.

We know the iPhone 7 will be a great camera phone; talk of dual-lens cameras has been going on for some time now. That means Samsung has to up the game with the Galaxy Note 6 and current word on the street suggests we will see some improvements over the shooter currently in use aboard the Galaxy S7.

“Samsung is working on a brand new 1/1.7-inch CMOS camera sensor with an aperture as wide as ƒ/1.4,” reports Sam Mobile. “The new sensor could have a resolution of anywhere between 18-24 megapixels. The company is also working on a new compact 1/2.3-inch camera sensor.”

It added: “Samsung recently announced that it will not release any new cameras in its NX lineup (at least in some markets), and it has been moving people from its NX camera department to its smartphone department. The South Korean smartphone giant is really focused to improve the image quality on its smartphones, and it seems to have a very aggressive roadmap.”

New Note Productivity Features

Samsung is planning on introducing a new productivity feature called “Samsung Focus” which we’re expecting to function a lot like the BlackBerry Hub, meaning it will be a place where you can manage all your incoming and outgoing emails, tweets and the like.

Samsung Focus reportedly acts as a communications aggregation hub, bringing together, amongst other things, emails from a selection of different sources - again as with BB Hub, the idea is to eliminate the inconvenience of hopping between applications. As with BB Hub it’ll show calendar info, contacts, and memo notes in the same interface too.

Beautiful Design

Samsung is apparently testing two Galaxy Note 6 styles: 1) normal, and 2) with an EDGE display. Apparently it cannot decide on which to go with, but there will only be one. Our preference? Go with the EDGE, it just looks so much smarter than the normal version on the Galaxy S7.

Following the launch of the Galaxy S7, shipments and pre-orders for the Galaxy S7 EDGE appear to be the far more popular than the standard model. And when you’ve seen both in the flesh you will know why. In other words, Samsung punters LOVE the EDGE display. And, yes, it might not be that useful, but as a design feature alone it is stunning and a big USP for the Samsung brand.

MASSES of Storage

Another first here; the Samsung Galaxy Note 6 is tipped to feature up to 256GB of storage — and, no, not from an SD card. This is internal storage and if true it would be one hell of a USP for the Galaxy Note 6 and its user base.

There will also likely be SD-support too. The Galaxy S7 featured it for one and Samsung knows its punters like having the option of expanding the handset’s internal storage -- even if it is a massive 256GB.

The other big question is whether or not Samsung will introduce a removable battery inside the Galaxy Note 6. Samsung tends to prefer unibody chassis design these days, so if I were a betting man -- which I am -- I’d put my money on the Note 6 NOT having a removable battery.

And the reason will be simple: Samsung will pack a monstrously sized cell in the Note 6 and argue that removable batteries are not required. Of course, not everyone will see eye to eye with Samsung on this -- as evidenced in comments below -- but in today’s space you only really have one option when it comes to handsets with a removable battery and that is the LG G5.

ChromeOS Dual-Boot?

This is something of a long-shot and something of an "out-there" theory, but a potential scenario all the same. Why does the Galaxy Note 6, as well as other upcoming flagship Android phones, feature 6GB of RAM? That’s a lot of memory for what people usually do on their phones.

via GIPHY

Plus, there has been talk of a Android/ChromeOS cross-over for quite sometime now with reports suggesting it could happen this year. And what better device to road-test it on than the Galaxy Note 6?