After suffering a setback due to the explosive Note 7 that led to the recall and halt in the production, Samsung is back with another entry in its most premium device series – The Galaxy Note 8
The arrival of the Note 8 has clearly put Samsung in its top spot as the leader in smartphone business, clearly speaking; the Note 8 remains the best smartphone in the world as it checks every 2017 spec requirement on a flagship model.
The design of the Note 8 is very familiar – glass build covering both front and back of the device with a metal frame sandwiched in between. However, a very visible feature on the design of Note 8 is the height, a rectangular shape and less pronounced dual curved display when compared to the S8.
At 6.3-inches, the Galaxy Note 8 has the biggest screen ever on any Note device with more real estate for multimedia consumption and multitasking. There is more room to watch, read, make drawings and perform super multitasking functions. The super thin bezels on the device allow the screen take almost the entire front of the device.
Samsung stuck with its usual super AMOLED technology characterized by super sharp vibrant colours and high contrast for the display on the Note 8 with a 1440 x 2960 resolution. It is the world’s first 3K QHD+ display with 521 pixel per inch, making it the best display yet on any smartphone in the world.
The S-pen on the Note 8 got a revamp. It has a finer tip and improved pressure sensitivity to enable faster multitasking to enhance creativity. The Live messaging feature allows you reveal your personality and further express yourself with stories by sharing animated text or drawings across platforms that support animated GIFs.
For business; The S Pen lets professionals do what other smartphones can’t, like discreetly taking notes in Screen off memo or quickly annotating documents and photos.
One impressive change to the Note 8 is the addition of dual cameras at the back. It is also the first smartphone with two 12-megapixel camera lenses with optical image stabilization (OIS) on both the wide angle and telephoto lenses. The “Live Focus” feature on the secondary sensor allows you adjust the background blur before you take a picture while adjustments can also be made after the shot has been taken. Samsung also took the camera inclusion further with Dual capture feature. Photos from the Note 8 are sharp with vibrant colours and packed with so much detail. Low light photo quality is impressive, all thanks to Samsung’s image processing that prevents noise and grains.
The tall Note 8 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and a massive bump in RAM up to 6GB to cater for the productivity, multimedia and multitasking performance.
Other features worthy of mention are the fast wireless charging, Bluetooth 5.0, IP68 certification which indicates water and dust resistance. There is also a memory card slot to increase the 64GB internal storage.
The Note 8 turns out to be an exciting phone, just as expected by old Note fans and bold enough features and specs to invite new users. While the Note 8 impresses everywhere else, the battery comes at a slightly disappointing 3300mAH but the Note7 battery explosion puts things in perspective. Also, the awkward placement of the fingerprint sensor beside the back camera makes it difficult to reach with one hand. Retailing at almost $1,000, will you be copping this?
