Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the Korean conglomerate’s premium smartphone, is set to launch on August 2 in New York. Meanwhile, GSM Arena has got their hands on a large group of press renders of the smartphone already. Along with them, renders of a new Gear VR headset also made its way online. While the phone may formally launch in the U.S., it is expected to go on sale in the Korean markets first.
As per Samsung’s annual product launch schedule, a large-scale event dubbed Samsung Unpacked will take place next Tuesday. Meanwhile, Samsung has put up a TV ad teasing the features of the Galaxy Note 7 on YouTube.
CNET deconstructed the TV ad and pointed out that the much-talked-about “iris scanning” feature to unlock the phone will debut alongside lock screen patterns and fingerprint scanner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTWyapuLNdI
Furthermore, text in different languages being annotated using a highlighter pen essentially hints at a text memorizing and translation capabilities in the new S Pen stylus.
In the next shot, few rotary dial-based phones are immersed in the water that points at water resistance capabilities. The Galaxy Note 7 will feature IP68 certification-backed water and dust resistance properties , as reported by the Inquisitr earlier. Samsung has been adding these properties to its flagship devices since the last couple of years. However, the Galaxy Note 7 will be the first in the Galaxy Note series to get such a certification.
Finally, the ad ends showing a row of numbers 0 to 5 with neon-lighted borders illuminating one by one and leaving a question mark in the end. Samsung will skip the number 6, for unknown reasons, and will call the new phone Galaxy Note 7.
It seems that Samsung had organized a closed-door meeting for a select bunch of media personalities and professional bloggers to show the new Note 7. That became evident after several folks started blurting about the design and the phone’s specifications openly on Twitter, Facebook, and even on Reddit.
Note 7 is interesting, disappointed by the battery capacity. You gotta really love the stylus and the slight size increase to buy over S7E.
— Paul O’Brien (@PaulOBrien) July 27, 2016
One such bloke with a cheeky username, “Samsungsmart,” has shared the details about the Galaxy Note 7 in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) style post on Reddit. Samsungsmart stated the phone will come in gold, black, blue with golden frame, and silver color options. Out of these four options, the gold color model may not be available in the U.S. Other users who claimed to have a knowledge of the Note 7 chimed in to answer the follow-up questions.
“First phone to sport gorilla glass 5 and it also has series 8 aluminum which is stronger,” comments Fakeredditacc6512.
“Also Samsung cloud was a neat surprise. Samsung has needed a real cloud solution for some time, especially one that works with app data which it apparently does,” says Note4Throwaway.
And some very close-up shots, just for your pleasure… For more -> https://t.co/l3to2kjpzb #Samsung #GalaxyNote7 pic.twitter.com/u2vfrVGxsw
— OnLeaks (@OnLeaks) July 29, 2016
The Galaxy Note 7 sports a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection against scratches. The screen has gentle curves at the sides as shown in the press renders which thereby confirms previous rumors. The clicky S Pen can be popped out from the bottom, packs new cool features like translation on-the-go, and will have twice the pressure sensitivity than the one in Note 5.
Know Your Mobile states that the Samsung Focus is one of the marquee features in the new S Pen software. It becomes a hub to aggregate your emails, texts, and chat in a unified manner.
The Galaxy Note 7 will debut with new Gear VR headset that weighs about 300 grams heavy, confirms Tech Radar . Also, the headset has a Home button so you won’t have to keep hitting the back button on your phone. But since the Note 7 has USB Type-C port, the new Gear VR might be limited to this model only.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 detail leak you’ve been all bent up over #galaxynote7 https://t.co/QBATacHylY pic.twitter.com/TXMXvN1Eo9
— SlashGear (@slashgear) July 27, 2016
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 will be sold with an Exynos 8890 chipset for the majority of the markets. However, the U.S. version will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset housed variant. While the early prototypes point at 4GB of RAM packed inside the phone, there is a slim chance that a 6GB RAM variant might be announced next week.
The 12-megapixel camera at the back has the same hardware as in the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge but with a faster focus and tweaked software for better imaging capabilities. The Galaxy Note 7 packs 3,500 mAh battery capacity and has an Adaptive Fast Charging function to quickly recharge the phone’s battery.
The Galaxy Note 7’s availability will differ from region to region. In Europe, Samsung will make it available from August 16 onwards and other markets in the weeks following that. Samsung is expected to set Galaxy Note 7’s price at $949 for the U.S. and €850 for Europe.
The Galaxy Note 7 will arrive a month earlier than the Apple’s iPhone 7. Do you think Samsung can take on Apple with the new Note 7? Share your views in the comments section.
[Photo by Brad Barket/AP Images]