Samsung on Wednesday has officially unveiled the Galaxy Note 8, the comeback device for the Note lineup after last year’s device was killed off due to widespread battery flaws.
To be fair, the Note 8 might be a device capable of amending the fiery reputation and resulting reputation damage of its predecessor. That process starts with a new multi-point battery safety check that was first introduced with the Galaxy S8. The fact that we haven’t heard of any S8 devices bursting into flames is indicative of its success. But the Galaxy Note 8 seems to be a powerful enough device to stand on its own.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Features
- It adopts Samsung’s new bezel-free front display design, though with a slightly larger 6.3-inch screen.
- It’s also equipped with a Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage.
- Beyond the S Pen stylus (which also got an upgrade as far as water resistance and pressure sensitivity), the Note 8 looks and feels very similar to its Galaxy S8 cousin — but with one noticeable difference. The Note 8 sports a dual-lens camera module with two 12MP cameras.
- Additionally, Samsung claims that, in an industry first, both sensors are equipped with optical image stabilization.
That much might be true, as even the iPhone 7 Plus only has one OIS-equipped sensor. Speaking of the iPhone 7 Plus, Samsung has also unveiled its own take on Apple’s Portrait Mode.
Samsung’s latest also carries some of the usual flagship standards of the day, including inductive wireless charging, an IP68 rating, Bluetooth 5.0 and NFC, and a USB Type-C port. It also has a headphone jack. It’ll ship running Android 7.1.1 Nougat with some extra software tricks like new S Pen features and dual-app support in Apps Edge. All in all, the Note 8 seems like exactly what you’d expect from Samsung: it’s a high-end flagship with specs and features to match.
Preoders of the Note 8 will begin tomorrow, and the device will ship on Sept. 15. Notably, that’s right around the same time that the highly anticipated iPhone 8 is expected to be unveiled. Whether the Note 8 will be able to compete with or steal some thunder from Apple’s upcoming flagship remains to be seen.