Samsung Galaxy Note7
Riding on a wave of rumors and hype, the
Samsung Galaxy Note7 has landed. The new flagship will help Samsung venture
deeper into several market segments.
The Note7 is tough. It's the first Note
to be waterproofed - IP68 rating certifies it for depths beyond 1m. The phone's
metal frame is sandwiched between two symmetrically curved sheets of Gorilla
Glass 5. The new Blue Coral option paints the metal and accents in gold, the
rest in blue.
The Note7 has an amazing screen. Samsung
kept to the 5.7" Super AMOLED formula but curved it on both sides like an
edge phone. It has QHD resolution, naturally, but is among the first mobile
displays to feature HDR support - a feature borrowed from 4K TVs that allows
the screen to show more colors and scenes with very high contrast.
The S Pen promises a ballpoint pen-like
experience. The stylus can leave notes on the Always on screen. And it can
write underwater! Other new features include a text magnifying glass, a
translate tool, even a GIF creator.
The Note7 is secure. It adds an iris
scanner to its arsenal of biometric sensors. Soon, it will be able to replace
the fingerprint reader as the way to secure Samsung Pay, Knox and your personal
files (hidden in the Secure folder). You can still use the fingerprint reader,
of course. Both will be available to third-party apps through Samsung Pass.
The Note7 is Samsung's first with USB
Type-C. The port supports On The Go and quick charging. There's wireless quick
charging too, to fill the 3,500 mAh battery in a hurry (yes, it's 100 mAh smaller
than the S7 edge battery).
The 12 MP dual-pixel camera from the
Galaxy S7 is back. It features a bright f/1.7 aperture and OIS and can record
2160p video. On the front is a 5 MP selfie camera, again borrowed from the S7.
The Note7 is powerful. It's powered by a Snapdragon 820 chipset or an Exynos
8890 (depends on region), has 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB
storage. You get a microSD slot, but UFS cards are not supported. There's no
word on a 128 GB version yet.
Samsung polished its Android 6.0
Marshmallow customizations for the Note7. A bit awkward that it just ahead of
the Android 7.0 Nougat launch. The Samsung Galaxy Note7 will go on
pre-order tomorrow, August 3. Sales officially start on August 19, at least in
the US. All major carriers will offer the phone, plus many retailers.
Unlike the S7, the Note7 will not be
bundled with a free Gear VR, but for a limited time, you can score a free Gear
Fit 2 smart band or a 256 GB microSD card. More info on launch day freebies
here.