Samsung finally announced their latest flip phone offering, the Samsung SM-G9298 or “Leadership 8” in China. Over the past couple of weeks, leaked information on the phone have been circulating online. For some people, it could be a very nostalgic feeling as some of the company’s former devices were launched on this kind of mobile phone form factor, especially during the mid-2000s.
It is the successor of the W2017 flip phone, that was announced on November 2016. This new phone has a slightly upgraded specs and features.
The dual screen high end flip phone has two 4.2-inch Super AMOLED screens, first on the front and the other is on the inner section, when flipping or when the device’s clam-shell is open. On its physical aspect, the Leadership 8 is crafted by an aviation-grade aluminum alloy.
Same as the flagship Galaxy S8, the South Korean company added the option of wireless charging, Samsung Pay and the rear fingerprint sensor. It runs on the latest Android “Nougat” based on several reports. Other features include the Always-On display, where the users allow to check the date and time with ease, just on standby mode; a configurable hotkey, which is multi-functional; and the Secure Folder.
On the internal side, as you can see on the above picture, the control pad is surrounded by studded buttons, which includes the home button, call end key, back key and the recent key. Below the control pad is the standard keypad, which is protected when the clam-shell is closed.
In addition to the specified features above, the Leadership 8 carries a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset, large 64GB of internal storage, a microSD slot that supports up to 256GB, hybrid dual-SIM cards, and 4GB of RAM.
The primary camera of the Leadership 8 is equipped with 12-megapixel lens with f/1.7 aperture for improved low-light performance, which can be less blurry and reduced noise part of an image. On the front, there’s a 5-megapixel lens with f/1.9 aperture.
Samsung Leadership 8 (G-9298) key specs:
Internal: 4.2-inch FHD Super AMOLED display; 1920 x 1080 resolution
External: 4.2-inch FHD Super AMOLED display; 1920 x 1080 resolution
2.15Ghz 64-bit Kryo Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor
Adreno 530 GPU
64GB storage
4GB RAM
MicroSD slot that supports up to 256GB
12-megapixel rear camera, f/1.7 aperture
5-megapixel front camera, f/1.9 aperture
UHD 4K video recording
Dual-SIM, Dual standby
3G HSDPA, 4G LTE-A connectivity
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, USB-OTG, NFC
Fingerprint sensor
Android 7.0 ‘Nougat’
2,300 mAh non-removable battery
Rapid charging support
Wireless charging capable
130.2 x 62.6 x 15.9 mm
235 grams
Color: Black
Availability
Samsung hasn’t given any details regarding the price and release date. Sadly, it’s unlikely to enter the other markets, as the previous Android flip phones from the company were only released in the mainland China.
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