Galaxy Note 8 Force Touch: Samsung Adds 3D Touch-Like Feature To Phablet

If a new report is to be believed, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 flagship phone will launch later this month with a feature that’s very similar to what Apple is using on its iPhones. According to the report, the upcoming phablet is arriving with force touch technology.

On Wednesday, The Investor learned from South Korean news outlet ET News that Samsung Electronics will be adopting force touch technology for the Galaxy Note 8. The company is doing this because the Note 7 successor will not have a physical button just like the Galaxy S8 and S8+. In order for the device to interact efficiently with users, the tech giant has designed its display to read the amount of pressure being applied to the screen before displaying certain options.

This is not the first time that Samsung is using force touch technology. The South Korea giant applied the same feature onto the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in lieu of the physical home button. With this feature, users are able to launch a hidden menu for shortcuts every time they put pressure at the bottom of the screen of the two handsets.

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Back in March, The Verge pointed out that the inclusion of touch-sensitive, on-screen buttons on the Galaxy S8 did not only make up for the absence of physical keys, but also allowed the company to put much slimmer bezels on the front of the device. The only downside that this technology brought with it is the fact that Samsung was forced to relocate its fingerprint sensor to the back of the phone. The new placement has inadvertently drawn backlash from fans and consumers who complained about the camera lens being easily smudged by fingerprints whenever the adjacent fingerprint scanner is used.

Apple is known for using force touch technology on its iPhones’ displays. The Cupertino giant even trademarked 3D Touch — another term for force touch — to make it clear that the technology is its own invention. While Samsung’s force touch technology has the same mechanism as that of Apple’s, there’s a big difference between the two. Samsung is only using the pressure-sensing functionality for the navigation bar at the bottom of its phones’ display, as per Android Authority. On the other hand, Apple’s 3D Touch spans the entire screen of its smartphones, so that iOS apps can also take advantage of this feature.

Meanwhile, Samsung is poised to unveil the Galaxy Note 8 on Aug. 23 in New York. The device is rumored to sport a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display that will cover most of its front for a stunning bezel-less design similar to that of the Galaxy S8. The handset is also reportedly housing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 or the Exynos 8895 processor, and it is anticipated to come with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space.

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Other reports and leaks claim that the Galaxy Note 8 will be powered by a 3,300 mAh battery and that it would feature a USB-C port. There’s also mention of a dual-lens camera on its back and an improved stylus for all of its note-taking features. In addition, it was found out recently that Samsung will still place the fingerprint sensor on the back of the Note 8 after failing to come up with a display-embedded solution.