Samsung Galaxy Note7 hands on

Samsung's latest is the most unique and attractive phone so far this year.

The recently-revealed Galaxy Note7. Photo: Peter Wells

The phone's iris scanner is likely to be its most talked-about feature. Photo: Peter Wells

The Not7 features curved glass on both the front and back. Photo: Peter Wells

The S-Pen makes use of new hover controls and a refined Notes app. Photo: Peter Wells

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In a year of disappointing Android releases, the one device that's stood out so far has been the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Samsung refined the gorgeous curved screen design, while addressing all the major concerns of the S6 variant. With the Note7, Samsung refines the design again, this time adding the same curved glass panel to the back of the phone.

It's a subtle change, but the symmetrical curved glass looks stunning, and makes it much easier to hold than other phones this large. After a brief time with it, the Note7 is simply the most unique and attractive phone this year; I spent half my time with the device simply flipping it over in my hands.

The most talked about feature is sure to be the new iris scanner, a tiny infrared camera that sits just beside the 'selfie' camera on the front of the device. This does not replace the fingerprint reader, you can have both biometric locks enabled at the same time and use whichever is most convenient for you.

Testing the iris scanner was impressive — the Note7 unlocked in less that a second. I'm looking forward to giving the iris scanner a proper trial, as something about the it felt slower than using a fingerprint to unlock. Perhaps it's just muscle memory of placing my thumb on a home button, but I felt you had to stare at the phone quite deliberately to have it unlock. However I can see the benefits of going completely hands free to unlock your phone.

Central to the idea of the Note is the S-Pen, Samsung's built-in stylus. It feels great to use; it's quick to jot down notes, and responsive enough when sketching. For note-taking, the pen feels equally as good as Apple's pencil or Microsoft's pen, but further testing is needed to see whether it can hold it's own in the art department.

Samsung have ditched the group of apps that once formed its S-Pen collection, bundling them all into the one Samsung Notes app. Samsung Notes has a clean and simple interface that positions it closer to Apple's Notes app than Evernote or OneNote.

The new always on lock screen is clever — it now supports notifications like the S7 before it, and you can write notes directly on the lock screen as well. Quickly write down your shopping list, and the note will stay on the lock screen, so you don't need to unlock your device to read it. And notifications will still appear above your notes as they come in.

The other neat trick of the S-Pen is a hover mode, which lets you magnify the screen or translate any text with ease. It made for an impressive tech demo, but I'm not sure how often I would use these particular features day to day.

The camera is fantastic, but that was no surprise. The camera in the Samsung Galaxy S7 is one of the best overall smartphone cameras available — it's probably the best stills camera available, with only the iPhone beating it on video. Low light performance in particular is incredible for such a tiny sensor. The Note7 packs the same internal camera as the S7, so you're getting the same optical quality, with a bigger screen to view your images on. The camera app has been redesigned to support more swipes and gestures, less buttons, to make using that bigger screen a little easier.

Samsung continues to simplify the overall interface of the phone. Here again we see a light touch to Android's Marshmallow, the menus and settings apps are clear and white with simple colourful glyphs and text.

But back to that screen. Samsung have made some of the best displays in recent years (from five-inch phones to eighty-inch televisions) so it's not surprising to find a great display here, too. The curved edges of the Note7 make the screen beautiful to look at from any angle.

The author travelled to New York as a guest of Samsung.

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The story Samsung Galaxy Note7 hands on first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.

Source: Samsung Galaxy Note7 hands on