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Review on πŸ“± SAMSUNG Galaxy Note8 N950U 64GB Unlocked GSM LTE Android Phone | Dual 12MP Camera | Midnight Black by Matt Conner

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Cell phone junkie loves Note 8

In the last 9 years I have owned over 30 smartphones from HTC, Motorola, Nexus (all but 4), Blackberry Key One and all Galaxy S models plus Note 2 , 4 owned , 5 and now 8. My favorite phone was the Note 5 but one day I went to T-Mobile to buy the Note 7 and something pulled me away from it. I ended up leaving the S7, which was a silly purchase because I only used it for a couple of weeks before I started missing my Note 5, which was fine. When the Note 8 was announced, I was ecstatic and couldn't wait for pre-orders to start. When they started I ordered one and it arrived a week ago today. What I like most about the Note 5 is the beautiful edge-to-edge display and how bright and easy to read it is in direct sunlight. At 1200 nits of brightness, it's the brightest screen on any smartphone in my opinion, even dwarfing my Blackberry Classic, which I thought would never be surpassed. I'm surprised reviewers never mention screen brightness, but this is a very important top 3 feature for me since I spend quite a bit of time outdoors and it's very annoying to look for shade or try to just use my hand just to put on the screen. . Read it. I can assure you that you won't be disappointed with the Note 8's screen. I took about 100 shots and the cameras are great. My daughter and I just went to Chinese food and took photos of the food and some of my Heineken bottles. She was using her iPhone 7 plus and her photos didn't match the Note 8 when our phones were nearby. Her photos looked washed out and dull compared to mine, and she even admitted that her 7 plus pales in comparison. I love macro shots of flowers, insects and many other things and all I can say is wow. There was a ladybug in one shot and the close-ups were amazing. The S Pen is more subtle and I use it a lot. The single speaker is very loud and clear, as is call quality. Build quality is excellent but I still hate the glass on the back of the phone. People can talk and talk about how beautiful the back is, but the same people immediately cover it up so no one sees it anyway. Why not use a rubber or polycarbonate backing and make them lighter, cheaper, more reliable and definitely more durable. After all, it's a mobile device and some people actually use it outside and don't like cases. My biggest concern is probably the extra weight compared to the Note 5. At 195 grams the extra weight is definitely noticeable and like most men I carry it in my pocket and never doubt where my phone is. Samsung was smart enough to keep the headphone jack and I think the SD card will stay. I've played around with Bixby a bit, but I don't know enough about it to say how useful it is. I had two ultra-thin cases ready and waiting, and the one I like best is the matte blue Bear Motion case. It's very thin and light, adding a lot of grip to this incredibly slippery device. It's very smooth and lightning fast and at this point I can see myself using just this phone for at least a year. to

Pros
  • Handy thing
Cons
  • So far so good