The Samsung Galaxy Note II is coming and it’s bigger and badder than ever. We had the opportunity to meet up with Samsung Canada last Friday to get an early preview of the upcoming mega-smartphone. Some people call it a superphone, others call it a phablet, but whatever you choose to call it, you’ll certainly have to pay attention to it. The “G-Note 2″ commands a certain presence.

We sat down with Ken Price, Director of Mobile Communications at Samsung Canada. You might remember that he’s the same guy who previewed the original Galaxy Note with us earlier this year. We were also joined by Director of Product Realization Vlastimir Lalovic, who was able to explain some of the features to us. In our brief interview with Ken (embedded below), we discuss some of the observations we made when we reviewed the first phablet and how the new Galaxy Note II addresses some of those concerns.

For example, there is now a special settings menu for “one-handed operation” that will push the keyboard or dialpad to one side or the other of the screen. They’ve also improved on the “S Pen” functionality with Wacom-style “hovering” and other innovations. Some core specs include LTE connectivity, quad core 1.6GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 8MP main camera and 1.9MP front camera. Despite having a larger 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display, the Note II is only slightly taller than its predecessor. In fact, the Galaxy Note II is narrower and thinner than the original Note. It borrows several design cues from the Galaxy S III too.

Pre-orders started last month in the United States. The Canadian launch date has been set for October 30 with Bell, Rogers, Telus and SaskTel; the AWS version launches with Mobilicity, Wind Mobile and Videotron shortly thereafter. You can expect the three-year contract price in Canada to be in the $200-$250 range with the outright price in the $700 range. I’ll be putting the Galaxy Note II through its paces over the next little while and the full review will be posted right here on MEGATechNews.com.