Thanks for the very good write up on this new Samsung phone. I before the release of the S8 I was pondering getting that phone but there was a lot of chatter on the net about that phone being kinda hard to hold as it was easy to slip out of your hand.
This new Note 8 looks like it has a bit less rounded edges and might be a contender for my next phone.
At this price range it doesn't target people with money, it targets idiots. This is getting even worse than the iPhonies. Sure, samsung bled a lot of cash recently, but ridiculous pricing is hardly the way to make up for the confidence they lost as well.
They should really replace the slogan "think big" with "don't think". Which is exactly what samdung engineers didn't do when they chose to stick to the idiotic fingerprint reader sensor. And what their marketing department didn't do when they decided how to place it.
Vancouver is too expensive if you don't want to live in a hole.
Tell your Boss to score you an extra thou a month, pay for an extra hour commute, or you're moving south or east and getting twice the space for half the cost ...
Pricing really depends on where you live. I was a former Note 7 owner and they do reward their followers with lower prices. Since I'm upgrading the net cost for me is closer to $550 USD after tax. Or about $275/year. This is less than the depreciation on a gaming PC and I certainly use my phone more than my PC (being an on the go person).
it's $480 with my s7 edge trade in upgrade ( which I don't know if I would had been eligible for if the note 7 was an actual "real"ease instead of fireworks... So I spose there iz a silver lining there! )
functionally vs the G6 it has a pen (G6 has dual cameras)... that's it... and the CPU is almost exactly the same... only 900 CAD dollars more at Koodo, a great way to make money off people
Writing this on a note 3, I've refused to update to note4 because of its processor, note 5 because of its lack of SD card, Now, I won't abandon my phone till you pry my cold dead phone from my hands. I want an unlocked note 8 (historically not available in my country) with min 128 GB memory & 4000 mAH ++ battery.
I wonder why they even still bother calling it a "note". "Glass bar" would suit it much better. 4 years later I still haven't found a worthy successor to my note 3. Still perfectly usable, original replacement batteries are now dirt cheap.
i prefer my huawei mate 8. cheap, good screen ratio, 128 Go storage memory, double SIM, fast enougth. according to me it is very similar to a modern note 3.
ok i'm curious, why would you avoid the Note4 due to processor? snapdragon 805 ain't bad at all, really. i'm keeping mine for another year, just ordered some fresh batteries.
Are you joking? No Samsung phone has ever been about smoothness. Samsung phones are usually the least smooth of any flagship Android phone. They did a lot better with the S7, but then the S8 had some issues with smoothness again, even though they turned the UI down to 1080p.
I am a Note 5 user. (Note 6 never happened... Note 7 was a bomb. - Pun intended.)
The Note 8 looks attractive to me with it's larger screen, but I can wait for a Note 9. In a year or two, the phone will be a fraction of the price with a ton of updates to iron out issues, lots of accessories etc'.
This is almost indistinguishable from an S8+... Yeah this thing is stupid, it even has a smaller battery. I don't see what the point is in its existence.
The Wacom pen IS the point. It's the one thing keeping the Galaxy Note from just being an oversized smartphone like the S8+, and a damn good one at that.
We need more active penabled smartphones in this space, as nobody has the balls to compete with Samsung. I've been clamoring for an LG V10/V20 sorta phone with proper pen functionality for some time after the Note 5 was such a practical downgrade.
Problem is, just like professional-line Wacom hardware, Samsung charges an egregious premium for the Note, especially in recent years with the price steadily going up. My existing Note 4 wasn't nearly this expensive at MSRP!
Samesung + Crapwiz = Premium price. Yay.... How fast can a mobile phone get when it bounds to physical limit and heat? Can its awesome camera compare to a cheap DSLR?
My $200 phone with 5.2 in 1080p AMOLED, 32bit/192kHz audio, dual SIM, sd card slot, fast charge, 99% pure Android, stereo speakers... Btw it has the best sound on mobile I've heard, with headphones or without. Can Shamesung give me something near this?
Except it's missing the big. The diagonal is misleading, the width of the device is similar to a 5.5 incher from yesterday. And in portrait, that's the experience you get. Not much of a Note. They still got large upper and lower bezels that make it too tall but they really should have went with a larger display. A 75 mm wide display with this AR would be about 6.7inch diagonal and they would keep the width of the device at or under 80mm. Wouldn't even be that large but they would need to reduce the bezels.
Pseudo-eidt: The Android guys are gonna have a really tough cycle as Apple has done a much better job at shrinking bezels. Assuming Apple has supply to meet demand. Samsung ,LG, Google and the gang had 3 years to run well ahead of Apple in design but they all went to sleep- maybe less so for Samsung but they are moving forward far too slow.
Apple does leave some room for them to do better but they really need to shift gears and wrap a foldable display around a phone sooner rather than later- and 0 bezels there too.
how did apple do a better jobk at shrinking bezels? If anything apple is just on the same page as everyone else. we still don't know how they are gonna fit all the notification icons with the new design. you are talking way too early
Well, the Android guys have very hefty upper and lower bezels while Apple has substantial bezels all around but the perception is that Apple has fully removed bezels. The notification bar is hugely overrated, it isn't using all the available space all that well and should not be much trouble at all. The issue with the OLED iPhone will be supply and price. If they price it at 899$, they can ship 100 million units in Q4 only for this model plus 35-ish million all others. If they can make them. If they price it higher, volumes will decrease some but it's really gonna be the phone folks with too much money will get.
This is really stupid, pretty much for every device with a screen, when it comes to design, the first directive is to shrink the bezels. For decades and decades. Then since 2014, almost everybody went backwards when it comes to mobile (except for Samsung but they moves forward too slow). The fact that the Android guys will find themselves far behind, is on them, 100%.
^ 👍 A puny Bezel means you have to hold your finger perfectly and wiggle it to select to the edge in some APPs - probably partially the fault of the APP but the lack of a Bezel sure doesn't help.
I suppose it's a matter of preference to have Bezels. Your Monitor and most TVs have a significant Bezel, and that's OK.
IF your TV is paper thin and mounted flat to the wall you might prefer bezelless, same with multi-monitor.
You need a reason for what you want. A paper thin phone would fold too easily and have no room for a decent sized battery.
A pin head sized phone would be difficult to use, hard to see, battery problem again and easy to lose.
Don't make demands for things that aren't worth paying for. You don't want a 5" 8K Phone with a saw and Grappling Hook (or at least the majority do not).
Shrinking bezels past a certain point starts to become counterproductive. You can't grasp the device if it's all screen, and you can't cover the screen with a case either.
You're right about phone screens being more accurately measured by width, but 80mm is too wide. They've done it before with their first Note, and gradually reduced it with each iteration till the Note7.
Samsung measures screen size that exact same way (sans marketing BS), and they believe the sweet spot is around 75mm for phablets and 70mm for standard smartphones. I tend to agree fully.
But you're wrong about the Note8, because they did increase the width a bit this time, so you will get a larger image compared to the Note7, even in standard 16:9 content.
The curves and the taller display allow for a fairly larger screen without compromising the optimal width. Very logical design choice in my opinion.
5.5 inch is mainstream since 2014 but Samsung got scared to go larger than 5.7 inch classic AR. That has been one of their main problems for years now The Note is a niche device, its main purpose was a large display but it hasn't been a real phablet in years. Phablet= too large to be called a phone. A S8+ with a pen is too little differentiation.
Lol... Apple won't be that stupid. Curved display means curved phone and that is stupid. Samsung has been talking about flexible display on mobile but how can they possibly make flexible phone body. That's beyond stupid :')
If they do, then we’ll be unhappy about it. My friend’s S8 looks so strange with the curve. Yes, it’s pretty, but anything near the edge is curved over it. Other than for looks, it makes no sense. It distorts the edges of everything, and something text as well.
I know that, at first, Samsung said that notifications could run down those edges. How did that work out? Besides, who puts their phone face down?
I actually like the LG curved displays used in the G4 and the G Flex 2. Made it easier to use the phone, especially while talking. The display also looks good (subjective?) while consuming content.
The Samsung curved displays are not ergonomic and do not add to the experience. They suck to be honest. So many ghost touches. Holding a smooth glass slab is hard enough to begin with.
While we are at it, glass phones blow majorly. Metal, ceramic or even good matte plastic. Glass may look all shiny and bright at the store but usability takes a huge hit.
Glass is all about stupid “wireless” charging. Flagship phones can’t have plastic backs anymore, because most people don’t like them. They look, and feel cheap. You can argue about that anyway you want, but it doesn’t matter.
Don't forget those curved screen corners, because now they like to literally cut corners on screens this year!
I don't think I've seen this much of a push for rounded corners on screens since the classic Mac OS days, come to think of it. The desktop had rounded-off black corners, the buttons have rounded corners... you get the idea.
That said, I actually do have a preference for CRTs, but that's a discussion for another time and place.
You and me both. Samsung's got some kind of egregious curved screen fetish they seem keen to cram down everyone's throats.
It's especially nonsensical on a Note where the main selling point is the PEN. Do you see drawing tablets with rounded-off edges on the active area? I didn't think so.
Alas, it's not like we have any other choice right now, other than increasingly aging prior Note models. No other manufacturer has challenged Samsung for the active penabled smartphone niche.
This seems confusing. The 'plus' version is smaller, but with a bigger battery, less memory but adds an SD card slot, and lacks telephoto capability? That is a bizarre departure from their previous 'plus' models and seems like a pretty horrible trade-off between the two. I don't get it. I was going to ask if the chart got messed up but the text seems to reiterate what it's saying.
As an owner of an S8+, i have to say the note 8 is not compelling as an upgrade. The main reason i like bigger phones with bigger screens is because bigger batteries fit behind them, and end up having superior battery life. Note 8 has a larger screen, which means more power draw and a slightly smaller battery, so that's a hard pass for me unless actual benchmarks of battery life somehow show a miraculous improvement over the s8+ somehow.
As an owner of an S8+, you probably aren't in the market for a very similar phone. It's silly enough when someone with a year-old phone starts musing about the latest model, but at least that's understandable.
That size and weight though.. An extra 10 mm in height for phones already quite large but also an extra 26 grams of weight. Somehow my old Note 4 still seem really enticing.
It is not the best dual camera implementation but next to it. The Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom is the best yet as the 2x camera retains the large sensor, OIS, and with an aperture of f1.7.
Samsung's implementation is not bad though, retaining the specs of the standard camera of their flagships unlike anyone else with 1/3" sensors on dual cameras. The 2x zoom camera of Note 8 is capable of ISO 25 which allows it to absorb more photons for less noise. I'm pretty impressed despite I have little use for dual cameras.
Unfortunatley, I don't understand their high pricing strategy with the Note8, bundling it with freebies and large internal storage. It feels like they're intentionally reducing demand for the Note8 so that they can fulfill Apple's AMOLED display needs.
You have to price your top products in about the same range as other flagship models, so the S8 models cost about the same as the 7 series of iPhones.
But this phone tops the S8 in the lineup, so it has to cost more. But Samsung can’t actually get full price for its phones, usually, so either they’re discounted with a buy one, and get one for 50% off, or buy one and get one for free, just weeks after the phones are released. Same thing for the Note. They have to give away free stuff to bring the price to what most people will pay.
Meanwhile, rumors have Apple’s iPhone 8, costing as much as $999 for the base 64GB model, because Samsung, and other suppliers are having problems matching Apple orders. Raising the price will limit demand. Samsung is making about three times as many OLED screens for Apple this year as they’re making for themselves, but the cutout at the top is causing up to a 40% reject rate, according to a Foxconn executive, at least, so far.
They should have used a wider screen, like a 6.3" on a phone with usual bezels, and then added vertical pixels to get rid of the bezels. The old Notes used to be big phones; now that the average phone is already big, the Note 8 should've been bigger. Having all that screen real estate with a pen and a huge battery would have made it a dream device.
Yeah. Many times I've held the S8 and S8+ and couldn't appreciate the taller display unless in landscape mode with content that can fill that. The Essential phone has that wider screen with small bezels but couldn't consider it due to its LCD display. Only two phones left to choose for me this year, the V30 and the Mi Mix 2
Well, the extra vertical space shows more content while the onscreen keyboard is being used. The problem is that the portrait width is still the same as a 5.7" device. In landscape, the opposite problem happens where the width is too wide for a lot of web content and movies have black bars on the side. It's good for side-by-side multitasking but that's not commonly used.
I went from a 5.5" screen to a 6.4" with normal bezels and the width increase lets a lot more content to be shown in portrait mode. For example, on the larger screen I can choose a smaller font size to get higher display density while still getting the same physical font size.
I'm of two stances on this; while I do like larger screens and can just barely one-hand a Note 4, the Nexus 6 was simply TOO WIDE for comfortable use, even though 5.7" vs. 6" on a 16:9 aspect ratio doesn't sound like much of a difference on paper.
Samsung's treading a tightrope here. Too big, and it fails to fit into pockets (even my big pockets) and hands, at which point I might as well be using a full-fledged tablet or laptop with at least a 13.3" screen. Too small, and it kills half the appeal of using the Note (the other major half being the fact that there's a Wacom Penabled digitizer in there).
I don't understand the "think big" of the title. I'm actually surprised to see that this is only marginally larger (0.1") of the S8 plus. I realize the "thinking big" refers also to the dual camera, and it is definitely a plus, but I can't see why they made it so similar. I own an S8 (and love it) and would not buy an S8+ or a Note 8: too large to carry around, but I can see the appeal of a larger phone to some people, however, I'd imagine that whomever wanted a larger phone got an S8+, expecting the note to be somewhere closer to 6.5". Maybe it's me.
Pre-orders on t-mobile's site put the price at $930 USD. I'd consider that price for a device with a 4 inch screen at much lower resolution, but when Samsung cheaps out and uses a huge screen like that it turns from an elegantly functional phone I can easily carry with me to a gaudy fashion accessory with little to no practical capability. Until Samsung can figure out how to make a decent phone, I'd be happy with a Blackberry 9650 Bold.
Why cannot Samsung give a version of note that has a replaceable battery. I understand the business sense of sticking to internal battery so that they are guaranteed that every phone will die within 5-10 years. At this point there is very little reason for an upgrade on hardware, they could just charge a premium for the one with a replaceable battery, as until they do I am still sticking to note 4. Only I miss the fingerprint reader and the dual cameras.
Most people with black money or dodgy/shady money will buy such phones from Samsung, Apple etc for above $1000. The smartphones have become really obnoxious in terms of pricing, weight and as well as too much complexity built in it (read as data security and privacy violations).
People pretty much pay $300 for the actual smartphone + markup + another $600 for marketing costs, $2 worth of aluminum and because humanity is stupid and will bite.
What I don't get, and what has really been a serious problem for me with all the current flagship phones, is how we have only a handful of flagship phones with replaceable batteries. With a phone that costs nearly a grand, having a built life expectancy of a year of stellar performance, before battery wear becomes noticeable. After 2 years, your battery is probably close to only half capacity, and it will just get exponentially worse. So why when those phone could work easily for 4+ years are companies building them to have death warrants. This forced compulsion to upgrade every year or two is toxic to true features. This is the main reason I haven't already pulled the trigger on the Note 8. The LG V20 is looking compelling and is probably going to still this sale as a result.
I just got my Samsung Galaxy Note8 15 days and I am in love with it. It is really a very good mobile with awesome features. Samsung is going to launch some more great mobiles I guess. I got to know from here https://bestpriceon.in/samsung-mobile-price-india
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rocky12345 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Thanks for the very good write up on this new Samsung phone. I before the release of the S8 I was pondering getting that phone but there was a lot of chatter on the net about that phone being kinda hard to hold as it was easy to slip out of your hand.This new Note 8 looks like it has a bit less rounded edges and might be a contender for my next phone.
Alistair - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
$1456 in Canada after tax for an S8+ with pen. I don't get it. New CPU, 120hz screen, non-pentile, something to justify the price. Nope.Filiprino - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Yes, clearly you don't get it. It is not about money nor specs, it is about functionality.and smoothness.Ithaqua - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
And it's also about a month's rent or 4 car payments.So get walking and write on your phone.
ddriver - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
At this price range it doesn't target people with money, it targets idiots. This is getting even worse than the iPhonies. Sure, samsung bled a lot of cash recently, but ridiculous pricing is hardly the way to make up for the confidence they lost as well.drajitshnew - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Agreedddriver - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
They should really replace the slogan "think big" with "don't think". Which is exactly what samdung engineers didn't do when they chose to stick to the idiotic fingerprint reader sensor. And what their marketing department didn't do when they decided how to place it.grayson_carr - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
I wish a months rent was that low. I live in the Bay Area in CA and my rent is 3 times what this phone costs... for a 1 bedroom apartment. FMLTeknobug - Saturday, August 26, 2017 - link
A 1 br studio apartment in Vancouver is between $1600-2100 here. it's beyond insane.Rοb - Thursday, August 31, 2017 - link
Vancouver is too expensive if you don't want to live in a hole.Tell your Boss to score you an extra thou a month, pay for an extra hour commute, or you're moving south or east and getting twice the space for half the cost ...
Working elsewhere too.
speculatrix - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - link
US$1400 in Cambridge, England, not including utility bills or local property taxes.Vorl - Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - link
there are other areas to live.Jedi2155 - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
Pricing really depends on where you live. I was a former Note 7 owner and they do reward their followers with lower prices. Since I'm upgrading the net cost for me is closer to $550 USD after tax. Or about $275/year. This is less than the depreciation on a gaming PC and I certainly use my phone more than my PC (being an on the go person).Midwayman - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
Your gaming PC depreciates more than $275 a year? You running tri-sli 1080ti or something?theuglyman0war - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 - link
it's $480 with my s7 edge trade in upgrade ( which I don't know if I would had been eligible for if the note 7 was an actual "real"ease instead of fireworks... So I spose there iz a silver lining there! )Alistair - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
functionally vs the G6 it has a pen (G6 has dual cameras)... that's it... and the CPU is almost exactly the same... only 900 CAD dollars more at Koodo, a great way to make money off peoplesenecarr - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
LG G6? The CPU is 835 vs 821. 6.3" 2960x1440 vs 5.7" 2880x1440. 6GB RAM vs 4 GB. 64gb of ROM vs 32GB. OIS on both cameras.Alistair - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
I was replying to the other guy who said it is not about the specs, but the functionality. All you listed were empty specs ;)Rοb - Thursday, August 31, 2017 - link
Functionality?LG goes live with their V30 in an hour; see my prior comment one page back.
Lolimaster - Saturday, August 26, 2017 - link
It's AMOLED Pentile which translates in 1/3 less subpixels. It's actually closer to 1080p than 1440.xfrgtr - Sunday, September 10, 2017 - link
Butthurt?erikiksaz - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Apparently for you it was all about the marketing. It worked, hah.drajitshnew - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Writing this on a note 3, I've refused to update to note4 because of its processor, note 5 because of its lack of SD card,Now, I won't abandon my phone till you pry my cold dead phone from my hands.
I want an unlocked note 8 (historically not available in my country) with min 128 GB memory & 4000 mAH ++ battery.
ddriver - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
I wonder why they even still bother calling it a "note". "Glass bar" would suit it much better. 4 years later I still haven't found a worthy successor to my note 3. Still perfectly usable, original replacement batteries are now dirt cheap.Ro_Ja - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
I'm considering to buy a used Note 3 to replace my Huawei Y6 Pro.richeloiseau - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
i prefer my huawei mate 8. cheap, good screen ratio, 128 Go storage memory, double SIM, fast enougth. according to me it is very similar to a modern note 3.ddriver - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
No pen thouaustonia - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - link
ok i'm curious, why would you avoid the Note4 due to processor? snapdragon 805 ain't bad at all, really. i'm keeping mine for another year, just ordered some fresh batteries.damianrobertjones - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
There are only two reasons as to why it costs this much: 1, people will pay for it. 2, people will pay for it. Silly.grayson_carr - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Are you joking? No Samsung phone has ever been about smoothness. Samsung phones are usually the least smooth of any flagship Android phone. They did a lot better with the S7, but then the S8 had some issues with smoothness again, even though they turned the UI down to 1080p.jospoortvliet - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - link
Oh wow the S7 is pretty good you say? Damn and it is so choppy compared to my old HTC One...Rοb - Thursday, August 31, 2017 - link
We'll see in an hour and a half when LG goes live with their V30 announcement.In addition to dual Cameras with OIS and Zoom their V20 has a full featured Camera UI with ability to tweak both Image and Video settings.
It also has PDAF, LDAF and Contrast AF, 3 Mics with 24-Bit HDR Audio (30 to 132 dBs) 192 kHz FLAC and comes with B&O Earbuds (in the V30).
Rumor is that it's getting a Pen, might not be as good as Sammy's.
Topping it off is rumored to be a 2K OLD HDR10/Dolby Vision Screen.
But we'll see in less than 2 hours, less than $1400 is one certainty.
StevoLincolnite - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
I am a Note 5 user. (Note 6 never happened... Note 7 was a bomb. - Pun intended.)The Note 8 looks attractive to me with it's larger screen, but I can wait for a Note 9.
In a year or two, the phone will be a fraction of the price with a ton of updates to iron out issues, lots of accessories etc'.
drajitshnew - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Makes sense I might do the same if my phone holds out till then.mkozakewich - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - link
In a couple years, the Note 8 will be a fraction of the price, but the Note 9 or 10 won't be much (if any) cheaper.xfrgtr - Sunday, September 10, 2017 - link
Butthurt?Frenetic Pony - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
This is almost indistinguishable from an S8+... Yeah this thing is stupid, it even has a smaller battery. I don't see what the point is in its existence.NamelessPFG - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
The Wacom pen IS the point. It's the one thing keeping the Galaxy Note from just being an oversized smartphone like the S8+, and a damn good one at that.We need more active penabled smartphones in this space, as nobody has the balls to compete with Samsung. I've been clamoring for an LG V10/V20 sorta phone with proper pen functionality for some time after the Note 5 was such a practical downgrade.
Problem is, just like professional-line Wacom hardware, Samsung charges an egregious premium for the Note, especially in recent years with the price steadily going up. My existing Note 4 wasn't nearly this expensive at MSRP!
sonny73n - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Samesung + Crapwiz = Premium price. Yay....How fast can a mobile phone get when it bounds to physical limit and heat? Can its awesome camera compare to a cheap DSLR?
My $200 phone with 5.2 in 1080p AMOLED, 32bit/192kHz audio, dual SIM, sd card slot, fast charge, 99% pure Android, stereo speakers... Btw it has the best sound on mobile I've heard, with headphones or without. Can Shamesung give me something near this?
xfrgtr - Sunday, September 10, 2017 - link
I feel sorry for your crap phonejjj - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Except it's missing the big.The diagonal is misleading, the width of the device is similar to a 5.5 incher from yesterday.
And in portrait, that's the experience you get. Not much of a Note.
They still got large upper and lower bezels that make it too tall but they really should have went with a larger display.
A 75 mm wide display with this AR would be about 6.7inch diagonal and they would keep the width of the device at or under 80mm. Wouldn't even be that large but they would need to reduce the bezels.
jjj - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Pseudo-eidt:The Android guys are gonna have a really tough cycle as Apple has done a much better job at shrinking bezels. Assuming Apple has supply to meet demand.
Samsung ,LG, Google and the gang had 3 years to run well ahead of Apple in design but they all went to sleep- maybe less so for Samsung but they are moving forward far too slow.
Apple does leave some room for them to do better but they really need to shift gears and wrap a foldable display around a phone sooner rather than later- and 0 bezels there too.
Morawka - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
yeah samsung just got done with one of the worlds most expensive recalls in history and they are moving to slow /sBuk Lau - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
how did apple do a better jobk at shrinking bezels? If anything apple is just on the same page as everyone else. we still don't know how they are gonna fit all the notification icons with the new design. you are talking way too earlyjjj - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Well, the Android guys have very hefty upper and lower bezels while Apple has substantial bezels all around but the perception is that Apple has fully removed bezels.The notification bar is hugely overrated, it isn't using all the available space all that well and should not be much trouble at all.
The issue with the OLED iPhone will be supply and price. If they price it at 899$, they can ship 100 million units in Q4 only for this model plus 35-ish million all others. If they can make them. If they price it higher, volumes will decrease some but it's really gonna be the phone folks with too much money will get.
This is really stupid, pretty much for every device with a screen, when it comes to design, the first directive is to shrink the bezels. For decades and decades. Then since 2014, almost everybody went backwards when it comes to mobile (except for Samsung but they moves forward too slow). The fact that the Android guys will find themselves far behind, is on them, 100%.
V900 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Bezels are necessary.Too thin a bezel, and anything that requires swiping from the left and right gets very uncomfortable.
Also depending on how thick your fingers are, bezels that are too thin means blocking part of the screen just holding the phone...
drajitshnew - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Agreed, my mom has an s8+ and all of us have problems in handling & using it.Rοb - Thursday, August 31, 2017 - link
^ 👍 A puny Bezel means you have to hold your finger perfectly and wiggle it to select to the edge in some APPs - probably partially the fault of the APP but the lack of a Bezel sure doesn't help.I suppose it's a matter of preference to have Bezels. Your Monitor and most TVs have a significant Bezel, and that's OK.
IF your TV is paper thin and mounted flat to the wall you might prefer bezelless, same with multi-monitor.
You need a reason for what you want. A paper thin phone would fold too easily and have no room for a decent sized battery.
A pin head sized phone would be difficult to use, hard to see, battery problem again and easy to lose.
Don't make demands for things that aren't worth paying for. You don't want a 5" 8K Phone with a saw and Grappling Hook (or at least the majority do not).
xfrgtr - Sunday, September 10, 2017 - link
Insecure isheep detectedtwtech - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
Shrinking bezels past a certain point starts to become counterproductive. You can't grasp the device if it's all screen, and you can't cover the screen with a case either.lilmoe - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
You're right about phone screens being more accurately measured by width, but 80mm is too wide. They've done it before with their first Note, and gradually reduced it with each iteration till the Note7.Samsung measures screen size that exact same way (sans marketing BS), and they believe the sweet spot is around 75mm for phablets and 70mm for standard smartphones. I tend to agree fully.
But you're wrong about the Note8, because they did increase the width a bit this time, so you will get a larger image compared to the Note7, even in standard 16:9 content.
The curves and the taller display allow for a fairly larger screen without compromising the optimal width. Very logical design choice in my opinion.
jjj - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
5.5 inch is mainstream since 2014 but Samsung got scared to go larger than 5.7 inch classic AR. That has been one of their main problems for years nowThe Note is a niche device, its main purpose was a large display but it hasn't been a real phablet in years. Phablet= too large to be called a phone.
A S8+ with a pen is too little differentiation.
Chaitanya - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Still not a big fan of fingerprint reader. Else it does look great anyone who wants that S-Pen.zoxo - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
I don't understand samsung's fascination with the curved display, especially for a note device.CaedenV - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Yep, that curved front looks as backwards as a 90's tube monitor. Lets not go backwards, lets at least maintain the 2000's flat screen please.But other than that... pretty nice phone!
Oyeve - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
I bet when apple comes out with a curved screen you'll be like "OH WOW! CURVED SCREEN FTW"!sonny73n - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Lol... Apple won't be that stupid. Curved display means curved phone and that is stupid. Samsung has been talking about flexible display on mobile but how can they possibly make flexible phone body. That's beyond stupid :')melgross - Sunday, August 27, 2017 - link
If they do, then we’ll be unhappy about it. My friend’s S8 looks so strange with the curve. Yes, it’s pretty, but anything near the edge is curved over it. Other than for looks, it makes no sense. It distorts the edges of everything, and something text as well.I know that, at first, Samsung said that notifications could run down those edges. How did that work out? Besides, who puts their phone face down?
LiverpoolFC5903 - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
I actually like the LG curved displays used in the G4 and the G Flex 2. Made it easier to use the phone, especially while talking. The display also looks good (subjective?) while consuming content.The Samsung curved displays are not ergonomic and do not add to the experience. They suck to be honest. So many ghost touches. Holding a smooth glass slab is hard enough to begin with.
While we are at it, glass phones blow majorly. Metal, ceramic or even good matte plastic. Glass may look all shiny and bright at the store but usability takes a huge hit.
melgross - Sunday, August 27, 2017 - link
Glass is all about stupid “wireless” charging. Flagship phones can’t have plastic backs anymore, because most people don’t like them. They look, and feel cheap. You can argue about that anyway you want, but it doesn’t matter.NamelessPFG - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
Don't forget those curved screen corners, because now they like to literally cut corners on screens this year!I don't think I've seen this much of a push for rounded corners on screens since the classic Mac OS days, come to think of it. The desktop had rounded-off black corners, the buttons have rounded corners... you get the idea.
That said, I actually do have a preference for CRTs, but that's a discussion for another time and place.
NamelessPFG - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
You and me both. Samsung's got some kind of egregious curved screen fetish they seem keen to cram down everyone's throats.It's especially nonsensical on a Note where the main selling point is the PEN. Do you see drawing tablets with rounded-off edges on the active area? I didn't think so.
Alas, it's not like we have any other choice right now, other than increasingly aging prior Note models. No other manufacturer has challenged Samsung for the active penabled smartphone niche.
prime2515103 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
This seems confusing. The 'plus' version is smaller, but with a bigger battery, less memory but adds an SD card slot, and lacks telephoto capability? That is a bizarre departure from their previous 'plus' models and seems like a pretty horrible trade-off between the two. I don't get it. I was going to ask if the chart got messed up but the text seems to reiterate what it's saying.kaesden - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
As an owner of an S8+, i have to say the note 8 is not compelling as an upgrade. The main reason i like bigger phones with bigger screens is because bigger batteries fit behind them, and end up having superior battery life. Note 8 has a larger screen, which means more power draw and a slightly smaller battery, so that's a hard pass for me unless actual benchmarks of battery life somehow show a miraculous improvement over the s8+ somehow.FunBunny2 - Sunday, August 27, 2017 - link
-- The main reason i like bigger phones with bigger screens is because bigger batteries fit behind them, and end up having superior battery life.where's the point of no return? most of a battery is used to drive the screen.
mkozakewich - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - link
As an owner of an S8+, you probably aren't in the market for a very similar phone. It's silly enough when someone with a year-old phone starts musing about the latest model, but at least that's understandable.prime2515103 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Oops, scratch that bit about the SD card slot.JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Not as *hot* as the Note 7.corinthos - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
kind of expensive just to get S pen functionality. Touchwiz ick. iphone 8 or pixel xl 2 it is.SydneyBlue120d - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
Is time unlimited HEVC with IOS encoding supported? Thanks a lot.Calista - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
That size and weight though.. An extra 10 mm in height for phones already quite large but also an extra 26 grams of weight. Somehow my old Note 4 still seem really enticing.zodiacfml - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
It is not the best dual camera implementation but next to it. The Asus Zenfone 3 Zoom is the best yet as the 2x camera retains the large sensor, OIS, and with an aperture of f1.7.Samsung's implementation is not bad though, retaining the specs of the standard camera of their flagships unlike anyone else with 1/3" sensors on dual cameras. The 2x zoom camera of Note 8 is capable of ISO 25 which allows it to absorb more photons for less noise. I'm pretty impressed despite I have little use for dual cameras.
Unfortunatley, I don't understand their high pricing strategy with the Note8, bundling it with freebies and large internal storage. It feels like they're intentionally reducing demand for the Note8 so that they can fulfill Apple's AMOLED display needs.
melgross - Sunday, August 27, 2017 - link
You have to price your top products in about the same range as other flagship models, so the S8 models cost about the same as the 7 series of iPhones.But this phone tops the S8 in the lineup, so it has to cost more. But Samsung can’t actually get full price for its phones, usually, so either they’re discounted with a buy one, and get one for 50% off, or buy one and get one for free, just weeks after the phones are released. Same thing for the Note. They have to give away free stuff to bring the price to what most people will pay.
Meanwhile, rumors have Apple’s iPhone 8, costing as much as $999 for the base 64GB model, because Samsung, and other suppliers are having problems matching Apple orders. Raising the price will limit demand. Samsung is making about three times as many OLED screens for Apple this year as they’re making for themselves, but the cutout at the top is causing up to a 40% reject rate, according to a Foxconn executive, at least, so far.
serendip - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
They should have used a wider screen, like a 6.3" on a phone with usual bezels, and then added vertical pixels to get rid of the bezels. The old Notes used to be big phones; now that the average phone is already big, the Note 8 should've been bigger. Having all that screen real estate with a pen and a huge battery would have made it a dream device.zodiacfml - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Yeah. Many times I've held the S8 and S8+ and couldn't appreciate the taller display unless in landscape mode with content that can fill that.The Essential phone has that wider screen with small bezels but couldn't consider it due to its LCD display.
Only two phones left to choose for me this year, the V30 and the Mi Mix 2
serendip - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Well, the extra vertical space shows more content while the onscreen keyboard is being used. The problem is that the portrait width is still the same as a 5.7" device. In landscape, the opposite problem happens where the width is too wide for a lot of web content and movies have black bars on the side. It's good for side-by-side multitasking but that's not commonly used.I went from a 5.5" screen to a 6.4" with normal bezels and the width increase lets a lot more content to be shown in portrait mode. For example, on the larger screen I can choose a smaller font size to get higher display density while still getting the same physical font size.
NamelessPFG - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
I'm of two stances on this; while I do like larger screens and can just barely one-hand a Note 4, the Nexus 6 was simply TOO WIDE for comfortable use, even though 5.7" vs. 6" on a 16:9 aspect ratio doesn't sound like much of a difference on paper.Samsung's treading a tightrope here. Too big, and it fails to fit into pockets (even my big pockets) and hands, at which point I might as well be using a full-fledged tablet or laptop with at least a 13.3" screen. Too small, and it kills half the appeal of using the Note (the other major half being the fact that there's a Wacom Penabled digitizer in there).
yankeeDDL - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
I don't understand the "think big" of the title.I'm actually surprised to see that this is only marginally larger (0.1") of the S8 plus. I realize the "thinking big" refers also to the dual camera, and it is definitely a plus, but I can't see why they made it so similar.
I own an S8 (and love it) and would not buy an S8+ or a Note 8: too large to carry around, but I can see the appeal of a larger phone to some people, however, I'd imagine that whomever wanted a larger phone got an S8+, expecting the note to be somewhere closer to 6.5". Maybe it's me.
BrokenCrayons - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Pre-orders on t-mobile's site put the price at $930 USD. I'd consider that price for a device with a 4 inch screen at much lower resolution, but when Samsung cheaps out and uses a huge screen like that it turns from an elegantly functional phone I can easily carry with me to a gaudy fashion accessory with little to no practical capability. Until Samsung can figure out how to make a decent phone, I'd be happy with a Blackberry 9650 Bold.droidmaverick - Saturday, August 26, 2017 - link
droidmavericksharath.naik - Thursday, August 24, 2017 - link
Why cannot Samsung give a version of note that has a replaceable battery. I understand the business sense of sticking to internal battery so that they are guaranteed that every phone will die within 5-10 years. At this point there is very little reason for an upgrade on hardware, they could just charge a premium for the one with a replaceable battery, as until they do I am still sticking to note 4. Only I miss the fingerprint reader and the dual cameras.abcman999 - Sunday, August 27, 2017 - link
Opening the case for the battery is incompatible with the waterproofing.akula2 - Friday, August 25, 2017 - link
Most people with black money or dodgy/shady money will buy such phones from Samsung, Apple etc for above $1000. The smartphones have become really obnoxious in terms of pricing, weight and as well as too much complexity built in it (read as data security and privacy violations).Lolimaster - Saturday, August 26, 2017 - link
And PSVIta was more powerful than any smartphone of it's time for $299.melgross - Sunday, August 27, 2017 - link
People who have money for honest reasons will buy them. If you’re jealous of people who can afford these things, just say so. Don’t insult everyone.droidmaverick - Saturday, August 26, 2017 - link
The specs and design looks awesome but I personally will think twice to own a Note from SamsungLolimaster - Saturday, August 26, 2017 - link
People pretty much pay $300 for the actual smartphone + markup + another $600 for marketing costs, $2 worth of aluminum and because humanity is stupid and will bite.melgross - Sunday, August 27, 2017 - link
No, you’re the stupid one here, because you don’t understand costs, either intentionally, or just because you aren’t capable of doing so.ejas147 - Monday, August 28, 2017 - link
come on guy this is a phone with high reputation. https://www.techfiver.com/mp3clan-free-mp3-mp4-dow...2disbetter - Monday, August 28, 2017 - link
What I don't get, and what has really been a serious problem for me with all the current flagship phones, is how we have only a handful of flagship phones with replaceable batteries. With a phone that costs nearly a grand, having a built life expectancy of a year of stellar performance, before battery wear becomes noticeable. After 2 years, your battery is probably close to only half capacity, and it will just get exponentially worse. So why when those phone could work easily for 4+ years are companies building them to have death warrants. This forced compulsion to upgrade every year or two is toxic to true features. This is the main reason I haven't already pulled the trigger on the Note 8. The LG V20 is looking compelling and is probably going to still this sale as a result.Rogue.Aquila - Monday, August 28, 2017 - link
Why aren't we seeing any phone reviews anymore? We haven't seen a major device reviewed since November.speculatrix - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - link
There's a 6GB RAM version of the S8+ in Hong Kong. I wonder if there will be an 8GB RAM version of the note 8?peevee - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - link
"Galaxy S8+ with a 6.2-inch display, the Note8 pushes that to 6.3-inches"Somehow I doubt it. Probably the same display, but with less curving.
AbRASiON - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 - link
Curved display *ONLY*I see Samsung don't want my business anymore. No problem at all.
blwest - Monday, September 4, 2017 - link
Why does everyone get so worked up over a phone? There is more to life than revolving yours around a device and arguments over it.halim010 - Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - link
New original Samsung note 8 cost 600usd come with 1year warranty,Samsung s8 and s8 plus cost 550usd, serious buyer should contact us.
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SanaAfreen - Monday, December 4, 2017 - link
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