Samsung Galaxy Note7 gets official

Samsung's worst kept secret the Galaxy Note7 is now official, putting all rumors and leaks to rest, and they did not disappoint. Most of the rumors were true except the one which suggested the phablet to pack 6GB RAM. We already know that Samsung skipped the Galaxy Note6 branding in favor of Galaxy Note7, to bring it in line with the Galaxy S7/Galaxy S7 edge flagships.

Most of the features and specification of the Galaxy Note7 are similar to Galaxy S7/Galaxy S7 edge. The Galaxy Note7 is IP68 rated for water and dust resistant, houses microSD card slot and has a fingerprint scanner embedded into the home button and heart rate montior. However the phablet comes with extra features like Iris scanner to log-into your device with eye recognition, S-Pen Stylus and USB Type-C port.

The iris scanner sits in front of the Galaxy Note7, and to unlock the phone you will have to hold it 25-35cm away from your face and position your eyes with two circles shown on the screen. Design-wise, the Galaxy Note7 flaunts metal frame and glass back, with the S-pen sitting flush with the bottom, just like Galaxy Note5.

The S Pen now has smaller 0.7mm tip and improved pressure sensitivity. It offers functionalities like Scree off memo that lets you pin memo on the Always On Display, Smart Select to create and share GIFs, and new Air Command functions including Magnify and Translate. It is water resistant and even works underwater.

Coming to the specs, the Samsung Galaxy Note7 features 5.7-inch Quad HD (2560 x 1440 pixels) Super AMOLED curved dual edge display with always on feature. The screen has a layer of Gorilla Glass 5 to to protect the screen and keep scratches at bay. It's worth noting that, the Galaxy Note5 Note7 is the first smartphone to sport Corning's Gorilla Glass 5.

It is powered either by a Snapdragon 820 or octa-core Exynos 8890 processor depending on the market. It packs 4GB RAM and on-board storage is 64GB, which can be further expanded via microSD card.

For photography, it gets 12-megapixel Dual-Pixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, f/1.7 aperture, PDAF and Smart OIS. The Dual pixel rear camera offers brighter and sharper images, even in low light. For clicking selfies and video calling you get 5-megapixel front camera.

The Galaxy Note7 runs Android Marshmallow with latest TouchWiz UI on top, and will be getting Nougat update, when it becomes available. For connectivity there's 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 and USB Type-C. It is fueled by 3500mAh battery with fast charging technology, both wired and wireless.

The Galaxy Note7 will arrive in four color options  – Black Onyx, Silver Titanium, Gold Platinum and Blue Coral. It will be available starting from August 19. Unfortunately, the pricing is still a mystery.