Local pricing for the Note 8, and no surprise it’s S Pensive

The Note 8 looks like the phone we’ve been dreaming of since, well, the Note 5. And now we know what it’ll cost and when we can have it. Pre-orders open on 1 September 2017 with the first devices making their way to users on 22 September. Recommended retail pricing is set at R18,500, which is actually a little cheaper than the R20,000 we were expecting.

We’re excited about a lot of features on the Note 8, but key among them are the dual rear cameras (with optical image stabilisation on both) and the new S Pen features like the ability to scrawl on the lock screen (for up to 100 pages of notes) and make your reminder appear on the always on display so, you know, you really can’t miss it.

The new translation-and-conversion features of the S Pen are pretty compelling, too, as is the option to take advantage of the Note 8’s generous 6GB RAM allocation by pairing apps we tend to use simultaneously. Another thing that should benefit from the extra grunt is Samsung’s promise of slicker DeX docking station integration. DeX is getting more partner apps and new features like screen mirroring over video calls.

We’ll get hands-on with the Note 8 later today. Catch a live video of that on our Facebook page.