The Samsung 8 has arrived. The August 23 launch in New York was streamed to journalists, bloggers and influencers worldwide.

But the launch in Jamaica is not far behind, and should take place before the end of next month.

“The Note 8 is the most powerful phone currently on the market,” Terry Weech, IM Open Market Sales, Samsung Electronics LatinoAmerica, told Sunday Finance.

He said the Note 8 will be available in Jamaica on Sept 29th, but will be released two weeks earlier in the US and Korea. Many are speculating the cost to be US$1,000 or more, but Mr. Weech assures us that it will cost less.

“It will definitely be under US$1,000, but as you know, in some some countries there are associated fees and taxes when importing. But outside of that, we can be assured that the price of the device itself is under US$1,000.”

Their marketing strategy will focus on the Caribbean and Jamaica. “I’m a Caribbean boy at heart [but] we are focused on Jamaica, because Jamaicans love Samsung and we don’t want to let them down”, he stated.

Millennials are their target group, he said, because of the way they use and interact with technology in their everyday life.

“Millennials are the key focus, hence the big focus on entertainment and productivity. This generation uses technology differently than my grandparents. They have different needs.

“I’m focused on productivity and on the here and now. I want to capture my son’s first home run. Not on launching my phone, or on the photos being blurry. We can’t afford to miss these moments. Samsung Note 8 is the solution to that.”

The New York launch opened with a collage mounted on two immense screens, featuring the tweets and quotes of Samsung users around the world, singing praises of the brand. But it also mentioned the disappointing recall of the Note 7, and the commitment of the Samsung community to staying by the brand until the new Samsung 8.

Samsung thanked users for standing by them throughout last year’s unfortunate Samsung 7 incidents.

Then as the launch progressed, various speakers highlighted the best of the new and improved innovations that the Samsung 8 has to offer.

The Samsung 8 has a 6.3-inch cinematic wrap-around infinity screen, and offers a large and immersive view of whatever you are doing. Yet it still fits comfortably in the hand.

Thanks to the cinematic screen, photos are brilliant and totally immersive.

The device is water and dust-resistant, allowing use in environments that were previously out of bounds.

The camera has been totally redesigned and offers for the first time two separate back cameras — one with wide-angle lens and the other with telephoto lens. Both cameras also boast image stabilisation in both video and photo mode. In live focus mode, users are able to adjust the background blur of a photo to make it stand out.

What’s more amazing is that the adjustments can be made even weeks or days after the photo was taken, highlights Weech.

The S-pen has also been improved. It now has a finer tip and greater sensitivity.

There is also a wide range of new and improved features, such as the ability to translate entire sentences or automatically convert currencies and units of measurement.

It is water-resistant, and can take notes even when the screen is off.

Users can also be a part of the Pen-up community where currently more than two million people worldwide share their designs and drawings. Samsung has even added their own colouring book templates.

The Samsung 8 also offers greater security with options for biometric authentication, and options such as fingerprint and iris scanning. In addition, the Samsung Knox7 provides defence-grade security, and with its Secure Folder, allows you to keep professional and personal data separate.