Galaxy Note 8 teaser hints at new features for Samsung's phablet

Okay, before you get too excited, the new teaser of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 isn't going to blow your mind.

Any tech fan will have become tired of the 'teaser trailer', as it's invariably just a stop-gap to fill the dead space between fervour at the launch of the new device and the actual event where we get to see it.

In the past, Samsung has at least hinted at the new phone with obfuscated shots in the distance, or people doing things with the new features (such as using the phone underwater). 

However, this time it's just a series of words – but they do give a few hints as to what we can expect:

The first being the idea of innovation: what we know so far is the only innovative thing Samsung is doing with the Note 8 is popping a dual camera on the rear, which it's never done in a flagship phone.

However, that's far from innovative, so we'll at least see some new technology in the mix that should allow users to do new things with the Galaxy Note 8 that Samsung's not offered before.

The other interesting point is claiming that this phone isn't closed, but open. That could very well be a thinly-veiled attack at Apple (as could be the idea of 'not updating but innovating') but - even for a brand like Samsung that has a history of trying to mark itself as better than Apple - this seems a bit old-fashioned.

The hope here, then, is that we're going to see a phone that has more openness for the developer communities to do cool things with the technology - using the iris scanner for new ideas, or being able to expand what the S Pen is capable of, but in a structured way that doesn't impact on the quality.

Or... this is just some words from a big marketing book that Samsung has picked up at random as it looks to keep interest going in a phone that's just going to be a larger Galaxy S8 Plus. We'll find out for sure on 23 August.

Via The Verge

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.