The ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 device is all set to make a comeback of sorts, albeit with a new name and understandably, a smaller battery this time. So the device will now be identified as the Galaxy Note 7R, will the ‘R’ perhaps signify its refurbished status.
The handset is speculated to hit streets in South Korea starting this June itself, with three carriers in the country extending telecom support. Further details are awaited on this with Samsung yet to come out with anything on this officially.
Samsung had earlier stated all of its newest devices including the S8 and S8+ are being subjected to a 5-point safety check process. However, it is not known if the Galaxy Note 7R devices too are being subjected to the same safety checks.
There are some indications on the price front though. For according to reports currently available, the Note 7R will be selling for 700,000 won, which roughly translates to $615. That again is considerably cheaper than the 989,890 won or $933 that the Note 7 was initially priced when launched last year.
Every else with the device will be just the same, save for a slightly smaller 3,200 mAh battery now being standard across the range instead of the 3,500 mAh battery that the device initially came equipped with.
So the rest of the specs will be familiar stuff, which includes a 1440 X 2560 pixels 5.70-inch display, 1.6 GHz octa-core Exynos 8890 processor mated to a 4 GB RAM along with 64 GB of storage. The front gets a 5-megapixel selfie cam while the rear is made up of a 12-megapixel camera.
The handset came pre-loaded with Android Nougat, which applies to the Note 7R as well. The handset is 4G LTE compatible and allows for Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, NFC, and USB OTG connectivity options.
The Note 7 came to be accorded one of the best smartphone devices ever to be made soon after its launch last fall. Sales numbers too had just started to pile up when tragedy struck. A series of blasts later, Samsung was forced to recall all units of the Note 7 that got shipped, a massive operation in itself the parallel of which the tech world has never been witness to.
However, with the over 3 million Note 7 phones in its inventory, Samsung seems to have little choice but to let it have another shot at the market. However, it remains to be seen if the device will continue to wield the same magic a year down the line that it did when new.
