Galaxy Note 8 in Canada: Everything you need to know!

The Galaxy Note 8 is here, and it’s coming to Canada on September 15. Here’s everything you need to know!

The Galaxy Note 8 is real, and the phone is enormous, both in physical size and expectations. The successor to the ill-fated Note 7 is one of iterative improvement over the Galaxy S8, sharing much of its DNA, while preserving many of the features that made the Note series one of Samsung’s best, and most customer-loyal, since 2011.

While the Note 8 resembles the Galaxy S8, it retains the iconic boxiness of the Note line, with a 6.3-inch QHD display and some giant specs, including 6GB of RAM and a minimum of 64GB of internal storage — though other parts of the world get options with 128GB and 256GB —and a dual camera setup, the first for Samsung.

But what’s specific to the Canadian launch? Here’s what you need to know:

How much will it cost?

The obvious question is what the Galaxy Note 8 will cost, and it’s not cheap: the phone will fetch a premium price of $1299 when purchased outright from Samsung or a carrier.

With the typical $500 subsidy, expect to pay roughly $799 for the phone at the time of purchase when signing a two-year contract, which would make it one of the most expensive phones to ever hit the Canadian shores.

Of course, the upfront price will be mitigated somewhat by the proliferation of what carriers refer to as tab — in addition to the subsidy, carriers now offer the option of amortizing a portion of the phone’s price over the two-year life of the contract, which lowers the upfront price by up to $240. In this case, expect the lowest you’ll pay for the Note 8 to be around $500.

Again, not cheap.

What colors will be available?

Here’s something interesting: whereas the U.S. is getting Orchid Grey and Midnight Black, **Canadian audiences will only have the option of Midnight Black and Deep Sea Blue***.

In my opinion, Canadians get the better end of this deal: whereas the Galaxy S8’s version of Orchid Grey is a little purple, and quite desirable, the Note 8 version is muted and more, well, grey. The Blue, however, is beautiful — it’s deep and luscious and extremely attractive in person. I don’t know which beautiful person is responsible for convincing the carriers to pick up this particular hue, but kudos to you, mystery hero.

When’s it available?

The phone is going up for pre-order on August 23 — that’s today if you’re reading this on announcement day — with orders being delivered on September 15. That’s a three-week lead time, but don’t despair, you get some really good extras when you pre-order.

What do you get?!

Glad you asked! If you order between August 23 and September 14, you get a 128GB microSD and a Fast Wireless Charger. That’s basically $200 of stuff for free!

Is the Canadian model the same as the U.S. one?

Yep, pretty much: both the U.S. and Canadian models run the Snapdragon 835 processor, whereas the rest of the world runs the Exynos 8895.

In real-world testing, the results are a wash.

What carriers are getting the Note 8?

All of them! More specifically:

• Bell
• Rogers
• TELUS
• Freedom Mobile
• BellMTS
• SaskTel
• Videotron

So it’s compatible with Freedom Mobile’s Band 66?

Yep! Most phones are these days.

What, you want more?!

Remind me, what’s the price again?

$1299, folks.

Welcome to the new normal.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

• Galaxy Note 8: Everything we know so far
• Rumored Galaxy Note 8 specs
• All Galaxy Note 8 news
• Should you buy the Galaxy S8+ or wait for the Note 8?
• The buttonless future of Samsung phones
• Join our Galaxy Note 8 forums

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is official, pre-orders start Aug 24

Samsung’s biggest (literally) phone of the year is here.

With months of preamble behind us, the Galaxy Note 8 is finally official. We’ve seen the renders, the leaks and the speculation … and for the most part, it’s all come to fruition as expected. At its core, the Galaxy Note 8 is a Galaxy S8+ — with the same core specs, tall-and-skinny form factor and hardware features, tweaked for a slightly larger form factor and the addition of an S Pen stylus.

Internally, the Note 8 has the same Snapdragon 835 processor running the show, as well as 64GB of storage with an SD card slot, but augmented by a bumped 6GB of RAM. The battery size has taken a drop to 3300mAh, which is, of course, smaller than the Galaxy S8+ and also the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7. Samsung is understandably being a bit less ambitious with battery capacity this year, and the S Pen also takes up room that would otherwise be allocated to additional battery capacity.

More: Galaxy Note 8 specs

In terms of design, the Note 8 is a true evolution of the Note 7 while also integrating the new platform set by the Galaxy S8+. The Note 8 takes on the Note 7’s more squared-off look with tighter corners, but applies to a tall form factor with its 6.3-inch 18.5:9 aspect ratio display. The display itself is a gorgeous QHD+ AMOLED panel, of course sporting the subtle curves on the sides to help keep the phone narrow.

A great combination of Note 7 design with Galaxy S8+ improvements, and a brand new camera setup.

The biggest differentiator for the Note 8 is its camera experience, where Samsung is launching its first dual camera setup. The primary camera remains unchanged from the Galaxy S8+, with a 12MP Dual Pixel sensor, f/1.7 lens and OIS. The second camera is interesting, as it’s also a 12MP sensor, but with a telephoto lens at f/2.4 — and most importantly, also with OIS. Having OIS on that second lens is truly unique, and will enable the Note 8 to take better low-light photos than the competition that isn’t stabilized. Samsung is using that second lens for instant 2X photos, but also artificially blurred photos that can be adjusted and tweaked even after the fact.

More: Galaxy Note 8 hands-on preview

As you could expect, Samsung is launching the Note 8 in every country and carrier possible. The U.S. is getting a model with 64GB of storage in either Midnight Black or Orchid Grey (which is slightly different from the GS8’s), while international markets will also have access to 128GB and even 256GB storage in some cases and two more colors, maple gold and deep sea blue. Pre-orders kick off in the U.S. on August 24, with shipments heading out no later than September 15.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

• Galaxy Note 8: Everything we know so far
• Rumored Galaxy Note 8 specs
• All Galaxy Note 8 news
• Should you buy the Galaxy S8+ or wait for the Note 8?
• The buttonless future of Samsung phones
• Join our Galaxy Note 8 forums

Press release:

Do Bigger Things with Samsung Galaxy Note8, the Next Level Note

Designed to help you achieve more in work and life with an Infinity Display, enhanced S Pen and Dual Camera with Optical Image Stabilization; U.S. Pre-orders begin August 24

RIDGEFIELD PARK, NJ – Aug. 23, 2017 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., introduces the Galaxy Note8, the next level Note for people who want to do bigger things. With Note8, consumers get a bigger Infinity Display that fits comfortably in one hand, the S Pen to communicate in more personal ways and Samsung’s best-ever smartphone camera to capture stunning photos. The new Note8 is designed for the way consumers lead their lives and lean on technology today.

“We appreciate the relentless passion of the Note community. They’ve been a constant inspiration to us, and we designed the new Note for them,” said DJ Koh, president of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. “From the Infinity Display to the enhanced S Pen, to the powerful Dual Camera, Note8 lets people do things they never thought were possible.”

Samsung first introduced the Note series in 2011. Since then, a community of enthusiasts emerged through their affinity for Note’s signature expansive screen and S Pen. According to Samsung market research1, 85 percent of Note users say they’re proud to show off their Note and recommend it to friends, and 75 percent say it’s the best phone they’ve ever had.

Enjoy and Do More on the Infinity Display

The Galaxy Note8 has the biggest screen ever on a Note device, yet its narrow body makes it comfortable to hold in one hand. The 6.3-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Display lets you see more and scroll less. The Note8 gives you more room to watch, read and draw—making it the ultimate multitasking smartphone.

With Note8, Samsung has made multitasking even easier with the new App Pair feature, which lets users create a custom pairing of most apps on the Edge panel that will simultaneously launch two apps in Multi window mode. Watch a video while messaging your friends or dial into a conference call with the number and agenda in front of you2.

A New Way to Communicate with the S Pen

Since its introduction, the S Pen has been one of the Note’s defining features. With the new Note, the enhanced S Pen includes a finer tip and improved pressure sensitivity3, unlocking new ways to write, draw and interact with the phone and communicate with others.

When communicating via text just isn’t enough, Live Messages allows you to reflect your unique personality and creative vision. With Note8, you can now handwrite a message, add special effects and share it as an animated GIF on several popular messaging and social apps. It’s a whole new way to communicate with the S Pen—adding lively and emotional connections that bring your messages to life.

The Always On Display allows you to stay on top of your notifications without unlocking your phone. With the new Note8, it’s even more powerful. Screen off memo allows you to take notes as soon as you take out the S Pen. From there, you can pin a note to the Always On Display, edit them right there and write as many pages as you need—up to 100 pages.

For occasions when you travel abroad or come across a website in a foreign language, the improved Translate feature of the S Pen lets you hover over text to quickly translate not only individual words, but entire sentences, into 71 languages and instantly convert units and foreign currencies.

Take Stunning Pictures with the Galaxy Note8 Best-in-Class Camera

For most smartphone consumers, one of the things they look at in a new device is the camera. Samsung has set the standard for smartphone cameras, and with the Note8 we’re delivering our most powerful camera yet.

The Galaxy Note8 is the first smartphone with two 12MP rear cameras with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) on both the wide-angle and telephoto lenses. Whether you’re exploring a new city or running around your backyard, OIS lets you capture incredibly sharp images.

For more advanced photo taking, Note8’s Live Focus feature lets you control the depth of field, unlike some other smartphone cameras, by allowing you to adjust the bokeh effect in preview mode and even after you take the photo.

In Dual Capture mode, both rear cameras take two pictures simultaneously—and you can keep both images: One close-up shot from the telephoto lens and one wide-angle shot that shows the entire background.

The wide-angle lens has a Dual Pixel sensor with rapid auto-focus, so you can capture sharp and clear shots even in low-light environments. The Note8 is also equipped with an 8MP Smart AutoFocus front-facing camera for sharp selfies and video chats.

A Full Galaxy of Features and Services

The Note8 is built on the Galaxy legacy—a collection of unique features and capabilities that, together, have redefined the mobile experience:

• Water and Dust Resistance: Four years ago, Samsung introduced the first Galaxy device with water resistance. You can take your Note (IP684) almost anywhere you want—including the S Pen.
• Fast Wireless Charging: Two years ago, Samsung introduced the first Galaxy device with wireless charging. The Note8 supports our most advanced wireless charge5 capabilities yet, so you can get a quick, convenient charge without having to mess around with ports or wires.
• Security: Note8 offers the choice of biometric authentication options—including iris and fingerprint scanning. Samsung Knox6 offers defense-grade security at the hardware and software layers, with a secure folder that keeps your personal and professional data separate.
  Powerful Performance: With 6GB RAM, a 10 nm processor, 64GB of storage and expandable memory (up to 256GB7), you have the power you need to browse, stream, play games and multitask.
• Innovative Mobile Experiences: Samsung DeX, sold separately as an optional accessory, enables a desktop-like experience, powered by your phone. You can keep your files on your phone, do your work on the go and use Samsung DeX when you need an even bigger screen. Bixby8 is a smarter way to use your phone; it learns from you, improves over time and helps you get more done.

Mobile Performance, Productivity and Security for all Businesses

The Samsung Galaxy Note8 takes business innovation to the next level with features for performance, productivity and security for a wide range of industries, simplifying how work gets done:

• Enhanced S Pen for Business: The S Pen lets professionals discreetly take notes in Screen off memo or quickly annotate documents and photos.
• Non-Contact Authentication: The Note8 offers iris scanning for professionals—for example, in health care, construction or public safety—who need to unlock their phones without having to swipe or scan a fingerprint.
• Enhanced DeX Capabilities: Note8 powers Samsung DeX9 for those who need to switch between a simple, secure mobile experience and a desktop experience—whether they go between field work and office work, or travel between offices.

Our Continued Commitment to Safety

Samsung continues to uphold its commitment to lead the industry in battery safety. The Note8’s battery has undergone Samsung’s 8-Point Battery Safety Check process, as well as additional testing from a third-party expert, Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

“We have been closely working with Samsung to make meaningful advancements in the science of smartphone quality and safety evaluation. As a result, the Note8 has successfully completed a rigorous series of device and battery safety compatibility test protocols. We look forward to maintaining our strategic relationship with Samsung to help ensure device safety for all consumers,” said Sajeev Jesudas, President, UL International.

U.S. Pre-Order and Availability

In the U.S., the Galaxy Note8 will be offered in Midnight Black and Orchid Gray for carrier and Unlocked by Samsung versions. AT&T, C Spire, Cricket Wireless, Sprint, Straight Talk Wireless, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Xfinity Mobile will carry the Galaxy Note8 in stores beginning September 15, 2017. Pre-orders begin on August 24, 2017. In addition, the Galaxy Note8 will be available at Samsung.com, Best Buy, Target and Walmart.

Consumers who purchase a Galaxy Note8 between August 24, 2017, and September 24, 2017, get their choice of a free Samsung Gear 360 camera ($229.99 retail value) or a free Galaxy Foundation kit with Samsung 128GB EVO+ memory card and Fast Wireless Charging Convertible ($189.98 retail value)11. The promotion will last for a limited time and only while supplies last. Terms and conditions apply. Visit samsung.com/us/promotions for more information.

The Galaxy Note8 will also be compatible with the new Gear VR with Controller12, which will be available for pre-order starting August 24 at Samsung.com, Amazon.com and Best Buy, as well as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and US Cellular. The new Gear VR with Controller will go on sale starting on September 15 for $129.99 at these retailers, plus T-Mobile and other select national retailers.

For more information about the Galaxy Note8 visit http://www.samsungmobilepress.com, news.samsung.com/galaxy or http://www.samsung.com/galaxy.

Galaxy Note 8 hands-on: MrMobile’s first impressions

Last year’s Galaxy Note 7 was perhaps the most famous Samsung smartphone in history – for all the wrong reasons. The company kicked off its recovery with the excellent Galaxy S8 earlier this year, and now it hopes to complete the comeback with the mobile world’s biggest do-over.

I’m MrMobile, and I spent an afternoon with the new Galaxy Note 8. It’s a squared-off, stylus-packing version of its Galaxy S siblings … and if that sounds familiar, it should: it’s a formula Samsung has employed to great success for many years. Check out my Galaxy Note 8 hands-on for my first impressions, and then hit up Android Central’s Note 8 hands-on for the deep dive!

Stay social, my friends

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Watch Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 livestream at 11AM ET

If you’ve been eagerly awaiting the return of the Galaxy Note after the drama surrounding last year’s model, today is the day. At 11AM ET, Samsung will reveal the Note 8 and perhaps a few other things during the festivities. We’ll be there to cover all the news as it happens, including our analysis and witty commentary via a liveblog. If you want to livestream the event, Samsung is hosting one of those right here. We’ve also embedded the stream down below for easy access. When the time comes, keep it locked here for all the action and reaction as the company seeks to rebound from its stumble(s) with the Note 7.

Follow all the latest news from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 event here!

Source: Samsung

HP’s Omen X is a monstrous, customizable gaming laptop

While companies like ASUS, Acer and NVIDIA are working on making gaming laptops thinner and lighter, HP is going in the opposite direction with its huge Omen X Laptop. It weighs a whopping 10.8 lbs, which is close to other 17-inch gaming notebooks. In exchange for being able to carry it easily, you get an incredibly customizable notebook; one with enough graphics horsepower to handle anything you throw at it — even 4K gaming.

Everything about the Omen X screams power. Its sharp, angular design makes it seem like some sort of military weapon. I would liken it to a Stealth Bomber, though nothing about it is particularly stealthy. It’s a big machine — one that makes its presence known long before you ever touch it. As you can imagine, given that it’s so hefty, it’s difficult to hold even with two hands. It likely won’t even fit into laptop bags meant for 17-inch machines; you’d have to devote the main compartment of a large backpack to the Omen X. Under the hood, it can fit in an NVIDIA GTX 1080, as well as an Intel Core i7-7820HK CPU.

Clearly, the Omen X is meant for the sort of gamer who cares about getting the most complete laptop experience possible. And, ideally, they wouldn’t want to move their machine around much. It also features a mechanical keyboard, which feels wonderfully responsive, even though it doesn’t have as much room for keys to click as a desktop offering. It’s well-suited for gaming, thanks to programmable macros, but it’s also the sort of keyboard that simply feels pleasant to type on.

The Omen X’s expandability is particularly intriguing. You just need to remove ten tiny Philips screws to pop open the bottom of its case, which allows you to upgrade the RAM, storage and other components. You can even set up RAID 0 to boost your disk performance. It took an HP representative a few minutes to remove the screws, but unfortunately, they weren’t able to open the case of the prototype they were demoing. I didn’t get a chance to test out its overclocking capabilities, either, but HP claims you’ll have full control of the CPU and GPU for tweaking.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

You can nab the Omen X with a 120Hz 1080p screen, or a 60Hz 4K display. Even though it has a large 17-inch monitor, I’d personally go for the faster refresh rate, since that lets it show much higher framerates. 4K on a laptop, even one this big, still won’t be very noticeable. It would have been nice to see a 120Hz 1,440p screen, though, just for an added bit of sharpness.

The 1080p Omen X display looked bright and fluid while playing Battlefield 1 at 120FPS. Most of that was due to the monitor’s high refresh rate, but it also has NVIDIA G-SYNC support to smooth out games that don’t reach such exorbitant FPS counts. The laptop will start at $1,999 with an NVIDIA GTX1070 GPU when it’s released in November.

Ultimately, the Omen X laptop is impressive given the sheer amount of features and customizability HP managed to stuff in. It’s not meant to take on ultra-thin gaming laptops like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus. It’s a beast, but a beautiful one.

Follow all the latest news live from Gamescom here!

Both the Amazon Echo and Google Home are under £100 right now

If you’re in the market for a smart speaker but don’t fancy shelling out the full retail price for one, Amazon and Google might be able to help. Today, both the Amazon Echo and Google Home have been given price cuts that have taken them below the £100 mark.

For a limited time only, the Amazon Echo costs £99.99 from Amazon, while Argos is offering it for £99. Meanwhile, the Google Home is £99 at Argos and John Lewis. That means you’ll save up to £50 on an Echo and and £30 on Google’s smart speaker.

If you want something a bit smaller, the diminutive Echo Dot will cost you £45 instead of the normal £50. Elsewhere, you can grab the Fire 7 for £40, saving a tenner, or pick up a Fire HD 8, which is now £65 (a £15 saving).

Upgrade those to Kid Editions — which come with a rubberised case, a year’s subscription to Kids Unlimited, parental controls and a two-year guarantee — and you’ll save more. Currently, the Fire 7 Kids Edition costs £80 (saving you £20) and the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is priced at £100 (down £30).

Normally, you’d have to wait for a dedicated sales event like Prime Day or Black Friday to jump on deals similar to this. These summer discounts won’t be around for very long, so make sure you act quickly.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Google Home (Argos), (John Lewis), Amazon Echo (Amazon), (Argos)

Pepper’s new job is performing Buddhist funeral ceremonies

Pepper the robot has seen a variety of gainful employment in its relatively short life. It’s worked in a mobile phone store, a Pizza Hut and a French train station, but now it seems it’s jacking in the corporate world for more spiritual pursuits: Buddhist funerals. At the happily-titled Life Ending Industry Expo in Tokyo, Aldebaran’s humanoid ‘bot could be found clothed in religious robes and chanting sutras in a computerized voice while tapping a drum.

Nissei Eco Co., which wrote the chanting software for Pepper, believes the robot could play a pivotal role in funeral ceremonies when priests aren’t available, and for a lower price too. A human priest costs around 240,000 yen ($2,200) per funeral, while Pepper is a bargain at just 50,000 yen ($450). But it seems Pepper is missing an important qualification for the job. As Reuters reports, Buddhist priest Tetsugi Matsuo said he wanted to see if Pepper could bring enough heart to the role, because for him, “the heart is the foundation of religion”. There’s no word of his final thoughts on the matter, but suffice to say Pepper has not yet been hired for a ceremony.

Via: Reuters

Live from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 event!

After an embarrassing fiasco involving exploding batteries, recalls, apologies and assurances, Samsung is ready to re-introduce the Note line to the world. Thanks to the plethora of leaks, we have a pretty good idea of what the new device will look like. At 11AM ET today, Samsung will be sharing all the details on the highly anticipated Note 8, and we’ll be covering the event and all the news as it happens right here in our liveblog.

Follow all the latest news from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 event here!

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 packs a giant display and a smarter pen

It’s been a long, long year for Galaxy Note fans. The Note 7 launched with much fanfare last summer, only to die in spectacular fashion as systemic battery flaws (not to mention hasty decision-making) forced Samsung to recall the fire-prone handset twice and eventually kill it off. Unless you went out of your way to get the Fan Edition, you’ve had to go without a modern Note for a long time. At last, though, a replacement is here: Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Note 8, and it might finish the redemption process that started with the Galaxy S8.

Yes, the most obvious change is the screen. Samsung is using a 6.3-inch version of the near bezel-free AMOLED Infinity Display you saw on the S8 and S8 Plus, complete with a quad HD-plus resolution (2,960 x 1,440) and curves that spill off the sides. That’s only a tenth of an inch larger than the S8 Plus, but it’s gigantic compared to the 5.7-inch screens you’ve seen on Galaxy Notes for the past few years. We’d question the wisdom of curved screens on a pen-oriented device, but there’s no doubt that the larger screen should give you more headroom for drawing, multitasking and media playback. Appropriately, there’s a fresh App Pair feature that launches two apps at once from shortcuts on the Edge panel, such as YouTube and a chat app. You may have more of a reason to rely on multi-window support knowing that your favorite app combo is a couple of taps away.

There’s more to the phone than its visuals. The S Pen is the same as what came with the Note 7, complete with the fine 0.7mm tip and 4,096 points of pressure sensitivity, but you can do considerably more with it. You now have Live Messages that turn your handwritten messages into effects-laden GIFs for chat and social apps. Think of iOS 10’s hand-drawn art, only more elaborate. Also, Samsung is making better use of the always-on display. You can take notes the second you eject the S Pen, pin notes to the screen and edit them on the spot. An upgraded translation feature lets you decipher text by hovering the pen over text to translate whole sentences and convert unfamiliar currencies and languages.

The remaining hardware will be familiar… with one notable exception. You’re still getting the S8’s processor (a Snapdragon 835 or Exynos 8895, depending on the market), IP68 water and dust resistance, 64GB of expandable storage (some markets get 128GB or 256GB), fingerprint/face/iris detection, fast wireless charging and DeX dock support. The biggest performance upgrade is 6GB of RAM versus the 4GB of the S8, and you’re looking at a 3,300mAh battery (that’s smaller than on the S8 Plus, unfortnuately). However, the camera is a different story. Samsung has hopped aboard the dual rear camera bandwagon, giving you both the S8’s 12-megapixel f/1.7 wide-angle cam and a new 12-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto shooter to capture far-off subjects. Both are optically stabilized, unlike the iPhone 7 Plus, and offer more than the usual zoom and portrait-style modes. You can adjust the depth of field (including after the shot) and snap photos from both cameras at once. The front-facing camera is the 8-megapixel autofocusing camera you saw in S8 models.

You won’t have to wait long to get the Note 8, at least in the US. Major US carriers (including newcomer Xfinity Mobile) will start taking pre-orders for the phone in midnight black and orchid gray on August 24th, and it’ll reach stores September 15th. The pricing will vary from network to network, but there’s a consistent set of promos. If you order a phone between the 24th and September 24th, you can get either a free Gear 360 VR camera or an equally free Galaxy Foundation kit that includes both a 128GB microSD card and a fast wireless charging stand. These sorts of bonuses are par for the course with Samsung launches, but they reinforce how eager Samsung is to court cautious Galaxy Note fans. It’s willing to spend a lot to get you back.

Follow all the latest news from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 event here!

Source: Samsung

The Galaxy Note 8’s dual camera rivals the iPhone 7 Plus

Samsung may be late to the dual-camera game, but it seems to have put that extra time to good use. The Note 8 is the first major Galaxy handset to sport two rear cameras, with a setup that includes twin 12-megapixel sensors, one with wide-angle lens and one with telephoto. This is arguably the most useful of all the Note 8’s new features, which include a refined S Pen, updated software, improved display and a smaller footprint. From my brief time with the phone during a recent demo ahead of today’s launch, it’s clear that Samsung has a camera setup excellent enough to make iPhone owners consider switching.

Like the iPhone 7 Plus, the Note 8’s dual cameras create an artificial depth-of-field effect by blurring out the background, leaving your subject in focus. Samsung’s version of Apple’s Portrait mode is called Live Focus, and it does several things differently. On the Note 8, you can see and adjust the amount of blur before you capture the picture as well as after. While you’re framing your shot, you can drag a slider to open the aperture as wide as f/1.7 to get the most blur. Apple, on the other hand, doesn’t let you edit the bokeh after the fact, nor does it show the soft focus in the viewfinder.

When shooting in Live Focus mode, the Note 8’s camera defaults to the telephoto lens for a more close-up picture. But you can activate (or disable) a feature called Dual Capture, which snaps the same picture with both lenses, so you get a tight shot as well as a wider one. Dual Capture works only in Live Focus mode, though, and is enabled by default.

This worked well during my brief demo. I got up close with several cones of mixed nuts, blurring out the ones further away from me. When I looked at the photo afterward, I was given the option to view “normal picture.” Tapping that showed me the wider version of the image, which was surprisingly well-composed. I could choose to save the alternate picture as a separate image, too.

I was also impressed by how sharp the images were. Individual lines on the cones’ ridged surfaces were crystal clear, even when I zoomed in to scrutinize the details. The Note is also adept at detecting the outline of a subject’s head when applying bokeh, although it isn’t as precise as the iPhone 7 Plus. Samsung’s software is also less aggressive than other Android phones we’ve tested: The difference between the blurred background and the in-focus subject is less pronounced on the Note 8, making the effect more realistic.

100 percent crop of previous picture.

In addition to the Live Focus tool, the Note 8’s dual cameras also sport optical-image stabilization (OIS) and 10x digital zoom. During the demo, Samsung showed off how steady the picture on the Note 8 was compared with an iPhone by sticking both to a vibrating box. Indeed, even when I jabbed at the surface on which the phones were resting, the image in the Note 8’s viewfinder didn’t budge. It almost felt like Samsung had placed a screenshot on the Note 8 (it didn’t — tapping the shutter button did trigger the camera). Meanwhile, the iPhone’s photos in the same vibration test all came out fuzzy. This is, of course, a test in a controlled scenario, so we’ll have to wait till we can do real-world testing to be certain of the Note 8’s advantages. Still, these preliminary results are promising.

The Note 8 retains the dual-pixel sensor (only on the wide-angle camera) that Samsung has used since the Galaxy S7, which helps it focus on subjects much faster than the competition. Plus, the wide-angle lens has a large aperture of f/1.7, so it can let in more light than before. This should improve low-light performance, which I didn’t get a chance to try out during my briefing.

For now, it looks like Samsung has made an excellent device that could nab one of the top three spots in the smartphone camera competition. The company may have initially lagged behind rivals like ZTE, LG, OnePlus and Huawei in delivering a dual-camera setup, but the Note 8’s superior system appears to be well worth the wait.

Follow all the latest news from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 event here!