Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 on sale now for £480

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition is in shops now, complete with octa-core processor.

The 10.1-inch tablet is on sale in white from John Lewis, for a UK price of £480 on the 16GB model. It's powered by a 1.9GHz Samsung Exynos 5 eight-core chip, with 3GB of RAM. Reserve online, and you can pick up your new tablet tomorrow.

Eagle-eyed Android Central readers also spotted the 2014 tablet on display in Currys this weekend, where it's listed as boasting a quad-core chip.

The new model raises the bar to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, the latest version of Google's software (until the Android 4.4 KitKat update comes along very soon). The 2014 tablet also takes the screen up to a resolution of 2,560x1,600 pixels and the main camera up to 8 megapixels, with a 2-megapixel video chat camera on the front.

The current Note 10.1 is £349.

The full-sized Note was unveiled alongside the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3, and shares a new leather-effect look on the back complete with fake stitching around the edge. The new Notes also share an S Pen stylus and assorted apps for writing on the screen, as well as clever multitasking that allows two or more apps to share the screen at the same time.

The brace of Notes are the only devices so far to be compatible with the Samsung Galaxy Gear, the first in a new generation of smart watches that pair with your phone to show you notifications and messages, saving you from pulling your tablet out of your bag.

Is the Note 10.1 a note-worthy iPad rival? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.