With the launch for the much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note 8 only a few weeks away, the flagship phone has another secret revealed. It will be adopting the force touch to replace the functionality of the home button.
This feature gives the phone the ability to analyze the amount of pressure that is applied to the screen. The Note 8 will use the force touch as a solution to replace all the functionality of the home button, which is being removed in favor of more space for the screen.
The same solution was used in the Galaxy S8 that was released earlier this year. The force touch will also allow users to open a hidden menu with different buttons and shortcuts.
Removing the physical home button will maximize the display size of the phone without having to increase the size of the body. The almost bezel-less design also helps maximize the area of the screen. The force touch is similar to the 3D Touch that Apple has been employing on the last two generations of iPhones. It was based on the technology used by the MacBook's trackpad.
The addition of the force touch feature may also explain the decrease in the Note 8's battery capacity, compared to its predecessor. The new phone will have a 3,300 mAh battery, while the Note 7 had a 3,500 mAh capacity.
Apple also had to decrease the battery capacity of the iPhone 6S to accommodate the 3D Touch feature. On the succeeding iPhone model, it found room to get the battery capacity back by removing the headphone jack.
As previously revealed, the new Note will sport a massive 6.3-inch screen, the largest display ever to grace a premium, mass market smartphone. The flagship phablet (combination of phone and tablet) will also have a dual-lens rear camera, which is something that Samsung ultimately opted to pass on when it released the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.
