Samsung launches Galaxy Note 5 in India; 32GB variant priced at Rs 53,900, 64GB variant at Rs 59,900!

Samsung has finally launched its next iteration in the Note series – the Galaxy Note 5 – today in India. The smartphone is offered in two storage variants: 32GB variant priced at Rs 53,900 while the larger 64GB variant is priced at Rs 59,900, respectively. The Note 5 will be available in Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Silver Titanium colour variants starting 20 September.

The smartphone was unveiled worldwide in August.

 

In terms of specifications, the smartphone features a 5.7 inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display with a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution and a 518 ppi pixel density. It is powered by an Exynos 7420 processor paired with 4GB RAM. Running Android 5.1.1 Lollipop based TouchWiz UI on top, the device comes in two storage variants – 32GB and 64GB – but there is no expandable memory support via microSD card.

The Note 5 comes with a longer, nicer S Pen with improved pressure sensitivity and writing performance compared to the earlier Note models from Samsung. The new smartphone will be equipped with a 16MP rear camera with OIS along with a 5MP front facing camera. In terms of connectivity, the device offers Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, GPS, Bluetooth 4.2 and support for NFC. A non-removable Li-Po 3000 mAh battery completes the package.


Samsung India Vice President, Marketing, IT & Mobile, Mr. Asim Warsi, said,

“The Galaxy Note has been an iconic device in the world of mobility. The Galaxy Note ushered in the large screen revolution and created an industry benchmark. The Note series has been a testimony to our commitment to keep innovating and giving our consumers what they need. In the beautifully crafted Galaxy Note5, we have pushed the S-Pen based productivity to the next level.”

Commenting on the launch, HC Hong, President and CEO, Samsung India Electronics, said:

“Samsung always endeavours to inspire the world and shape the future with transformative ideas and technologies giving people the power to discover new experiences. With the launch of Galaxy Note5, we are reemphasizing our ongoing commitment to bold, fearless innovation that meets the needs of our consumers, taking the experience to a new level. India is an important market for Samsung and is among the first few markets where the Galaxy Note5 has been rolled out. The launch today is a step in meeting our commitment to Make for India.”

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Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ launched at Rs 57,900 in India; will hit store shelves on 28 August

Samsung has launched one of the most awaited device, the Galaxy S6 Edge+, in India at an event held in Delhi today. The company had launched the Galaxy S6 Edge+ last week during the its Galaxy Unpacked 2015 event along with the Galaxy Note 5. Going by the recent reports, the Note 5 is likely to be launched here soon.

The 32GB variant of the Galaxy S6 Edge+ has been priced at Rs 57,900 while the 64GB variant has been given a miss, for now. The smartphone will go on sale on August 28, while pre-orders open from Wednesday. The device is available in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Silver Titanium color variants.

In terms of specifications, the device sports a dual-edge display with a 5.7-inch QHD Super-Amoled display with a 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution along with a pixel density of 515ppi. It is powered by a a 64-bit octa-core Exynos 7420 processor paired with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM.

The device sports a 16MP rear camera with OIS along with a 5MP front facing camera. The Android 5.1 Lollipop-based smartphone will be offered in 32GB and 64GB storage variants and does not include a microSD card slot. Samsung will also be providing 100GB of OneDrive cloud storage for free.

In terms of connectivity, the smartphone includes 4G LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS/ A-GPS, and Micro-USB 2.0. It also includes a 3000mAh non-removable battery.

Check out +Marques Brownlee's aka MKBHD's first impressions on the phone:

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Samsung Galaxy A8 first look: This slim phone packs in impressive features

Samsung has just released its latest A-series handset called the Galaxy A8 in the Indian market for Rs 32,500. Launched in China last month, the A8 will be the top of the line phone in Samsung’s A-series of metal frame phones. Samsung had launched the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 earlier this year. So here are my first impressions of the slimmest Samsung handset.

Build Quality and Design

As I said earlier, the Galaxy A8 is the slimmest phone from the Korean giant. Measuring just 5.9mm, it is indeed quite slim. However it is not the slimmest smartphone around. But the metal frame and some thoughtful tapering design on the sides, not only makes the phone look elegant but also helps with the grip. There are no sharp edges that will bother you when you hold the phone in your hand.

Although the press statement says that it is a metal uni-body, I noticed that the non-removable rear-cover is plastic, although the transition from metallic frame to the plastic cover is really unnoticeable. On the front, you have the 5.7-inch display with a decent screen-to-body ratio.

The base has a physical button which also houses the finger-print sensor. On the right hand side, you have a power/standby button whereas on the left hand side you have two distinct volume buttons. The top edge is clean and at the base you get the microUSB charging/data transfer port along with the 3.5mm audio jack. Overall the A8 has an elegant design and will surely attract a second glance.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy A8 comes with 5.7-inch full HD SuperAMOLED display. Thanks to the SuperAMOLED display, things are quite vibrant with a slight warm tinge. However, while using it I noticed a slight tinge of colour when you tilt the phone slightly along both the horizontal as well as vertical planes. The display has Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection.

Chipset, RAM, Storage

Samsung uses its own chipset – the Exynos 5430 – for the Galaxy A8. It has an octa-core processor with one quad-core processor cluster clocked at 1.8GHz and the other cluster clocked at 1.3GHz.

This is paired with 2GB of RAM and you get 32GB of storage. One of the SIM card slots can also house a microSD card which lets you expand the storage to 128GB.

In my preliminary usage, the phone came across as quite responsive. Switching between the apps, launch animations were quite smooth. However, I'll need to put the phone through the real world use-case scenarios to give a proper performance outlook.

OS, Connectivity

The Galaxy A8 comes with Android 5.1.1 with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI atop it. Just like the Galaxy phones we have seen recently, the A8 does not have a lot of unnecessary bloatware apart from a few proprietary apps such as Galaxy Apps, Smart Manager, WeChat and so on. On the left most home page, you have the Flipboard app.

The phone comes with a dual Nano SIM card slot on the left hand side. It can take in one 4G SIM card and one 3G SIM card. You can either have both SIM cards, or have one SIM card and use a microSD card on the other slot in case you want to increase the storage. The phone supports Wi-fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and sensors such as fingerprint sensor, proximity sensor and so on.

Camera

It houses a 16MP rear camera with an f/1.9 aperture which is quite impressive. On the front, you have a 5MP camera. Apart from the Auto mode, you get the Pro mode, Panorama mode, Continuous shot, HDR mode and night mode.

You can also download many other camera specific features such as Sports shot, sound and shot, and so on. The 5MP front camera comes with the Beauty mode and also lets you shoot using gestures. We shot a couple of indoor shots and the noise was well controlled. But we will test it outdoors and in low light conditions to get a complete idea of the camera performance. The video camera lets you shoot full HD videos.

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy A8 houses a non-removable 3,050mAh battery. Just like its siblings from the Galaxy S series, the Galaxy A8 also has an ultra-power saving mode which only gives you access to phone, messaging, internet and apps such as calculator, clock, memo and voice recorder.

Conclusion

The Galaxy A8 looks elegant and it has quite a good overall feature set. We will need to use it extensively to see how it performs in the real world. The camera seems to have a lot of potential and we are waiting to use it outdoors. The Galaxy A8 is priced at Rs 32,500 and I will try to do a full review of the phone to see if it is worth that price.

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Mysterious device to be unveiled alongside Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus on 13 August

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Samsung Philippines went ahead and released a teaser which shows off three devices. Their preview page also has a countdown timer until the event kicks off. The teaser hints at the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and, a mysterious large device which could be a new tablet.

The caption reads, “We were the first to make them BIG. Now we’re making BIG even BETTER. Are you ready to Live BIG?”. We can see the three devices placed on top of each other revealing that that they will sport a metal body. While the one on the extreme top might be the Galaxy Note 5, the one below, sports a display which is extending towards the edge along with a S Pen slightly jutted out. This could be the new Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. However, at the bottom we see a device which a large display, which hints at a probable new tablet from the company.

GSM Arena speculates the new mysterious device to be the the recently announced Galaxy Tab S2 in its ‘8-inch incarnation’. In addition, tipster Steve Hemmerstoffer found a Samsung tablet briefly passed through import/export Indian site Zauba. If true, Samsung’s upcoming tablet will sport a whooping 18.4-inch display which might sport the name, the Galaxy Tab S Pro. Look’s like there are many reasons to believe that the company might unveil a new tablet for consumers.

Samsung announced the event on August 13 by sending out the invitations saying ‘Note’ the date. Two weeks before Samsung’s Unpacked Event which is scheduled for August 13, purported press images of the Galaxy Note 5 posing with its pen along with the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus were leaked online too.

#TheNextGalaxy is coming. See what's next on August 13. http://t.co/8YGETdtuo7 pic.twitter.com/CSaKrroj1h

— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) July 27, 2015

Serial tipster Evan Blass posted an image to Twitter claiming to be the official press renders of both new devices. He states that the new Note 5 will have a 5.66-inch with a 2560 x 1440 display along with an Octa-core Exynos 7420 processor. Other tech specifications included are 4GB RAM, Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, 16MP rear camera along with a 5MP front facing camera. The image also shows the S Pen stylus that’s due to be included with the Galaxy Note 5.

The Samsung S6 Edge+ looks exactly like what its name suggests, it’s a bigger S6 Edge points out The Verge. With this device, one can expect the curved display on both sides. The device will be powered the Exynos 7420 instead of a Snapdragon 808. It will include 3GB of RAM. The storage options may remain the same as seen in Galaxy S6 with 64GB as the base model.

Going by the previous leaks, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is likely to come equipped with 5.5-inch display, 16MP rear camera with OIS, 5MP front-facing camera, 4K video recording and a 3,000mAh battery.

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Samsung Galaxy A8 With Fingerprint Sensor Launched at Rs. 32,500

After its debut in China, Samsung has launched its slimmest smartphone, the Galaxy A8 in India. Priced at Rs 32,500, the Samsung Galaxy A8 is just 5.9mm thick but Of Course, it isn't the slimmest in the market. Handsets like Gionee Elife S7, Oppo R5 and Vivo X5Max are 5.5mm, 4.85mm and 4.75mm thick or rather thin respectively.

The Samsung smartphone will be available in Black, White, and Gold colour variants from Monday.

Samsung Galaxy A8 is just 5.9mm thick

In terms of specifications, the Samsung Galaxy A8 features a 5.7-inch full-HD display with 1080 x 1920 pixels of resolution, It is powered by an octa-core Samsung Exynos 5430 processor instead of the 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor used in the China variant. It is paired with 2GB RAM. The Android 5.1.1 Lollipop-based smartphone runs TouchWiz UI on top.

It comes equipped with an internal storage of 32GB and can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The Galaxy A8 features a 16MP rear camera along with a 5MP front facing camera. In terms of connectivity, the device includes Bluetooth 4.1, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, GPS, Glonass, and LTE support. It supports 4G and also comes equipped with a fingerprint scanner. This almost bezel-less smartphone comes with a high capacity 3,050mAh battery.

So it basically houses a larger display, better camera, and a bigger battery over its predecessor, the Galaxy A7.

All of us have previously seen several phones aiming to achieve slimmest form factor and the A8 will compete with the likes of 4.75mm Vivo X5 Max, 4.85mm Oppo R5 and 5.1mm Gionee Elife S5.1.

Samsung has also partnered with Airtel which would provide a double data plan that offers double the data of your current data plan for a limited period.

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