Skip to main content

Samsung Galaxy Note7 launched with Galaxy S7 guts: Price, specifications and features

The Samsung Galaxy Note7 is here. The smartphone will go head to head with Android flagship smartphones as well as the new iPhones, which will launch in September. Will the Galaxy Note7 help Samsung sustain its momentum provided by the Galaxy S7?

After a spate of leaks and rumors, Samsung has finally launched its worst-kept secret, the Galaxy Note7. As teased earlier, Samsung has skipped the 'Note 6' moniker to launch the new smartphone as the Galaxy Note7. The moniker is now in line with Samsung's Galaxy S7 series. But it is not just the name Samsung has tried to bring the Note7 in line with its other flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. From camera to processor, a lot of elements in the Note7 are same as the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. But it may not be a bad thing at all.

With the Galaxy S7, Samsung corrected a lot of things like bringing back microSD slot and water resistance while improving the camera performance despite going for a lower resolution sensor. Samsung's strategy with the Galaxy S7 evidently worked, and has already helped earn 14 percent jump in profits. The Galaxy S7's success also ended Samsung's slowdown in 2015 when the company lost more than $8 billion in market value, and faced severe competitions from Apple and Chinese brands like Huawei and Xiaomi. The Galaxy S7 also showed how Samsung's matured approach to an ever-evolving market with emphasis on experience than just harping on 'premium' device. We noticed the same in our Galaxy S7 review and called it the perfect smartphone.

What perhaps hurt Samsung the most last year was the fragmented approach for its flagship Galaxy devices. There was the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge with 5.1-inch displays, and the Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 with 5.7-inch displays. This year, Samsung has gone ahead with the Galaxy S7 with a 5.1-inch display, the Galaxy S7 edge with a 5.5-inch display and just one variant of the Galaxy Note7, which has the 5.7-inch edge display.

As mentioned earlier, the Galaxy Note7 borrows a lot of elements from the Galaxy S7. It comes with the same choice of processors — the Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8890, with 4GB of RAM. Samsung didn't go for the Snapdragon 821, which provides a 10 percent performance boost or even 6GB of RAM, like many Chinese flagship smartphones are doing. This is possibly Samsung's way of showing to the rival device makers that the experience and optimization is what counts rather getting into specifications category. Instead Samsung has gone for a more optimized, lighter version of TouchWiz to improve performance. It has gone for software settings to improve the battery performance, without having to go for a wildly large (and heavy) battery.

The Galaxy Note7 is a testimony of Samsung's coming of age. It is Samsung showing off that it already had the perfect smartphone and it has launched a new variant based on it, which offers a new kind of experience with a bigger display and stylus input.

Samsung Galaxy Note7 specifications

The Samsung Galaxy Note7 comes with a 5.7-inch QHD AMOLED dual edge display, making the device more intuitive, and again borrowing the key element from the Galaxy S7 edge. The Galaxy Note7 also happens to be the first smartphone to come with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, which can survive drops from up to 1.6 meters. It runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 SoC or Samsung's 64-bit Exynos 8890 octa-core processor, which will be region specific. Samsung is likely to launch the Exynos 8890 variant in India, just like it did with the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

The Galaxy Note7 retains 4GB of RAM, but has done away with the multiple storage variants. The smartphone comes with 64GB of built-in storage, and supports microSD slot that supports expandable storage up to 256GB. Like the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy Note7 also offers microSD slot through a hybrid SIM slot (microSD/SIM + SIM).

As expected, the Galaxy Note7 retains the same 12-megapixel Dual Pixel rear camera of aperture f/1.7 and 5-megapixel front facing camera as on the Galaxy S7. The camera also supports 4K video, OIS and slow motion video recording capabilities.

Another major change that Samsung is bringing with the Galaxy Note7 is the USB Type-C port for faster charging and data transfer. This also makes the Galaxy Note7 the first Samsung smartphone to have the USB Type-C port. Samsung however is also bundling an adaptor that is compatible with older devices. The smartphone is powered by a 3,500mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy Note7 features

Samsung has made some major changes to its TouchWiz UI over the years. The Galaxy Note7 marks another major stride in that direction. The Galaxy Note7 runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow wrapped under a revamped TouchWiz UI, and is likely to be upgraded to the latest Android Nougat 7.0.

The Galaxy Note7 comes with fingerprint scanner, which is embedded on the home button on the front. Also, the Galaxy Note7 also comes with an iris scanner for biometric authentication. The feature is highly similar to the Galaxy Iris Tab, which it had recently launched in India.

Samsung has also improved its S-Pen stylus. The new stylus come with 4,096 levels of pressure along with latency of less than 50 milliseconds. You can now also use the S-Pen to write on the display when submerged in water. Why one would do that is another question. But really, it is to say that the device retains its IP68 dust and water resistance rating even when the S-Pen is removed. Samsung has also improved the slot so that S-Pen can be housed properly with the smartphone.

The Galaxy Note7 carries a lot of features from the Galaxy S7. It also has the same IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. It also has a heart rate sensor. The Samsung Galaxy Note7 will also have Galaxy S7's "Always On" display.

With the success of the Galaxy S7 Samsung has proved that there is a still a market for high-end, expensive flagship Android smartphones. If the product is designed well and optimized, people are still willing to pay the top buck. The Galaxy Note7 will no doubt be the most expensive smartphone in Samsung's portfolio. How expensive, is something we should be able to hopefully answer when it is launched in India on August 11. In the meantime, the Galaxy Note7 will be going on sale in select countries on August 19, and it will be available in Blue Coral, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium and Black Onyx colors.


Source: Samsung Galaxy Note7 launched with Galaxy S7 guts: Price, specifications and features

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Samsung is building a revolutionary ROLL-UP smartphone

GETTY • US PATENT OFFICE Example of a flexible display, LEFT, and the illustrations filed with the Samsung patent, RIGHT Samsung has been awarded a US patent for a brand-new foldable, rollable display to use across its smartphone and tablet ranges. The South Korean technology firm recently used its flexible display technology in the award-winning Galaxy S6 Edge, which has a dual curved QHD screen. However this latest patent, which was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, shows the company has bolder ambitions for its curved displays. The illustrations filed with the approved patent reveal a cylindrical hub, which houses the rolled display – which unfurls like a pair of window blinds. US PATENT OFFICE The US patent contains a futuristic cylindrical smartphone with a roll-up display Users then pull a tab at the end of the multitouch display to unroll it from the hub and use the full screen real estate available on the tablet or smartphone. To achiev
Post a Comment
Read more

The Samsung Galaxy Note7 (S820) Review

This year has been difficult for smartphones, which is a bit of a paradox when you consider just how much better things have gotten compared to last year. With Snapdragon 820, 650, 652, and 625 we've finally moved past the shadow of the Snapdragon 810, 808, and 617/615. While there were Android devices that shipped with the Exynos 7420, they were often paired with a modem that was not necessarily the most power efficient. Despite all of this, there seems to be a general disappointment with smartphones. People are increasingly finding it hard to justify phones like the HTC 10 or Galaxy S7 with competition from OnePlus, Xiaomi, and even Apple with their iPhone SE. In this context the Galaxy Note7 brings much of the flavor of the Galaxy S7 edge, but blends it with the S-Pen of the Note line and a few new features like the iris scanner. If you were paying attention to the industry with the launch of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note5, it's very much more of the same rather than the m
Post a Comment
Read more

HTC 10 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 / Edge vs LG G5

In the Android world, we follow a familiar release cycle when it comes to flagship smartphones, mostly centered around the two major trade shows, MWC and IFA. This year, Samsung and LG were first out of the gate with their respective flagship offerings being showcased back during MWC 2016, and while HTC was a little late to the party, we now have all three high-end offerings to choose from. Each device brings something unique to the table to help distinguish themselves from the other, and we've covered them extensively here at Android Authority with comprehensive reviews, in-depth comparisons, and feature focus articles. Which is the best of the lot? That is what we aim to find out, as we take a closer look at the HTC 10 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 / Galaxy S7 Edge vs LG G5 in this unique triple-threat versus! Design In design, we start with the LG G5, given its complete departure from the norm with regards to design and build quality. The G5 now features a full-metal
1 comment
Read more