Samsung Galaxy Note 8 launches in India: Price, features, offers

Samsung on Tuesday launched their latest Galaxy Note 8 in India today. The Note 8 is Samsung's latest premium device which is also the most expensive Samsung device ever. 

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is priced at Rs 67,900 in India. The smartphone was launched with 64GB inbuilt storage. It will be available in its Maple Gold and Midnight Black colour variants. Samsung's phablet was available for pre-booking since August 24 and has received a tremendous response in India.

According to a report in India Today Tech, around 1.5 lakh Indians have registered for the device on Amazon India store. Out of these 1.5 lakh pre-bookings, 72,000 were made on the first day of registrations. Interested buyers can also pre-book the device from Samsung India's website. So far, 1 lakh buyers have pre-booked the device on Samsung's website.  

Samsung will be taking on Apple directly as the Cupertino Giant will also be launching the anniversary edition Apple iPhone later tonight. The anniversary edition, rumoured to named iPhone X, will be a direct competition to Samsung's Note. The screen size is expected to be 6-inches or more, similar to Samsung Galaxy Note 8's 6.3 inches.

HDFC Credit Card holders will get a cashback of Rs 4,000 in the festive offer. Samsung is offering up to 448GB additional Reliance Jio data offer (over 8 months, with Jio Prime membership complimentary) for Galaxy Note 8 buyers. 

Here are the highlights of Samsung's Galaxy Note 8:

Infinity Display: The Galaxy Note 8 comes with a monsterous screen of 6.3 inches but it still manages to cram that in a relatively small footprint, thanks to Samsung's Infinity Display. The display is of the same size as Galaxy S8+ and also has the same resolution. However, the Note 8 is slightly less curved than the Galaxy S8+ to accommodate more writing space.

Samsung has managed to reduce the bezels surrounding the display even more in comparison to the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+. The display follows an aspect ratio of 18.5:9 with a resolution of 2960x1440 pixels.

S Pen: In the age of gigantic smartphones, what makes a Note phone more Note-worthy than others? The S Pen. Last year, after the Note 7 fiasco, there were speculations that Samsung might scrap the entire Note line-up. However, the South Korean tech giant claimed that Note 7 enthusiasts love the S Pen and it functionality.

This year Samsung added a few more features specific to the S Pen. Paired with the large screen and wider Infinity Display, the prospects of the S Pen have grown manifold. Equipped with a finer tip and higher pressure sensitivity, it can now be used to create anything from fine art pieces to day-to-day tasks.
The S Pen now comes with Live Message feature which allows you can animate anything you write or draw, including scribble on photos. These animations can also be messaged for personalised touch.

The Screen Off memo feature has been improved too, allowing users to write for 100 pages without switching on the screen and edit text with double tap. Now entire texts can be translated from one language to another by moving the S Pen over them.

Dual-lens Camera: The biggest differentiator between the Galaxy S8+ and the Note 8 is the dual-lens setup on the latter. This is the first time Samsung boarded the dual-lens band wagon and the expectations are high. Considering that Samsung's Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ went neck to neck with any dual camera setup in the industry, Galaxy Note 8 stands a greater chance of blowing the competition out of water.

Galaxy Note 8 also has the first dual-camera system to feature Optical Image Stabilisation in both camera units, making low-light photography feel like a breeze. Other than OIS, the camera module comes with dual pixel sensor for better photos in low light conditions.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 also comes with a feature called Live Focus which allows the user to decide how prominently the subject stands out by the adjusting the background blur levels, before or after the picture is taken.

Bixby: Samsung's own Bixby seems to be growing up to be a mature AI assistant. The demonstration of Bixby ranged from placing calls to clicking food pictures without the need to touch the screen. The dedicated Bixby button on the device gives us an idea of how important this new software is to Samsung. Samsung claims that Bixby can identify fluent languages without any trouble.

Bixby will soon allow users to play music on Spotify, courtesy a partnership between Samsung and the digital music service. Samsung promised more exciting news in its Developers' Conference in October.

Samsung DeX: Samsung DeX evolved into a better feature with lower boot times and additional features.The company is making efforts to create an ecosystem of utility and game applications, by partnering with their respective creators, specifically optimised for use on desktop, and form a seamless interface.