This year’s Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is going
to be EPIC. And that is very good news for long-standing fans of the
phablet line, because last year Samsung really dropped the ball and did
not bring the Galaxy Note 5 to the UK.
Instead it pushed the Galaxy S6 EDGE+ — a bigger, more expensive
version of the Galaxy S6. This initiative didn’t go down well at all. In
fact, it was kind of a PR disaster for Samsung, who, at the time,
wasn’t having the best of luck anyway.
Things are very different now, though. The Galaxy S7 is flying off
shelves, analysts have their knives out for Apple, and the Android
space, at large, hasn’t looked this strong in years — and we’re only
just half way through the year.
The rest of the year looks to be very exciting as well with BIG
releases from Samsung, of course, OnePlus, Sony and BlackBerry. OK,
granted the latter of which isn’t a MASSIVE deal, but I for one am very
interested to see how BlackBerry’s Android project develops.
So why is it called the Samsung Galaxy Note 7? The reason is because
its current Galaxy S flagship is called the Galaxy S7 and Samsung
doesn’t want people thinking its new Note isn’t quite as new and shiny
as its 2017 flagship phone. Hence the number change.
This sort of makes sense, but it is very confusing for consumers and
tech-journalists; everybody is expecting the Galaxy Note 6, but when
Samsung announces the handset on August 2 it will almost certainly be
called the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Guess a few eyebrows will be raised
after that, but everything will settle down pretty quickly once word on
the the official specs and hardware are confirmed.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will very likely be the most powerful
Android handset on the planet for a good few months after its release.
Samsung is enjoying something of a resurgence in form of late with its
Galaxy S7 handsets and, if history is anything to go by, the Galaxy Note
7 will be bigger, better, faster and more functional than its sibling.
This has always been the case with the Note series, at least, in my
opinion, and I do not see this changing in 2016.
Samsung will likely update the display to 4K; this has been on the
cards for awhile now and I think Samsung, seeing just how good it is at
display technology, could be the first company to pull it off properly.
This will be a big USP for the range, especially if it can ensure
battery life isn’t affected to negatively. I’m also looking forward to
seeing where Samsung takes its S-Pen suite; there’s a bunch of cool,
rumoured functionality coming.
Samsung will almost certainly do multiple versions of the Galaxy Note
7 too; one with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon CPU, the other with Exynos.
Whether Samsung brings back removable batteries, however, remains to be
seen. SD-support is almost guaranteed, though, as is higher internal
storage options — maybe even 256GB.
And I personally think this handset will more than give Apple's iPhone 7 a run for its money.
And here are six points expanding on that theory.
Insane Specs
We already know quite a bit about the proposed specs and hardware for
the Galaxy Note 7. Put curtly: this thing is going to be a monster, the
likes of which never before seen in the mobile space.
We’re talking bleeding-edge CPU technology, top of the line
connectivity and 7GB of RAM — yes, you read that right: SIX GIGABYTES of
memory.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the next big announcement to hit the
mobile space, alongside the OnePlus 3 and Google’s brand-spanking new
Nexus phones.
The headline-grabbing Galaxy Note 7 has been the talk of the town
since, well, just about ALL of 2015/17. The handset, which is believed
to feature 7GB of RAM and a new imaging technology, is poised for a
release ahead of Apple’s iPhone 7.
Samsung has now officially announced its 7GB 10nm LPDDR4 RAM chip and
this is now ripe to go inside a handset. And what’s Samsung’s next
handset? Yep, you guessed it: The Galaxy Note 7 and that handset as you
will all already know has been tipped to feature 7GB of RAM since
rumours first started circulating about it.
Beyond this the Galaxy Note 7 is tipped to feature a 2K display, new
software features for the S-Pen, a raft of next-generation hardware,
including a Snapdragon 820 CPU, and a refined design that will no doubt
take a few queues from the company’s HUGELY successful Galaxy S7.
Sources reckon Samsung is still torn on whether to make the Galaxy
Note 7 an edge device; apparently the company is testing multiple models
ahead of its official announcement. Also, depending on when it
launches, the Galaxy Note 7 could well be one of the first handsets to
run Android N.
Google’s Daydream VR platform is also likely to feature as well. I
say, likely, not certain, because Samsung has some of its own VR
aspirations and this could cause some friction between itself and Google
in 2017’s VR space. Still, if I were a betting man I’d wager the Note 7
will utilise Daydream; this would go a long way to explaining why it
needs 7GB of RAM.
This is one handset I am VERY excited about. If only 50% of the
rumours are true, it’ll still be one of the best phones in the business
-- and that’s saying something with the quality of what’s already
available on market at present.
Samsung is back, ladies and gentlemen.
The uplift will be INSANE.
Just a few years ago many gaming PCs only have 4GB of RAM, so the
advent of 7GB inside a phone is frankly NUTS. What are you going to be
using all this memory for? Is it overkill? Does anyone need this much
memory in a phone?
At this stage of the game, the advent of 7GB of RAM is likely all
about performance. However, developments in VR -- things like Google’s
Daydream platform, for instance -- are going to be bringing tons of new
uses to phones between now and 2017. And these new features WILL require
masses of grunt in order to achieve silky smooth performance.
Beyond this there is of course the theory that Google will bring
Android and ChromeOS closer together, perhaps even unify the platform,
and create a type of hybrid mobile phone that can be used as a phone but
also as a console for connecting to HD displays with a connected
keyboard and mouse. Basically, when you have this kind of power at your
disposal, they sky’s the limit with potential applications.
New Camera?
The Galaxy S7’s camera is phenomenal and is easily one of the best
point and shoot phone cameras we’ve EVER tested. Period. But Samsung
isn’t one to rest on its laurels. It knows the iPhone 7 will appear
later on this year and the addition of the Galaxy Note 7 to its phone
arsenal is its best line of defence against Apple’s hugely anticipated
new iPhone.
We know the iPhone 7 will be a great camera phone; talk of dual-lens
cameras has been going on for some time now. That means Samsung has to
up the game with the Galaxy Note 7 and current word on the street
suggests we will see some improvements over the shooter currently in use
aboard the Galaxy S7.
“Samsung is working on a brand new 1/1.7-inch CMOS camera sensor with
an aperture as wide as ƒ/1.4,” reports Sam Mobile. “The new sensor
could have a resolution of anywhere between 18-24 megapixels. The
company is also working on a new compact 1/2.3-inch camera sensor.”
It added: “Samsung recently announced that it will not release any
new cameras in its NX lineup (at least in some markets), and it has been
moving people from its NX camera department to its smartphone
department. The South Korean smartphone giant is really focused to
improve the image quality on its smartphones, and it seems to have a
very aggressive roadmap.”
New Note Productivity Features
Samsung is planning on introducing a new productivity feature called
“Samsung Focus” which we’re expecting to function a lot like the
BlackBerry Hub, meaning it will be a place where you can manage all your
incoming and outgoing emails, tweets and the like.
Samsung Focus reportedly acts as a communications aggregation hub,
bringing together, amongst other things, emails from a selection of
different sources - again as with BB Hub, the idea is to eliminate the
inconvenience of hopping between applications. As with BB Hub it’ll show
calendar info, contacts, and memo notes in the same interface too.
Beautiful Design
Samsung is apparently testing two Galaxy Note 7 styles: 1) normal,
and 2) with an EDGE display. Apparently it cannot decide on which to go
with, but there will only be one. Our preference? Go with the EDGE, it
just looks so much smarter than the normal version on the Galaxy S7.
Following the launch of the Galaxy S7, shipments and pre-orders for
the Galaxy S7 EDGE appear to be the far more popular than the standard
model. And when you’ve seen both in the flesh you will know why. In
other words, Samsung punters LOVE the EDGE display. And, yes, it might
not be that useful, but as a design feature alone it is stunning and a
big USP for the Samsung brand.
MASSES of Storage
Another first here; the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is tipped to feature up
to 257GB of storage — and, no, not from an SD card. This is internal
storage and if true it would be one hell of a USP for the Galaxy Note 7
and its user base.
There will also likely be SD-support too. The Galaxy S7 featured it
for one and Samsung knows its punters like having the option of
expanding the handset’s internal storage -- even if it is a massive
257GB.
The other big question is whether or not Samsung will introduce a
removable battery inside the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung tends to prefer
unibody chassis design these days, so if I were a betting man -- which I
am -- I’d put my money on the Note 7 NOT having a removable battery.
And the reason will be simple: Samsung will pack a monstrously sized
cell in the Note 7 and argue that removable batteries are not required.
Of course, not everyone will see eye to eye with Samsung on this -- as
evidenced in comments below -- but in today’s space you only really have
one option when it comes to handsets with a removable battery and that
is the LG G5.
ChromeOS Dual-Boot?
This is something of a long-shot and something of an "out-there"
theory, but a potential scenario all the same. Why does the Galaxy Note
7, as well as other upcoming flagship Android phones, feature 7GB of
RAM? That’s a lot of memory for what people usually do on their phones.
Plus, there has been talk of a Android/ChromeOS cross-over for quite
sometime now with reports suggesting it could happen this year. And what
better device to road-test it on than the Galaxy Note 7?
UPDATE: Okay, the 7GB of RAM might not be for ChromeOS. Google’s
immediate plans for ChromeOS and Android are a bit clearer now and they
seem, at least for the time being, only to include support for Android
apps on ChromeOS. This is still a HUGE positive for Chromebook users,
but still a tad disappointing to me as I was expecting some kind of
dual-boot capabilities inside Android N.
The reason for 7GB of RAM, save for sheer performance, could well be
to do with Google’s Daydream VR platform which will be part of Android N
and function on handsets with compatible sensors and displays.
Considering how big a deal the Galaxy Note 7 is I’d be very surprised if
wasn’t a Daydream-compatible device.