• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, August 3, 2016

If you’ve had an eye for a new, big-screen Samsung, it looks like your time has come. The Galaxy Note7, now available for preorder and hitting checkouts on August 19, was unwrapped yesterday with an iris scanner that will allows users to unlock it by gazing into its 5.7-inch display’s biometric technology.

“You'll want to hold it about a foot away from your face, and the phone will show how to line it up your eyes,” writesCNNMoney’s Hope King, who got a look at the device before yesterday’s big event in New York City. “The data collected from the scan is saved and encrypted on the phone, and you can opt to unlock your phone or a specific app that way moving forward.”

She says the technology did experience some “issues” during testing, however, and points out that it may not exactly be the time-saver you’d imagine it to be. “Although, in theory, the scanner is a novel way to keep phones locked, you'll still need to use your fingers to get to the iris scanner from the lock screen — at which point, you could easily type in a passcode or use the fingerprint reader instead,” King posits.

On the positive side, “the iris-scanning technology, which relies on an infrared camera lens mounted on the front of the phone, can also be used to unlock a secure folder within the Android operating system. Users can store sensitive documents and apps in the directory, which remain encrypted even if the phone is unlocked,” Bloomberg’s Jungah Lee, Nate Lanxon and Jing Cao report. Also, “users will be able to authenticate Samsung Pay transactions via the new technology.”

Samsung has indisputably come a long way since it first started catching up with the iPhone.

“If you looked back at Samsung’s flagship phone from just three years ago, it would hardly be recognizable next to today’s Galaxy S7,” writesTime’s Lisa Eadicicco.

Indeed, “by skipping out on what would have been a Note6, Samsung seems to be delivering two messages: That this latest Note device is essentially built on the same foundation as Samsung’s popular flagship S7 and S7 Edge smartphones, which arrived in March and which have helped the company turn around what had been a slumping handset business. And that Note7 represents a pretty significant leap forward compared to its predecessor,” writes Edward C. Baig for USA Today.

Baig reserves judgment on whether the latter assertion has merit until he takes a closer look, but his first impression is “very positive” although he finds the Note7 “expensive.” The 64GB model costs $850 at T-Mobile and slightly more elsewhere.

The first Galaxy Note, unveiled in 2011, introduced the word “phablet” to the lexicon. 

“At the time, we didn’t really get it, but over the years, the Note line has proved it’s worth the inconveniences that come with size. And from the looks of it, the new Note7 might just round the corner and prove that bigger can be better,” writes Gizmodo’s Darren Orf, who lists its similarities with the popular Edge7 as well as some innovations. For one, it is the first high-end Samsung phone with USB Type-C, “the connector of the future.” 

Samsung “considers it is now in a position to challenge Apple, something that it has struggled with previously,” writes Arjun Kharpal for CNBC.

“Users recognize that they now have a premium device that can stand up against the iPhone and that's what Samsung needs to do, they need to keep their customers loyal,” Francisco Jeronimo, research director for mobile devices in Europe at IDC, tells Kharpal. “Before the S6, people who moved from Apple to Samsung, went back to the iPhone because they were not happy with the experience and value they were getting for the price they were paying.”

Apple reportedly will be unveiling the iPhone7 this fall. MacRumors bulletpoints all the speculation about what we’ll be seeing that’s different from the iPhone6 models, starting with the controversial lack of a headphone jack. Well, Samsung is “already making fun of that,” BGR reports.

When Samsung marketing VP Justin Denison “took the stage to tout Samsung’s latest phablet, he took advantage of the spotlight and threw some lighthearted shade in Apple’s direction,” Yoni Heisler writes.

“Want to know what else it comes with?” Denison asked. “An audio jack. I’m just saying.”

We hear you clearly through our pricey Bose headsets.