Last year, following the debacle that was the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung knew it had to come out swinging in 2017. The Galaxy S8 has held its own throughout the year, and now Samsung has a new Galaxy Note smartphone to offer potential customers, hoping to reinvigorate the brand name and earn back some fans.
Based on the review for the Galaxy S8+ earlier this year, it looks like Samsung learned quite a bit, changed what it needed, added a few things, and tweaked the total package to include the S Pen stylus for good measure. Ultimately, Steven Litchfield for Android Beat deems the Galaxy Note 8 the “most capable smartphone in the world” right now, and goes to work explaining why.
So, here’s a quick rundown of Litchfield’s viewpoints:
Design
“The terrific feel in the hand comes from being designed around the new 18.5:9 aspect ratio 6.3” QHD+ display. Tall and thin means a larger display with smaller bezels and the possibility of normal mortals with regular sized hands being able to hold the Note 8 securely. With thumb meeting fingers around the phone, I never felt like dropping it (though, as usual, I have to recommend using something like this in a TPU case while out and about, just in case).
It’s Gorilla Glass 5 and so very tough, front and back, so most of the time the Note 8 can be treated casually – it’s not going to scratch or break with regular use. I was reviewing the rarer gold Note 8 (it’s also available in black, grey or blue in most markets), even more leading to the sense that I was handling a piece of jewellery. A very tough, very powerful piece of jewellery. As I say, pick this up and you can see where your money’s gone.”
S Pen
“Finally there’s the famous S-Pen. This is inductive, pressure-sensitive, and far more clever than a ‘capacitive’ stylus – a push on its end and it pops out. If the phone was nominally ‘off’ then an all dark ‘Samsung Note’ pane appearing on screen, ready to be scribbled on (these notes are saved for later sharing or inspection, of course, in the main app); if the phone is already powered on then the ‘Air Command’ carousel appears on the screen, asking what you want to do with the S-Pen.”
Biometrics
“Around the shiny Gorilla Glass 5 back is the camera and sensor island, flush apart from a raised metallic ring for protection purposes. Still controversially, Samsung has included the fingerprint sensor in here, off to one side where it’s hardest to reach. It’s a little ridiculous and rather a waste of space. On this tall a phone it’s almost impossible to reach with your index finger and certainly never feels natural, yet it’s also easy to forgive Samsung this bad design because the biometric alternatives work so well.
Principally the default, the aforementioned face unlock, which works instantly and quickly. And, if you’re worried about security and someone trying to fool this system then you can switch over to iris recognition instead. This is far fiddlier but also 100% secure, like fingerprints. And it’s worth noting that either of the two optical authentication systems can be used at the same time as the fingerprint sensor, i.e. you can leave two out of three systems ‘live’ all the time.”
Imaging
“Plus the single LED flash for the dual camera – not that you’ll need flash very often since we’re now talking about dual OIS-equipped 12MP sensors, one f/1.7 (and 1/2.5” sensor size) and with a traditional field of view, one f/2.4 (1/3.6” sensor size) and with a 2x telephoto lens. Both have the ‘focus pixels’ system and have lightning quick focus times.
Put it all together and the Note 8 produces fabulous photos in almost all light conditions, zoomed and unzoomed. In my tests, it’s right up with the Apple iPhone 8 Plus and the best in the current smartphone world.
I realise that some people prefer having a wide-angle camera as the second unit in a phone and there’s a definite place for landscape photos, but I prefer the optically zoomed option here. You see, it’s not just about getting closer to far away subjects, though you do and it’s very helpful. You can also get super close, optically, to average subjects, for example a pretty flower, turning the shot from a ‘snap’ into a DSLR-style piece of art.”
Bixby
“Until Bixby’s natural language processing is so good that it can do two-step procedures correctly over 95% of the time then it’s simply much faster to do things the old-fashioned way. And yes, there will be times (when driving, when cooking, perhaps) when you need to do complex things using just your voice – but an awful lot of the time you don’t. And so Bixby is then an annoyance more than a help.
There’s also the Hello Bixby pane off to the left of the default homescreen panorama, with schedule reminders, news, weather, and more. It does more than Google’s default ‘Now’ pane, but it does it garishly and it’s hard to love.”
Verdict
“You’ll have gathered my enthusiasm for the Note from the opening few paragraphs above – there’s simply so much here in terms of hardware and software flexibility that any small missteps (like the fingerprint sensor positioning) can be overlooked. Without doubt this is the most capable smartphone in the world right now and it’ll probably stay king until the Note 9 arrives in 2018.
You do, of course, have to pay to acquire all this hardware and software tech, but at least you can see where your money is going. The Apple iPhones and Google Pixels of this world can be described as over-priced or aspirational (depending on your point of view), but the Galaxy Note 8 is simply the most functionality for the most money and you can’t argue against that.”
There’s a lot to like about Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8, especially if you’re already a fan of the brand and what it brings to the table. Of course, if you’re already waiting for the iPhone X then it might not be enough to sway your decision. Still, you can check out the full review through the source link below, to see more photos and get more details if you might still be on the fence.
