To take a biometric reading of your iris, it must be illuminated with infrared light. This makes the unique arrangement of fibers, stains,
connections and stripes in the iris visible.
Once this has been done, the camera images any iris presented to it and compares the image to the stored pattern.
The human iris has more unique features, and ones that do not change much in the course of a lifetime, than fingerprints,
which are susceptible to injuries or burns, which can dramatically alter their appearance.
The integration of the iris scanner makes for a smartphone that is mainly aimed at business people who
have sensitive data stored on their phones. For the average consumer, the iris scanner is largely irrelevant.
The demonstration Samsung gave during the hands on showed that the system works quickly and reliably,
but some people at the event, such as my colleague Tobias Költzsch, reported that wearing glasses proved troublesome to the scanner
Whether this problem is only present in the preproduction model we had the chance to try out or whether it goes deeper than
that is something we will have to determine come our
full review.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 software
The Galaxy Note 7 comes with Samsung's TouchWiz skin. On the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge,
Samsung reduced the range of icon colors to create something more elegant and less playful as a result. On the Note 7,
the TouchWiz interface is even more mature.
If you were hoping to see the Note 7 come running Android 7.0 Nougat, you will sadly be disappointed:
it leaves the factory with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. When it will be making the jump, Samsung could not say.
So no new operating system, however, there are a number of small new details and improvements.
First and foremost, the new Samsung Notes app. Instead of
the four different notes apps, as was the case before, there is now a single central app. This can handle your text notes,
handwritten notes, photos, and voice memos.
If you quickly need to note something down in a meeting, or you're in bed you are subject to a flash of fleeting genius,
you no longer need to unlock your smartphone, launch the
app and write the note. Thanks to the Note 7’s extended Always On Display (AOD), you can use the S Pen to write onto your locked
phablet’s screen.
You can pin these note to the AOD or you can save them to the Notes app.
Unfortunately, the implementation of notes on the AOD is not without its shortcomings: once created,
AOD notes can not be edited. It’s is also not possible to transfer notes from the Notes app to the AOD.
Air Command, the S Pen’s software centre, appears, as usual, upon removing the stylus from the phablet. Here again,
Samsung has made some improvements.
Firstly, there is now a zoom function which enlarges content when you hold the S Pen over the display.
You can also translate words and phrases using the S pen.
According to a Samsung employee, this feature is designed to work in combination with the camera.
This should prove convenient for frequent travelers, who
can then, for example, use the Note 7 to translate a menu, poster or instructions.
The new feature that provides the most fun is probably the one that lets you create animated GIFs from videos.
Open up a YouTube video, and you can use the S Pen to record
and annotate a short snippet. Once you’re happy with your creation,
you can choose from a variety of methods for sharing or sending it.
If you want to secure your animated gifs, pictures, documents or apps from prying eyes,
then Samsung has also included a function called ‘Secure Folder’. Store anything in this
folder, and it will only be accessible following a successful iris scan.
There are likely even more software innovations that we could not see
and try in the limited hands-on and demonstration time. But once we have received our review unit, we will inform you
of all new and hidden features.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 performance
There had been much speculation about the internal hardware configuration of the Galaxy Note 7
before the official presentation. But it should be faster than the Note 5 and
optimized for Exynos (Europe) or Snapdragon (USA). What's more,
the Galaxy Note 7 is based on the same architecture as the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, which are still among
the fastest smartphones on the market.
Since I tried out the European version, I used the Galaxy Note 7 with
an Exynos 8890 octa-core processor, 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage. The latter can be expanded up
to 256 GB using a microSD card. Unfortunately, this does not merge seamlessly with the internal memory,
as the internal storage uses UFS 2.0, which no microSD card uses, and
there is no controller for different memory speeds to merge.
We don’t have benchmarks for the Galaxy Note 7 and we’ll have to wait until we get it in the office for further examination.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 camera
Samsung is progressing at an admirable speed with its top smartphone and phablet cameras.
After all, the camera of the S7 series is one of the best on offer.
The main camera on the Note 7 has a resolution of 12 MP and a 1 / 2.5-inch image sensor. The f / 1.7 aperture lens should,
in combination with the large pixels of the image
sensor and dual-pixel auto-focus, shoot sharp, high-contrast images.
The front camera takes selfies to a new level with 5 MP and an f / 1.7 aperture.
Since the Note 7 is a little bigger than the Galaxy S7 Edge, Samsung has a few minor improvements in the camera app,
which are mainly designed for one-handed use. You can quickly switch between the main and front camera,
and access the settings and filters,
with a side swipe.
We will have to wait for our review unit to arrive before we can thoroughly test the Note 7’s camera.
But you can look forward to a detailed report of how good the image quality is
both in terms of photos as well as videos and whether the one-hand software optimizations make sense.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 battery
Without a decent battery, even the most powerful specs are largely useless.
The Galaxy Note 7 from Samsung has 3,500 mAh battery, and that's actually 100 mAh less than the
Galaxy S7 Edge.
The reason for the lower battery capacity is, in my opinion, the extra hardware
Samsung has squeezed into the Galaxy Note 7 compared to S7 Edge. Firstly, the iris scanner takes
up precious space inside the Galaxy Note 7. But even more space is eaten up by the S Pen.
So is this a weakness of the Galaxy Note 7? We'll find out soon enough.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 technical specifications
-
- MODEL:
- Sorry, not yet available!
- DIMENSIONS:
- 153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9 mm
- DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY:
- AMOLED
- SCREEN:
- 2560 x 1440 pixels (515 ppi)
- FRONT CAMERA:
- 5 megapixels
- REAR CAMERA:
- 12 megapixels
- ANDROID VERSION:
- 6.0 - Marshmallow
- REMOVABLE STORAGE:
- microSD
- CHIPSET:
- Samsung Exynos 8890
- MAX. CLOCK SPEED:
- 2.3 GHz
- CONNECTIVITY:
- HSPA, LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2