Newsletter
Samsung just officially announced its latest and greatest Android flagship in the form of the Galaxy Note 8, and Verizon already revealed when its (future) customers will be able to pre-order and purchase the device from the largest wireless carrier in the United States.
The New Jersey-based company confirmed it will start accepting advanced orders on the Galaxy Note 8 tomorrow, August 24, adding that the pre-order period for the device will run until September 14. The device is set to start hitting its physical stores on the following day and will also start shipping to consumers who pre-ordered it by that date. The handset will be available in Midnight Black and Orchid Gray, with its full retail price being set at $960, which translates to $40 per month for two years with the wireless carrier’s device payment plan. Interested consumers are also able to get up to 50 percent off of the price of the Galaxy Note 8 with an eligible trade-in handset, with that discount being applied over the course of two years, the company said. Additionally, consumers who purchase the Galaxy Note 8 until September 24 are able to register their smartphone with Samsung and be eligible to receive a free reward of their choice, including the Gear 360 camera and the Galaxy Foundation kit with the Fast Wireless Charging Convertible and a Samsung-made 128GB Evo+ microSD card. The handset is also compatible with the new Gear VR with Controller headset which will be available for pre-orders from tomorrow and is also set to hit Verizon’s stores on September 15, priced at $129.99.
The Galaxy Note 8 is Samsung’s most powerful Android device to date, featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC) and 6GB of RAM, in addition to boasting at least 64GB of storage space expandable via a microSD card slot. The handset is equipped with a 6.3-inch Infinity Display panel which has a tall aspect ratio of 18.5:9 and is essentially bezel-less, featuring long edges that curve around the body of the phone. The Galaxy Note 8 is also the first device from the South Korean original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that ships with a dual camera setup on its rear panel, boasting a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens with an aperture of f/1.7 and a 12-megapixel telephoto one with an f/2.4 aperture. The top bezel of the Galaxy Note 8 features an 8-megapixel camera, whereas its bottom contains a slot for the new and improved version of the S Pen stylus. The handset’s back plate also houses a dual-LED (dual tone) flash unit, heart rate monitor, and a fingerprint scanner, with the phone itself running Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, enhanced with the latest version of Samsung’s proprietary mobile software suite – Samsung Experience 8.5. As is always the case with Samsung’s flagships, the Galaxy Note 8 will be officially supported with major Android OS updates for two years and will likely receive security patches even longer than that, though it remains to be seen whether Samsung (and Verizon) manage to deliver them on a monthly basis.