Samsung Galaxy Note 8 review
Big in every way imaginable

Recommended
Our Verdict
The Note 8 is Samsung’s big phone comeback story, making up for the Note 7 recall. It has an expansive 6.3-inch ‘Infinity Display,’ faster 6GB of RAM performance and two best-in-class rear cameras, which add up to one of the most expensive phones ever. Just don’t expect record-breaking battery life from its predictably average-sized battery that plays it safe. It’s the best big phone you can buy, if you can handle the enormous size and price.For
- 'Infinity Display' is excellent
- Samsung’s best camera x2
- Fast with 6GB of RAM
Against
- ‘Infinitely’ expensive
- Battery life held back
- Weak speaker
Two weeks of testing has us convinced: this is a true redesign of your average smartphone from top-to-bottom, edge-to-edge, and rear camera to, well, rear camera. There are now two cameras on the back, a first for a Samsung flagship smartphone. It takes brilliant portrait photos, and you can even edit them post-capture to adjust the depth of field.
The S Pen stylus returns, and it has a larger 6.3-inch ‘Infinity Display’ to work with – but one that doesn’t increase the dimensions of the actual phone too much. The Note 8 acts like a big, borderless glass canvas for your important handwritten notes and masterpiece doodles.
This is the most powerful Samsung phone yet. It does, however, cost you in three ways. It’s too big for some – it’s technically Samsung’s best, but not the best for everyone. You’re going to need a Note 8 case to confidently hold this unwieldy glass beast, and two hands to operate it.
The big screen also comes at the cost of the Note’s usual oval-shaped fingerprint sensor home button. It’s gone. The on-screen button that replaces it works fine, but the fingerprint sensor is located on the back of the device and off-center – it’s a textbook flawed design, and the alternative iris scanner doesn’t always work when you want to unlock the phone.

Can your wallet, and the extent of your grip, handle the Note 8? That’s pretty much all that you – if you have faith in Samsung again – need to ask yourself before buying this phone.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8's biggest test could be just around the corner, with rumors of an all-new iPhone X with borderless display, facial recognition and an equally sizable prize tag launching on September 12.
For now though, the Note 8 rules supreme in the big-screen, big-power, big-price arena.
Price and release date
- At $929 (£869, AU$1,499), it's the most expensive phone you'll buy
- Pre-order deals are legitimately good and help alleviate the high price
- Release date: September 15 in US and UK, September 22 in Australia

Note 8 on the right
Good news, though: you can already find Galaxy Note 8 deals in the US and also in the UK. In the US it comes with either a free Gear 360 camera or a 128GB memory card and fast wireless charger.
In the UK the freebie is a DeX docking station, and there’s a dual-SIM version available. Best Buy is also offering $150 off the phone, and T-Mobile has a Buy One Get One Free Note 8 offer.
Design and display
- 6.3-inch 'Infinity Display' redefines the Note look and feel
- But it's 9mm taller than any Note phone – it's the new big
- Water-resistant up to 1.5m (5ft) for 30 minutes
- The best color, Deep Sea Blue, won't launch right away

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Samsung keeps topping itself, launching phones with the world’s best display every six months. Its maximum brightness, 3K resolution with Mobile HDR Premium, and wider color gamut are hard for anyone else to compete with. It's Always-On Display continues to be an appealing feature in a smartphone.
Lit up, the all-screen Note 8 feels like we’re carrying around a piece of light when we’re out and about.
The entire front glows with unimpeded information – as long as you don’t drop and crack it, and you’ll need to be extra careful as the entire phone is enveloped in glass wrapped around an aluminum frame. Combined with its size, this makes for one slippery smartphone.
While we spent most of the time using this phone naked (that’s without a case), we did test several Note 8 cases and instantly felt more confident carrying it around. Why? The added grip (and peace of mind) let us operate it with one hand, whereas we struggled with the pure glass body at such tall and wide dimensions. Sorry – you’re going to need a case with this phone.

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You also won’t get the best sound from the Note 8. It's a multimedia powerhouse visually, but its bottom-firing speaker still had us cupping the bottom of the phone to get better audio. Samsung has yet to deliver dual front-facing speakers like the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, or customizable Hi-Fi audio like the LG V30. Maybe next year.
The Note 8 is IP68 water-resistant, so it can survive up to 1.5m (5ft) underwater for 30 minutes, and it uses the reversible USB-C standard. Both are new perks for most Note fans. There’s also no camera bump, and that gaudy Samsung logo has been moved to the rear, no longer staring you in the face. Unfortunately, the fingerprint sensor has moved there, too.
The fingerprint sensor has marginally improved
- No physical home button means a rear fingerprint sensor
- It's further away from the camera vs the S8 and S8 Plus sensor
- Iris scanner and face unlock are poor substitutes

Still awkward
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It’s ironic that we have a phone that looks like it comes from the future, yet it’s been designed with a fingerprint sensor that’s become a textbook design misfire on smartphones. Samsung could fix this issue with an in-glass front fingerprint sensor, but the technology isn’t ready yet. Expect this to be a grand announcement for the Galaxy S9 or Note 9 – please act surprised.
The S Pen is full of new and old tricks
- Easy to sign documents and write directly on screenshots
- Note-taking expands with convenient off-screen memos
- Live Messages, GIF Capture add fun to this productivity tool

Plus the S Pen is also great for sketching with over 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity.
These
features – usually reserved for pro-level tablets or 2-in-1 computers –
are even handier on a phone. After all, the best note-taking device is
the one you have with you all the time.
Frequent note-takers will love the off-screen memo feature, which lets you jot down white-ink notes on the turned-off black screen as soon as you eject the S Pen. Off-screen memos, introduced with the doomed Note 7, enable you to capture your thoughts without having to unlock the phone first.
The
Note 7 also debuted S Pen features like GIF Capture and Translate, but
these will be new to most Note 8 users. And new to the Note 8 is the
ability to write out ‘Live Messages’, creating sparkly animations that
you can send to anyone in GIF form.
If the S Pen lets you skip a few archaic steps – like printing, finding a working pen, and scanning a document – the Note 8 may be worth the extra $105 over the similarly sized S8 Plus.
Frequent note-takers will love the off-screen memo feature, which lets you jot down white-ink notes on the turned-off black screen as soon as you eject the S Pen. Off-screen memos, introduced with the doomed Note 7, enable you to capture your thoughts without having to unlock the phone first.

If the S Pen lets you skip a few archaic steps – like printing, finding a working pen, and scanning a document – the Note 8 may be worth the extra $105 over the similarly sized S8 Plus.
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