Samsung Galaxy Note8 Launched With 6.3-Inch AMOLED Display Price, Specifications, Release Date

Updated: August 23, 2017

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Is Samsung ready to put behind the tarnished Galaxy Note 7? It sure thinks so. To much fanfare, enthusiastic executives from the Suwon-headquartered company bolted on stage at a media event in New York on Wednesday to unveil the Galaxy Note 8, its new large-screen flagship smartphone, and its strongest weapon to fight against the upcoming iPhone 8 and Google’s new Pixel phones in the coming weeks.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which comes in Midnight Black, Maple Gold, Orchid Grey, and Deep Sea Blue colours, will be available for pre-orders in select markets starting Thursday and will start shipping on September 15. In the US, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is priced between $930 (roughly Rs. 59,500) on AT&T and $960 on (roughly Rs. 61,500) on Verizon for the base variant.

Those who pre-order the smartphone will be able to avail a Gear 360 camera or a charging bundle at no price, and Samsung is also said to be offering Galaxy Note 7 customers discounts in a bid to encourage them to purchase the Note 8.

(Also Read: Free Download Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Stock Wallpapers )

There is no word on when the company plans to launch the Galaxy Note 8 in India just yet, though Amazon India seems to be an official partner.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 specifications

Samsung is pulling no punches with its new smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is bigger than ever — literally — sporting a 6.3-inch QuadHD+ AMOLED Infinity Display of screen resolution 2960×1440. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC (with some markets getting the Samsung Exynos octa-core variant), 64GB of internal storage, 6GB of RAM, and support for microSD card slot, should you need more space. The Galaxy Note 8 is also among the first smartphones to offer Bluetooth 5.0 and LTE Cat 16 connectivity features.

For photography, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has a dual-setup “telephoto” 12-megapixel cameras with support for OIS on both lenses – a wide-angle g/1.7 and the other is telephoto f/2.4 with 2x optical zoom. There’s a 8-megapixel camera on the front with focal aperture f/1.7. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 offers 3300mAh battery and it runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat. The device offers IP68 water and dust resistances, and support for wireless charging, a feature that the upcoming iPhone 8 is rumoured to feature as well. The Galaxy Note 8 also supports NFC and MST for Samsung Pay, and offers USB Type-C charging port.

“The dual-camera setup in the Note 8 is clearly intended to compete with Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus, but Apple is likely to move that feature forward this year too, which may leave the Note 8’s feature behind the higher-end iPhone especially,” Jan Dawson, analyst at Jackdaw Research said.

Then of course, is the signature S Pen accessory, which the company says will enable people to be communicate in “more personal ways” than ever with the Always On-display powered Galaxy Note 8. Samsung has also introduced Live Messages, that will allow people to go beyond texting in their communication with friends. With the S Pen, users will be able to handwrite a message, add special effects and share it as an animated GIF on several popular messaging and social apps.

A lot is riding on the Galaxy Note 8, whose predecessor costed the company north of $6 billion, and much brand value.

“The Note 8 is an important release for the company for several reasons. While it is a smaller contributor to Samsung’s revenue than the S8, it is a strong differentiator,” Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research told TechFoogle. “It will represent a major leap forward for Note 5 users. Samsung has detailed the steps it has taken to ensure battery safety and it can point to the S8 as evidence that it is back on track.”