Galaxy Note8

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THE Galaxy Note8 is Samsung’s latest flagship phablet, featuring an incredibly nifty stylus, a fantastic camera, and its game-changing 6.3-inch Infinity Display.

As a longtime Android user, I was excited to see what the market leader was putting up against the iPhone 8 Plus and rumored Google Pixel XL 2. Under normal circumstances, the bar would’ve been quite high already, but as a direct successor to the now-discontinued Note7, the pressure was on for Samsung to deliver something remarkable.

The question on the table: Is the Note8 a strong enough comeback to shake off the ghost of its predecessor?

DESIGN

The first thing you notice about the device is its incredible display. Doing away with a physical home button, the Note8 offers a completely unobstructed edge-to-edge screen they call the Infinity Display. Images on the screen are razor sharp and colors are wonderfully vivid.

As the name suggests, the Galaxy Note series is designed with notetaking in mind. To that end, Samsung’s suite of proprietary software make the S-Pen a delight to use. While nowhere near the sophistication of the Apple Pencil, it’s lightweight and works wonderfully with the Note8.

My only real gripe is the odd placement of the fingerprint scanner — right along the rear camera panel, and about a half-inch wide. Given the phone’s size, it’s a bit of a stretch to reach and quite inconvenient for something designed for ease-of-use. Though its lightning quick once you find it, I found myself opting for the pattern lock instead.

PERFORMANCE

The Note8 packs a powerful mobile processor and 6 gigabytes of RAM, making it lightning quick and capable of running multiple apps simultaneously. This shines especially bright when booting up Bixby, Samsung’s onboard virtual assistant.

For camera enthusiasts, the Note8 is a powerful device. The phablet boasts twin 12-MP rear cameras — a wide angle and a telephoto lens — with optical image stabilization on both. I put it up against last year’s picture-taking standout, the Google Pixel, and found the Note8 took consistently better pictures and even outperformed the Pixel in low-light conditions.

Lastly, the battery. The Note7 was discontinued for its battery’s penchant for blowing up, so much so that it’s still blacklisted in some airports. In response, the Note8’s battery is largely average. While a full charge often lasted me a full day of use, power users streaming videos and listening to music all day may be left wanting.

VERDICT

Overall, the Galaxy Note8 is a fantastic return to form for the Note series, packing a beautiful display, a powerfully flexible stylus, and a superb camera — all with enough processing power to make a laptop insecure.

For the tech-savvy professional looking for a slick device to take notes on, this is a clear winner. The Galaxy Note8 retails for P49,990.