With the disaster that was the Galaxy Note7, fans of the line of devices haven’t seen a real refresh since the Note5, but can the Galaxy Note8 live up to the hype, and the $930 price tag?
Last year’s Samsung Galaxy Note7 can only be described as a disaster. Days after launch, it was found that the handset caught fire, and after a recall, even the replacement units exploded. Eventually, software updates were released that rendered the device useless.
In other words, not only does the Galaxy Note8 have a lot to live up to, but fans of the Note series haven’t seen a valid refresh since the now two-year-old Note5. Clearly, there have been a lot of advancements since then.
The Note8 is Samsung’s first phone to include a dual-lens camera, and just like with every iteration, there are S Pen improvements. But that’s not all, since the Note7 really doesn’t count. This phone embraces USB Type-C, as Samsung was one of the last micro-USB holdouts. It also uses the 18.5:9 aspect ratio that’s found in the Galaxy S8.
And it especially doesn’t work well on a Note. After all, there’s not much distinction between the Galaxy S and Note these days besides the S Pen. In the old days, one of the defining features of the Note series was the larger screen and usually more power, but the Note8’s screen is 0.1 inches larger than the S8+ at 6.3 inches, and they use the same processor.
Personally, I’m a big fan of the idea of a handheld note-taking device. I spent a week at Microsoft’s Ignite conference and took plenty of handwritten notes on a PC, but the ability to take a device out of my pocket and just start writing is great. I just don’t like the 18.5:9 edge display to do it.
I actually found it to be much more comfortable on the Galaxy Note5. Now, the screen feels so narrow that it’s hard to write, and since there are almost no bezels on the sides, it always feels like my hand is in the way.
It is a beautiful phone though. The glass back ditches the metallic look of old and now shows a flat color; in this case, Midnight Black. It’s very comfortable to hold, if not to carry, and the Super AMOLED display looks great, as usual. After all, no one can deny that Samsung’s OLED screens always offer vibrant colors.
On the right side of the device, you’ll find the power button, and on the left is a volume rocker and the infamous dedicated Bixby button. On the bottom are ports for USB Type-C and 3.5mm audio input/output, a speaker, and of course, the S Pen.
There’s a dual camera setup on the rear panel, and the camera bump is just 0.1mm. If you’re not a fan of camera bumps, you’ll be very pleased with this, as I was. To the right of the camera is the fingerprint sensor, which I didn’t find to be terribly placed. I know that a lot of people find that they accidentally smudge the camera when they unlock the phone, but I didn’t have this issue.
One thing that I want to note about the display is the always-on aspect of it. I love phones that do this, as it allows me to see the time and what apps have notifications for me without waking it. I use Samsung’s Wireless Charging Stand, so it’s great to be able to look up and see everything that I need to without actually picking up the phone.
In the old days, the Galaxy Note series was defined by a larger screen, the S Pen, and often better performance. With the new 18.5:9 aspect ratio, the Galaxy S series is getting larger, and Qualcomm hasn’t been releasing a major upgrade to its flagship chipset in the fall, so that really just leaves the Pen as the differentiating feature.
I’ve always been a big fan of the S Pen, because as I mentioned previously, I enjoy taking handwritten notes, and a handheld device that I can use to do this is something that I’m interested in. We also discussed that the design isn’t optimal for such a use case.
One of my favorite features was introduced with the Galaxy Note5, and that’s that the device allows you to start taking notes as soon as you remove the pen when the phone is locked. It’s great for taking the quick handwritten note when you might not have time to unlock the handset and launch an app.
Of course, you have more options when the device is unlocked. There are a variety of preset shortcuts that pop up when you remove the pen, that include the classic features like the ability to create a note, clip a selection of the screen and write on it, or take a full screenshot and write on it.
But as it always does, Samsung has improved the functionality of the S Pen yet again. One of the main features that the company touted is called Live message, and what this does is it allows you to write on top of an image to create an animated GIF that you can send to someone.
To be honest, Live messages are fun at first, but not entirely useful. They only work on still images, so you can’t do it with a video, and aside from changing the color and the kind of pen that it uses, there’s not much that you can do. It just seems to get boring after a while.
You can also use the S Pen to translate text, or for Bixby Vision, which allows you to look up prices for items in pictures.
You might have heard of Bixby, Samsung’s own virtual assistant, similar to Google’s Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Frankly, I have no idea why this thing exists at all, and moreover, why it has its own button on the device.
The good news is that if you’re happy with Google Assistant, that’s there too. If you hold down on the home button, Assistant pops up, and if you hold the dedicated Bixby button, you get Bixby. That’s right; the Note8 comes with two digital assistants, and if you’re a fan of Microsoft’s Cortana, you’ll be installing a third.
Bixby is actually pretty good though. I just hate the fact that it has to come with two different assistants. It’s redundant, and it uses system resources.
Samsung’s digital assistant is composed of different pieces, like Bixby Home, Bixby Voice, and Bixby Vision. Bixby Home is a feed that’s meant to provide information that you’ll want to see. It includes nearby places, Facebook and Twitter notifications, weather, relevant news, and more from GIPHY, Uber, and other apps.
I used Bixby Home for the purpose of reviewing the device, but the whole centralized hub thing really isn’t for me. HTC did something similar with BlinkFeed, and I’d rather just launch the apps that I need when I need them.
Bixby Voice is pretty good as well. Obviously, it works in various Samsung apps; for example, you can say „Open Camera and turn on the flash“ or „Open messages and pin the most recent conversation“. It also works with some third-party apps too. You can say things like, „Open Twitter and show my recent private messages“ or „Open Messenger and make a video call to David“.
If you’re unfamiliar with DeX, it’s Samsung’s answer to Microsoft’s Continuum, which allows you to use your phone like you would a desktop PC. But unlike Microsoft’s Windows 10 Mobile solution, DeX uses Android apps.
I didn’t go for Samsung’s own dock to use it; in fact, I actually used my old Lumia Display Dock. As it turns out, you can use DeX with pretty much any USB Type-C dock, or even a USB Type-C to HDMI converter if you’ve got a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard.
I have to wonder if this is the future of PCs. Continuum on Windows phones was very limited because the apps weren’t there, but this is running Android apps, and most of your apps will just work. For my general workflow, I need Chrome, Office, and Skype, and those things work just fine. I think that if Samsung offered a laptop solution like HP did with its Lap Dock, most users would be fine with just the Galaxy Note8 as their only device.
While I do find these types of features very interesting, I really don’t have much else to say about DeX. Imagine using Android apps on a desktop PC with a mouse and keyboard, and that’s exactly what it’s like.
Samsung Pay is the next of the many features that Samsung offers and its competitors don’t, but it’s worth mentioning. I’ve never been one for mobile payments, because they suck.
I’ve used Apple Pay and Android Pay to test them out, and the truth is that most retailers don’t support NFC payments, so it’s not worth it for me. I’m the type of guy that has his credit card in his hand when he gets to the counter, so if I don’t know for sure that they’ll have an NFC reader, I’ve already got my wallet out. In other words, I don’t use mobile payments.
The cool thing about Samsung Pay is that no NFC reader is necessary. It’s a technology that Samsung picked up a couple of years ago when it acquired LoopPay.
