Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Samsung had a hard task in making the Galaxy Note 7 stand out from its two already impressive phones of 2016, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. But it seems to have done a fantastic job, if my first impressions are anything to go by. The Korean giant’s latest phablet is a tantalising prospect. Yet, a lot of the actual specs have been plucked straight from other Samsung phones. But the typical Note mainstays are still here, S-Pen included, and it’s the first phone to possess iris-scanning tech and a mobile-HDR display. It’s been the case that the Galaxy S series is for mass-market and the Note line is for the enthusiast, but I think that might just change here. During my demo I was told you’ll be able to use HDR when watching videos on Amazon Prime, but it wasn’t confirmed whether it’s a benefit of the screen itself or if the selected app can simply harness the screen's capabilities better. The display didn’t look noticeably brighter than the one on my S7 Edge, but I didn’t get to try out any video. I'll just have to wait until I get a full review model before I can test out Mobile HDR. The iris scanner is another exclusive feature that beefs up the Note 7's security. There’s a small sensor above the display that, once set up, will read your eyes and unlock the phone. It sounds simple, but I doubt I’ll be using it instead of the fingerprint scanner. During my tests I found the scanning process to be a little slow, and I could open the phone quicker with my thumb than my eye. You have to turn the screen on, press the home button and wait for it to scan your eye before it unlocks. I'm also concerned it won't work very well for people with glasses – the person demoing it to me had to repeatedly remove his specs to get it to work – and that it'll struggle in poor light. The biggest Galaxy Note 7 feature, and the thing that really sets it apart from the S7 Edge and pretty much every other phablet, is the S Pen. If you’re new to the Note series, the S Pen is a stylus that fits snugly into the bottom of the phone, popping out when you want to jot down a note. I've never been a fan of styluses, though – they seem unnecessary when my finger is good enough to jot notes and navigate menus. But I know a lot of you love the S Pen and for existing fans it's a great stylus with a bunch of really nice abilities. It’s slim and sturdy, and it’s water resistant just like the phone. Pop it out and a menu will appear, highlighting all its functions. The most basic is jotting down notes, but its 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity make it great for arty drawing too.

The S Pen has some other tricks, too. Hover over text and you can instantly translate it, or press down on a YouTube video and you’ve got yourself a GIF. Cooler still, bring out the pen while the display is off and you can write a note on the blank panel. The Note 7's battery is actually smaller than the one in the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, measuring in at 3,500mAh rather than 3,600mAh. It's a small difference, but I've found the S7 Edge’s battery life to be wildly inconsistent, so I have some initial concerns about the Note 7's. Thankfully there’s Fast Charging on board – both wired and wireless – and this is the first Samsung phone to utilise USB-C, which was a surprising omission from the Galaxy S7.

That does mean, though, that the Note 7 won’t work with your old Gear VR, but – surprise! – Samsung has you sorted. It’s selling an updated Gear VR with a USB-C port that comes in a sleek black colour and has an improved design. It’s also much comfier to wear, thanks to a toughened foam wrapping and more customisable headstrap. There’s also an external port, so in theory you can plug a Galaxy Gear 360 directly into the headset. Software has always been a sore point on Samsung devices, due to their use of the TouchWiz UI. I feel like I say this in every Samsung review, but the Note 7 has the cleanest TouchWiz UI layer yet. It’s sparser than before and a lot of the annoying bright colours have been replaced with pastel shades. The default apps are a lot cleaner, and the icons are less childlike. A particularly nifty software feature is the Secure Folder. This is far more than just a folder that’s locked away behind a passcode, as it actually acts as a separate OS. Throw the Twitter app in there and it’ll be a clean install, letting you add a completely new account. It’s backed up by Samsung’s Knox software and can be secured by a fingerprint, iris, password or passcode. I can see this being useful to not only hide your secret second personality on Twitter, but to also, ahem, conceal those pictures you don’t want to accidentally scroll through in a business meeting.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Samsung had a hard task in making the Galaxy Note 7 stand out from its two already impressive phones of 2016, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. But it seems to have done a fantastic job, if my first impressions are anything to go by. The Korean giant’s latest phablet is a tantalising prospect. Yet, a lot of the actual specs have been plucked straight from other Samsung phones. But the typical Note mainstays are still here, S-Pen included, and it’s the first phone to possess iris-scanning tech and a mobile-HDR display. It’s been the case that the Galaxy S series is for mass-market and the Note line is for the enthusiast, but I think that might just change here. During my demo I was told you’ll be able to use HDR when watching videos on Amazon Prime, but it wasn’t confirmed whether it’s a benefit of the screen itself or if the selected app can simply harness the screen's capabilities better. The display didn’t look noticeably brighter than the one on my S7 Edge, but I didn’t get to try out any video. I'll just have to wait until I get a full review model before I can test out Mobile HDR. The iris scanner is another exclusive feature that beefs up the Note 7's security. There’s a small sensor above the display that, once set up, will read your eyes and unlock the phone. It sounds simple, but I doubt I’ll be using it instead of the fingerprint scanner. During my tests I found the scanning process to be a little slow, and I could open the phone quicker with my thumb than my eye. You have to turn the screen on, press the home button and wait for it to scan your eye before it unlocks. I'm also concerned it won't work very well for people with glasses – the person demoing it to me had to repeatedly remove his specs to get it to work – and that it'll struggle in poor light. The biggest Galaxy Note 7 feature, and the thing that really sets it apart from the S7 Edge and pretty much every other phablet, is the S Pen. If you’re new to the Note series, the S Pen is a stylus that fits snugly into the bottom of the phone, popping out when you want to jot down a note. I've never been a fan of styluses, though – they seem unnecessary when my finger is good enough to jot notes and navigate menus. But I know a lot of you love the S Pen and for existing fans it's a great stylus with a bunch of really nice abilities. It’s slim and sturdy, and it’s water resistant just like the phone. Pop it out and a menu will appear, highlighting all its functions. The most basic is jotting down notes, but its 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity make it great for arty drawing too.

The S Pen has some other tricks, too. Hover over text and you can instantly translate it, or press down on a YouTube video and you’ve got yourself a GIF. Cooler still, bring out the pen while the display is off and you can write a note on the blank panel. The Note 7's battery is actually smaller than the one in the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, measuring in at 3,500mAh rather than 3,600mAh. It's a small difference, but I've found the S7 Edge’s battery life to be wildly inconsistent, so I have some initial concerns about the Note 7's. Thankfully there’s Fast Charging on board – both wired and wireless – and this is the first Samsung phone to utilise USB-C, which was a surprising omission from the Galaxy S7.

That does mean, though, that the Note 7 won’t work with your old Gear VR, but – surprise! – Samsung has you sorted. It’s selling an updated Gear VR with a USB-C port that comes in a sleek black colour and has an improved design. It’s also much comfier to wear, thanks to a toughened foam wrapping and more customisable headstrap. There’s also an external port, so in theory you can plug a Galaxy Gear 360 directly into the headset. Software has always been a sore point on Samsung devices, due to their use of the TouchWiz UI. I feel like I say this in every Samsung review, but the Note 7 has the cleanest TouchWiz UI layer yet. It’s sparser than before and a lot of the annoying bright colours have been replaced with pastel shades. The default apps are a lot cleaner, and the icons are less childlike. A particularly nifty software feature is the Secure Folder. This is far more than just a folder that’s locked away behind a passcode, as it actually acts as a separate OS. Throw the Twitter app in there and it’ll be a clean install, letting you add a completely new account. It’s backed up by Samsung’s Knox software and can be secured by a fingerprint, iris, password or passcode. I can see this being useful to not only hide your secret second personality on Twitter, but to also, ahem, conceal those pictures you don’t want to accidentally scroll through in a business meeting.