Samsung today launched the Galaxy Note 7, its much-anticipated successor to the Galaxy Note 5 and its next big Galaxy. The handset takes strongly from the Galaxy S7 edge, but comes with the usual suite of Note features that have been improved further this time around.
The Galaxy Note 7 features a design that is similar to the Galaxy S7 edge, though it features less rounded corners. The top and bottom of the device also does not have a slight curve likely to keep its height in check. Like the S7 edge, the Note 7 also features a curved Super AMOLED screen with Quad HD resolution. The curve on the 5.7-inch screen, however, is less pronounced which should make it less of an ergonomic disaster than they are on the S7 edge. The Galaxy Note 7 is also the first device to make use of Corning’s recently unveiled Gorilla Glass 5 that is less prone to shattering when dropped from a height of 1.5m. And just like the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, the Note 7 features an IP68 certification that makes it dust and water-resistant for up to 30 minutes in 1.5m of water.
To better differentiate the Note 7 with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, Samsung will be offering the former in new color schemes.
Internally, the Galaxy Note 7 packs in largely the same specs as the Galaxy S7/S7 edge. This includes an octa-core Exynos 8890 chipset clocked at 2.4GHz, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and a microSD card slot. The device will come with 64GB of speedy UFS 2.0 based internal storage, a welcome change from the 32GB storage that almost every other flagship Android device offers.
In terms of sensors, the Note 7 packs in an iris scanner at the front which can be used to unlock the device. However, as leaks have pointed, the feature does not work properly in low light and on people who wear spectacles. Other sensors include a heart rate monitor at the back, a fingerprint scanner embedded into the home button at the front, gyroscope, magnetometer, and accelerometer. As for connectivity, the Galaxy Note supports Cat. 9 LTE, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, and, Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac. Some variants of the device will also feature dual-SIM connectivity. It is also the first Samsung device to feature USB Type-C connectivity.
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The rear of the Galaxy Note 7 features the same camera setup as the one found on the Galaxy S7. This means we are looking at a 12MP shooter with an f/1.7 aperture, OIS and large 1.4um pixels. This is combined with Dual Pixel autofocus technology that will allow the handset to focus on subjects in almost real time. At the front, we are looking at a 5MP f/1.7 aperture selfie shooter with a wide-angle lens.
The Galaxy Note 7 comes with a redesigned S Pen that is capable of detecting 4096 pressure points and has a latency of less than 50ms. Like the handset, the stylus is also water resistant.
The Galaxy Note 7 will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box with the new Grace UX version of TouchWiz on top of it. The new version of Samsung’s skin features a cleaner looking notification bar and less cartoonish icons. The Settings menu has also been redesigned to make it simpler to use and navigate. Samsung is also introducing Samsung Cloud with the Note 7. The company will be offering up to 15GB of free cloud storage space to Note 7 users for storing their data.
The Galaxy Note 7 will be available from August 19 in key markets in four colors: Blue Coral, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, and Black Onyx.
