Samsung¡¯s Note series has been really special to me since its very inception. For someone who loves to scribble a lot, the Galaxy Note¡¯s stylus is a boon to write down notes on or simply doodle around in free time.?
After the Galaxy Note 7's disastrous fate last year, I felt awful, as I thought that it would very well mark the end of the Note series. However, surprisingly, Samsung didn¡¯t give up and finally revealed the much awaited Galaxy Note 8. And while I was super excited to get my hands on this resurrected warrior, my fascination didn¡¯t last as long as I expected it to.
As I held the device in my hand for the first time, I could very well sense the premium feel of this device. It was ginormous as hell, but it did that while looking gorgeous. The glass front and back fused together with the metal sides, the bold dual-camera setup at the back, and the amazing, beautiful 6.3-inch curved Super AMOLED display with the same Infinity design as the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, giving a nearly bezel-less look.
This display is a treat to look at. Its Quad-HD resolution of 2960x1440 pixels beautifully showcases the detail the display can pack. Moreover, this comes with an 18:9 aspect ratio, which basically means that you get a longer display to consume content on, and that is an always welcome addition.?
The colours are vibrant and even though its an AMOLED panel, it is really bright, so looking at the screen in the sunlight isn¡¯t as painful as you¡¯d expect it to be.
As I mentioned earlier, this device is ginormous. And even with the nearly bezel-less IP68 water-resistant design, this phone is not at all comfortable for single-handed use. Believe me, there were times where I would think twice to even take my smartphone out of my pocket.
Another annoying thing about the design is the fingerprint scanner placement. It¡¯s right beside the camera module. And while it isn¡¯t as bad as the S8¡¯s placement, it's still a hard place to reach considering the large footprint of the device. However, for me, the Iris scanner was a boon, as it didn¡¯t really let me reach for the fingerprint scanner. All I needed to do was look at the phone, and it worked flawlessly, even in the dark.
With such a humongous display size, also comes its weight. The device weighs an approximate 200 grams and if you¡¯re going to be texting a lot, you¡¯ll sense the amount of pain you¡¯ll get by trying to use it with one hand. And this is coming from someone who has really large hands. So people with tiny hands are going to face an even bigger problem.
What¡¯s more annoying about the design is the fact that its glass at the front and at the back. Firstly, the glass makes this already difficult-to-handle smartphone a slippery mess. Also, while it might look premium and all, its fragile as hell. Get a good case, and try really hard not to drop the device flat on the face, because the bill for fixing the display surely won¡¯t make you happy.?
Samsung is known to get great cameras on to their flagship smartphones. Its S7 and S8 lineup is known to have one of the best cameras on an Android device. However, these were single-lens cameras, and with the ongoing trend, Samsung too has stepped into the dual-camera bandwagon with the Galaxy Note 8.?
I had mixed opinions about the camera when I first turned it on, so I really had to test it out really hard to come to a conclusion. Let¡¯s check the firepower first. You get dual 12-megapixel shooters at the back, where one is a wide-angle lens, and the other is a zoom lens. The wide angle lens also gets an f/1.7 aperture which makes it perfect for low-light performance. The second lens gets an f/2.4 aperture. Amazingly, both the cameras get dual Optical Image Stabilisation, so you can shoot great low-light and fast moving shots sans the jitters.
At the front, you get an 8-megapixel wide-angle selfie shooter which also gets an f/1.7 aperture for better low-light performance.?
Let¡¯s talk about the primary wide-angle shooter first. This camera performed quite well in low-light as well as during the day. I did notice a lot of post-processing done by Samsung¡¯s app on the image, along with some oversharpening, but the images didn¡¯t disappoint.
Using the zoom lens to shoot images, and the results are quite not the same. The zoom lens performs surprisingly poorly in low light. However, it was able to hold its place during the day and indoor photography.
The dual-camera mode also allows you to get portrait shots like on the iPhone and the OnePlus 5. Moreover, the app also allows you to increase the intensity of background blur in real time, which was a neat feature, however, the entire portrait mode resulted in rather unrealistic blurs which made it look like the subject has been stuck onto a blurred background.
Also, the portraits work better if the lighting conditions are bright, as during low-light we experienced poor depth perception. The camera app is in dire need of tweaking, which should fix this blurry mess.
Overall, I¡¯d say stick to the primary wide-angle lens for better image quality and pick the zoom lens when you really need it.
The Galaxy Note 8 is a beefy performer. Loaded with the new Exynos 8895 Octa-Core processor paired with whopping 6GB of RAM, this device is no joke. Running on Samsung¡¯s version of Android 7.1.1 Nougat, this device was fluid to multitask on.
Samsung has also gone ahead and added a bunch of cool ¡®Note¡¯ add-ons. You get this cool feature in the Note menu which lets you scribble stuff which can later be turned into GIFs. And trust me, this never really gets old! The S Pen is more optimised, and for every Note user, you¡¯ll feel right at home.?
Another thing that disappointed me was the battery life. Samsung Galaxy Note 8 features a rather disappointing 3300mAh battery. And while it may feel large in number, you also need to account the fact that this device holds a large display, which sucks the battery like a lemonade on a hot summer afternoon.? A full charge lasted a whole day, with approximately 20 percent to spare. You do get quick-charging through a Type-C port, but it's nowhere close to OnePlus¡¯ Dash Charging.?
Galaxy Note 8 is a fantastic device which offers a beautiful display, premium looks and a camera can capture some great images. However, I also need to acknowledge the fact that it is a device really difficult to handle due to its poor weight-management and ginormous form-factor. Also, I was disappointed with the execution of the dual-camera setup on the device. And let¡¯s not even talk about the battery performance.
And while the Iris retina scanning feature is really cool, and even the performance is top notch, it doesn¡¯t really justify the hefty price tag of Rs 67,900. If you¡¯re someone for who has no constraint on the budget, and you really want the curved AMOLED display, the Galaxy Note 8 would be perfect for you. But for the rest of us, OnePlus 5 seems to give us all the things we want at nearly half the price and it just nails everything in the right spot, while looking pretty and being really easy to handle.