With gorgeous curved glass, stellar specifications and cutting-edge features, Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 7 is raising the bar for smartphones.
Fans can’t wait to get their hands on the device, which makes its big U.S. debut today, and it’s easy to see why. Here are six features Apple needs to steal if it wants to compete with Samsung’s latest, greatest smartphone.
Water-resistance
Photo: Samsung
We use our smartphones all the time — even when we’re washing the dishes, relaxing by the pool, or soaking in the bath — so it makes sense to make them water-resistant. Samsung has been doing this for years, but Apple is yet to catch up.
The Galaxy Note 7 is IP68 certified, which means you can take it in up to five feet of water for up to 30 minutes and it won’t break. Some reports have claimed the iPhone 7 series will also be water-resistant, but they’ve been few and far between.
Maybe Apple will surprise with a water-resistant iPhone this year, then — and it really should now that many of its competitors are offering this feature — but don’t get your hopes up.
Iris scanner
https://youtu.be/hkAuFVjp7zA
Apple popularized the fingerprint scanner when it introduced Touch ID, but Samsung believe iris scanners are even greater.
“While fingerprint and iris authentication both provide a high level of security, iris scanning is one of the most secure and reliable biometric techniques available today,” explains the South Korean company.
“This is because each individual has a uniquely different and highly intricate iris pattern in each eye, which is almost impossible to replicate.” Iris scanning also “results in fewer false acceptances than fingerprint scanning, according to some studies.”
Iris scanner are especially handy on water-resistant devices, because unlike fingerprint scanners, they can be used even when your hands are wet or dirty.
S Pen
https://youtu.be/EJbRm7_koyM
Steve Jobs hated styluses, but Apple Pencil has proven that iPad owners love them. Smartphone owners do, too — that’s why Samsung keeps improving upon its beloved S Pen stylus that ships with the Galaxy Note series.
Perhaps a stylus wouldn’t be quite as useful on smaller iPhones, but for the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus, it could be a game-changer. Apple simply needs to steal some of Samsung’s software features to go with it and the iPhone becomes even more productive.
A stylus makes a massive difference when taking notes, sketching, and even selecting text. Samsung has also developed a bunch of useful “Air Commands,” like the ability to hover over foreign text to quickly translate it.
Wireless charging
https://youtu.be/66mBXrOsbYc
Wireless charging is a feature iPhone fans have been calling for for years, and like water-resistance, it’s one that’s now commonplace on rival smartphones. You might think you don’t need it if you’ve never used it, but that changes once you learn to rely on it.
Rumor has it Apple is working on a wireless charging technology of its own that will be even better than those we have now. It’s thought it will be capable of charging the iPhone at a distance, negating the need to use a wireless charging pad.
Whether or not this technology will be ready in time for the iPhone 7 series remains to be seen, but again, I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
Faster charging
Photo: Samsung
If Apple can’t give us wireless charging yet, then it could at least give us faster charging. In comparison with competing smartphones, it takes forever to charge an iPhone, and that’s a problem if you need a quick top-up before shooting out.
In comparison, Samsung’s Adaptive Charging feature can charge the Galaxy S7 to 50 percent in just 30 minutes, while OnePlus’ new Dash Charge technology can give the OnePlus 3 up to 63 percent during the same time period.
A recent rumor promised Apple is going to deliver faster charging in the iPhone 7 this year, but it’s not yet clear if that’s true, or how it will compare.
Quad HD OLED display
https://youtu.be/d7S08EVv87s
Yes, we want sharper, more efficient displays on the iPhone.
When Apple first introduced the Retina display with the iPhone 4, it was way ahead of its rivals in display technology. Six years later the company is way behind, and iPhone displays are no longer the king of the hill.
Samsung’s latest AMOLED displays are not only sharper, but they also boast greater color accuracy, a wider color gamut, better viewing angles, and increased brightness. They’re also kinder to your battery life than LCD displays.
The Galaxy Note 7 can even playback HDR video.
More?
There are other things Apple could steal from the Galaxy Note 7 that could make the iPhone even greater — like that stunning curved glass and expandable storage — but the six features I’ve mentioned above are probably the most important.
With the exception of the S Pen and the iris scanner, these are features that can be found on a number of high-end Android devices, and without them, the iPhone just isn’t quite as exciting. As demand falls, that’s something Apple needs to change.
If you could choose a feature that Apple should steal for the iPhone 7, what would it be? Let us know down in the comments!
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
35 responses to “6 amazing features Apple must steal from the Galaxy Note 7”
Water-resistance? ok
Iris scanner, stylus, Quad HD OLED? No, I don’t need it. I have galaxy and it’s only gimmick.
Quad HD OLED is not a gimmick, don’t be ridiculous. Even if it’s not a drastic improvement, it is objectively better than what iPhone currently offers by almost every metric available, and I say that as an iPhone fan.
I can’t see a difference.
You need glasses then.
You know what “retina screen” means? Are you a alien?
It means you drank the fucking koolaid
No human on earth can see the difference between 720p and 1080p/2-4K. Only some animals can.
I can put the iPhone and a galaxy device next to one anether and play a video and you will clearly see a difference.
I didn’t when a friend did this very comparison.
You are very misinformed.
Of course humans can tell the difference. Humans have excellent visual acuity, possibly the best of all mammals. People with normal vision can easily resolve features much, much smaller than pixels on a 4K screen.
There are two crucial pieces of information that are missing from this blanket statement that you have made. The ability of the human to accurately resolve an object is a function of distance and size. Most people would have no problem at all seeing the difference between 70″ 1080p and 4K screens at a distance of 8′. On 40″ screens, this distance would need to be closer to about 6′ for it to be noticeable. And so on.
But despite Steve Jobs’ claim that ~300 points per inch is the “magic number” beyond which the human eye can’t perceive the difference at 12″, Apple’s retina displays aren’t even close to tapping out the human eye’s potential. The limit is more like 800 to 900ppi at 12″, meaning even Samsung’s Quad HD screens don’t tap out the potential of the human eye.
And that’s not even getting into the other areas where iPhone’s displays are falling behind, like contrast ratio and color gamut. Samsung’s displays are beating the pants off Apple’s in an area where they used to lead the pack.
Even blind bats can “see” better than humans which are at the bottom of acuity of vision. This is all about 5-6″ smartphones not 100″ TVs.
Exactly, better water resistance would be a plus. Iris Scanner – meh feature. Stylus…ugh god please JUST NO….Quad HD display – these displays are just getting ridonkulous, I haven’t been able to see the pixels on phone screens for years and YES I have 20/20 vision. Wireless charging – would be cool but only if you don’t have to actually put the phone on or very near a charging pad. Fast charging – would be cool.
With the onset of VR, high resolution screens now finally matter. Before VR, I’d agree with you.
Agreed – especially with the Google Cardboard-like devices. If you’re not doing that kind of VR though, it probably won’t matter.
iPhone 7 will be water-resistant. Iris scanner? No thanks. People will look right tools when *trying* to pay for something when they’re hold up their phone. Faster charging will also be coming to the iPhone 7.
An updated screen would be nice but let’s just wait until next year. It’ll blow every screen out of the water.
You think people will look like “tools” because they’re looking at their phone? How do you use yours? Braille? By sound? Do you even bother to turn the screen on?
Yep. Trying to unlock their phone using the Iris scanner, holding it up directly in front of their face, moving it forward and back getting it to try and recognise their eyes…
It’s obvious you have no idea what you’re talking about. I own one and I can do it in the dark no problem, even looking down at an angle, with no delay at all. Look up a video of it and see for yourself instead of assuming like an iPhone stanboy (which I just switched from).
Ok, let’s get get crunchin’
Water-resistance – YES
Iris scanner – NOPE. It does not have any real, day-to-day advantage over fingerprint.
Stylus – NOOOPE. Stylus starts to make sense at iPad Pro sizes, below its a stupid gimmick.
Wireless and quick charge – Sure. More convenience never hurts.
QHD display – NOPE if it comes at the expense of battery life/performance. Apart from the poor man’s VR these phone-insert goggles provide, it’s minimal edge does not warrant the extra price and juice required.
OLED display – this one depends extremely on the color calibration. May be yay or nay.
What we also need is a bit better screen-to-body ratio and
NO
FUCKING
CAMERA
BULGE.
Imo all the iPhone needs is a half decent screen. The screens on the 6s series are terrible compared to what Samsung has been pushing in the last couple years. Hell I’d take a Galaxy s4 screen over what the 6s has.
Cult of Mac is wrong. ios users dont want these. They all think these are gimmicks.
Water resistance: YES
Iris Scanner: Stupid. Samsung can keep that shit
Stylus: Nope
Wireless charging: Doesn’t matter
Fast charging: YES
Quad HD: YES. But not at the cost of less battery performance
Your opinion: YES
Do you speak for the rest of us: NO
IRIS Scanner: YES
Wireless Charging: HELL YES
Must be hard to place your finger on the home button isn’t it? Iris scanner is dumb.
Water resistance. I usually don’t swim with my phone. I prefer to swim than text.
Curved glass is a gimmick not gorgeous.
Wireless charging still requires a cord. Who cares if it’s plugged into the phone or stand?
Stylus HELL NO. I already have 10 of them.
Faster charging? Sure
Sharper screen. Maybe.
even if monkey wears tiger’s skin, in the end it is still a monkey!
Ok, so let’s address these one by one.
Water resistance, yea, OK, useful for when it’s raining and you get soaked through.
Iris scanner, absolutely useless in low light conditions as I am always reading stuff when I go to bed. Why do you think Apple developed night shift. Also Touch ID almost always works, unless I’ve been down a coal mine!
Stylus/pen, Steve jobs was right in always losing it, and Apple should be doing more in the speech recognition and OCR space.
Wireless charging, eh, yea, great another thing to carry around with me when I’m travelling which I still have to (wait for it) plug in.
Faster charging, and display: Apple will get there!
Hardly groundbreaking is it!?!?!?!
“Plus, you can do this with the lock-screen!”
*holds phone*
Yeah …and?
What? I think you got the wrong thread.
You didn’t watch the videos?
You know, the ones in THIS article?
Will say I had no care for the iris scanner, until I used it. I have a pattern unlock and a fingerprint unlock, I enabled the iris, and before I can even start my pattern it’s unlocked. I’m very, very impressed. It is a feature that you won’t know you want til you use it.
Could I live without it? Yes, but now I don’t want to. It works astonishingly well, which I never imagined it was anything but a gimmick.
Wireless charging is meh, I don’t use it.
S Pen is handy for me, not for all, but there’s no bloatware that gets in my way. If you didn’t pull the S Pen out, you’d never know it had one.
The screen, not matter how much people argue, it’s infinitely better than my 6S Plus, even at a glance. I do enjoy my 6S but, the Note 7 is definitely better, as it should be since the 6S is last years phone, I’ll have a 7 as soon as it comes out.
As I will tell anyone and everyone, just go to the store and play with each, figure out what you like better. All my iPhone friends agree that the Note 7 has lots of superior features but they’re not gonna make the switch, they don’t want to. It’s that simple, it’s preference.
I bought the Note 7 yesterday. I thought the iris scanner was a gimmick and I probably won’t use it much until I realized that I live in a cold climate region and I wear gloves! Iris scanner shoots and scores!
Steve hated that one should need a stylus to manage the built in system.
That is something completely different than the pencil Apple have for iPad, it’s a creative tool, not a system stylus.
It’s a bit disappointing to read what you write above, you should know better.
As a Motorcycle-rider I would love really good water proofing.
It’s a constant worry where to put the phone…
Add that I live in a coastal area of Sweden – it rains a lot here….
I jumped from iPhone to the Note during the 5s launch. Was tired of not having the latest features. I still have an iPhone for work so I still get to play in both ecosystems daily. So here is what I need to see in an iPhone to come back.
AMOLED QHD screens with HDR
Come on. The iPhone screen sucks in comparison. And now you can adjust the resolution on the N7 so save battery. If you haven’t seen the HDR function on the N7 you have to. Its amazing!
CAMERA
The iPhone camera is good, but Samsung trumped Apple’s with the GS7. The camera is hands down way better in all situations. I’m sure this gap will be closed this fall.
IRIS SCANNING
Oh my! I thought the scanning was going to be a huge gimmick, boy I was wrong. It works every single time. Even in the dark. Don’t knock it until you try it. I use the fingerprint when I can’t pick the phone all the way up. They work equally as fast.
And finally FAST CHARGING
Fast charge is the best thing that ever happened in phone tech. QC3 is awesome. 50% in 30 minutes, Full charge in 80. This has got to happen. Apple just needs to pay Qualcomm and put that standard in all of their devices.
That’s the top 4. Water resistance would be great as a bonus but not required. Don’t plan on swimming with my phone anytime soon.
My 2cents