Samsung Galaxy Note8 Launched In India For Rs 67900

Samsung has launched the Galaxy Note8 in India at a price of Rs. 67900 for the 64GB onboard storage variant. The Galaxy Note8 is the first note series smartphone to sell in India in always two years, since the launch of the Note5. While Samsung had taken registration for the Note7 last year, the company never launched the phone in India due to its global recall. The Galaxy Note8 is the third Samsung flagship smartphone launched in the country in 2017 after the Galaxy S8 and S8+ were launched earlier in the year. Despite the late launch and the success of the Galaxy S8 and S+, over 250,000 people registered on Samsung India’s official website to buy the phone.

The Galaxy Note8 has a 6.3 inch 2960 x 1440 px Super AMOLED display with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio, which is the same aspect ratio found on the Galaxy S8 and S8+. The Galaxy Note8 retains the design language of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ with an all glass body and a metal frame and an awkwardly placed fingerprint sensor at the back. The Note8 also retains the dedicated Bixby button and Samsung has announced that Bixby Voice will now be available in India. The differentiating aspect of the design is the cornered edges, which has become a signature of the Note series. Powering the device is a 3300 mAh battery which is smaller than the 3500 mAh battery found on the Galaxy Note7 with wireless charging capabilities, and runs Android Nougat 7.1.1 with Samsung’s custom skin on top. The device has the Exynos 8895 chipset, 2.3GHz Quad-Core (Custom CPU) + 1.7GHz Quad-Core (Cortex-A53) processor, 6GB of RAM and 128GB onboard storage, which is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card. The graphics are handled by the Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. The Galaxy Note8 and the S Pen are both IP68 certified water and dust resistant and will be available in Midnight Black and Maple Gold colour variants.

The Galaxy Note8 is also the first Samsung smartphone to feature a dual-camera setup. The new Note8 has a 12MP dual-camera setup, one of which has a wide lens and the other a telephoto. The telephoto lens allows a user to zoom in losslessly for an up to 2x magnification. The use of dual camera allows for the ability to blur out the background for professional looking bokeh effect shots, something that seems to be common in smartphones in 2017. The Galaxy Note8, Samsung claims, is the first smartphone to feature OIS in both the cameras at the back. This is much like effects seen on past dual camera phones like the iPhone 7 Plus to the OnePlus 5 and the Xiaomi Mi A1. The Samsung Galaxy Note8 also records 4K videos at 30 FPS along with high-speed video at a lower resolution. The front camera has an 8MP sensor with an f/1.7 aperture and also records 4K UHD videos at 30 FPS.

Over the years, the Note series has grown from a more business buyers-centric lineup into a broader audience targeted lineup. The large screen, premium specifications and build quality have made the Note devices ideal for media consumption. The Galaxy Note8 is also the only smartphone in 2017 that sells with a stylus as a bundle. The S pen is not an ordinary stylus and has a lot of features that make it unique. Smart Select, which allows you to easily select, clip and copy the content that you like. A new addition to the Note8 is the ability to send .gif messages drawn using the S Pen, which will playback to the recipient in the way you draw them, much like those seen on iMessage. The Screen Off Memo, allows users to quickly jot down important notes and details, when the phone is locked with the screen off, this is activated automatically when the pen is removed from the Note8. The S Pen is closely linked to the Note8, so the phone will remind you to pick if your S Pen if you leave it behind. The Note8 also activates a S Pen specific menu each time you pull the Pen from the device.

The Samsung Galaxy Note8 will be available from 21st September on Amazon India and Samsung India’s official website. The phone will be available offline at select retail outlets later in September. Samsung has also introduced a Note upgrade program wherein current Galaxy Note users can upgrade to the Galaxy Note8 at a discounted price. HDFC credit card users will also get Rs 4000 cashback on pre-orders. Samsung has tamed up with Reliance Jio to offer up to 448GB of extra 4G data over 8 months to Galaxy Note8 users.

Watch our Unboxing of the Samsung Galaxy Note8