Dubai
Samsung’s first water and dust resistant phablet — Note 7 — has added quite new features to make it even more enticing for buyers.
In simple terms, Note 7 isn’t a huge step beyond what Samsung already offers but it is a combination of Galaxy S7 and Note 5, or it is a bigger Galaxy S7 with a stylus.
What Samsung has done is it went deep into the smaller details to make it more perfect when compared to its other high-end devices.
The dual-curved Super AMOLED 5.7-inch Quad HD (1440 x 2560 pixels) screen is powered by home-grown 2.3GHz octa-core 64-bit Exynos 8890 processor (2.3GHz quad + 1.6GHz quad).
It has 4GB of RAM and a hybrid SIM tray with 64GB of internal storage capacity. The storage can be extended up to 256GB via microSD card.
The Note 7 has a resolution of 518 pixels per inch (ppi) density, which is same as in Note 5 but it is weaker than the Galaxy S7’s 577 ppi and S7 edge’s 534 ppi. It runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.
The edge is not as curved as in S6 edge and S7 edge models, so it is not as big as the Note 5 and is easy to hold. It weighs 169 grams.
The device is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 which was launched recently.
The edge screen has helpful utilities. The edge is an app launcher and it is faster than opening in usual method. Nine screens can be added to the edge out of the 40 total found in the App Store, some are fee based.
The advantage of the screen is that when launching an app the edge screen is also utilised as the normal screen and the edge is blacked out.
The key features in Note 7 are improved S Pen stylus and iris scanner.
The iris scanner is simple to set up and is faster than fingerprint sensor. It is the first handset to incorporate the iris scanner. Samsung also had it on its seven-inch Galaxy Tab Iris tablet.
If choosing it as the unlock method, there’s also support for pattern, password, or numeric pin locks.
Another feature is the “Secure Folder” and I like it. It is a separate folder on the phone that has an extra layer of authentication to keep private and personal information safe.
The Secure Folder can only be activated after setting up the iris scanner. Users will be able to store photos, files and apps privately and others will not be able to see if the device is given to them to access.
One of the advantages of the Secure Folder is that it allows running a second instance of an app such as having two WhatsApp accounts on a single device with two running independently of each other.
The stylus also received considerable improvements, including a new 0.7mm thin tip which is almost half of the Note 5 stylus’s 1.6mm tip and with 4,096 pressure sensor levels compared to 2,048 levels on Note 5.
With the fine tip, the S Pen makes writing and drawing feel natural and effortless. The stylus can be used under water to take notes even when the screen is in standby mode, make selections, create GIF images from a video, write annotations on screen, translate, magnify, glance, and translate foreign languages via hovering over the word. There are 37 languages on board and can be converted into 71 languages.
The Always-on display is helpful for people to see the notification icons, battery life and time without turning the device on, thus saving battery life. This is nothing new, Nokia and Motorola smartphones had a similar feature for years.
If you expect to view Gmail, Facebook alert icons, WhatsApp, third-party email or other messages using the always-on display feature, you’re going to be disappointed. It can be turned off also for people who get distracted by the movement of the screen. It’s nice to have and didn’t noticeably deplete battery life, but is hardly essential. For me, it was a gimmicky feature with no real use.
Coming to camera, Note 7 has the same specs as in Samsung S7.
The Dual Pixel Sensor technology, used in DSLR cameras, is used again on this smartphone. What it does is that it uses all the pixels to focus on an object quickly and accurately while capturing more light, overall improving lowlight photography, similar to the human eye.
The bigger pixel size and very wide f/1.7 aperture make for excellent lowlight conditions as the wide aperture lets in a lot of light. Other features include phase detection autofocus, optical image stabilisation, a dual-LED flash and auto-HDR feature.
The snaps taken, even in lowlight, are crisper and detailed. You can shoot in RAW for ‘proper’ photos that you can manipulate later, and the ‘Pro’ mode has a decent amount of options, so you can choose what the picture will look like in terms of focal length and tone.
Sliding right from the screen after opening the camera app will bring in different filters and sliding left will bring in different modes like Video Collage, Live broadcast, Panorama, Pro, Auto, Selective Focus, Hyperlapse, Food and Virtual shot to name most of them, plus you can download more.
Note 7 can shoot videos at 4K (2160p) resolutions at 30 frames per second (fps). It can record slow motion at 240fps at 720p and 1080 at 60 fps, shoot HDR video and simultaneously record 4K video while capturing 9MP still images.
The 5MP selfie camera with f/1.7 aperture is slightly disappointing in lowlight conditions. It produces very soft images that lack fine detail and tone, even without the various beauty modes on. In front camera mode, iPhone 6S excels. It has different modes like Selfie, Wide Selfie, Virtual Shot, Video Collage and Live Broadcast.
The shots had better focus but it does not look natural.
The Note 7 is also the first phone with the capability to playback HDR streaming video on board. HDR footage looks great, but right now only streaming services are available.
Samsung is also offering 15GB of free space in the Samsung Cloud.
Regarding connectivity, it has USB Type C port for the first time, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hot spot, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS and NFC.
It also has a bigger 3,500 mAh battery, fast charging on wired and wireless. It gave 18 hours of video playback and close to 23 hours on 3G network coupled with calls, camera and web browsing. It’s likely you’ll need to charge it every night depending on the usage for heavy users but for moderate users, it lasts close to two days.
Overall, the battery life is excellent and Samsung has the usual ultra-mode saving features to extend battery life.
The Note 7 is the best and powerful handset in the Android space right now and is a serious device for productivity and should only be considered if you’ll use the S Pen.
The Note 7 will be available from August 19, in Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium and Black Onyx with a price tag of Dh2,999, including a 128GB microSD card.
Pros
• Beautiful display
• Excellent camera
• Good battery life
• USB Type-C port and waterproof stylus
• HDR video streaming
Cons
• Fingerprint magnet
• TouchWiz needs fine tuning
• Mono speaker
• No infrared blaster
•Front camera needs improvement
