The year 2018 has simply handed away and we have now seen quite just a few new flagships released. These include new handsets from OnePlus, Google, and others.
But what about top-of-the-line handsets of 2017 with the Samsung Galaxy Note eight? Has it stood up in opposition to the take a glance at of time and survived telephone-pocalypse 2018? Let’s discover out.
Specs
- Show: 6.three-inch Tremendous AMOLED, 2960 x 1440
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
- RAM: 6GB
- Storage: 64GB, expandable through microSD card
- Entrance digicam: 8MP
- Rear camera: Twin 12MP cameras
- Battery: three,300mAh
For the previous few weeks, I’ve been utilizing the Galaxy Note 8 in an effort to see simply how nicely it still performs. There have been a couple of software updates over the past year, which have seemingly helped things.
Hardware
But earlier than we dive into the software, let’s take a step again and take a glance at the hardware. The sandwich glass design is still absolutely stunning, with the aluminum frame and curved edges.
Still an excellent show
The show is still top-of-the-line in the business, although Samsung’s newest gadgets are even better. I found myself on quite a few occasions simply wanting on the display screen to note the quantity of element in a sport or video.
There is a reason that Samsung is taken into account probably the greatest in the business. And it’s the identical motive that Apple contracted Samsung for its displays on the iPhone X, XS, and XS Max. They are just amazing.
The dreaded fingerprint scanner
What isn’t superb is the digital camera module on the rear of the Note 8. The placement of the cameras is all tremendous and dandy, however the fingerprint scanner is still within the mistaken place.
We were ecstatic to see Samsung repair this with the release of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy Be aware 9. But after utilizing the Note eight for the past few weeks, we still can’t figure out what made Samsung resolve this placement. Also see the list of useful apps for Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Go away, Bixby
For some reason, Samsung thought it could be an excellent transfer to incorporate a dedicated hardware button for Bixby. That is nonetheless super-irritating should you overlook that you can now disable the button.
You can undergo the method of remapping it to Google Assistant if you want. However the fact that there’s a button at all continues to be annoying. It’s simply too unhealthy that Samsung is sticking to its guns and included the button once more on the Observe 9.
Software
After the Galaxy Observe eight was released last yr, I had the device for a number of months. Samsung included Android Oreo with Samsung Expertise 9.0 (learn: TouchWiz), and this improved on a lot of my previous complaints.
Nevertheless, at the time, I still felt that the software was too bloated with pointless features. That is still true, although the expertise itself has smoothed out a bit.
RAM management has been vastly improved, as I can open fairly just a few apps, go back to 1, after which to a different, with out dropping my place. This has change into a supply of frustration with various devices, however Samsung has seemingly labored out the kinks, for now.
Presently, my largest gripe is that we are actually into November, and there’s no sight of Android Pie. Just lately, Samsung introduced a model-new UI called One UI.
The corporate confirmed that this will most likely be primarily based on Android Pie and will be coming to the Galaxy Notice 8 and S8 devices. We just need to play the waiting recreation, as is always the case with Samsung.
It continues to boggle my mind that the largest Android OEM on the planet can’t seem to get its ducks in a row on the software front. Certain, you possibly can throw a kitchen sink’s full of options on board, but you probably can’t get the latest version of Android on my gadget, months after its official release. But I digress.
S Pen
I’m a kind of people who have a love-hate relationship with stylus’. On one hand, it is useful for certain situations, like photograph editing. On the opposite, it’s not something you possibly can sit and use for simply whatever you would possibly be doing in your device.
We nonetheless have the identical pop-up menu that appears each time you unsheathe the S Pen. This menu consists of the next options:
- View All Notes
- Good Choose
- Display screen Write
- Dwell Message
- Translate
- Bixby Vision
You too can add extra if you scroll the wheel and discover the “+” button. This gives extra customization so you don’t have a bunch of useless features everytime you take out the S Pen.
This final benefit is a private one, but as someone who likes to fidget with issues, the fact that I can click on the end of the S Pen with out breaking anything is absolutely amazing.
Camera
In relation to a tool that is no much less than one-12 months-previous, folks probably are questioning if the camera still stands up. In brief, the reply is sure, with a “but”.
The answer is yes, BUT when looking on the competition in 2018, the Galaxy Word eight’s camera is completely outclassed. The dual-digicam setup will still provide excellent shots, with its commonplace 12MP sensor and 12MP telephoto lens.
As a reminder, Samsung included quite just a few completely different modes to shoot photos or videos in:
- Auto
- Pro
- Panorama
- Tremendous Slow-mo
- Gradual motion
- Hyperlapse
- Meals
- Virtual Shot
Plus, you probably can head over to the Galaxy Apps Retailer and download even more digital camera modes if you want to experiment.
The underside line is that the Galaxy Observe eight’s digicam continues to be extraordinarily purposeful, regardless of being a 12 months old. Just don’t be shocked if your footage are outshined by newer devices.
Conclusion
General, I’ve been pleasantly stunned with the Galaxy Be aware 8, even though I’m annoyed about the lack of Pie. The digicam remains to be solid, the battery continues to be going robust, and that show is completely gorgeous.
Now, when Samsung will get off its rear-end and brings Pie to the Be aware 8, I have excessive hopes that the machine can reside on for another yr or so. But till then, I’ll maintain my applause.
In the meantime, if in case you have been on the fence about choosing up the Word 8, we are saying go for it. You can still get the system from some carriers, and the unlocked model may be discovered on Amazon for lower than $600.
