At yesterday’s Galaxy UNPACKED 2018 event at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York, Samsung unpacked some WOW! DJ Koh promised surprises in his opening speech and they delivered.
Samsung’s President, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division, D.J. Koh expressed his appreciation to the more than 3,000 global media, Samsung partners, and Note fans in the audience. He also remarked that the Note community’s loyalty is Samsung’s inspiration and reward for their continued commitment to innovation. Since 2011, he said, the Note has been the leading smartphone for achievers and creators who are pioneering new businesses, inventing new ways to work, and redefining music, art, and culture. Because of this, Samsung was forced to break barriers to deliver their most advanced device—the Note9.
Koh explained that the vision of the company since his first UNPACKED event as President of Samsung Mobile in 2016 is a “future of seamlessly connected devices in a world of endless possibilities, with a commitment to meaningful innovation that delivers value, convenience, and joy.”
This set the stage for the event’s overall theme: seamless connectivity with uninterrupted experiences.
Drew Blackard, Senior Director of Product Marketing, followed Koh, remarking that the “Galaxy Note has always been a smartphone for people who want the best of the best, and this year we’ve updated it for a new generation of creators, achievers, and entrepreneurs who are remaking the world and relying on technology to do it.”
He then launched into a description of how Samsung has redefined Note9. With razor-straight lines, elegant curves, a 6.4” inch screen that provides a larger canvas for writing with the S-Pen or watching videos, a fingerprint scanner located below the camera for easier reachability, and vibrant ocean blue, lavender purple, metallic copper, and midnight black color options, the modern design of the new Note9 reflects the forward-looking style that users seek.
The Note9 comes equipped with a 4,000 mAh All-Day Battery - no more worrying that phones will die when you need them most. Additionally, the Note9 starts at a minimum of 128 GB of storage, twice the space as before, which will allow users to download close to 670 hours of movies and TV shows. With the larger 512 GB version and Samsung’s 512 GB micro SD card (coming soon), users can have as much as 1 terabyte of memory. To maximize performance even when running power intensive apps, the Note 9 has a cutting-edge 10-nanometer processor that supports superfast network speeds up to 1.2 gigabits per second.
Blackard went on to explain how the Note9’s brand-new intelligent camera detects flaws, like closed eyes or image blur, and automatically notifies the user so that they can take another shot before the moment is gone. It also has a scene recognition feature that identifies different subjects and optimizes the color tones. And even better, the new Note9 S-Pen works as a remote control so users can take pictures from anywhere.
The new S-Pen supports Bluetooth low energy to turn it into the ultimate remote control, allowing users to play and pause videos, capture snapshots, or flip through slide presentations. Samsung also increased the pressure sensitivity and made the tip finer, so it feels more like a natural writing tool, which allows users to use the device as a creative tool.
In addition to the Note9, Samsung announced a number of other innovations. A new smart watch brings enhanced capabilities and LTE connectivity to the market, a feature announced in the latest Apple Watch as well. Designed with low power architecture, the watch’s battery can last multiple days between charges even with heavy use.
The also introduced new enhancements to the Bixby AI platform. Now more personal, conversational, and refined, Bixby lets users utilize the full features of the Note9 – or any Samsung connected device – totally hands free, and it learns from each request so it can provide the most accurate replies as quickly as possible.
Next on the agenda was the UNPACKING of a new product—the Samsung Galaxy Home speaker. The Samsung Home is equipped with 6-meter high range AKG speakers that send sound in every direction, a subwoofer that provides deep, rich bass, and natural sound processing, providing a realistic surround sound experience that feels like you’re right in the middle of a live concert. And with Sound Steer, the Galaxy Home can detect the user’s location and steers the sound directly to where they are in the room. With Bixby and the smart things hub built right in, users can have instant and easy access just by saying, “Hi, Bixby.” The Galaxy Home also has 8 microphones for Far-Field Voice Recognition to pick up voice commands from across a room. Samsung will be sharing more details about the Samsung Galaxy Home speaker at this Fall’s Samsung Developer Conference.
The new Galaxy Note9 will be available beginning on August 24, priced at $999 for 128 GB and $1,249.99 for 512 GB. It is available unlocked or on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, or Verizon.
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