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  • Jigolo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Those Note 5 dimensions are wrong btw.

    Anyway, is this an RGB stripe OLED display or still pentile?
  • JoshHo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    The Note5 dimensions have been corrected.

    RGB stripe would be denoted as SAMOLED+ or Plus, this will have PenTile subpixel layout.
  • more-or-less - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Seriously, being a mobile reviewer of Anandtech, you should know that this is not true. That 'SAMOLED+' nomenclature was used way back with GS2, not used for ages now.

    Look at J7, they are using S-Stripe/RGB-like sub pixel arrangement, there is SAMOLED 'PLUS' in that. Look at review of TabS2 in your own website.

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/9709/samsung-galaxy-...

    "While the smaller model of the Tab S2 uses diamond PenTile, the Tab S2 9.7" does use an RGB-like subpixel arrangement, and it's essentially the same as the one used on the original Tab S 10.5." They don't use separate names, they are all Super AMOLED only. Not plus or anything.
  • more-or-less - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    I meant J7 * doesn't * have any Super Amoled PLUS mentioned, even though it's not pentile.
  • JoshHo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    That's fair, but in this case I would explicitly use the plus notation or otherwise make a note of it in the spec table to indicate if it is an RGB stripe.

    I was explicitly told that this display is of comparable efficiency to the Note5 and that the maximum brightness is comparable as well.
  • Jigolo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Well, that's disappointing.
  • Rdmkr - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    considering the human eye can't distinguish contours in chrominatic patterns in anywhere near as much detail as in luminatic information, I'm glad samsung keeps opting for superior battery life in this regard. We're at a PPI level where the difference between pentile and full RGB is perceptually practically irrelevant.
  • autosapien - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Nonsense, I can see the Pentile effect on my Nexus 6P which is the same size and resolution.

    You'd need a higher resolution display to mask the effect so better to stay at the current resolution and switch to RGB stripe.
  • Schecter1989 - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Umm.....a nexus 6P is a 6 inch screen. The note is a 5.7. A 0.3 inch is a big difference with a 1440 resolution. So.......nonsense.......you can't see the difference......
  • CloudWiz - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Check your facts before calling bs. The 6P is a 5.7 inch screen.
  • Fooztop - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Yeah it seemed a little odd that the article mentioned the phone shrunk in width but the (incorrect) dimensions seemed to indicate that the width grew...
  • zeeBomb - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Meanwhile on YT this morning...half the videos you can't watch lol.

    Does this have Gorilla Glass 5?
  • Jigolo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Yes it does.
  • zeeBomb - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Oh okay. I got another question then, more of a general question to everyone:

    Would you all still buy a tempered glass screen protector to put on top? Or buy something lightweight like a PET screen protector? I feel like GG5 is a nice step forward and may adequately add lots off protection for the front.
  • WithoutWeakness - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Does anyone make a true tempered glass screen protector that covers the curved edges? The only ones I've ever seen for Samsung's curved-screen phones stop a the curved edge and don't wrap over like you would want them to. The only ones that wrap around to cover the edges are the cheap plastic films.
  • Speedfriend - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    I haven't found a tempered glass protector for my S7 Edge, so stuck with a crappy plastic film that look terrible. I wish that Samsung had made a larger screen S7 non edge.
  • Cliff34 - Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - link

    I actually have a tempered glass protector for my S7 Edge. It was horrible bc it made the touch screen not sensitive. I ended up replacing with silicone file screen protector.
  • mkozakewich - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    For my Note II, I opted for no protector at all. In three years, I only got a couple little marks.
    Actually, I'm big on flip covers. I hacked the case that came with my new phone so I could slide an old modified Note II cover into it.
  • ShiaLayson - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VFct1jW5MY

    Do everything you want with your new Galaxy Note7
  • osxandwindows - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Meh. Just an s7 edge with a pencil, with USB C and iris scanning added.
    If you have a fully functional note 5, not worth the upgrade just yet, unless you want water resistants.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    ??? Over the Note 5, it has a larger battery, faster CPU/GPU, USB C, Iris scanner, water resisitance, gorrilla glass 5, and a highly welcome 64gb storage as a start point, . That isnt a bad list of improvements for a 1 year cycle these days.
  • wetwareinterface - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    you forgot the other HUGE addition

    sd card
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    I thought about it.... But since it was on the Note 1,2,3,4 I didnt call it an upgrade, even though it was not on the Note 5 LOL.
  • Schecter1989 - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Horrible list of half assed improvements.....

    1. Larger battery is offset with higher powered CPU and GPU making that point moot.
    2. Fast CPU/GPU is not enough to have a realistic improvement over the previous generation. Making that point also worthless. If they really had big improvements then we wouldn't need anymore CPU or GPU upgrades as they would already be overkill for what can be done on any phone or tablet.
    3.iris scanner........ok if a certain device unlock feature is your driving factor with this device it's the first iteration and always has heavy improvements that need to be made. 2nd gen iris scanner would be worth waiting for.
    4. Water resistance......has been out long enough to justify it becoming a widespread standard with how much we spend on devices. Not an actual improvement when devices in the current and previous generation already have it (if the S6, S7 and Edge didn't have it then i would consider it an improvement)
    5. 64GB starting point.......not an improvement.....they're finally getting the jist of things as when 4, 8, and now 16/32gb isn't enough storage. Saves them money not having to stock 2 types of memory modules to accommodate different models when also 95 percent of users either never fully utilized the onboard storage or already had an SD card from a previous device.

    This phone is exactly what osxandwindows stated. An S7 edge with usb c, pen, and iris scanner. Oh and water resistant. Nothing more.

    The only feature I found to be new is the ability to run the same app simultaneously side by side on the same device, not with the multi-user setup normally found on tablets and some phones.
  • retrospooty - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    As opposed to what? It's a good list of year over year improvements. Look at any phone from any maker... Most do less. My list was very valid. 1. The batter is not offset. The Note 5 (and S6) was severely lacking in battery life. 2. It is a pretty decent bump over the previous gen standard. 3. Who said it was a "driving factor". It is one of many improvements. 4. Pay attention... We are listing things it had over the Note 5 from last year. 5. 64gb as a start point is not an improvement? Get real... How about you go grab a 16gb phone and enjoy it. You are literally the only person that can see that as a bad thing. If you dont like it , by all means, dont buy it... But you really just seem like you are here to complain. Like I said, its a good year over year list of improvements. - FWIW, its not a huge improvement over the S7E (BTW, the best selling phone of 2016). It doesnt need to be. The S7e is bloody awesome.
  • ian132 - Saturday, August 6, 2016 - link

    The new power saving modes seem like they might make a big difference. Another cool feature is the future uses of the IRIS scanner that they plan to eliminate your wallet with.
  • poohbear - Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - link

    The qualcom 820 uses less power than the 810. It's a newer generation CPU so is more energy efficient than previous gen with better performance.
  • lilmoe - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Upgrading phones every year is getting really old, unnecessary and frankly, stupid. Not sure why everyone's hell bent on 6-12 month upgrade cycles, or even 24.

    Upgrading my GS4 to the GS7e was a breath a fresh air. You actually feel the difference in the upgraded specs. Even my wife's skipping the Note7 and keeping her Note4 for another year.

    Unless you have a 2-3 year old phone, the best time to upgrade would be when the next version of UFS is out, everything else (cpu/gpu/screen) will feel nothing but extremely minor upgrades...
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    It depends on your needs. I upgrade very year (except 2015 because it was a bad year for Android). If you have the ability to get one and the options are worth it to you, its not an issue. Plus, its not like your 1 year old phone is tossed in the trash. Alot of people give it to someone else like a family member... Some sell it to recoup some of the cost.
  • InspectHerGadget - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Yup. It still costs but especially if you wait a few months after launch, you can get the phone at quite a discount. It is easy to sell good phones second hand.
  • shabby - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Complaining about choices is getting really old too.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    I know right? I have seen people online complaining that there are too many models and that Samsung need to make less phones, and Intel needs to make less CPU's. WTF? If you dont like it dont buy it. It's a choice... Not like an OS that gets upgraded while you werrent paying attention hehehe
  • mkozakewich - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    You're still paying for it. It's like how Apple upgraded the shitty iPod Touch screen to the same screen the iPhone 5 used. By reducing supply lines, they actually managed to save on costs.
  • retrospooty - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Of course you pay for it... That is how the world works. No-one was ever forced to buy that iPod, and no-one id forced to buy and Samsung product either. People choose to buy it if it suits their needs. If you sell A's and B's and you figure out a way to make more money by either combining, or diversifying products wouldnt you do it?
  • lilmoe - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    choice =/= obsession

    If you're that eager to upgrade then knock yourself out. Just don't expect major changes every darn cycle.
  • shabby - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Compared to the note5 the note7 has a bigger battery, better/faster camera, faster and more efficient cpu/gpu, micro sd card, ip68, narrower in size, iris thingamajiggy, i'd say these are pretty significant changes. Now stop whining...
  • lilmoe - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    The OP was comparing it to the GS7e. So ya..... Good job getting excited, choice man.
  • retrospooty - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    The OP said "If you have a fully functional note 5, not worth the upgrade just yet, unless you want water resistants." so, no... It was comparing to both.
  • poohbear - Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - link

    totally agree. It's like people are forced here to read this stuff and then complain about it.
  • InspectHerGadget - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    I agree with that. The iPhone storage is way faster at this point.
  • poohbear - Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - link

    Dude that is totally your choice. Who upgrades every year? i upgrade every 2-3 years and from the research these companies are doing the vast majority do as well. This phone is NOT marketed to Note 5 owners, it is marketed to Note 4 & 3 owners.
  • Rishi100 - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Great mini introduction. I request for a super long thorough review pushed out as soon as possible, anandtech style covering display tech in ultra detail.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Nice. Looks lije a great phone. Also nice that we are finally moving to 64gb as a start point for storage on flagships...
  • Evil804 - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    No word on if the storage is dual lane UFS 2.0 mentioned in the feb. article? the chinese leak a few weeks back hinted @ dual lane.

    http://www.anandtech.com/show/10094/samsung-announ...
  • jjj - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Unfortunate (or criminal) that they stick with Pentile and the less than 1080p experience.
    Not ideal that they don't care at all about the screen to body ratio and that back could be less boring.
    Was kinda hoping for UFS removable cards support, guess it's not not time for that yet.
    The even more discrete curve is ok, they are finally getting the point, took a few years though.

    The high end in general is not doing great and nobody but the phone makers are to blame. The biggest opportunities in high end are in design and display because the industry has been going backwards for a couple of years. There are more high end devices with 1080p Pentile than 4k displays. No matter if 4k is needed or not, at least it doesn't offer a 720p class experience. We see modularity gimmicks designed to increase revenue but nobody can be bothered to work on the screen to body ratio. We see more home buttons than ever just because phone makers are too lazy or too cheap to put the fingerprint sensors anywhere else. Home buttons are for ppl that just got used to them and don't know any better but it's 5 years too late for those.

    Anyway ,this one is pretty nice , too bad for the missing subpixels and that they stick with 5.7 inch for another year, instead of pushing a bit. 5.5 inch is mainstream since 2013, they should have moved to 5.9-6 inch last year with the Note.
  • arayoflight - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    What kind of charging this phone support. Qualcomm type quick charge or USB Pd?

    Also what about the storage solution?
  • JoshHo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    It's QC 2.0.

    I was not able to verify the storage solution, it will be easy to verify if a device is in hand.
  • arayoflight - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    That's sad. It means that it doesn't follow type C spec and won't enable USB 3.0 speeds even if it supports them, which is again a question mark.
  • jjj - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    On their site they list USB 3.1 , if true it might be the first phone to have that.
  • DanNeely - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Where do you see that? Searching the text "3.1" doesn't find anything; while the only mention of USB is the connectivity section (near the bottom of the page) which says "USB 2.0".

    http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-note7/
  • JoshHo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    The HTC 10 already has USB 3.1 over USB C.
  • arayoflight - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Didn't the 10 have USB 3.1 gen 1. That's just rebranded USB 3.0
  • JoshHo - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Right, but if the Note7 supports USB 3.1 it will be gen 1 as well. I haven't seen any shipping controllers to enable USB 3.1 gen 2.
  • iceman-sven - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Boring
    I was hoping for the ultimate VR Smartphone. But we got a dud.

    Carmack should fly with a BFG9000 to the Samsung Mobile & Display HQ. And spurt them to action. ;-)
  • zoxo - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    I just don't understand the dual edge screen at all... Seems such a bad design to me, and especially for a note taking device. It looks awkward, software have problems using it at all, its function is questionable at best.
  • InspectHerGadget - Friday, August 5, 2016 - link

    I agree. I'm not fussed on the curved screen. It might be enough to put me off buying it.
  • NotLupus - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    I look forward to reading the review next year.
  • Morawka - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    easy now this isn't a GPU
  • poohbear - Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - link

    "easy now this isn't a GPU:

    lol thanks for the laugh! Anandtech needs to pick up their game indeed!
  • virtuastro - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    I can't wait to see the review Part 2 in 2018.
  • Speedfriend - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Thank you for your valuable contribution to the discussion. How old are you? 12?
  • patel21 - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Actually I liked his comment, its really sarcastic.
  • Zabatsu - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    What is your source on it being Synaptics fingerprint-sensor being used?
  • JoshHo - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    The GS6 and GS7 both used Synaptics fingerprint scanners, it's not a very far leap to say that the same is true of the Note7 due to economies of scale.
  • Zabatsu - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    I would agree to that, but I would not state it as a simple fact unless sources exist. If that is the case, it should be noted that it is speculated to be released with Synaptics Fingerprint Sensor. Don't you agree? As it is now, it is stated as a fact.
  • colinisation - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    Any ETA on the Exynos M1 / SD820 deep dive?
  • Psyside - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - link

    You wish, its been more then 5 months now, i wonder what does Andrei do so long
  • ReLeto - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    What kind of storage solution does it use? Same old UFS 2.0 1-lane or recently announced V-NAND 2-lane one?
  • WPX00 - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    The smaller battery is from the switch of tech from Li-ion to Li-Po, which the Note5 uses, but the S7 Edge uses Li-ion. Li-Po has a lower energy density, but is less prone to worsening due to aging.
  • r3loaded - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    "Based on conversations with those at Samsung it seems that this mode can only be unlocked by a few specific applications like Amazon’s Prime Video app, but I’m sure that with enough digging around in the system it will be possible to figure out the API that allows for controlling this functionality for third party HDR video playback."

    Ugh, there is no need for Samsung to pull this kind of nonsense for a new technology. What possible benefit is achieved by locking down HDR support to some pre-approved apps?
  • Lau_Tech - Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - link

    Im sorry to sound unkind Josh, but I was hoping someone else would be doing the note 7 review. Please get this out in a reasonable amount of time, and try to give unqualified praise where it is due.
  • Greenphlem - Friday, August 5, 2016 - link

    Under connectivity for the Note 5 it says USB-C, that can't be right...
  • AbRASiON - Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - link

    No flat, no sale.
  • ShiaLayson - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    What you need when get a new Samsung Galaxy Note7

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VFct1jW5MY

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