This Is the Samsung Note 8, the Phone That Must Not Explode

Samsung announced the successor to the ill-fated Note 7 smartphone today, an updated phone named the Note 8. The new phone resembles a larger version of Samsung’s flagship devices, the S8 and S8+, but is slightly larger and includes a stylus called an “S pen,” which slips into the device.

Here are the Note 8’s specs:

• 6.3″ Super AMOLED display
• 6 GB RAM
• 10nm processor, same as S8 phones
• 64 GB base storage, expandable with MicroSD
• 3300 mAh battery
• S Pen, updated with .7mm precision nib and 4096 levels of pressure
• IP68 water and dust resistance (30 mins underwater down to 1.5m)
• Dual front-facing cameras:
  • Telephoto: 12 megapixel, f/2.4, 2x optical zoom
  • Wide angle: 12 megapixel, f/1.7

Samsung is emphasizing that these phones won’t explode, as the Note 7 did. They stress that the Note 8 has a new interior design, with a slightly smaller battery that’s physically guarded from the rest of the phone. Samsung said the phone passed its new, 8-step safety test. In addition, the company partnered with Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to further test the phone, making this the first Samsung phone to get UL’s stamp of approval. Note 7 phones famously blew up due to manufacturing and design defects that caused the battery to short circuit and explode in a ball of flame. Recall of the phones cost the South Korean company about $3 billion.

Aside from not blowing up, the new phone has features such as optical image stabilization, easier to access note-writing with the S Pen, a Live Focus mode where users can change the focus of an image after the fact, and multitasking shortcuts that allow users to launch two apps at once.