Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Reviews: 'Beautiful' Display and Solid Dual Rear Cameras at Premium Price

[CaptRB]

I have the s8+ and also two iPhones.

If you buy the right case, the back fingerprint sensor works BETTER than the iPhone. Several cases have a sloping depression in the back so your finger slides right into place. Works FAR better than the iPhones.

I own a LOT of Apple stuff, but the phones have been chasing the market for years now. The s8 has user expandable memory and is just about perfect. Likely the Note will be even better, but it's even bigger.

You really can't go wrong with ANY smartphone these days. They all do the same stuff. But the Samsung gear is juts a bit slicker and feature packed for my money.


R.

 

[Sefstah]

And it has a headphone jack. No courage? Or maybe they listen to what their customers want?

 

[69Mustang]

Next to the camera lens, in about the worst position ever. Already got rid of my S8+ because of it... Doesn't matter how great the rest of the phone was because it was a pain in the butt to unlock it, something really crucial because you do it so often. It often just didn't work, really awful.

If you're referencing the S8 series, yes the fp sensor is next to the camera lens. On the Note the flash module is between the lens and the fp sensor. Still inelegant, but less of a concern for dirty prints on the lens. If the fp sensor is on the back it should be lower on the frame like everyone else.

 

[DTphonehome]

$930 Samsung? Nobody bats an eye. $999 iPhone? EVERYBODY PANIC

 

[Nozuka]

from the engadget review:

Unless you're paying very close attention, you probably won't even notice at first that the screen isn't running at its maximum resolution. By default, the Note 8's display runs at Full HD+ (2,220 x 1,080) rather than the maximum WQHD+ (2,960 x 1,440). Blurred edges really become noticeable only when you drop the screen's resolution down to the Infinity Display's version of 720p, but you'll probably never see that unless you drop the phone into its most stringent power-saving mode. These options are nice to have, though most people will probably never know that they're there.

i wonder why it defaults to a lower resolution... to save battery? performance concerns?

 

[DTphonehome]

I've had every iPhone since the original and there is virtually no way that I would switch to Android.

Apple's ecosystem for me is just too damn good despite what haters and critics on here say.

I wanted to like Android. I gave it a shot when my iPhone was busted. After two weeks I still couldn't enjoy it and was so happy when my iPhone was back in my hands.

 

[dannyyankou]

It’s a cool phone, it’s not worth it though with the price and smaller battery. I would get the S8+

 

[ani4ani]

Samsung reviews: "premium price"

Apple reviews: "overpriced"

Which of these two companies has more than quadrupled top-line ASP in the last decade...? Exactly. Samsung.

Maybe, but then so has the quality of their products. Apple hasn't been shy with their increases in price either. Let's face it, Apple is overpriced for what are effectively midrange phones. For all the idea the iPhone is a flagship device, spec wise, it has a midrange screen, less than most ram and lacks numerous features of a flagship, e.g. Fast charging, expandable memory etc

 

[paul4339]

I like the bezel-less, but I'm still not sold on the curved edges... it distorts the image (at least with the current S models)... maybe if the curve was sharper (providing a flatter face), just my preference I guess.

 

[CaptRB]

I've read two of these reviews and none mention the elephant in the room with Samsung: Performance.

It's ridiculous and am embarrassment that I have friends spending so much on the S8 and they suffer from lag that their competitors phone's from the pervious generations do not (*cough*Pixel, HTC, OnePlus cough*). They pick up a Pixel or an iPhone and are astounded at the instant-ness of the OS - it's something they can't unsee.

Literally all Samsungs fault for crap development of their touch layer, and often mismanagement of the hardware. I'd not spend a few hundred, let alone nearly a grand if that is something still plaguing their flagship hardware.
People often say they don't care about speed because phones are so fast at this point, but here we see many common actions have some sort of lag that can increase with continued use or heavy usage... ridiculous!

I have the s8+ and 2 iPhones. They are pretty much the same for speed. The s8+ tends to load websites a bit faster. Some games will load faster on the iPhone. Generally speaking, both phones are quick. Sound quality on the newest Samsungs is MUCH better, especially for the microphone.


R.

 

[miknos]

Glad to hear it getting praised - competition is good for all of us.

Samsung spend billions in marketing. That money also goes to pay writers of those ADrticles.

 

[DeepIn2U]

still the worst position for a fingerprint sensor ever

Actually it's the worst position for a THUMB print sensor/scanner. It's great as a Fingerprint sensor/scanner. My reasoning is I can pick up the phone and scan any 3 larger fingers of any hand easily without you or anyone else overlooking my shoulder to see which I used.

Glad to hear it getting praised - competition is good for all of us.

Indeed pushes the best in all players. For my personal tastes I'm avoiding Android - too many attemps to get it to sing how I prefer.

 

[2268473]

Looks beautiful. Runs terrible.

 

[fokmik]

sorry, but since Apple is going to Oled now for their iphones and ipad, no chance to switch to a platform like android where fragmentation is rich and tablets apps are almost 0 professional

 

[Michael Scrip]

Dat glare tho...

 

[MrX8503]

Nice phone, but overpriced for what it is.

iPhone 8 will be overpriced too, but at least it'll be bringing brand new features and will have the fastest SoC on the planet.

 

[Dominicanyor]

I must say that as much as I love Apple products. The new Samsung phone is very nice.

 

[Nozuka]

Maybe, but then so has the quality of their products. Apple hasn't been shy with their increases in price either. Let's face it, Apple is overpriced for what are effectively midrange phones. For all the idea the iPhone is a flagship device, spec wise, it has a midrange screen, less than most ram and lacks numerous features of a flagship, e.g. Fast charging, expandable memory etc

i don't think i can agree with all of this.. but definitely with the screen and fast charging part.

but the past few years the iphone has always been the leader in performance, the CPU has been nothing short of amazing.
yes it has less ram, but iOS also needs less RAM than android. (but i can agree that we don't get any of the money savings apple makes here).

expandable memory has some advantages like saving money on big storage or maybe switch data with another phone, but it is also annoying to have to micromanage where to save the data. or you can tell android to use it all as one big storage, but this has a big impact on performance, because the SD is much slower than internal storage. the storage of the iphone is always very fast and you don't need to make sure every app uses the right place to save things. but yes, it's more expensive.

 

[Techwatcher]

There's nothing truly bezel-less about this phone. It has a quite obvious chin and forehead. Very nice phone and I would certainly consider a purchase if I was back on Android, but the new OLED iPhone X (or whatever it will be called) looks better. No chin at all, and no forehead, savor the protrusion for the camera lens (but until you guys can figure out how to place a camera behind an OLED screen without it showing, please be quiet).

 

[intz2nu]

Looks like I won't need to wait till the 15th for launch as I just got my FedEx Tracking number and its scheduled for delivery tomorrow.

Quite hype given Apple seems to have lost the "WOW" factor for the pass 3 or 4 years now. And with all the dummy model iPhone 8's I'm pretty sure the actual product will be identical sadly.

 

[ILikeAllOS]

2016 portrait mode on iPhone: "What a stupid gimmick, Apple is doomed!"
2017 Portrait mode ripoff on Note 8: "You see, now that's innovative!"

 

[sza]

Samsung has no design.

 

[smithy12]

Still cannot stand android

I believe that’s why Apple has managed to keep selling iPhones as the iOS is way much better than android but there must be a point we get fed up with the lack of WOW factor from Apple and move over ???

 

[Smearbrick]

They haven choice but to praise it. There are few decent alternatives in the Android space, premium wise. I find it funny though that they are always in love with Samsung products - even the ones that explode and burn things down. But then give them a pass quickly. The bigger issue is they never do anything truly amazing, or really execute on things at the highest level. They seem very happy to be 'Vice President' so to speak, with true design and implementation because they know they sell mostly free phones that people get for singing up or at least very inexpensive ones.

Umm... they do have a choice. They could NOT praise it. I've seen ho-hum reviews on Samsung devices in the past.

It's a nice handset, regardless.

 

[Eorlas]

I checked it out at an ATT yesterday, and it's actually a pretty nice phone. I know the marriage between Android & device isn't all that awesome, but this model was at least pretty fluid.

I'm giving it serious considerations but definitely waiting until the oled iPhone appears next week before finalizing.