A new report from Evan Blass
(a.k.a @evleaks) claims the handset will only be unveiled in the second half of
September, contradicting earlier rumors that talked about a late August intro.
According to "an individual briefed on the
company's plans", the Note8 will be Samsung's most expensive smartphone
yet, retailing for €999 unlocked in the Eurozone. Since the initial prices of
the Galaxy S8 and S8+ started at € 799 and € 899, respectively, this makes some
sense. If you're wondering how this will translate into US dollars, we're
guessing the unlocked model will retail for US$ 925.
The Note8 is said to come with a 6.3-inch 18.5:9
AMOLED touchscreen which would make it only marginally bigger than the 6.2-inch
S8+. So this time around the Note will differentiate itself less through size,
and more through features.
It will be the first Samsung device to sport a dual
rear camera arrangement, with each of the shooters having 12 MP resolution and
optical image stabilization. The lenses are "configured horizontally,
situated to the left of the flash and the heart rate sensor". The
fingerprint scanner will still be on the back, since Samsung hasn't been able
to make it work reliably under the screen. Its position will be on the same
plane as the camera lenses, to the right of the flash, but it will be separated
from these other elements by more space than what we saw in the S8 and S8+.
At the helm we'll see the same Exynos 8895 or
Snapdragon 835 chipsets that power Samsung's current flagships, depending on
market of course. The Note8 will sport 6GB of RAM however. The battery capacity
will be 3,300 mAh, which is less than what the S8+ has. This is probably
because of the space that the built-in S Pen stylus occupies inside the Note8.
Speaking of the S Pen, its feature set will grow ever
wider, with full-sentence language translation and currency conversion included
somehow, as well as pinning handwritten notes to the always-on display. The
Galaxy Note8 will also support Samsung DeX. The phone will be offered in black,
blue, and gold at launch.
