Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is Finally Official

Samsung has finally taken the wraps off their latest flagship, the Galaxy Note 8 after quite a while of teasers and leaks left, right and centre. The launch of the Galaxy Note 8 hummers the last nail on the Note 7’s coffin which was reincarnated as the Galaxy Note FE.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has not come as a surprise neither has it brought anything we did not expect to see. Starting from the design, it is very reminiscent of the Galaxy S8+ that was released earlier this year but with squared-off corners, unlike the rounded corners, we saw on the S8 duo. The infinity display is still present, the 18.5:9 aspect ratio still dominant, however, the screen size has been slightly stretched to 6.3-inches with a resolution of 1440*2960.

Powering the Note 8 is the Exynos 8895 SoC with the US variant getting the Snapdragon 835 platform. The Note 8 gets a generous 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, Micro SD card slot, a 3300mAh battery capable of fast charging and fast wireless charging, USB Type-C, AKG earphones, IP68 water resistance and retains the awkwardly placed fingerprint reader, however, it had been separated from the dual camera lens by the heart rate monitor to reduce those accidental smudges. Aside from the fingerprint reader, the Note 8 includes an Iris scanner and facial recognition.

On the software end, Samsung Experience (Grace UI) is on board, running on top of Android 7.1 Nougat. Improvements to the software have been made with the aim of making the Note 8 a multi-tasking giant. If you were wondering, yes, the Note 8 supports Samsung DeX and Bixby digital assistant with voice commands and a dedicated button.

If you had not yet noticed, the Note 8 is Samsung’s first take at the dual-cameras game. The Note 8 packs two main cameras on its back, both of which are capable of shooting at 12MP. The implementation of the two lenses goes the way of the iPhone 7 Plus with one standard and the other telephoto.The standard lens has a f/1.7 aperture with dual-pixel autofocus, OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and is wide-angle (but not like the LG G6). The telephoto lens, which is capable of 2x zoom, has a f/2.4 aperture and also features OIS. For selfie lovers, Samsung has packed the same 8MP shooter on the S8 duo with a f/1.7 autofocus lens.

The icing on this cake is the stylus, S-Pen that has become a signature of the Note lineup. Samsung has made iterative improvements to the stylus making it more natural to use, added more capabilities such as the ability to pin handwritten notes to the always-on display, full-sentence language translation and currency conversion.

Now to break your heart, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will cost you Ksh.104,999 ($1017).

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S8 Review: This Phone Will Make You Feel Special