Riptide GP: Renegade comes to the NVIDIA Shield Android TV

The next installment of the Riptide GP series by Vector Games has hit the Google Play Store, and it’s exclusive to the NVIDIA Shield Android TV.

The hydrojet racing series takes a Need For Speed-type turn this installment as your character is kicked out of the Riptide GP league and forced into illegal racing in new maps with massive waterfalls, surging waves, and cops to dodge in case racing a giant jet engine on skis wasn’t hard enough. The graphics are impressive while still harkening back to my days tilting thru racing games at the arcade. There’s plenty of mutli-player modes if you get tired of the single-player campaign (or need to play someone you can actually compete with for a while), and there’s even internet multiplayer modes so you can play against people on PC and PS4, the only other platforms Renegade is available on right now. At ten bucks, this game isn’t cheap, but if you’re a racing gamer, this is certainly a change from other street racing titles.

Vector Games is looking to bring the game to mobile soon, but for right now, if you’ve got a NVIDIA Sheild Android TV and ten bucks, it’s an excellent way to beat the heat and ride some waves. With a big honking jet engine.

Riptide GP: Renegade ($9.99)

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview

Can Samsung excite Note fans with a phone that’s essentially a Galaxy S7 edge with an S Pen? Find out in our first look at the new Galaxy Note 7.

By all accounts, Samsung has a hit on its hands with the one-two punch of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. The same great phone platform, available in two different sizes to cover a wider potential audience. It’s a proven strategy — in fact the past three Samsung launches have involved pairs of phones: one flat, one curved.

That’s about to change. The Galaxy Note 7 is launching alone, unaccompanied by a stylus-free option — and we’re also skipping the Note 6 and jumping straight to 7. There’s a good reason for that: the Galaxy Note 7 shares the same core specs and functionality found today on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge — down to the individual components, camera and screen quality.

Once highly differentiated and in a tier of its own, it might seem like the Note is now just another Galaxy phone. (The 5.5-inch S7 edge surely has a lot to do with that.) But rest assured there are many important new additions in both hardware and software that help this Note shine in its own right. Read on to learn more, in our full hands-on preview.

Watch it first

A Galaxy Note 7 video preview

As you get ready to learn all about the Galaxy Note 7, you should kick it off with our full video preview of the phone.

Galaxy Note, evolved

A familiar hardware story, relentlessly refined

Take a look at a Galaxy S6, Note 5, S7 and Note 7 in order and you’ll see a steady progression in design language, as Samsung fine-tunes and iterates upon what is easily its best design platform yet. It’s been a good couple of years since the last major overhaul in the way a Samsung phone looks and feels. But if you’ve used one of these handsets you can’t deny that it’s a great design. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel just yet.

Samsung is past doing massive yearly hardware changes.

Yes there’s still glass on both sides, and a metal frame throughout is exposed around the edges. The volume and power keys, home button, speakers, USB port, headphone jack and cameras haven’t moved a millimeter. But the question is, why should they? Instead Samsung focuses on more important hardware changes.

The Note 7 looks similar, but feels much better

The big change here is symmetry. The Note 7 is symmetrical top-to-bottom, and of course side-to-side, but it’s also now symmetrical front-to-back. The curved back glass is more subtle than it was on the Note 5, and that also means that the 5.7-inch screen is now curved — à la S7 edge — to match. However it’s a tighter, narrower curve than the S7 edge, producing an even more striking visual effect. As a result, the Note 7 is almost two millimeters narrower than the Note 5, and of course you get the full “Edge UX” software from the Galaxy S7 edge available with a swipe in on the curved portion.

For me, the Note’s curved screen works. It doesn’t feel like as much of a form-over-function decision as in the Galaxy S7 edge. The smaller, tighter curve makes it easier to reach across this big-screened phone, but it doesn’t have such a large surface area as to cause unintentional touches or interfere with swipe-in gestures. The display uses Samsung’s familiar Super AMOLED screen technology at Quad HD (2560×1440) resolution, and that means is yet another phone with an industry-leading display — it’s superb all-round.

More: The Galaxy Note 7 is waterproof with an IP68 rating

There are two other changes here that you can’t necessarily see, but are hugely important. The first is water resistance, which is rated up to the same spec as the Galaxy S7 at IP68. Splash it, spray it, dunk it — just don’t leave it in liquid too long and dry it off afterwards, and you’ll be safe. The next is Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back of the phone, which is even more capable at handling drops onto hard surfaces without breaking.

The brand new Gear VR

With the move to a USB-C connector on the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung had to release a new version of the Gear VR headset. It refreshed more than just the connector, though, switching to a new color scheme, improving comfort and tweaking the touchpad and buttons.

See our hands-on with the brand new Gear VR headset

Elsewhere in the hardware, you’ll notice little changes. The corners of the Note 7 are more tightly curved, and the metal and glass are sculpted to flow almost seamlessly together. (You might think that would make the Note 7 super slippery, but in my time with it the phone felt more stable and manageable than its predecessor, the Note 5.)

And then there are the colors, where Samsung has taken the black, gold and silver colors of the Galaxy S7 — plus a new bright blue option — and added an extra bit of flair by anodizing the metal frame in their corresponding hues. The black phone now has a black metal frame, while the gold and silver models have slightly different silver bands and the blue color has a pinkish coral metal.

This phone looks like a fantastic upgrade for Note 4 owners.

The subtle design changes, renewed focus on symmetry and fresh color options — paired with an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality elsewhere — has resulted in a really beautiful phone.

And that’s true despite the fact that there’s a lot of familiar stuff here. The Galaxy Note 7 is easily the best iteration of Samsung’s metal-and-glass design to date. Though it may seem as though it’s very similar to the Galaxy S7 edge, the changes were made in specific areas for good reason, not just for the sake of change.

Well, it’s a Galaxy S7 edge

The specs

In a meeting ahead of its announcement, Samsung referred to the Note 7 as being built on the same “platform” as the Galaxy S7 — that’s another way to say it shares a lot of its internal hardware with that phone. Inside the new Note 7, you’ll find the same Snapdragon 820 processor (we again expect an Exynos internationally), 4GB of RAM, a 12MP camera, micro-SD card slot, screen technology and resolution as the phones from earlier this year.

There are really only three small differences — the first being the 64GB of internal storage, which is double the 32GB on the Galaxy S7 edge and may lead even fewer people to reach for an external memory card. Then of course there’s the 3500 mAh battery, which is actually smaller than the Galaxy S7 edge’s 3600 mAh cell. That may initially rub people the wrong way — particularly because the Note 7 has a larger screen — but it’s still a nice bump over the 3000 mAh of the Galaxy Note 5. There’s also a USB-C port — a first for Samsung — to lead the company into the new era of connectivity standards. (Naturally, there’s a micro-USB to USB-C adapter in the box for your old cables.)

Operating System	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display	5.7-inch 2560x1440Super AMOLEDDual edge screenGorilla Glass 5
Processor	Quad-core Snapdragon 820 (U.S.)Octa-core Exynos (international)
Storage	64GB
Expandable	microSD up to 256GB
RAM	4GB
Rear Camera	12MP f/1.71.4-micron pixels, OIS
Front Camera	5MP f/1.7
Charging	USB-C, Fast ChargingQi, Powermat wireless
Input	S Pen stylus4096 pts of pressure sensitivity
Battery	3500 mAh
Water resistance	IP68 rating
Security	One-touch fingerprint sensorIris scannerSamsung KNOX
Dimensions	153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9 mm169 g

More: Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs

It’s hard to be upset seeing the same proven internals that offer a great experience on the Galaxy S7, but hardcore fans may have hoped for more. They’ll wonder why Samsung didn’t bump the specs to include things like the newer Snapdragon 821 processor, or 6GB of RAM, or tweaks to one (or both) of the cameras.

Then again, it’s worth remembering spec-hungry enthusiasts make up a relatively small portion of Samsung’s customer base, even in a top-tier device like the Note.

Sleeper changes

Unsung software changes

When a new phone is first unveiled, we (and sometimes the companies themselves) often focus on the hardware and specs — those are the things we can quantitatively compare to past phones and quickly see at a glance whether they fit our personal criteria. But the software we interact with every day makes a huge difference in the overall experience, and on the Note 7 that’s changed quite dramatically in a few areas. What’s more, at launch Samsung hasn’t really made much fuss about it.

While we’re of course still looking at Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and main elements of the launcher and app drawer remain unchanged, but you’ll find tweaked versions of most Samsung app icons and a lighter look to folders in the launcher. (Including a flower icon for the gallery that’s totally an orange Shuriken.) There’s also a fresh take on the notification shade and settings area on the Note 7. Both are even simpler and flatter, and shake up the color scheme immensely — there’s a single predominant shade of light grey for the entirety of these interfaces, with subtle hints of bright blue that were still present in the Galaxy S7’s interface.

These greys are contrasted with more subtle pops of color in the Settings app, which itself has been drastically simplified. This important app has been completely rearchitected to create bigger groups of settings that fit into large sections, without sub-groupings or confusing separation. The new layout will make it easier for newcomers to find the basic settings they need, while also having the deeper stuff for power users to get what they want

It’s a fresh look, on top of lots of new unsung features

But these changes aren’t just skin deep: Samsung has also improved major functions of the operating system. Though there aren’t many headline software features (outside of the S Pen, which we’ll get to next), there’s a helpful selection of smaller changes that benefit the overall experience. For example the Power Saving Mode is completely customizable now, giving you control over several functions of the phone to save battery while providing the features you still need. The camera interface has been slimmed down to cut back on unnecessary buttons and features. There’s also a blue light filter to change the screen’s color temperature to your liking at night. Behind the scenes you’ll find Samsung still has integration with the “Hiya” service to block unwanted spam and scam calls — somehting that’s been around since the Galaxy S7 when Hiya was part of Whitepages.

The subtly curved display of the Note 7 has allowed Samsung to bring over the “Edge UX” experience over from the Galaxy S7 edge as well. You can of course choose to skip the feature altogether — and with the S Pen in tow I wouldn’t be surprised if you did — but for those who want quick access to contacts, apps and widget-like experiences it’s there to use. And it works just like it does on a GS7.

Yes, you will still get the pile of pre-installed Samsung apps that you may or may not want. (Though many of these are actually pretty good if you give them a chance.) And yes, carrier partnerships will add another folder full of bloatware and other crap. Such is the nature of the U.S. carrier system. (There’s currently no word on any unlocked U.S. version of the Note 7.)

We’ll be able to spend far more time with the software on the Note 7 in our full review, and we’re inclined to take an even deeper look after seeing so many notable and unexpected changes throughout. Chances are we’re getting a good look at what Samsung’s latest phones will look like once updated to Android 7.0 Nougat, and that’s very exciting.

S Pen improvements

Samsung didn’t have to add much, it just had to make the S Pen more approachable

Let’s face it: You’re still going to be using your fingers on this screen more than the included stylus. Samsung’s S Pen is ingenious in the right situation, but it takes time to pick up and can be tough to master. This is the case, despite how powerful and genuinely useful the S Pen has been for the past couple of generations.

With the Note 7, having had a full year to work on new advancements, Samsung has kept the same core S Pen experience, but dramatically trimmed down the number of individual apps required to support it. Rather than continue to have Memos, S Note, Action Memo and Scrapbook as separate apps, the functionality of all four is combined into a single Samsung Notes app — and I’m not entirely sure why it took so long. Simply making the robust set of features more accessible feels like a win for anyone who wants to use the S Pen more.

Beyond that, Samsung has added even more features, including the ability to highlight text with the S Pen to magnify, read aloud or translate it on the fly. There’s also a new feature in Smart Select that lets you create an animated GIF out of any (non-DRM) video playing on your screen (or any thing going on on-screen in general) — a neat addition for GIF fans. The S Pen experience has also been built into the Always-on Display mode from the Galaxy S7, giving you quick access to memos and notes while also offering up information on the display when the phone’s sleeping.

The S Pen hardware itself hasn’t changed much in terms of size or styling, but it now offers double the pressure sensitivity at 4096 levels, and is also just like the rest of the Note 7. And unsurprisingly, Samsung has designed it in a way that the S Pen will not go into its slot backwards; going a step further from the mid-cycle “fix” to the Note 5’s internals, the Note 7’s pen won’t go into the body more than a couple of millimeters, avoiding any potential issues. Smart move, Samsung.

Iris scanning

The last big feature that’s entirely new to Samsung phones is the oft-rumored iris scanner — something that seems extremely sci-fi, but in reality isn’t all that complicated or even altogether new in smartphones.

While it’s a first for a Samsung Galaxy phone, we’ve seen other phones for well over a year now use iris scanners, though they haven’t exactly been the highest end or widely purchased models: phones like the Alcatel Idol 3, ZTE Grand S3 and Lumia 950/950XL, for example.

Iris scanning on the Note 7

You can use your eyes to securely lock your Galaxy Note 7 — here’s how it all works.

Getting to know the Note 7’s iris scanner

I’m not sure how it’s going to fit alongside the fingerprint sensor

The Note 7’s iris scanner works pretty simply, using the combination of a dedicated camera and an infrared light on the top bezel of the phone — together, they can very precisely read your irises (it prefers to see both eyes if possible). The iris scanner definitely works, even through glasses, but of course faces issues when it comes to using it in very bright or very dark lighting situations, as well as times when you need to unlock your phone but it’s not immediately easy to lift up the phone to face your eyes.

Thankfully the iris scanner doesn’t come at the cost of a fingerprint sensor, which you’ll still find included in the home button on the Note 7. And in fact, the iris scanner doesn’t have as much far-reaching usefulness in the software either. You can use the iris scanner to unlock the phone, access Samsung apps that have secure functions and authenticate in Samsung’s KNOX security platform, but your iris can’t yet be used to unlock third-party apps that are designed to look for a fingerprint. Right now, it’s a neat (albeit not altogether new) feature — whether or not it really catches on will depend greatly on how fast and reliable it is in everyday use.

More Note to come

The bottom line, for now

It’s easy to say that Samsung took a conservative approach overall to the Galaxy Note 7. It’s hardly a stagnant device when compared directly to the Note 5, but the extreme similarities to the Galaxy S7 edge indicate that Samsung didn’t feel the need to try and reinvent the wheel here. Unlike Notes of the past, the Note 7 isn’t a solo stand-out, industry-leading device that blows the doors off of everything else with more features, power and appeal than the competition. Instead, that duty is now spread across three phones for Samsung: the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge and Galaxy Note 7.

The Note is no longer going solo — it’s the highest-end device in a three-pronged attack

And from that standpoint, it makes a whole lot of sense for Samsung to keep a common core of specs, features and design across the three, despite the Galaxy Note 7 launching some six months later than the first two phones. This is a family of devices in which there really are few (if any) trade-offs as you move up through the models — you just get more and more, built on a familiar platform. At the baseline, you simply get a fantastic phone with the Galaxy S7. You get the same experience, larger curved display and bigger battery with the Galaxy S7 edge. And now you can get an even larger display, more storage, an S Pen and new software features on the Galaxy Note 7.

The homogeneity of this set of phones may seem bland to hardcore fans and those who mobile industry closely. And you can argue that keeping the Note 7 in line with the Galaxy S phones this year has limited its potential. But even when you sit down and look at the Galaxy Note 7 in a bubble, can you really say that it’s missing anything important? Or that it doesn’t have enough features? Or that it fails to give the the consumer a great experience with all of the power that they need? The Galaxy Note 7 absolutely does all of those things, while also serving as the top-end of a three-pronged Galaxy phone attack from Samsung.

When regular consumers pick up a Galaxy Note 7 for the first time, they won’t care how similar it is to the S7 edge, they’ll care about how great it looks and all of the awesome things it can do for them. And if they think it’s just too much phone, there are two smaller (and less expensive) options waiting that look and feel very similar. That’s what sells phones, and this combination has been selling a lot of Galaxy S7s and S7 edges thus far. And it’s poised to do the same for the Galaxy Note 7 as well.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 specs

So, what’s inside the Galaxy Note 7? Essentially a Galaxy S7 edge.

Well, it turns out the Galaxy Note 7 specs are nearly identical to the Galaxy S7 edge — and that makes sense as soon as you look at these two phones. The Note 7 is built on the same basic platform, with very few differences. We’re looking at the same processor, RAM, cameras and features — you’ll only find small differences in screen size and glass, storage and battery capacity. Here are the full Galaxy Note 7 specs.

Operating System	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display	5.7-inch 2560x1440Super AMOLEDDual edge screenGorilla Glass 5
Processor	Quad-core Snapdragon 820 (U.S.)Octa-core Exynos (international)
Storage	64GB
Expandable	microSD up to 256GB
RAM	4GB
Rear Camera	12MP f/1.71.4-micron pixelsOIS
Front Camera	5MP f/1.7
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11ac MIMOBluetooth v4.2 LEANT+, USB 2.0, NFC
Charging	USB-CFast chargingQi wirelessPowermat wireless
Input	S Pen stylus4096 points of pressure sensitivity
Battery	3500 mAh
Water resistance	IP68 rating
Security	One-touch fingerprint sensorIris scannerSamsung KNOXPrivate folder
Dimensions	153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9 mm
Weight	169 g

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

With the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung finally moves to USB-C

A generation later than expected, USB-C arrives on Samsung phones.

After bundles of speculation (and coinciding disappointment) surrounding the use of USB-C on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge earlier this year, Samsung has finally made the jump to the latest USB-C standard on the Galaxy Note 7. In the transition Samsung has kept its “Fast Charge” technology available, which lets you quickly charge up the battery with compatible chargers (including Quick Charge 2.0 devices).

This is big for the Note 7, but also all future Samsung phones

With the move to the new port, Samsung is trying to ease the pain of the transition by including a Micro-USB to USB-C adapter in the box with every phone as well. With the new port Samsung looks forward to years of interoperability with new accessories, cables and chargers — including refreshes of its own accessories to include USB-C cables or adapters.

The one big change that was necessitated by the new port is a refresh of the Gear VR virtual reality headset, which in its latest iteration comes with plugs to be used with both USB-C and Micro-USB Galaxy devices. The new Gear VR itself offers a USB-C charging plug for those who need to charge up their headset while playing.

While this is of course a big move just for those who buy a Galaxy Note 7, it also signals a change for all of Samsung — at this point it would be extremely odd for any new phones from the company to come with Micro-USB, at least those which started their development after the Note 7.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

Here are all four colors of the Galaxy Note 7

What colors does the Galaxy Note 7 come in?

Since Samsung moved to its new metal-and-glass design with the Galaxy S6, the company has dome some really great work with colors. And while not every color has come to every area around the world, things are improving a bit with the launch of the Galaxy Note 7. There are four colors available of the new phone, and we’re going to have access to three of them in the U.S. as well.

Here’s a look at all four colors of the Galaxy Note 7, with a little bit of explanation behind how they look in the real world.

Black

After offering a near-black look with a deep blue color back on the Note 5, the Note 7 has taken the black option available on the Galaxy S7 and tweaked it a little bit. Not only are the entire front and back black, but Samsung has also anodized the aluminum frame in a deep black color as well, meaning the entire phone is blacked out, aside from the logos on the front and back that stand out in their typical mirrored silver finish.

Like the deep blue and black color options before it this is probably likely to be the most-sold color because it’s a “safe” choice, but we’re particularly smitten with the look of this black-on-black color scheme and have been asking for something like this since the Galaxy S6 was first unveiled.

Blue Coral

Though wild colors like this are usually reserved for Asian (and sometimes European) launches, a “blue coral” color option is coming to the U.S. this time around. The front and back are very reminiscent of the “blue topaz” color that was available internationally on the Galaxy S6, meaning its bright blue mirror-like finish can range from looking like a clear summer’s day sky in direct light down to a deep navy blue in darker situations. And this time around, the metal frame is anodized in a coral color to really make it all pop. The coral also has some color-shifting properties, where it looks anywhere from a light champagne gold color down to a deep pink depending on the light.

We’re not entirely sold that this will be a look that you appreciate more than a few weeks after launch, but those who want to really stand out will definitely do so with this color. The way the colors shift in the light gives you a really neat effect, and it’s one you definitely won’t want to cover up with a case.

Silver

And then we get to the silver (sometimes referred to as “platinum”) color option, which is identical to what we’ve seen with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. It offers an almost mirror-like surface that reflects the colors around it, so it’ll change a bit depending on where you’re using it. This mirrored finish looks fantastic right out of the box, but quickly reveals just how fingerprint-laden a modern Galaxy phone can get once you use it. The silver color doesn’t mask smudges nearly as well as the other colors (black being the best in this respect), and that can be a downside for some.

But when it’s clean, the silver finish matches up nicely with its bright silver matte metal frame, for an all-out bling look.

Gold

Samsung’s gold color that’s currently available on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge has been brought over to the Note 7 as well, with the exact same visual effect. Once again the gold is extremely close to the look of the silver model, and they even look identical in some lighting situations. Though gold (or “champagne”) phones seem to be all the rage nowadays, the visual similarities between this and the silver model make it nearly indistinguishable at a glance.

Perhaps for this reason, Samsung won’t be offering the gold model in the U.S., opting to give U.S. carriers the silver one instead.

Which one is your favorite?

Which Galaxy Note 7 color speaks to you is a very personal decision, especially since you’ll be spending upwards of two or three years with the phone. Which of these four colors gets your attention?

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

The Galaxy Note 7’s S Pen can’t go in backwards

At last, the saga is done for good.

After what turned out to be a large phenomenon of people putting their Note 5’s S Pen in backwards, rendering some of its functions useless, Samsung has made the necessary adjustments to make sure the same doesn’t happen with the Galaxy Note 7.

Though Samsung made mid-cycle adjustments to the Note 5’s design that mitigated issues with putting the S Pen in backwards, the Galaxy Note 7’s S Pen won’t even begin to go into its holding slot the wrong way. You’ll get a couple millimeters in before it stops completely. Going a step further, the Note 7’s S Pen is also completely waterproof, just like the phone itself, meaning you have even fewer ways to break the stylus accessory for your new expensive phone.

Good job, Samsung — and now we can finally put this long national nightmare behind us forever.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

What you need to know about the Galaxy Note 7’s iris scanner

A brand new feature is immediately exciting, but we’re tempering our expectations for daily use.

With all of the Note 7’s similarities to the Galaxy S7 edge, one big feature that sets it apart is its much-rumored iris scanner — something that seems extremely sci-fi but in reality isn’t all that complicated. In fact, we’ve seen phones for well over a year now use iris scanners, though they haven’t exactly been the highest end or widely purchased models: phones like the Alcatel Idol 3, ZTE Grand S3 and Lumia 950/950XL, for example.

The Note 7’s iris scanner uses two distinct pieces of hardware — a specialized camera, which is separate from the front-facing selfie camera, and an infrared light to the left of it. When the phone wants to recognize your irises (and yes, it prefers to see both eyes), the infrared light shines into your eyes and the camera reads the pattern of your irises. Because the light is infrared you don’t perceive it when you’re looking at it (like “laser” autofocus for cameras), and it also gives the camera a better ability to see your eyes in a variety of situations. The iris scanner is set up to work through glasses, as I saw demonstrated several times. This is one feature that’s going to take days or weeks of use to see how it actually performs, but in quick testing it worked as advertised.

The iris scanner feels a bit like a sideshow tech demo and a tacked-on feature

As far as the supporting software goes, the iris scanner isn’t as widely supported as fingerprint sensors on modern Android phones. With the iris scanner you can unlock the Galaxy Note 7’s lock screen, log into your Samsung account and unlock certain Samsung apps — the key example is the new “secure folder” that’s available as part of the KNOX platform, in which you can lock away specific content into a secured, sandboxed area. In terms of usability, you can think of the iris scanner as being in the same situation as Samsung’s older fingerprint scanners were before Marshmallow arrived: its functionality is limited entirely to Samsung’s own apps.

Thankfully this iris scanner is available alongside, not in place of, the fingerprint sensor that’s still embedded in the Note’s home button. But because of that, it really does make the iris scanner feel a bit like a sideshow, and I have to wonder how many will choose to use it as the main unlock method. No matter how fast it is, it’s never going to be as fast as just pressing your finger on the home button for a fraction of a second, nor will it be as reliable in various conditions — like in cases of very low light, or when you can’t look directly at your phone.

I love the initiative Samsung is taking to try new things, but this one doesn’t immediately feel like one that’s going to stick. After a while of using it every day to unlock the Note 7, perhaps it will grow on me.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

In pictures: Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Behold Samsung’s latest stylus-toting handset, the Galaxy Note 7! We’ve got all the hands-on photos you could possibly want.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the pinnacle of Samsung’s smartphone lineup for 2016, building upon the solid foundations of the Galaxy S7 with new S Pen features, iris-scanning security and USB Type-C. You’ll want to check out our extensive preview for in-depth coverage.

But if you prefer to look at pretty pictures, we’ve also got you covered. Check down below for our full Galaxy Note 7 photo gallery!

Something of the night

Galaxy Note 7 in black

Sky blue, rose gold

Galaxy Note 7 in blue coral

Bold and brilliant

Galaxy Note 7 in silver

Gold is best

Galaxy Note 7 in gold

Compare and contrast

Galaxy Note 7 comparisons

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

The Galaxy Note 7 is waterproof with an IP68 rating

The Galaxy Note 7 won’t be afraid of the water, and that’s great for everyone.

The Galaxy Note 7 shares a common platform with the Galaxy S7 edge, and that means bringing over one of its best features: an IP68 water resistance rating. This is a first for the Note line, and it’s a feature that you can’t see but you’re extremely happy to have when your phone faces unexpected contact with water.

What does an IP68 rating mean?

So it’s not so black and white to just say something is “waterproof” or “water resistant” — though we often end up using these terms interchangeably. There are IP (or “ingress protection”) ratings to say just how resistant the device is to dust and liquids. In the case of the Note 7, we’re talking about a rating of IP68.

The Note 7 can be submerged in water up to 5 feet for up to 30 minutes.

The “6” part of the rating is for resistance to dust, and 6 is a great rating — it means that when the phone comes in contact with fine particulates, whether wet or dry, it’ll be able to survive just fine. You may not think of your phone coming in contact with “dust” per se … but think about an example of being at the beach, and all of the openings on the phone that could take in things that really shouldn’t be in there.

The “8” part is more important for most consumers, as it refers to just how much water the Note 7 can handle, and for how long. In this case, it’s the same story we see over and over with lots of mobile devices: you can submerge the Note 7 in water up to five feet deep for up to 30 minutes.

Chances are you won’t regularly need your phone to withstand such a depth of water for so long, so this ends up just being extra insurance over and above the phone being rained on or splashed during a day at the pool.

Don’t push it too far

Just because the Galaxy Note 7 can survive some time in water doesn’t mean you should go overboard in exposing it to liquid just for fun. This isn’t a “rugged” phone in any way. An IP68 rating is awesome to have, but it’s also not an entire guarantee that the phone won’t see negative effects from constantly being submerged — this is technically only a “resistance” to water. (Fine print is fun!)

Be safe out there, and take care of your beautiful Note 7 — and if in the course of using it, the phone comes in contact with water, you can know that the phone will likely survive to fight another day.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

The Galaxy Note 7 is the first phone with Gorilla Glass 5

Even better resistance to cracking from drops awaits you on the Note 7.

Just a few weeks after announcing the technology, Corning’s latest Gorilla Glass 5 will make its retail debut on the brand new Galaxy Note 7. Gorilla Glass 5 takes all of the strength and clarity of the previous version and adds a major boost to the strength of the glass when it comes to breaking on impact from drops.

Extra drop protection on Samsung’s latest Note

Without compromising any other features of the well-known screen glass, Corning claims that Gorilla Glass 5 can take drops from five feet off the ground onto “hard, rough surfaces” with an 80% survival rate. That’s substantially better than competitive glass coverings, and of course an improvement over Gorilla Glass 4 that you’ll find on the Galaxy Note 5.

What’s particularly important about this upgrade is that the Note 7 uses Gorilla Glass 5 on the back of the phone as well, which is the side most likely to take daily abuse and harder impacts.

Now naturally that’s not a “shatterproof” kind of claim like we’ve seen from some synthetic sapphire screens, but it’s starting to approach that range of reliability. Knowing that your phone’s screen glass is extra strong is more of a peace of mind sort of thing than an actually insurance plan against dropping your phone … but we all know drops will happen — let’s just hope that if you drop your Note 7, Gorilla Glass 5 will come to its rescue.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 hands-on preview
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• The Galaxy Note 7 uses USB-C
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!