The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 sits between the Galaxy Note 10.1 and the tremendously popular Galaxy Note 2, offering an 8-inch screen and all the key attractions of its brothers.
We took an up close and personal look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 at MWC 2013, where the tablet was officially launched. Watch the video below to see what it looks like in the flesh.
With an 8-inch screen, one of its closest rivals is the iPad mini, although the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 gets more and more different from Apple’s smaller tablet the closer you look.
To start, the tablet has a white plastic body instead of a metal one. It shares this design style with many of Samsung’s top-end phones and tablets, including the Samsung Galaxy S3 and, its big brother, the Galaxy Note 10.1
Much more important, though, is the Samsung Galaxy Note 8’s top feature, a Wacom digitiser layer and S-Pen stylus combo. This lets you write with a virtual pen on the touchscreen, and offers pressure sensitivity – which you don’t get with a standard capacitive touchscreen.
This offers an impressively natural-feeling handwriting experience, which is used most effectively by the dedicated note-taking app. It makes the Galaxy Note 8 a far better sketching tool than just about any other tablet.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 specs
Like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, not all of the Note 8’s features are all that cutting-edge. For example, the 8-inch screen only offers resolution of 1,280 x 800. That’s the same number of pixels as you’ll find in the bargain 7-inch Google Nexus 7.
As a result, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 doesn’t offer as sharp, smooth text and images as something like the Retina iPad. We hope that this will mean the tablet is fairly affordable – we’re hoping for well under £300.
At a competitive price, the Galaxy Note 8 will make a pretty attractive gadget. It has a quad-core 1.6GHz Exynos 4412 processor – the same seen in the Galaxy S3, but clocked a little higher. It also offers expandable memory, with a microSD slot.
Oh, and it’ll also function as a phone, although only clowns would be able to fit this “phone” in their pocket.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
