Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 is ready to take on the next iPhone

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Galaxy Note 8
Apple should be worried about Galaxy Note 8.
Photo: Samsung

The Galaxy Note 8 has landed, and it’s ready and waiting to take on the next iPhone.

It is Samsung’s best smartphone to date, building upon the strong foundations laid by the Galaxy S8 series, and setting an even higher bar for new competitors.

It boasts everything you want in a modern smartphone and more, including a stunning Infinity Display, iris scanning, dual cameras like iPhone 7 Plus, and the beloved S Pen stylus.

The Note 8 has a mammoth task on its hands. Not only must it fend off competition from the highly-anticipated iPhone 8 next month, but it has to convince Samsung fans to forget about the whole exploding Galaxy Note 7 fiasco that forced two recalls last fall.

To give it the best possible chance, Samsung has equipped the Note 8 with the finest and most advanced hardware available. It looks a lot like the Galaxy S8, with curved glass front and back that’s held together buy a cool aluminum frame, only it’s significantly bigger, thanks to a 6.3-inch display.

Like all of Samsung’s flagships, that’s a Quad HD+ Super AMOLED display. It wraps around the front of the phone and leaves no room for a physical home button, so once again, the Note 8’s fingerprint scanner is located on its back, alongside the rear-facing cameras.

They’re both 12-megapixel sensors with optical image stabilization, but one boasts an f/1.7 aperture and a wide-angle lens, while the other offers an f/2.4 aperture with a telephoto lens. They allow for the neat portrait effect popularized by iPhone 7 Plus, only Samsung has tried to make it better.

Unlike Apple’s biggest and best smartphone, the Note 8 gives photographers the ability to adjust depth of field both in real-time, and after a photo has been taken. It also comes with a feature called Dual Capture, which lets you shoot two photos — one with each lens — at the same time.

The Note 8 is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 processor and a whopping 6GB of RAM, and it offers 64GB of internal storage as standard. Other internals include a 3,300mAh battery, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB-C connectivity.

Samsung has again combined the Note 8’s fingerprint scanner with iris and facial recognition, and delivered IP68 dust- and water-resistance. It has also improved upon the one feature many fans but the Note for: the S Pen, which now boasts 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity.

Overall, then, the Note 8 isn’t too dissimilar to the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+, but that’s not a bad thing. Thanks to striking design, the jaw-dropping Infinity Display, and high-end specifications, they’re already two of the finest smartphones money can buy today.

The Note 8, with its dual cameras and S Pen stylus, only makes the Galaxy lineup more appealing. It also raises the bar even higher for iPhone 8, which will have to at least match Samsung’s latest devices in features and design to stand any chance of keeping up with Android.

The Note 8 goes will be available on September 15 in the U.S., and you’ll be able to pre-order yours tomorrow, August 24, through all the major carriers, as well as retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart.

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