Samsung held its much previewed launch event for the Note 8 and started by acknowledging the problems with the Note 7 and highlighting the positive feedback it got from many Note 7 users – that Samsung identifies as the power users of the smartphone world. Samsung said it got a lot of feedback and insights about the previous phone. 85% of Note 7 owners said that they would recommend Samsung phones to their friends. The audience at the event apparently included a good number of previous Note owners.
The Note 8 is claimed to have the largest possible display that can fit in the hand. The introduction of the new device at the event started with the obligatory video. Turning to detail, the phone has a dual camera , and, of course, includes a touch sensitive passive pen that is more sensitive than previous versions (4096 levels).
The display is an AMOLED, but is less obviously curved than the “Edge” phones and the Note display does not wrap around the edges to the same extent, although it does include an 18.5:9 “Infinity” display like the S8. The corners of the phone are squarer than the S8 and the display is protected with Gorilla Glass 5 A new app uses the edge panel to launch two apps with one command.
The 6.3″ 2960 x 1440 display can produce up to 1000 cd/m² in its outdoor mode and supports HDR10 for HDR. It covers 83% of the front of the phone.
The dual cameras are a wide angle version and a telephoto version with 2X optical performance and each camera has image stabilisation in both phones and the feature is supported in videos as well as still images. There is also a live focus mode that can help to get a short depth of field, like an SLR or full-frame camera and is adjustable at capture or in post-processing. Both the images from the cameras are available and the mode is called ‘dual capture’. One of the sensors is the same as that used in the S6/S7, while the second is a 1/3.4″ sensor with a 52mm equivalent focal length and an f2.4 aperture. 2160P30 video capture is supported. The front camera is an 8MP version with f1.7 aperture and 1440P30 video support.
The processor is a Snapdragon 835 (US) or Exynos 8895 (outside the US) (both octa core) and RAM is 6GB with 64GB of storage and support for microSD up to 256GB. Battery is a 3,300 mAh sealed unit and Adaptive Fast Charging (like the S8), Quick Charge 2.0 and wireless charging are supported. The device is waterproof to the same level as the S8 and has a traditional headphone jack. The earbuds are AKG units (the AKG brand is from Harman, which Samsung now owns).
The phone is available in black, grey, gold and blue.
There is new software including a translation system using the pen and allowing note taking in white on black to avoid powering on the full display. Samsung highlighted its Bixby voice-based PA which is available in 200 countries around the world – in English. A custom phrase can be set up to trigger multiple settings (a demo was given of taking a photo with particular settings and filing the image in a specific folder and another of using “good night” to automatically switch on an alarm and change the display settings). Bixby will work with Spotify later this year.
Like the S8, the Note supports the Dex system for monitor and keyboard use (DeX Brings Mobile to the Desktop) and Samsung said that there are now more optimised apps for use on the display.
The Note 8 will be in stores from September 15th.
Analyst Comment
The Note 8 is very close to the S8+ but really just adds the pen as well as improving the camera. Hard to understand the whooping from the audience at the launch event, but the unit does look pretty competent. (BR)
Galaxy Note8 Spec – Click for higher resolution
