Will Samsung 8 Price Drop Again
TechRadar Verdict
The Annotation 8 at launch had the best big brandish on a smartphone and acts as Samsung's big phone comeback story, making up for the Annotation 7 recall. Information technology has an expansive half-dozen.3-inch 'Infinity Brandish,' faster 6GB of RAM operation and two outstanding rear cameras, which add up to i of the most expensive phones e'er. Just don't expect tape-breaking battery life from its predictably average-sized battery that plays it condom. It'south a nifty phone, if you tin handle the enormous size and equally huge price.
Pros
- +
'Infinity Display' is first-class
- +
Great dual-lens camera
- +
Fast with 6GB of RAM
Cons
- -
'Infinitely' expensive at launch
- -
Battery life held back
- -
Weak speaker
Update: The Samsung Galaxy Notation viii has been steadily dropping in price, but it at present has some newer competition likewise. We've added details of both these things to this review.
Even in 2019, the Galaxy Note 8 remains one of Samsung's biggest phones, and does more than plenty to right the major wrongs of the recalled Note 7. This is a mega-sized mea culpa.
Nosotros've tested the Note viii for many months and information technology'due south even more than interesting today thank you to the new Deep Sea Blue color that came out postal service-launch in the US and Uk, and the big Android Oreo update that information technology got. This catches it upwardly to the Samsung Galaxy S9 and similarly sized Milky way S9 Plus.
After all of our hands on time with the Note viii information technology has us convinced: this is a true redesign of non just the Notation series, but of the average smartphone from top-to-bottom, edge-to-border, and rear photographic camera to, well, rear photographic camera. At that place are now two cameras on the back, a first for a Samsung flagship smartphone (the new S9 Plus and Samsung Milky way Annotation 9 has this too). It takes brilliant portrait photos, and you can even edit the depth of field post-capture.
What makes the Notation viii different is the handy S Pen stylus and larger 6.3-inch 'Infinity Display' to work with – but 1 that doesn't increase the dimensions of the actual telephone besides much. The phone acts like a big, borderless glass canvas for your important handwritten notes and masterpiece doodles.
Watch our video review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 below.
Why buy this instead of the 6.two-inch Galaxy S9 Plus? The extra tenth of an inch of screen is insignificant and doesn't matter, merely Annotation fans admire the S Pen stylus functionality and its more square shape. Over the S8 Plus, the Note 8 besides benefits power users with 6GB or RAM and a superior dual-lens camera, both features passed on to the S9 Plus.
Of course, information technology'due south not quite a match for the Samsung Galaxy Annotation 9, but given its lower price it doesn't have to be.
This is still i of the most powerful Samsung phones with a stylus. It does, however, cost yous in multiple ways. Commencement, it'due south too large for some. You're going to need a Note 8 case to confidently hold this unwieldy glass beast, and two hands to operate it.
2nd, the big screen also comes at the cost of the Note's usual oval-shaped fingerprint sensor home button. It'due south gone. The on-screen button that replaces it works fine, just the fingerprint sensor is now located on the back of the device and off-heart – information technology's a textbook flawed pattern, and the alternative iris scanner doesn't always work when yous want to unlock the phone. Nosotros're hoping the Galaxy Annotation 9 fixes this in a couple of months.
Then there's the Notation 8 toll. While not every bit expensive as it in one case was, this is nonetheless a pricey phone.
Can your wallet, and the extent of your grip, handle the Note 8? That's pretty much all that yous – if you lot have faith in Samsung again – demand to enquire yourself before ownership this phone.
Toll and release date
- Launched at $929 (£869, AU$1,499)
- At present costs around $715 (£475, AU$900)
- Out at present in the Usa, UK and Australia
The Galaxy Note 8 release engagement was Fri, September 15 2022 in the US and UK, while Australia got the new phone on September 22. It's readily available.
The official Note 8 toll is $929 (£869, AU$ane,499), merely many stores now sell it for far less. You lot can find information technology cheaper via Amazon Us for example, with prices now coming in at around $715 (£475, AU$900).
It's nonetheless pricey, but no longer anywhere near what it once was. Of course, it's no longer the latest Note, as the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is now bachelor.
Design and display
- 6.3-inch 'Infinity Display' redefines the Note look and feel
- But it'due south 9mm taller than any previous Annotation
- H2o-resistant upward to ane.5m (5ft) for 30 minutes
The Note 8 maximizes Samsung'south dual curved edge and nearly bezel-less Infinity Display to the point where this phone feels like a mini tablet from the future. It's impressive-looking, but likewise big and heavy – 9mm taller than any previous Annotation phone, and 195g.
Stretching your fingers is well worth if you tin can physically manage it. Its expansive 6.three-inch display – now without a physical habitation button – has an unheard-of 83% screen-to-body ratio. The iPhones take a 67% screen-to-body ratio for comparing. That's a lot less screen for such big phones, at least until iPhone 8 arrives to alter everything.
Samsung keeps topping itself, launching phones with the world's all-time display every half dozen months. Its maximum effulgence, 3K resolution with Mobile HDR Premium, and wider colour gamut are hard for anyone else to compete with. It's Always-On Display continues to be an appealing feature in a smartphone.
Lit upwards, the all-screen Note eight feels similar nosotros're carrying effectually a piece of light when nosotros're out and near. It'southward much meliorate than the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 Twoscore display, Google's biggest weakness.
The entire forepart glows with unimpeded information – as long equally you don't drop and crevice it, and you'll demand to be extra careful as the entire phone is enveloped in drinking glass wrapped effectually an aluminum frame. Combined with its size, this makes for one slippery smartphone.
While we spent most of the time using this phone naked (that's without a case), we did test several Note 8 cases and instantly felt more confident conveying information technology around. Why? The added grip (and peace of listen) let united states operate it with one hand, whereas nosotros struggled with the pure glass trunk at such alpine and wide dimensions. Sorry – you're going to need a case with this phone.
There were very few Note 8 colors at launch. It came in muted tones of Midnight Black and Orchid Gray and we only recently saw the Deep Sea Bluish color launch in the US. This vibrant bluish and tempting Maple Golden colors were offset launched in other regions. Samsung, annoyingly, refreshes its phones with new colors subsequently a few months, much to the chagrin of loyal early adopters.
Y'all also won't get the best sound from the Note 8. Information technology'southward a multimedia powerhouse visually, but its bottom-firing speaker still had us cupping the bottom of the phone to get better audio. Samsung has however to deliver dual front-facing speakers like the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, or customizable Hi-Fi audio like the LG V30. Perchance next yr.
The Note 8 is IP68 water-resistant, so information technology can survive up to i.5m (5ft) underwater for 30 minutes, and it uses the reversible USB-C standard. Both are new perks for most Annotation fans. There's also no camera bump, and that gaudy Samsung logo has been moved to the rear, no longer staring you in the face. Unfortunately, the fingerprint sensor has moved there, too.
The fingerprint sensor has marginally improved
- No concrete habitation push button ways a rear fingerprint sensor
- It's farther abroad from the photographic camera vs the S8 and S8 Plus sensor
- Iris scanner and face unlock are poor substitutes
Nosotros hate the fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy Note viii, just equally we did on the S8 and S8 Plus. Perhaps a tiny chip less, but we still don't similar its off-eye rear location for the same reason: we keep blindly smudging the far-too-close dual-lens camera. It's really hard to unlock the telephone.
What's improved – slightly? The kickoff fingerprint sensor and center-aligned camera are a few milimeters further away from each other. Samsung wisely moved the flash and heart rate monitor in between the sensor (which requires your fingerprints) and the photographic camera (which e'er gets fingerprint smudges all over it). That born centre rate monitor you lot forget still existed on Samsung phones now serves a purpose again.
Samsung'south unlocking alternatives don't work as advertised. Confront unlock has proven to be less secure, so much so that we don't even propose using information technology. And while you won't fool the iris scanner, it won't recognize you wearing sunglasses, or walking and holding the telephone at the improper distance.
It's ironic that we accept a phone that looks similar it comes from the future, all the same it's been designed with a fingerprint sensor that's become a textbook design misfire on smartphones. Samsung could ready this issue with an in-glass front fingerprint sensor, but the technology isn't set up nevertheless. Await this to exist a g announcement for the Milky way S9 or Note 9 – please act surprised.
The South Pen is full of new and onetime tricks
- Easy to sign documents and write direct on screenshots
- Note-taking expands with convenient off-screen memos
- Live Messages, GIF Capture add fun to this productivity tool
There are 2 types of people in the earth – those who will utilise the Notation 8's S Pen, and those who recall they're going to employ it, but will stop taking information technology out of its holster later about a week. It's similar everyone'southward desire to own a Fitbit – you had good intentions when you set out to purchase it.
Anyone who sticks with the S Pen, still, will get their money's worth from the Annotation viii. Nosotros signed a PDF contract last week without having to impress or browse it – in fact, we didn't fifty-fifty have to leave the email app. We also jotted down handwritten notes and took screenshots that we were instantly able to marker upward.
Plus the Due south Pen is also great for sketching with over 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity.
These features – usually reserved for pro-level tablets or ii-in-1 computers – are even handier on a phone. Later on all, the best annotation-taking device is the one yous accept with you lot all the time.
Frequent note-takers will dear the off-screen memo feature, which lets y'all jot down white-ink notes on the turned-off black screen as soon as you squirt the Due south Pen. Off-screen memos, introduced with the doomed Note 7, enable yous to capture your thoughts without having to unlock the phone get-go.
The Annotation 7 also debuted Due south Pen features similar GIF Capture and Translate, but these will be new to most Annotation viii users. And new to the Note 8 is the ability to write out 'Alive Messages', creating sparkly animations that yous tin transport to anyone in GIF form.
If the S Pen lets you skip a few archaic steps – similar printing, finding a working pen, and scanning a document – the Notation viii may exist worth the extra $105 over the similarly sized S8 Plus if you lot can't find a good bargain.
Source: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-note-8-review
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