Samsung’s newest smartphone is the Note8 which will be officially launched on 23 August. Given the disaster that was the Note7, the Note8 could be the biggest comeback since Wayne Rooney’s hairline. So what have Samsung got up their sleeve for the next S-Pen equipped smartphone?
While the Note 7 will probably go down in history as the very worst smartphone of all time, you know with all the blowing up and that, spec wise it was actually a bad ass bit of kit. Where does Samsung go from here? Well, think S8 with a stylus.
Samsung Galaxy Note8 Specs
That smartphone leaker, Evan Blass, has been at it again:
When it rains etc. pic.twitter.com/D0lFR5Wn1B
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 1, 2017
When he leaks, man does he leak. It appears that he’s actually confirmed most of the Note8 specs already. I called it months ago, but the Note 8 is going to be a slightly bigger Galaxy S8 with an S-Pen. The waterproofing grade IP-68 and you can expect the phone to cost in the region of €1000.
The Leaks
We still have to describe these as leaks as Samsung has yet to officially launch, but this would appear to be fairly likely stuff.
Screen
The Note8 will boast a 6.3-inch SuperAMOLED display. The corners will be slightly rounded, a feature made popular with the Moto G6 and Galaxy S8 and the screen will be curved. All in all, it’ll be ever so slightly bigger Galaxy S8+. This should make for the best Gear VR experience yet and we all know how much I love HD RV. Kobold I will not be, seeing you anytime soon.
That mad rumour about the Note8 having a foldable display – it’s still mad and not happening. Samsung is rumoured to be prepping to foldable phones for the next year though which is a fun thought.
Battery
Really trying to not make any battery related jokes here, but the battery here has to not only be big and powerful, but it will also have to be the safest battery we have ever seen. Even standard enough overheating issues (they happen) can’t happen here. As long as it doesn’t blow up, then that is all that we can ask for.
The Note 7 findings confirmed that the explosions were the result of two different battery failures. So we expect Samsung to play it cool with a smaller battery capacity than it could technically go with. Hopefully, we won’t see any more ads showing how great Samsung’s testing is.
Leaks suggest the Note8 will ship with a a fast-charging 3300mAh battery, rocking USB-C.
Design
In short, we reckon that the style will follow that of the Samsung S8, with a glass and metallic form, the infinity display and slight curvature to add style to the front face.
Again like the S8 range the new Note 8 won’t have a button on the front face, but will instead have a pressure-sensitive screen that brings up different menus and options depending on how hard you press the display. It sounds similar to the 3D Touch system made by Apple, however, we are hoping that the guys from Samsung will figure out how to put the finger print sensor on the display. While I have no problem at all with the scanner being on the back beside the camera, it can be a pain in the hole – smudging and whatnot.
Camera
Samsung’s camera is due for an upgrade, and the Galaxy Note 8 is Samsung’s playground to try new things. Let’s face it the 12MP camera has not changed since the Samsung Galaxy S7. They obviously have updated the software throughout the models but we still see the Note coming up with something different.
As we predicted a few months back, the Note8 has two main rear cameras, both featuring 12-megapixel sensors. This is a first for Samsung, but today is far from being an industry first. The selfie cam will be an 8MP.
The Other Stuff
Randomly, the stylus could have something interesting going on, with a huge rumour coming off the back of a recent patent. The stylus could have a built in speaker, why we have no idea but why the hell not. Maybe it will act as a Dictaphone and recite your notes back to you?
Usual add ons will be included like the Iris scanner that we have already seen in the S8 range, but after a group of hackers managed to bypass this, we will probably see updated tech in the scanner.
Bixby should also get a nippy little upgrade to make it more of a rival to Siri. Right now, it seems a little limited but with a couple software upgrades, we could see something interesting. The IP68 dust and water resistance rating will be sticking around, as will fast charging so much the same as the S8. Couple all of this with a huge 6GB of RAM and we could have something special on our hands.
The Verdict
The new Note 8 will be built for exactly those who have loved the Note series in the past, so basically if you haven’t already dipped into your piggy banks to get the S8 Plus and you really love a stylus well then the Note8 is for you.
However, if you have already got the S8 Plus then you won’t be missing out on much apart from the 6GB of RAM, a 4K display which will be great for gaming on the Gear VR and ok fair enough now I want one. Let’s hope it’s not as “grenade-like” as the last model.
