Recently (on 23 August to be exact), tech giant Samsung revealed their new Galaxy Note8 smartphone. This phone is a crucial rebound from last year’s disaster with the Note7, and Samsung failed to disappoint. So what exactly is new? Let’s dive in. I always like to start off with the design in these ‘hands-ons.’ And the Galaxy Note8 certainly delivers. It has the same stunning ‘Infinity Display’ from the Galaxy S8 & S8+ handsets from April, with a slightly more squared-off frame. In addition, this iteration of the Galaxy Note will not have any carrier branding on the outside of the phone, which is a surefire win for everyone. The display is a gorgeous 6.3-inch quad-HD panel, and it is no doubt the most beautiful display you can buy. The aluminum & glass design on the back side is similar to that of the S8 as well, but since Samsung nailed that design as well, I’m willing to look that over (with the exception of the poorly placed fingerprint sensor, which is just… no). The Note8 comes in four colours, but only one of which are available in North America. Available in American markets is the Midnight Black shade, and elsewhere you can find Orchid Grey, Maple Gold, and Deepsea Blue, which may bring back some nostalgia for previous Galaxy Note5 owners. Completing the back plate are dual cameras, a first for any Samsung product (save for the Gear 360). It has a similar setup to the iPhone 7 Plus’s cameras, meaning that the main camera is a wide-angle 12-megapixel sensor & the second is a telephoto camera. However, the Note8's telephoto camera keeps the same resolution as the main one, meaning that unlike the iPhone 7's telephoto lens, this one will work in low light situations. Samsung’s main sensor can also shoot 4K video and RAW stills. Both cameras retain the larger-than-life saturation that the phones are known for. In terms of normal specs, North American handsets will ship with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chip atop the latest version of TouchWiz. There’s six gigabytes of RAM to keep all your apps running, and it also works well with intense games thanks to the Adreno 540 GPU. The skin, while admittedly slowing things down a bit, is very pleasant to use, especially with the S Pen, the flagship feature of the Note line. This year’s S Pen comes with an improved launcher, but the hardware itself remains unchanged from last year. The ‘Apps Edge’ screen also as a Note exclusive feature; App Pairs. This takes advantage of the 18:9 (2:1) aspect ratio by opening up two preselected apps in split-screen mode without all the hassle of having to hold the multitasking button (which remains in software) and choosing an app. So why buy the Galaxy Note8? It should seem pretty obvious, right?It’s a fantastic phone with a huge display and a convenient S Pen. But this year, Samsung didn’t take any risks, or even remotely try to make the Note8 stand out. And it’s understandable why *cough cough* Note7 *cough cough.* However, that removes mostly everything special about the Note. When it launched, it was famous for it’s size. Last year, it was famous for it’s features. And this year, it’s basically just a bigger Galaxy S8 with a pen (and of course the dual camera). For a retail price of $960 as a base, that seems like a lot to ask. Roan Thibault is the editor-in-chief of Mirror Journal.
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