Samsung Galaxy Note8 long-term review

22 February 2018
While some phones are inspired by the ‘less is more’ mantra, Samsung’s Galaxy Note family has always proudly claimed that ‘more is more’. More features, more options, more settings, more ways to interact with your handset, more choice made possible by the use of the best components adding up to the biggest and baddest spec list. To paraphrase a well known...

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  • J
  • Jman
  • 8nM
  • 23 Feb 2018

Anonymous, 23 Feb 2018The S7 edge gives no reason to upgrade because it's still a... moreThis.

The S7 Edge is still a fantastic phone.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • yAL
    • 23 Feb 2018

    kakouille, 23 Feb 2018According to displaymate about the color accuracy of the no... moreI think he is talking about the camera, not the display and they viewed it on both Note 8 and iPhone.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • yAL
      • 23 Feb 2018

      jtrogr, 23 Feb 2018The what you call features turnes into lag after some time.... moreIf you say that about S8 maybe but Note 8 is a different class on it's own. If you use apps that require pin-point touch accuracy, no way your fat finger is able to do it properly and as someone said, the fraction of a speed sacrificed (which is nothing to sacrifice at all) is not worth giving up the features of Note 8 for.

        AnonD-739779, 23 Feb 2018I want to mention one thing; while note 8's camera takes lo... moreAccording to displaymate about the color accuracy of the note 8, YOURE WRONG.
        The Galaxy Note8 has 4 user selectable Screen Modes. The AMOLED Cinema screen mode is an accurate match to the DCI-P3 Standard Gamut that is used for the new 4K UHD TV content. The Basic screen mode is an accurate match to the sRGB / Rec.709 Standard Gamut that is used to produce most current consumer content. The AMOLED Photo screen mode is an accurate match to the Adobe RGB Standard Gamut that is used with high-end digital cameras and advanced imaging applications. The Adaptive Display screen mode has the Widest Color Gamut and is intentionally Vivid.

          • t
          • the_beard
          • 0xh
          • 23 Feb 2018

          Oh come on! Those comments about the fingerprint sensor again...Well better get used to it, is not actually that bad... But yeah you have to have something to write about over and over again

            • R
            • Reader
            • KSe
            • 23 Feb 2018

            I would like to take a moment , and thank the entire GSMArena team for coming up with this great review.

            As an avid reader of your website, I would strongly encourage you to continue this series and include mid range phones like Xiaomi Mi A1 and Moto G5S Plus !

              • D
              • AnonD-739794
              • m2I
              • 23 Feb 2018

              Anonymous, 23 Feb 2018The S7 edge gives no reason to upgrade because it's still a... moreNot really - the S7 is old tech by now.

                • K
                • Kablamacast
                • IDm
                • 23 Feb 2018

                AnonD-739779, 23 Feb 2018I want to mention one thing; while note 8's camera takes lo... moreI do believe this is to do with the screen. if you view the photos each device took on a different screen you would have a better idea. samsung over saturates colour on its amoled displays.

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                  • AnonD-739779
                  • Tqh
                  • 23 Feb 2018

                  I want to mention one thing; while note 8's camera takes lovely photos to look at, its not color accurate even a little bit. For example I make violins, since handmade violins have special varnish consist of several colored layes, generally its very difficult to photograph them at true color even with dslrs.

                  I did a side by side test, a note 8 of my students, and my iphone 6s plus. Before that I was in awe of note 8's indoor photos, but when we tried to take photos of a violin, the iphone took a photo with perfectly accurate color rendition, same color what I was seeing with my own eyes, while photo from note 8 was overly saturated and orangish. We send photos to each others to minimize the screen differences, it was same, his photo was overly saturated and not true in my phone's screen, while iphones photo still looked %100 accurate on his phones screen. I tried to play with different photo settings of note 8, took several more photos to get better results but no luck, no matter I tried it couldn't gave me a true color accuracy.

                  While for regular daily life it gives superbly fun looking photos which would be liked by almost anybody, I think iphone is still king when it comes to in-device photo software and color accuracy. I know most of you'll say "if you need that accurate photos, rather than a phone use a dslr", and yes Im already loving my pentax, but for practicality, iphone's editing is great for special purposes like this.

                    AnonD-739721, 23 Feb 2018Actually what you call bloatware i call featuresThe Samsung seem want to grow up their own ecosystem then they give the user choose between androids and Samsungs in one phone, that's a waste of space and storage, that's one of the reason I leaving it.

                      • M
                      • Moon
                      • gNT
                      • 23 Feb 2018

                      I just can't think of any other phone after using my note8. The feel of touching the screen is just wow...so smooth.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • 043
                        • 23 Feb 2018

                        Zeldir, 23 Feb 2018Hey guys, I am a Galaxy S7 edge user. Just wondering, is it... moreThe S7 edge gives no reason to upgrade because it's still an amazing phone.

                          • D
                          • AnonD-488547
                          • 4In
                          • 23 Feb 2018

                          jtrogr, 23 Feb 2018The what you call features turnes into lag after some time.... moreSome of us are more concerned about functionality than having an app load 1/50th of a second slower than on another phone with less functionality.

                            • D
                            • AnonD-488547
                            • 4In
                            • 23 Feb 2018

                            I cannot reproduce the alleged vibration lag in recents menu on an S8 or Note 8

                              • m
                              • munding01
                              • Kg@
                              • 23 Feb 2018

                              imRGZ, 23 Feb 2018S8's manufacturing cost is 307USD per device. Based on this... morewell said mate! couldnt have explained it better.

                                • j
                                • jtrogr
                                • dPU
                                • 23 Feb 2018

                                AnonD-739721, 23 Feb 2018Actually what you call bloatware i call featuresThe what you call features turnes into lag after some time. Better go with stock android or atleast close to it.

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-739721
                                  • khH
                                  • 23 Feb 2018

                                  Anonymous, 23 Feb 2018So, Samsung trying to sell a lot of bloatware to user who d... moreActually what you call bloatware i call features

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                                    • AnonD-739721
                                    • khH
                                    • 23 Feb 2018

                                    Anonymous, 23 Feb 2018All use 12MP because Apple does. If a new iphone brings 1... moreApple was about a year later

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-739721
                                      • khH
                                      • 23 Feb 2018

                                      Yet another username, 23 Feb 2018I stuck with note 4. Reasons : that tall thin unbalanced sc... moreThe two phones are night and day different with the note bring superior in most ways

                                        • J
                                        • JoxY
                                        • MS9
                                        • 23 Feb 2018

                                        AnonD-731363, 22 Feb 2018All you need to know raw manufacturers price is less than 2... moreTBH how can you use raw price as reference if there are many other things which you have to consider (electricity, employees, design of device/spare parts). Example: If restaurant buys chicken breasts for 5€/kg, do you expect your final 200gram grilled chicken meal will cost 1€? ...