At a special event today, August 24, 2017, at Samsung Hall, SM Aura in Taguig City, we have managed to get both hands on the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Here’s our first look.
At first glance, it looks absolutely great and fantastic. However, when we hold the device, we think that it is the direct resemblance on the Samsung Galaxy S8 series, nevertheless, this massive phone carries a 6.3-inch Wide QHD screen with Super AMOLED display and is the biggest smartphone ever in the Note series. Good thing that the front display is some of the best-looking devices out there in the market.
On both sides of the Note 8, there’s a metal frame with a curved symmetrical pattern in the Corning Gorilla Glass panels, both front, and back. It adds to the attractive physical look. Further, the phone has been certified IP68 – which means, it can submerge on a water for 30 minutes for up to 1.5 meter. It is also protected from dirt, dust, and sand without the need of covers.
One of the main highlights, the Infinity Display on the front panel with near bezel-less screen. The screen-to-body ratio is great and has an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. Now let’s move on to the buttons and controls of the handset.
At the top of the display lies the 8-megapixel sensor with bright f/1.7 aperture, the iris scanner. On the bottom side is absolutely empty. Instead, there’s a pressure sensitive on-screen buttons on the screen, the recent, home, and the back. The SIM card is, however, located at the top right part.
3.5 mm jack, USB Type-C connector and speaker
We can find the volume rocker and the dedicated Bixby button on the left-hand side and the power button at the right-hand part of the Galaxy Note 8. Lastly, the bottom section, we’ve got the single speaker grille, a USB Type-C connector that supports fast charging and the 3.5 mm jack. Good thing that the latter is still intact, as some of the devices today are ditching the audio jack and is partnered with a Bluetooth headset.
When we turn the device to its back panel is where the most interesting feature located, the dual camera system, a first from the company. Both the two lenses have a 12-megapixel shooter (f/1.7 aperture for wide-angle and f/2.4 aperture for telephoto) with respective optical image stabilization, also the first of its kind in the mobile industry. It means that even when your hands are shaky, the camera can still take clear pictures. Further, there’s a 2x optical zoom, a true zoom lens that produces better-quality images.
A new feature called “Live Focus” allows the user to take pictures with “bokeh” effect, that can automatically blur an image while the subject is still in focus. It can be adjusted by the way so you have no worry about it. And here’s another thing, the camera may capture two pictures during this mode. Fantastic, isn’t it?
The fingerprint scanner is positioned to the right of the dual-LED flash (right of the dual rear cameras), as it awkwardly hard to get by our finger. It can also act as a heart rate sensor.
Ultimately, the S-Pen. It is also a water and dust resistant. There’s a lot of features that we can do and see here. Like writing an off-screen memo. This feature is when the display is off, just write everything you want on the screen using the pen. It will stay because of the Always-On display. We can also highlight texts in an article and it can be translated LIVE into over 30 languages!
Lastly, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 runs on Android 7.1.1 “Nougat”, with Samsung’s Grace UI on top and is expected to be upgraded to Android 8.0 “Oreo”.
As we have the review unit, we will test all the features, including the camera, battery life, performance, audio, and connectivity, so kindly stay tuned for that.
Availability
According to Samsung Mobile Philippines, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will be available on pre-order at any participating stores nationwide, including online retailers, such as Lazada Philippines, Abenson or Argomall, starting September 8 to 17, 2017. Just pay P2,000 of down payment, either cash or credit card. Those will participate gets a FREE AKG Speaker worth P7,990, 20% off on one (1) selected accessory and 10% discount on one (1) selected Wearable, either the Gear Fit 2 Pro or the Gear S3 Frontier.
Smart and Globe will be offering the said device in the following weeks. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will be officially available in stores locally starting September 29, 2017, with an official price tag of P49,990. For credit card payment, Citibank will offer 0% interest for 36 months, for as low as P1,388.61/month and for 24 months, with BDO. Finally, the device is the first flagship phone in the country to be available in Home Credit and is 0% interest for 12 months.
Thank you Sir. 🙂
Nice on Matt!