SamMobile Daily Recap: August 24, 2017 — Galaxy Note 8, Gear Sport and more!

We publish a lot of stories on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the majority of news breaks during our European hours of operation, which makes it difficult for our readers in the US (and other regions) to keep up. However, we think we’ve come up with a fantastic solution — a daily recap.

Here’s what we covered today.

Deals

Daily Deal: Save 50% on a Gear VR (2016)

Phones

Cheaper Galaxy Note 8 with 4GB RAM might be launched in China

Galaxy Note 8 battery comparison with Galaxy S8+ will leave you unimpressed

How the Galaxy Note 8’s dual camera sets new standards for mobile photography

Official Galaxy Note 8 accessories revealed

TV

Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017) user manual confirms Bixby

Watches

Gear Sport, Samsung’s new smartwatch, leaked

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Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017) user manual confirms Bixby

We’ve been reporting on the Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017) for a while now. Samsung has the successor to the Galaxy Tab A 8.0 in the pipeline. Last week we spotted this tablet at TENAA which suggests that it will be launched in China as well.

The Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017) is going to be an entry-level affair. It’s going to feature a 1.4GHz Snapdragon 427 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It will also have an 8-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front camera. As you can see, the specs aren’t anything to write home about.

The tablet was recently spotted on a benchmarking website. The listing revealed that it will ship with Android 7.0 Nougat with Samsung’s new UX on top. Users can expect the same user interface that Samsung introduced earlier this year with the Galaxy S8.

The Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017)’s user manual has now appeared online. It confirms that the tablet will ship with Bixby. However, it will only get Bixby Home and not Bixby Voice. Bixby Home is the contextual card-based interface of Samsung’s new assistant.

The user manual also reveals that there’s going to be a 4G-compatible variant of this tablet. The Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2017) will likely be unveiled by Samsung at IFA 2017 next week. It’s also going to launch a new smartwatch at the event.

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Official Galaxy Note 8 accessories revealed

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 8 yesterday. The company is also offering several accessories that customers can purchase for the new flagship. The accessories include covers, chargers and more. They’re essentially updated versions of the accessories that Samsung is already selling for handsets like the Galaxy S8.

The S View Cover for the Galaxy Note 8 not only provides protection for the device, it also holds the handset at an optimal angle for viewing media. It has a dedicated UX which makes it easy to check alerts, take calls and more without having to open the cover.

The Galaxy Note 8’s LED Wallet Cover lets users check their phone and notifications at a glance with the LED display. They can also assign custom icons to their contacts and personalize caller ID. It even has a card pocket on the side where important items like a bank card can be kept securely.

For those who like luxurious textures, Samsung is selling an Alcantara Cover which is made of soft, suede-like Alcantara. The case is covered with this material inside and out. It’s stain-resistant, scratchproof and can easily be cleaned with soap and water.

Those who require more durability can opt for the Protective Standing Cover. It’s built to the MIL-STD-810G durability standard and provides a full view of the Infinity Display. It even has a kickstand in the back to hold up the phone. The cover has to be removed in order to wirelessly charge the Galaxy Note 8, though.

Samsung is also selling a simple Protective Cover for the Galaxy Note 8. It adds a layer of protection and lets the original color of the handset shine through. It adds minimal bulk as the cover is just 0.95mm thick.

Customers can also opt for the Wireless Charger Convertible accessory. It converts into a pad and a stand so that users can choose to lay their phone flat or prop it up in portrait mode.

There’s also a 5,100mAh external Battery Pack to help keep the Galaxy Note 8 powered on the go. Given its unimpressive battery stats, this is one accessory that many will purchase.

Pricing for the accessories varies by market so check with retailers in your region.

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Daily Deal: Save 50% on a Gear VR (2016)

Amazon has cut the price of the Gear VR (2016) by 50%, so you can pick one up for a limited time only for the modest price of $49.99 — but the promotion is only available for in the United States.

To purchase the Gear VR (2016), all you need to do is hit the Buy Now button below. You’ll need to hurry though, as inventory won’t be around for too long — and once it’s gone, it’s gone.

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Gear Sport, Samsung’s new smartwatch, leaked

Samsung confirmed during its Galaxy Note 8 event yesterday that it’s going to launch a new Gear smartwatch at IFA 2017 in Berlin next week. The company has provided no further details about the new wearable device as yet.

Over the past few weeks, it has consistently been rumored that Samsung is working on a new wearable device. The Gear Sport bears model number SM-R600. It received its Wi-Fi certification earlier this month and was later spotted at the FCC as well.

The certification documents have revealed that the Gear Sport is going to be powered by Tizen 3.0. It’s going to be the first wearable device from Samsung to be powered by the Tizen 3.0 platform out of the box. They’ve also revealed that the Gear Sport supports Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct for data transfer.

The Gear Sport’s features and specifications haven’t surfaced online as yet. We won’t have to wait too long to find that out as IFA 2017 is just around the corner. Samsung will confirm all of the details about this device officially in Berlin.

The image that has leaked online today suggests that it’s going to retain the circular design that has made Samsung smartwatches popular. The watchband itself appears to be small so it may not appeal to everybody.

We’ll update you once more information about the Gear Sport is available.

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How the Galaxy Note 8’s dual camera sets new standards for mobile photography

The Galaxy Note 8 is Samsung’s first flagship smartphone to feature a dual camera. There are two 12-megapixel cameras on the back with a wide-angle and telephoto lens each. The Galaxy Note 8 is also the first smartphone in the world to offer Optical Image Stabilization on both rear cameras.

The Galaxy Note 8’s dual camera supports 2x optical and up to 10x digital zoom. It is capable of taking crisp and clear photos even from far distances and in low lighting conditions. Samsung has also introduced new camera modes to give users more creative control over their images.

One of the rear cameras works like any other smartphone camera. It captures color images in typical fashion. It’s the second camera that adds elements which can’t be captured by the primary camera.

The Galaxy Note 8’s camera takes two separate images when the user takes a photo. The onboard processing engine then combines both images and produces a high-quality, clear photo with a greater depth of field.

Samsung’s new flagship can easily capture clear close-up pictures. The handset’s telephoto lens uses optical zoom to make the subject appear closer. It does that without enlarging any portion of the frame like digital zoom does. This results in professional-quality images even if the subject is far away.

If you’ve ever wanted a smartphone camera that adds the bokeh effect to your photos, look no further than the Galaxy Note 8. Typically associated with photos taken by a DSLR, the bokeh effect is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in parts of an image that are out of focus. This enables the subject to pop as the background becomes less of a distraction.

The Galaxy Note 8 has a Live Focus made that enables users to adjust the bokeh effect. They can control the intensity of the overall effect and apply it before capturing the image. The bokeh effect can also be adjusted after the picture has been taken in the Gallery.

The handset’s Dual Capture mode makes the Galaxy Note 8’s rear wide-angle and telephoto lenses work together to capture two separate images. Users can then find both the zoomed-in and wide-angle versions of the picture in the Gallery.

The dual camera is really what makes the Galaxy Note 8 stand out from the competition. Has it convinced you enough to spend your money on this new flagship? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Galaxy Note 8 battery comparison with Galaxy S8+ will leave you unimpressed

Many Samsung fans were concerned about the battery sizes on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ earlier this year. It felt like Samsung had chosen a particularly small battery for devices that had very large displays. Samsung addressed those concerns through software optimization and fast wired/wireless charging.

If you thought that the 3,000mAh and 3,500mAh batteries of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were too small, the Galaxy Note 8’s battery will leave you unimpressed. It sits in the middle of both devices with a 3,300mAh battery. Samsung had to opt for a slightly smaller battery in order to accommodate the new phablet’s S Pen.

Samsung has released the official battery stats for the Galaxy Note 8. The numbers are based on devices tested in Europe. The Galaxy Note 8 obviously can’t match the Galaxy S8+ in terms of battery longevity but it comes close.

You should expect the Galaxy Note 8 to last two hours less than the Galaxy S8+ in key departments such as talk time, video playback, internet use and MP3 playback. The comparison table will help you understand this better.

	Galaxy S8+	Galaxy Note 8
MP3 playback (AOD on)	up to 50 hours	up to 47 hours
MP3 playback (AOD off)	up to 78 hours	up to 74 hours
Video playback	up to 18 hours	up to 16 hours
Talk time	up to 24 hours	up to 22 hours
Internet use (Wi-Fi)	up to 15 hours	up to 14 hours
Internet use (3G)	up to 13 hours	up to 12 hours
Internet use (LTE)	up to 15 hours	up to 13 hours

Bear in mind that these numbers are theoretical and your experience will be based on how you use your device and other factors like the network quality. It’s clear though that as far as battery longevity goes, the Galaxy Note 8 does not break any new ground.

I mentioned in my Galaxy S8+ battery review that it was holding up very nicely and easily getting me through one full day. It remains to be seen if the Galaxy Note 8 can do that, given that it has a marginally larger display and a dual camera.

Do you think that these figures are good enough? Or will the smaller battery keep you from buying the Galaxy Note 8? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

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Cheaper Galaxy Note 8 with 4GB RAM might be launched in China

The Galaxy Note 8 is the first smartphone from Samsung to ship with 6GB of RAM globally. Samsung has previously released variants of its flagships with 6GB of RAM. However, they have largely been limited to select markets.

The Galaxy Note 8 is an expensive smartphone. It costs north of $900 in the United States and over 1,000 euro in several European markets. If a new leak is to be believed, Samsung might launch a cheaper Galaxy Note 8 with 4GB of RAM.

The leak comes from TENAA, a certification agency in China. The China-specific variants of the Galaxy Note 8 bearing model numbers SM-N9508 and SM-N9500 have been listed. It’s expected that Samsung might launch the 4GB variant alongside the standard 6GB variant.

The cost-cutting appears to be limited to the RAM only as all other specifications will remain the same. The standard variant with 6GB of RAM and 64GB storage is expected to cost ¥6,288 or $945.

The 4GB RAM with 64GB variant is expected to cost around $100 less than the standard edition. The 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant will be offered as well for ¥7,088 or $1,065.

Samsung is yet to confirm when the Galaxy Note 8 will be launched in China. Rumor has it that the company will unveil it in China on September 13 and launch it on September 23. It’s unclear if this cheaper Galaxy Note 8 will be sold in any other market.

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