Samsung unveiled its anticipated Galaxy Note8 smartphone, kicking off its event by thanking users who had stuck with the company following the Note 7 debacle of 2016.
“I will never forget how millions of Note loyalists stayed with us. Their loyalty has been a constant source of inspiration,” said DJ Koh, president of the mobile communications unit at Samsung.
“The truth is the Note is different from other smartphones, and Note lovers are different to other smartphone users,” he continued, positioning the device as a productivity and creativity tool.
Samsung’s launch follows the successful introduction of the Galaxy S8 line earlier this year, which indicates that not only has the company regained its momentum, but also the Note 7 situation did not cause too much long-term damage.
Device features
Galaxy Note8 continues the line from earlier devices, with a large 6.3-inch quad HD+ (2960×1440 pixel) screen and compatibility for Samsung’s S Pen stylus. However, the company said the default resolution would be full HD+, with the option to switch to quad HD+ via the settings menu.
As with the Galaxy S8, the company is billing the Note8 screen as an Infinity Display, with the large screen paired to small bezels to make it “comfortable to hold in one hand”.
S Pen was updated, with a finer tip and improved pressure sensitivity. The company showcased features including Live Message, which enables users to share animated texts or drawings across platforms supporting animated GIFs, and screen off memo, which enables up to one hundred pages of notes to be taken with the screen switched off.
The company also showed a feature called App Pair, which enables two apps to be launched with a single press – for example music and maps, or phone and calendar.
As anticipated, Galaxy Note8 includes a dual camera, with 12MP wide angle and 12MP telephoto lenses. Samsung said the device is the first dual camera smartphone to include dual optical image stabilisation (OIS).
Also included is a dual capture feature, enabling both cameras to take pictures simultaneously.
It has an 8MP front-facing camera. Samsung continued to include a standard headphone jack, and its Bixby voice assistant is also available.
The device is powered by an octacore processor, with two different versions listed (presumably Qualcomm Snapdragon and Samsung Exynos across various regions). It also offers 6GB of RAM, with several storage options (64GB, 128GB and 256GB).
With regard to the battery, the reason for the Note 7 woes, Samsung stated for the Note8 it conducted an eight-point safety check, “the most rigorous in the industry”. The device runs on a 3300mAh battery, with wireless charging and fast charging support.
Availability is slated for mid-September. There will be several colour options: black, grey, gold or blue.
