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.

With all these features that highlight the best of Android, I would daresay this is the smartphone to beat now. 

Sources: Samsung, Lowyat.net, GSMArena, TechRadar:Note 7 vs Note 5, TechRadar: Note 7 vs iPhone 6S Plus

Gallery of Samsung's Unpacked event: 

Real leaked images of the Samsung Galaxy S7

It's as if nothing about the up and coming S7 can be hidden (or even whether Samsung even bother to be secretive about it), now there are leak images of the supposedly next flagship S series for Samsung.

Thanks to Vietnamese tech website ReviewDao, the images shows the back of the device quite clearly to the point that you can say that the rumour about Samsung reducing the camera hump is real.

Noted by The Independent, the back does look like plastic but this could just be a prototype and might probably differ from the real thing.

Another image would be from Weibo where you can see the front side of the supposedly S7 Edge, as with rumours circulating the S7 Edge certainly has more curved edges (see the top of it) compared to only having it on the sides.

To read more on the next great thing from Samsung, do visit the TechRumours section for the comprehensive coverage on the Galaxy S7.

All in all, we'll wait excitedly for the S7 to come this 22nd Feb 2016 at 2:00 a.m. MYT. This could probably be the best Android phone a tech enthusiast could ask for.

Source: TheIndependent, ReviewDao

Date for the S7 launch is known!

Among the most anticipated phones of the year is noneother than the Samsung Galaxy S7. Many are wondering when will it be released ? Thanks to the most famous tech leaker Evan Blass who uploaded on his twitter account an image of the invite to the SAMSUNG UNPACKED 2016 (where Samsung usually launches/announce the Galaxy S Series)

The date is Feb 21 2016, which happens to be a Sunday. The location of the event is most probably Barcelona but I'll double check on that.

As a refresher, here's what the S7 is said to be equipped with:

• CPU: Exynos 8890/Snapdragon 820
• RAM: 4GB
• SCREEN: 5.1-inch (standard), 5.5-inch (Edge)
• CAMERA: 12MP (with BRITECELL technology)
• STORAGE: 32GB, 64GB
• FEATURES: slot MicroSD, Kalis air, pengecasan tanpa wayar

In addition lately, Evan Blass also leaked an image of the purpoted backs of the S7. 

Personally I can't wait for the arrival of the S7. Samsung did a great job with S6 where they improved in terms of built quality, camera and processing power. Fingers crossed that the S7 would blow us away with the expected leaks. Maybe this could be the smartphone that switches me to Android

Source: Twitter 

ALL RUMOURS GATHERED: SAMSUNG GALAXY S7

What better tp talk about and start this page other than with the up and coming device, the successor to the successful Galaxy S line, the S7.

On this post I’ll be updating on any possible rumour/gossips relating to Samsung’s next flagship so be sure to tune in to this post if you’re eagerly awaiting for the device.

Launch Date

Rumours circulating are saying that Samsung is pulling the launch date of the S7 earlier next year as compared to before with possible dates being in January or even early February (before this they would usually launch their devices in March). This is said to be a part of their strategy to minimize the impact of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus sales on them.

The launch date has been leaked by Evan Blass on his twitter account. The Samsung Unpacked Event will be held on Feb 21,2016

The device is also expected to hit shelves quite fast (something Samsung is known for), for example the latest info suggest that the European rollout will begin on March 11 2016

Source: BGR

A leaked slide Source: Phonearena

Design

Rumous are circulating that the S7 will maintain the general design of the S6 with little modifications, taking a leaf out of Apple's book where "If it's not broken, don't fix it." But this year's iteration would be a bit thicker than last year's to include some new features. Read on to know what they are.

Source: GSMArena

These are the rumoured displays that are going to be launched

• 5.1-inci, Edge display
• 5.5-inci, standard display
• 6-inci, standard display
• 6-inci, Edge display 

Source: GSMArena

There will be 2 versions/size for the S7.
5.1-inch for the standard screen
5.5-inch for the Edge Screen

Build material would also be the same as the one used on the S6.

Latest news:

Leaked images from ReviewDao and Weibo showing the front and back of the S7 Edge

Definitely the leaked images confirms rumours that the S7 would feature curvier sides.

Source: Android Headlines

In the first picture you can see all three supposedly colour options for the Samsung S7 Edge (Silver, Black, and Gold)

                                      

While in the second picture is the standard screen Samsung Galaxy S7

From Evan Blass and TalkAndroid

In addition, yes there's more,, a user from Weibo uploaded an image of the S7 Edge being turned on albeit being a bit blurry.

Below are images from Android Authority

The only sad part would be that they reported the S7 would not be having a USB-C port :(

From the video, you'll get to see a snippet of the OS with Samsung's refined TouchWiz that comes with the phone. It seems pretty toned down and less bloated than previous versions which should be good and will satisfy many Android users.

Apart from that, there is an older image that popped up. This time it's from PCMag that shows the front and back of a gold S7.

Camera

So far there are 3 possible routes that Samsung may take in this department

• -        To upgrade the camera from a 16MP shooter to a 20MP shooter using the same ISOCELL technology. The camera would still be made by Samsung themselves.
• -        To decrease the amount of MP from 16MP to 12MP. What they basically trying to achieve is to place in bigger sensor capable of capturing more light with the help of their BRITECELL technology (similar to Apple is doing and what HTC tried to do with their Ultrapixel)
• -        To use Sony’s latest Exmor MX300 sensor which was placed 1^st among all smartphones camera by DxOMark. Question is, would Sony be willing to supply to Samsung?

The latest rumour is that Samsung would take the 2nd route, using their new BRITECELL technology that while reducing their megapixel, allowing better low-light performance.
The aperture is said to be large at f/1.7.



Source: AndroidHeadlines, AndroidHeadlines 2,

The camera hump on the back of the S6 that was certainly not a strong point on last year's flagship is said to be reduced on the S7, based on the leaked image it would be from 1.7mm to only 0.8mm.

Source: @Onleaks, AndroidHeadlines

CPU

Samsung had to use their in-house processor earlier this year with the S6 as heat problems arised from the Snapdragon 810 (although Qualcomm denied it). Most other manufacturers would instead opt for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808 or even delay the launch for the revised vision of the 810.

Would Samsung be continuing with their in-house processor or would they switch back to Qualcomm’s? Reports are suggesting that Samsung is opting to make half of the S7 run on their Exynos 8890 while the other half being powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 820 (said to be more powerful and efficient, translate: not as hot as 810).

The major difference between the two is the number of cores where the Exynos would be having 8-cores while the Snapdragon 820 would only have 4-cores. Otherwise especially in terms of performance shouldn’t be too much apart. Rumours pointing that both would be used for catering different markets.

Latest rumours pointing that the US and GSM models would receive the Snapdragon processor while other markets such as the Asian market would get the Exynos. 

Source: Sammobile

This would be accompanied by 4GB of RAM.

BATTERY

Batery is said to be bigger (the reason the thickness would be increased). The standard version would be from 2550 mAh to 2600 mAh while the Edge version would be increased from 3000 mAh to 3600 mAh.

Another happy rumour from Russian Mobile Review (Eldzar Murtazin) states that the S7 could last for 17 hours playing video at full brightness.

Other than that, he also shared screenshots of the S7's battery performance and claim that it could last two days on a single charge with the screen at 75% brightness, LTE turned on all the time and two sims running simultaneously.

Source: AndroidHeadlines

New tips leaked by Android Authority suggest that the standard S7 would have a 2800 mAh battery.

FEATURES  

It is said that Samsung would please its most loyal fans by re-including a microSD slot that could supports up to 200GB of extra storage.


The most interesting for me personally would be that the S7 would be water resistant and dust resistant with a rating of IP68! This means the device should be able to be submerged to up to a depth of 1 meter for around 30 minutes. Time for under-water selfies ^_^

Source: Stuff

Wireless charging would still remain but would be faster, taking only 2 hours to fully charge the standard S7 while the S7 Edge version takes around 2.2 hours.

Source: Talkandroid, AndroidHeadlines