The Note 7 will be available from all four major carriers on 19 August with preorders starting today.
Needless to say it will be rather expensive, so if you are addicted to cheap and cheerful Chinese models you might want to look away now.
Samsung says that pricing will be commensurate with prior Note devices and will be higher than the S7 Edge, which is about $770 to $800.
In fact it is hard to see much difference between the Note 7 spec and the S7 Edge. It has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor (at least in North America, China, and Japan. Other markets will get an Exynos processor), it has the same 4GB of RAM, quick charging and quick wireless charging, 12-megapixel camera with f/1.7 lens and optical stabilisation as the S7 series.
The Note 7 differs in that it has support for microSD cards and 64GB of internal storage, compared to the S7’s 32GB, and its battery has been increased to 3,500mAh over the Note 5’s 3,000mAh cell.
Other similarities to the S7 Edge include a dual-curved Super AMOLED display with quad HD (2560 x 1440 pixel) resolution (albeit at a slightly larger, 5.7-inch size The Note 7 also has USB Type-C charging.
The Note 7 has a new iris scanner that joins the familiar fingerprint scanner and lets you unlock your phone with your eyes. This is handy if you are mafia hitman who has filed down his fingerprints or have just gnawed them off while watching telly.
It does have Samsung’s S Pen active stylus which has been upgraded this year with water resistance, a finer point, and twice as fine pressure. There a handful of new software features for the S Pen, including a magnifying loupe, quick text translation tool, and a new tool that makes it easy to create GIFs from any video that’s currently playing.
The Note 7 will be available in the US in three colours: black, silver, and a unique blue that Samsung is calling "Blue Coral." A gold version will also be available in international markets. Samsung will be offering customers their choice of a free 256GB MicroSD card or Gear Fit 2 when they purchase a Note 7.
