Samsung Announces the Galaxy Note 7 With a 5.7” Curved Display, IP68 Rating & an Iris Scanner

After several weeks of rumors and speculations, Samsung’s “Next Big Thing” is finally here. The Galaxy Note 7 is now official and most of the rumored specifications have turned out to be right on the mark. Except for a few.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 features a 5.7-inch 1440 x 2560 Quad HD dual curved edge Super AMOLED display that comes with support for HDR. Yep, that’s right, the Galaxy Note 7 is one of the first smartphones to feature a display that is HDR capable.

Under the hood, there are no major differences when compared to the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. Depending on the region, the phablet will be powered either by the Exynos 8890 octa-core SoC or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core SoC. Unfortunately, the rumors claiming the phablet will pack 6GB of RAM have turned out to be inaccurate as the Galaxy Note 7 features the same 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM as its predecessor and the Galaxy S7 duo. However, onboard storage has gone up to 64GB, along with a microSD card slot for expansion. And no, the Galaxy Note 7 does not offer support for Samsung UFS memory cards.

There are no surprised in the camera department either. You get a 12MP dual pixel camera at the back, paired with a bright f/1.7 aperture lens. On the front, the Galaxy Note 7 packs a 5MP selfie camera that is identical to the one on the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. Moving on to connectivity, the Galaxy Note 7 is the first Samsung flagship smartphone to be equipped with a USB Type-C port. It supports faster quick charging, which should allow you to charge the 3500mAh capacity battery pretty quickly.

As expected, the Galaxy Note 7 features IP68 certification for dust and water resistance, making it the first Galaxy Note device to offer protection against the elements. The S-Pen has been improved as well, with it now being claimed to offer a ballpoint pen-like experience. You can even jot down notes underwater, which is a pretty cool new feature. Some of the other new S-Pen related features include a text magnifying glass, translation tool, and a GIF creator.

Security is another area where the Galaxy Note 7 impresses. Apart from a fingerprint sensor, the Galaxy Note 7 includes an iris scanner as well, which can be used for Samsung Pay as well. It will also be accessible to various third party apps via Samsung Pass. As for software, Samsung is launching the Galaxy Note 7 with Android 6.0 Marshmallow instead of Android 7.0 Nougat, although we do expect the Nougat update to be pushed out soon.

The phablet will be up for pre-order starting tomorrow in a number of markets around the globe. In the US, all major carriers will start selling it August 19th onwards. Samsung is going to give early birds a free Gear Fit2 smartband or a 256GB Samsung Evo+ microSD card. Buyers will also be receiving a $20 reward when they make their first purchase using Samsung Pay. Additionally, a $25 Google Play Store voucher is also being offered.