Samsung Galaxy Note 7 - Are flagship phones truly dead??
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,973 words · ~9 min read
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what Innovation is left in phones I mean what could possibly make you run out and
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spend nearly ,000 on a cell phone when companies like
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OnePlus and ZTE are convincing consumers
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that they should be able to have devices with six gigs of RAM in their pockets
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for less than half the cost is the
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answer curved glass and more ways to
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scan your body parts will Samsung sure
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hope so and let's take take a closer look at the Note 7 my new daily driver
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and the first note class device to earn
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that
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position Corsair's NL series fans feature magnetic levitation technology
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and Custom Engineered rotors to provide a high performance low noise experience
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if that sounds cool you can learn more at the link in the video description
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the S Series has traditionally launched first as the mainstream performance
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member of the generational family with the note following months later aimed
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squarely at enthusiasts heavy content consumers and productivity freaks with a
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stylus larger screen refined software
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and beefier hardware specs being its usual calling cards and the Note 7
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continues this tradition in some ways but like the Note 5 before it has broken
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with the community's expectations in others while the Note 7 does have a
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larger screen stylus and is the first to launch with Samsung's reimagined
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TouchWiz Grace ux spec-wise it's pretty
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much identical to the S7 S7 active and
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to an even greater degree the S7 Edge it
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rocks an exos 8890 octacore processor 4
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gigs of ddr4 RAM 64 gigs of onboard
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storage with micro SD expansion for those wondering by the way if the dual
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SIM plus micro SD mod from the S7 and S7
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Edge still works it does but the tray is
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more fragile now so be careful and then around the back is the same dual flash
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equipped 12 megapixel f1.7 4K video
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primary camera that's been with us since the S7 not that I'm complaining the bump
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is actually more pronounced than usual
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but it launches Lightning Fast has great low light performance has this cool Auto
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slowdown for playback of your slow motion Clips where it detects the fast
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moving part of the video and then you just fine-tune it which is kind of cool
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and generally continues to be my favorite smartphone camera for capturing
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all the moments that I do on the sides
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you'll find the lock button and volume buttons their tactile feedback feels
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quality but I wish they weren't directly opposing each other even though I'm
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starting to wonder if there's any point in me even continuing to say that
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anymore down at the bottom we find the 3 and 1/2 in headphone jack something we
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might not be able to take for granted for much longer a fast charging
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compatible type-c connector to go along with the new gear VR a microphone port a
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speaker Port that is loud enough but shares its nonoptimal Palm firing
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attribute with the other 5.7 in device I keep in my pocket and finally the holder
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for the improved S Pen that now boasts 360 samples per second updates and
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4,096 pressure levels along with here here's a new one ip68 water resistance
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with or without the pen in its holder
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damn up front is another first a 5.7 in
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curved Corning Gorilla Glass 5 2560 by
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1440 AMOLED HDR display with almost no
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HDR content available I can't really comment too much on that but it looks
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great with everything else as usual and as for the glass well the main advantage
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of corning's fifth generation glass is supposed to be improved drop resistance
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from selfie levels but whether that
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actually works outside of a controlled lab environment and perhaps more
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importantly whether that comes at the cost of less scratch resistance is still
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a developing story that I will be keeping an eye on as someone who doesn't
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usually destroy phones for the sake of making a video all I can really
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contribute to that is that in my two weeks with the device it doesn't have a
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single Mark whereas some of the worst that I've seen managed to get scuffed up
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in a pocket with my plastic headphones very considerably in that time so let's
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talk about what other features make the Note 7 an upgrade over the S7 Edge if
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you had your hopes up for a return to removability for the 35 mAh battery
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sorry they're much more subtle than that the 3D glass on the back is now curved
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to the same degree as the front one which sounds like a very small tweak but
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when combined with the basically bezeless looking front curved glass and
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the strong accidental touch rejection along the sides makes this aside from
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being in my opinion the sexiest phone to date by far the most holdable note
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device yet for small-handed folks like me in spite of them having to make room
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for the S Pen inside so then on that subject well the stylus is a lot of fun
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to Doodle with and great for screenshotting and marking up things
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like web pages to send to others but
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with that said as a non-artist I don't think I'm getting the most out of it and
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I don't see myself paying a big premium for the privilege of using it I mean
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there's a lot of functionality but I've never felt the need to create a gif out
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of something that I'm watching on my phone though aside from the way you need
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to fight with the UI of whatever you're capturing I will say it's pretty
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intuitive to use on top of that as a millennial I actually type or dictate
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much faster than I write with a pen and again maybe age is a factor here but I'd
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probably tell my grandparents to get something else I'm having fond memories
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of my briefing on the Galaxy Mega right now if they really need a magnification
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wand in order to use their phone and glance a feature I was actually kind of
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excited about that lets you hover over a minimized app to refer back to it
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quickly would sell me on it if it was any faster than just using task switcher
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I tried using it for compiling a prop list and doing internet research but
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even in that case the multitask view would work better that is if sheets was
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supported anyway with that said the translate
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feature looks awesome if you ever translate anything which I generally
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don't and when it comes to the feel of using the stylus if I was the kind of
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person who used it a lot I would be amped about the improvements that have
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been made to the leg and the overall natural feeling of it so I have to give
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kudos there moving on it's got fast wireless charging though to be clear I
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still don't recommend using it when it takes literally 4 seconds to plug your
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phone into a low current 1amp charger before you go to sleep which coupled
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with the excellent battery management of modern devices like the Note 7 will get
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most people through all but the most demanding days but it's still a cool
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feature and Samsung's wireless charging battery case is a pretty neat magnetic
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phone Snap-on case as an option for
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emergencies as for the headline feature the iris scanner having spent more time
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with it I'm really impressed by how quickly and usually how well it works
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but it just didn't add anything to the experience for me whether I'm looking at
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my phone on my desk taking it out of my pocket grabbing it from a car dock or
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tell wherever people keep their phones in every situation it was as fast or
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faster for me to get a finger on the home button instead of pointing the
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display at myself and adding the extra step of swiping the screen which doesn't
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mean it's not cool as all hell and a huge step forward for biometric
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authentication I just want to see a software update where I can use it as an
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additional authentication factor for stuff like the cool new secure folder
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feature I mean I'd rest easier knowing that you need my password and one of
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either my fingerprint or an iris scan or maybe some combination of all three in
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order to get into my private contacts pictures and documents on the subject of
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software then let's talk about Grace ux XDA Developers has an article declaring
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it to be a trash sandwich so there's that but as a heavy phone user but one
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who doesn't really try to do much out of the ordinary with my device the main
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difference I noticed was the appearance sorry Samsung software Engineers who
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probably worked really hard on this the clipboard feature is still awesome
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Flipboard is still there to suck up 15 minutes of my life when I accidentally
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swipe to the left autoc caller ID is still really cool I guess I guess
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there's a cool battery optimization button and you can customize your power
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profiles now which gives you better more granular control over the power Savings
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of your device um the always on display can hold a shopping list or a picture
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and has icons for your notifications on it now though you still can't preview
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them like you can on Motorola devices and I guess the Edge panels are neat
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with location contextual junk that you might want to do being the Highlight for
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me over the default speed dial shortcuts that are already in there T9 dialing is
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the king of absolutely everything and has made the contact list and speed dial
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on my phones the least accessed thing for years now which leaves I guess then
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only the conclusion interestingly one of the
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least watched parts of my videos so I'll try to keep it short the Note 7 is
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really great I wouldn't pay $1,000 unlocked for it personally but if I
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didn't have to pay for phones which I don't then it's the one that I would
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choose to use the charging port digs into my finger a little bit and the
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touchscreen stylus accuracy Falls away a little bit near the edges if you're
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trying to position a cursor but these are the biggest complaints I could come
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up with it's functional and beautiful
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with the slight adjustment to the curve making a much bigger difference to its
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usability than I could have possibly
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expected so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do
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but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that like button or check out the link
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to where to buy the stuff we featured like oh I don't know this phone at the
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link in the video description wait did I already say that I don't know also
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linked in the description is our merch store which has cool shirts like this one and our community Forum where you
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can go and talk Tech with other Tech enthusiasts now that you're done doing
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