Do bigger things with Samsung's new super-sized smartphone
Samsung Galaxy Note 8, with stylusDuring a week when Google officially unveiled the latest version of their Android operating system (timed to perfection with a solar eclipse), Samsung have come full circle themselves and treated us to the latest addition to the Note family.
Introducing the Samsung Galaxy Note8: complete with Infinity Display.
Lets run through the checklist of requisite features:
Dual cameras? Check, and both are 12MP to boot.
Fingerprint sensor? Check, on-back and off-centre.
Stylus, waterproofing, memory card support? Absolutely! The new S-Pen is even better than last year's iteration, the phone is IP68 and dustproof, and can take microSD cards up to 256GB.
In terms of processing horsepower, Samsung’s in-house Exynos 8895 chipset makes its appearance on the European and Asian variants, while Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 motors the American and Chinese versions.
Before we forget, a 3300 mAh battery makes its appearance powering a 6.3” QHD+ Infinity Display pushing 521ppi at 420 nits. A front-facing 8MP camera, nano-SIM card slot, USB-type C charging port and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 round off this autumn’s highly anticipated newcomer to the Android world.
Hardware specs aside, the Note8 launches with Android 7.1 overlaid with TouchWiz 4.0. Not too different from the Samsung S8/S8+, but we fully expect the Note8 to upgrade to Android O in due course.
Samsung are ready to once again tap into the yearning groundswell for a 6”+ Android device, six years after they introduced the world to the first Note – which featured a display a whole inch smaller. The future does point to bigger things still as 5” - 6” devices pick up the mantle from those with smaller displays.
Surprised at how far we have come? We think you will be, especially as Samsung’s Note8 teaser invited us to “Do bigger things”.
Pre-order the Note8 (in midnight black) on Virgin Mobile before 15 September and receive Samsung’s DeX accessory - enabling you to connect your Note8 to a keyboard, mouse and monitor and all but do away with your desktop computer altogether - as well as a 64GB micro-SD card.
Sound off in the comments and let us know what excites you most of the new Note – go on, you know you want to.
