It’s the definitive stylus driven phablet that brought the big screen phones in fashion, and now Samsung has launched the Note 7 in India amidst much fanfare. My name is Amit Chhangani and at Gizmoids we are here to bring you the hands on experience of the new phone from the launch event in India. Samsung has skipped the no. 6 in the Note series and directly brought the 7 to the market, probably to bring it in line with its S7 series, and to sound not a number behind the upcoming iPhone 7. Here are our first impressions of the phone
For those of you who don’t wish to read through the text, here’s our video on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on
Design
The new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 gets an almost bezel-less display. It is the first Note with a dual-curved screen that meets a curved back. The construction comprises of glass up front and metal on the back. The Note 7 is also the first Note to be perfectly symmetrical, top to bottom, side to side, and front to back. As one would expect the construction quality is top notch with great choice of materials and a fantastic finish.
Powering the Note 7 for India is the Octa core Exynos 8890 SoC along with the Mali-T880 MP12 GPU and 4GB of RAM. The screen is protected by the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The maximum resolution of the screen is 1440 x 2560 pixels, or what we generally call the 2K resolution, though it can be dynamically changed to reduce power consumption.
Camera
The Camera on the phone is a 12MP unit with dual pixel sensor and a F1.7 lens for great low light performance. This is one of the best shooters available right now and delivers one of the very best in terms of still and video photography. The camera allows you to change focus after taking the photograph which is a great feature. Video can be shot in 4K, standard resolutions and also in slow motion. Suffice to say the performance is right there with the best, though we would get you more samples once we have our review unit with us.
Water and dust proof capabilities
The new Note 7 gets IP68 certification that makes it dust proof and it can survive a dip in waters 1.5 meter deep for upto 30 minutes.
Updated S-Pen
The redesigned S-pen on the Note 7 is much sharper, with its tip size reduced from 1.6mm to 0.7 mm. Just hovering it on the screen activates Air Command which has the capability of translating 87 language including 11 Indian languages in another language. The water and dust resistance treatment is also provided on the S-pen. The new S pen with its upgraded capabilities would be a boon for creative personnel.
Storage space
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 gets 64GB of on-board storage. An expansion slot on the hybrid dual nano sim tray allows you to increase the storage by up to 256 GB. So you can either have dual nano SIMS, or one sim along with a Micro SD card for India. The Snapdragon powered version in some other markets gets a dedicated memory expansion slot though.
USB Type-C
The phone gets a USB Type-C port to charge the 3500 mAh battery. You can also opt for a waterproof backpack that doubles up as a 3100 mAh powerbank.
Iris Scanner
Samsung has introduced an iris scanner on the phone, which keeps getting faster and faster as you use it. It’s an infra-red unit and can be used in darkness as well as with your shades on. The phone also features a secure folder which is protected by the iris scanner. The company claims that its defence-grade Knox system will make sure that your data stays private.
The new phone goes on sale on 2nd September and is priced at INR 59,900. If you pre book the phone, you get the the Samsung Gear VR free with the unit. Stay tuned to Gizmoids for a detailed review soon.
