Samsung Note 8 is official - Here are what you need to know
August 24, 2017 • Android • New Launch • News • Samsung
Samsung looks ready to regain top spot in the premium phone segment with the unveiling of its latest smartphone, the Galaxy Note8, a renewed Note, succeeding the recalled Note7 (due to battery issues.). The Note8 was unveiled on Wednesday (Aug 23) at a global launch event in New York City.
The Note8 sports the same bezel-less infinity design that made its debut on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones released earlier but the corners appearing more squared off vs S8's more rounded edges.
The display is a 6.3-inch infinity QHD+ Super Amoled screen and appears just slightly bigger than the 6.2-inch display size of the Galaxy S8+.
The Note8 will be run by 6GB of RAM with the latest Snapdragon 835 processor chip. There are several upgrades to differentiate itself from S8 series, most notably the S-Pen, Camera and useful new apps. making the memory and SD835 chip necessray to peform multitasking smoothly and processes images quickly.
The Note8 is also the first Samsung smartphone to sport two rear cameras, both of 12-megapixel sensors. One is a wide angle lens and the other a telephoto lens, with optical image stablisation on both lenses.
The dual-camera setup lets users adjust how "blur" they want the background to be through a new feature called Live Focus. Live focus allows user to adjust the blur effect and view it "Live" before deciding to click. Actually they can even do so after clicking. Note 8 also has Dual Capture mode, where both cameras captures and saves two photos ( you can choose to turn off this setting): one close-up shot from the telephoto lens and one wide-angle shot that shows the wider background area. The front camera of the Note8 is 8-megapixel with smart auto-focus that can detect faces while taking selfies.
The S Pen has been a loyalty winning part of Note range, so the latest S-Pen is improved with a finer tip and pressure sensitivity, giving users finer control over the notes they jot down or sketches they make. Speaking of note taking, the Note 8 also allows you to scribble without unlocking the screen.
Another useful feature - users can now select a translation option and translate words by hovering over text with the S Pen. This also automatically convert foreign currency and measurement units into default options that users can pre set.
Other mentions will be a Headphone jack, USB-C charging port, downward-facing speakers on the bottom of the phone and wireless charging.
The battery department is probably the focus - The Note8 comes with a 3,300mAh battery, a smaller one compared to the 3,500mAh battery in last year's Note7 in order not to repeat the same mistake. Samsung said the phone's battery has undergone a "rigorous" 8-Point Battery Safety Check system to ensure they are safe for use.
"We have been closely working with Samsung to make meaningful advancements in the science of smartphone quality and safety evaluation," said Sajeev Jesudas, president of safety testing firm UL International, which Samsung partnered to ensure the safety of its smartphone batteries. "As a result, the Galaxy Note8 has successfully completed a rigorous series of device and battery safety compatibility test protocols."
The Note 8 is certainly worthy of the wait, long time coming after Note 5 (Note 6 is skipped) and failed Note 7. It will be available in Black, Blue, Gold, Grey depending on region and rolled out in selected countries worldwide from Sept 15th. Watch our site for the release and be the first to receive the Note 8!