BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — Samsung is serious about its Galaxy Note hardware, and has had a rare fit of intense product focus. The Notes are being pushed as artists’ devices. This much is obvious from the artists painting people’s portraits in the Samsung booth, and the caricatures covering every surface like a kids pre-school scrawlings plastered on a proud parent’s fridge door. But Samsung has also got some great developers on board.

Jeshua Lacock is an independent developer. You might know him from his great iOS app ComicBook!, which lets you create comic strips from your own photos. Samsung liked it so much they asked him to make a version for the 10.1 Note, and to make it an exclusive to Samsung for a limited time. Jeshua didn’t mention anything about the sums of money involved, but I doubt he’s doing it for nothing. And Samsung even flew him over to Barcelona to show the app off.

(One ironic side-note. Jeshua wanted to show me a prototype of an iOS app he’s working on, but wasn’t able to bring his iPad out at the Samsung booth).

And it seems like Samsung is pitching this just right. The pressure sensitive stylus that comes with both the five and ten-inch Notes might be a little cheaply put together, but it is a genuine difference between it and the iPad. I actually saw a five-inch Note in the wild my local bar last night, and it still seems ridiculously big as a phone. But as a small, pocket-sized artists sketchbook it is near ideal, especially if Samsung can get more quality art apps like ComicBook! on there.

In fact, if Samsung was to release a reasonably-priced, Wi-Fi-only version of the five-inch Note, it’d likely be the first Android device I’d buy.