TechyLH: SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7: the complete round-up

I didn’t miss a number. The next big thing from Samsung is called the Galaxy Note 7.

You may asked why did Samsung decided to skip the 6, reason being to simplify things and tally their product line with the S series.

Getting back to the main topic, we finally have it. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7! Unveiled during last night’s (MYT) Samsung’s Unpacked event. There are many new features to be in awe of! (Spoiler: Iris Scanner XD)

Continuing on the design language of Samsung’s flagship smartphones, the Note 7 is made using glass and aluminum. Damn does the phone look gorgeous. Taking inspiration from the Edge variant of the S series, the curved screen can now be found on Samsung’s Note line, but looking all the way awesome as it curves into the side metal frame.

The new curved screen on the Note 7 is a bit subtle compared to the one in the S7 Edge but nonetheless gives the benefits of giving an immersive feeling. You’ll find a beautiful (and big) 5.7-inch Super AMOLED QHD (2560x10) display with a high ppi of 518 at the front of the device. (Note: iPhone 6S Plus only has a 720p display).

It should also be stronger with the use of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 (one of the first smartphone to be using this). Improvements over the Gorilla Glass 4 seems to make this an attractive feature as they say that 80% of the time, drops from around 1.6m should not be able to break the glass. Good to hear that because from what I’ve heard, replacing a curved display is expensive.

Specification wise, the processor inside is Qualcomm’s top of the line Snapdragon 820 or the Exynos 8890 depending on the region. Malaysia should be getting the Exynos variant like the S7/Edge, which has more cores and is said to be very slightly more powerful than the Snapdragon 820 in terms of real life performance. 4GB of RAM is equipped in the phone which would definitely make multi-tasking and heavy gaming a breeze.

It now uses a Type-C port and Samsung gives out free micro-USB to Type-C adapter

As with all Note series, there’s a big 3,500 mAh battery (you also now have Fast Wireless Charging with the Note 7) which is non removable and for good reasoning. You might have expected it, the Note 7 is now IP68 Water & Dust Resistant (translates, can be submerged into 1.5m of water for 30 minutes). It’s not just the phone, the S-Pen is also protected from the inside out. In a way, telling you that you can now take notes underwater. I don’t see when you’ll need this feature but what the heck, an extra feature like this never hurts.

The S-Pen, which made the Note series distinct and famous, is now more refined. The tip is thinner at 0.7mm which should give more precise inputs. The Screen-off memo now allows you to display certain memo on the Always-On-Display which should act as a nice reminder. S-Pen is now a translator as well, you’ll only need to highlight the word and the option to translate would come out. Oh and the Note 7 has a Smart

Select feature that allows you to create GiFs!

One thing that you won’t find in ANY other smartphone is the Iris Scanner. Adding another layer of security to your smartphone, you can now unlock it in a glance (pun intended). It uses an Iris camera and and Iris IR for this. Apart from unlocking your device with your eyes, this can also be used to validate payments through Samsung Pay and also to unlock your Secret Folder. Secret Folder is a new app by Samsung to safeguard your most important docs/photos/videos. You can even decide to hide it from normal view if you want.

Camera wise, you get the same rear 12MP camera as the S7/Edge. This means it has the best camera on a smartphone. Front camera is a 5MP shooter.

Connectivity wise you’ll get Wifi AC, Bluetooth 4.2 and LTE. The Note 7 comes at a basic configuration of 64GB with the option to expand the memory through a microSD card of up to 256GB. For this, you have a hybrid dual-sim.

Colours available are: Black Onyx, Silver Titanium, Gold Platinum, and the new beautiful Blue Coral.

Can’t wait to get it? Well you don’t have to suffer long because according to one of the best site for Technews, Lowyat.net, Malaysia is apparently being one of the first countries to get it on its launch date (August 18) at the price of RM3,199. Pre-orders should start within the next few days.