Samsung Galaxy Note 9 launched, Noida unit to make for India
New York, Aug 9 : Sounding the bugle for its annual warfare with Apple right on its home turf, Samsung on Thursday launched its flagship Galaxy Note 9 -- a device with a mammoth 1TB memory, bigger battery and a Bluetooth-equipped S Pen.
The smartphone will be available globally from August 24 and for the India market, it will be manufactured at Samsung's largest mobile manufacturing plant in Noida that was recently inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The 6.4-inch Note 9 comes in four colours and two variants -- 6GB RAM and 128GB in-built internal memory (expandable up to 512GB) and 8GB RAM with 512GB ROM that can be expanded up to 1TB with an additional 512GB microSD card -- a delight for the gamers and heavy-duty users.
"The Note has always been our showcase for premium technology and industry defining innovations. It is designed for a level of performance power and intelligence that today's power users need," D.J. Koh, President and CEO of IT & Mobile Samsung Electronics, said at the jam-packed Brooklyn's Barclays Center in New York City.
Both variants of the phablet will arrive in India by the end of this month and the price and exact availability date will be announced on August 10. However, not all the four colour models may initially make their way to India.
"The pricing will play a bigger role in deciding whether Samsung wants to fight the Chinese players or continue its focus on the premium customers in India," Satish Meena, Senior Forecast Analyst at Forrester Research, told IANS over phone.
The device that runs OS Android 8.1 (Oreo) will have the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 system-on-chip (SoC) for the US customers and the models powered by Samsung's very own "Exynos 9 Series 9810" chips will head to the rest of the world, including India.
The device will sport dual camera system (12MP+12MP) with dual optical image stabilisation (OIS) at the rear -- with 2 times more powerful optical zoom and up to 10 times powerful digital zoom -- and an 8MP front shooter.
Note 9 with Quad HD+ Super AMOLED display houses 4000mAh battery -- 21 per cent bigger that Note 8 -- that is paired with fast-charging technology compatible with both wired and wireless charging.
When it comes to Stylus Pen (the company calls it S Pen), there is much more to experience this time.
"S Pen now has remote control functionality along with Bluetooth connectivity and extremely fast charging," the company executive explained.
"S Pen can control anything, from YouTube or photo gallery to operating the phone camera. It can guide entire presentations at office meetings. We have opened software development kit (SDK) for S Pen and will soon have more applications and features," he added.
The fingerprint scanner is comfortably located just below the rear camera system.
Note 9 also comes with dust and waterproof IP68 rating (including S Pen) and houses "Samsung Knox" enterprise mobile security solution pre-installed for enhanced security.
The flagship smartphone has also retained the iconic 3.5-mm headphone jack.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Prime organiser of Messi event in Kolkata arrested over ‘mismanagement’ after stadium chaos
Kolkata (PTI): The police on Saturday arrested Satadru Datta, the prime organiser of the Lionel Messi football event at Salt Lake Stadium here, following widespread chaos at the venue, which prompted the Argentine World Cup-winning captain to leave the field early.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the stadium unrest, Datta was held by the Bidhannagar Police for “mismanagement” of the event from the Kolkata airport, where he had gone to see off Messi and his entourage on their way to Hyderabad.
"We are looking into whether there was any mismanagement from the organiser's side, which led to the chaos at the stadium. He has been detained, and the police have now brought the situation under control," West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar said at a press conference.
A senior police officer later confirmed that Dutta has been arrested. Till reports last received, the police were interrogating him and his manager inside one of the departure lounges of the airport.
The organiser has given in writing that he will refund the prices of tickets he sold to the disappointed spectators, Kumar said.
What was supposed to be a marquee football spectacle turned into widespread violence and disorder at the stadium after Messi’s brief and tightly ring-fenced appearance, his first at the venue since 2011, left large sections of the crowd frustrated, as they failed to catch a glimpse of their superstar despite having travelled from far and wide, paying hefty sums for tickets.
Police said they were also investigating how organisers allowed sale of bottled waters and beverages inside the stadium premises, which are banned items during such events.
Thousands of water bottles were used as missiles and lobbed inside the pitch by angry spectators, who also uprooted bucket seats from the gallery and used them as ammunition inside the field against the defending police and security personnel.
Spectators alleged that water bottles were being sold at a massive premium inside the stadium despite police disallowing such items from outside at the entry gates.
Police agreed there was an underlying tension in the galleries on account of Messi not showing his footballing skills on the field, which only got aggravated after a bunch of VIPs, including State Sports Minister Aroop Biswas and unidentified people, blocked the football icon’s view during the limited time he spent on the ground.
“We are on the job, and will ensure that whoever is responsible for what happened today at Salt Lake Stadium will be punished, and action will be taken against the authorities concerned,” said Jawed Shamim, ADG, Law and Order.
