Global mobile leader, Samsung, opened the pre-booking for its flagship smartphone in India,  on Thursday Samsung launched it in New York-USA. The pre-booking of this handset can be done via Samsung’s official eShop.

It has launched the 2 variants of this handset as below-

1. Note 9 – 128GB & 6 GB RAM variant priced at INR 67,900
2. Note 9 – 512GB & 8 GB RAM variant priced at INR 84,900

The handsets are available in midnight black, ocean blue and metallic copper color variants.

Consumers pre-booking the Galaxy Note 9 will also get a chance to own a Samsung Gear Sport smartwatch for INR 4,999 which costs around INR 22,990 in India.

As per Samsung, “The Galaxy Note9 is the phone powerful enough to keep up with you. The all new S Pen now boasts powerful Bluetooth technology while our largest Infinity Display plus all day battery life makes this the ultimate productivity device.”

Samsung is also offering cash-back of INR 6000/- on purchasing through HDFC credit card and offering no cost EMI starting from INR 7543.80/month on leading Credit cards and Bajaj Finserv.

On exchange of an old device for the Galaxy Note 9 via the Samsung Upgrade Program, consumers can get a bonus of INR 6,000 over the exchange value of their phones.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Specifications

The smartphone comes with a 6.4-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED ‘Infinity Display’ with a resolution of 2960 x 1440. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. The Note 9 is available in two RAM variants of 6GB and 8GB and two storage variants of 128GB and 512GB, which can be further expanded to 1TB of storage via a MicroSD card.

On the photography front, the Note 9 comes with 12MP+12MP dual-rear camera setup. Both rear cameras feature optical image stabilization. For clicking selfies, it has an 8MP front facing camera.

The phone runs Android Oreo 8.0 with Samsung’s own custom UI running on top. There’s no word on when the Note 9 will receive the Android Pie Update.

Other key features of the smartphone include wireless charging and IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. Connectivity options include USB Type-C, NFC, 3.5mm audio port, Bluetooth 5.0 ad 4G LTE and Wi-Fi.

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Digital payment is a buzzword now-a-days and appearing everywhere in India either small or medium-big market and most of the players have already filled the gap. Many more are coming in the battleground to fight in the zigzag row. In the same row, American Express has announced the launch of Amex Pay in India. Amex pay is a mobile payment service in the country which allows the American Express card users make payments based on QR codes and contact-less payments via the Amex mobile app.

The Amex Pay feature is available on Android devices with NFC and running Android 4.4 KitKat minimum or higher and iOS devices running iOS 11.2.6 can be used for the Amex Pay.

For now, the contact-less payments are not supported on iOS. Additionally, the device should be capable of reading QR codes using the camera app, in order to carry out QR code-based transactions.

How to do QR Code based Payments using Amex Pay?

1. Log in to your American Express account on either the Android or iOS app of the Amex Mobile app
2. Choose Register with Amex Pay
3. Grant the required permissions and enter the OTP you received in order to complete the verification process
4. For QR-based payments, you need to click on Pay with Bharat QR, scan the code, and enter the amount
5. Confirm the same and enter the card’s PIN to complete the process

How to do NFC based Payments using Amex Pay for Android devices only?

1. Follow first three above steps on Smartphone which supports NFC, make NFC on from the settings
2. Make sure Amex Pay contactless digital payment is the default tap and pay service
3. Hold your smartphone close to the payment terminal to do the contactless digital payment/transaction

Samsung Pay was introduced in India with support for the American Express credit cards and charge cards those are eligible for the payment.

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World’s most popular mobile payment service Samsung Pay by Samsung Electronics has been launched in Italy on March 22, 2018. With the addition of Italy, Samsung Pay now enables users in 21 countries to benefit from simple and secure payments almost anywhere including India.

In India, Samsung pay service was launched in March 22, 2017. The next country is France where Samsung Pay will be launched this year as per reports from Samsung .

Samsung’s commitment to transforming the mobile industry was recognized at the annual Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO Awards) during Mobile World Congress 2018, which awarded Samsung Pay ‘Best Mobile Innovation for Payment’. The service was praised not only for being innovative, but also for bringing consumers the world’s first integrated rewards program; each time users purchase with Samsung Pay, they can earn points to be exchanged for a variety of prizes.

Samsung Pay reward program is available in the U.S., Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brazil and Spain only.

“We strive to deliver the best experiences to our customers. The rapid growth of Samsung Pay has been made possible by Samsung’s commitment to an open model of collaboration around the world, resulting in over 1,700 partnerships, including payment providers Visa and Mastercard®,” said Yongje Kim, Executive Vice President of Service Business Office, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “Its continued support for both MST and NFC payments has also enhanced adoption, enabling market access in countries that support either payment option.” added.

What Is Mobile Payment Service Samsung Pay?

Samsung Pay is a simple and secure mobile payment service that is available almost anywhere you can swipe or tap your eligible payment card. By combining Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and its proprietary Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology, Samsung Pay is the most widely accepted mobile payment solution on the market.

Mobile Payment Service Samsung Pay Security

Samsung Pay operates with three levels of security: fingerprint or iris authentication (available for Galaxy S9 and S9+, Galaxy Note8, Galaxy S8 and S8+), card tokenization and Samsung’s defense-grade mobile security platform, Samsung Knox. Additionally, Samsung Pay makes mobile payments easy – to launch, a user needs to swipe up on an eligible Samsung Galaxy smartphone, select the card, authenticate using a fingerprint, iris scanning or PIN and bring the phone near the point-of-sale terminal.

Countries and Samsung Pay Launch Date

Recently in Feb, 2018 Samsung India and Reliance Jio has tied up for the nation wide cellular IoT network.

Most recently in March, 2018 Samsung has acquired Kngine – an Egyptian AI search engine startup.

(With the inputs from Samsung and Wikipedia)

Image credit- Canva