Samsung - Galaxy Note8 64GB (Unlocked) - Midnight Black

This new Galaxy Note from Samsung is a real titan of a smartphone. So many things in it that are great. Customization options are through the roof, build quality is phenomenal, and the overall item is worth the high price in my experiences so far. To start, I was getting quite grouchy with my old Note 3 because of the app permissions that were being heaped into updates. And it was an accept them all, or no update/no app. On the Note 8, Samsung (or maybe it was Android) gave us the ability to select which individual permissions for each app are enabled or disabled. Yahoo! The other surprising customization options was icons, themes, and wallpapers. Astounding level of customization there. Icons can have their own theme, independent of wallpaper and other elements. Or, the Samsung themes can have a unified theme for all parts of the device (call screen, contacts, menus, icons, sounds effects, etc). I've snooped around and combined a basic facsimile to a Star Trek theme with custom sounds from the NSTEnterprises and the Red Alert wallpaper to make my perfect "tricorder/Star Trek" look and sounds for my device. The lack of a hard home button and the softkeys was a bit of a transition for me, yet Samsung put in a nice option of having the screen buttons locked on all the time, appearing at a swipe from screen bottom, or having a button to toggle between lock and hidden (much like Windows pop up bar). And the speed of the hardware in astonishing. I've done so much already that my old Note 3 barely did or did only ok on. I run the Knights of the Old Republic for Android game on it and there is not one hiccup. And the S Pen makes playing so many games that much easier. S Pen functions I've still to delve into a lot, yet it seems to have been massively expanded on from my Note 3 era. Very smooth. I've just had such a great time with the freedoms Samsung built in that I can't find much to complain about. Only qualm is moving my Note 3 S Notes over to the new Samsung Notes turned them from editable notes into notes with pictures of my old notes in them. So I essentially have to retype all my notes, though since the originals are there in picture form not too bad. Fingerprint sensor is a bit oddly placed, not too bad for me since I have big hands and a case that helps me find the sensor over the camera lens. Bixby is all but useless for me, as is the dedicated button for it. I've hit it more than I like going for the volume keys. The stock Gallery app is also pretty bad after my Galaxy Note 3. Very, very few options for display and organization. Another small annoyance is the constant reminders from the camera to clean it because "camera works better when clean". Yeah, well, I work outdoors so a smudge is almost assured each and every day. Camera picture quality is not degraded except by the most obvious of smudges. Quality of the camera is top notch too. Still testing how far it can go. So overall, hard to be disappointed with this device. USB-C, wireless fast charging, astonishingly efficient battery, all the great things they advertised plus a number of other things less talked about.

I consider myself multi brand versed. I own many apple products and use their iPad Pro in my office on a daily basis. When it comes to phones, the Galaxy line is always 3 to 5 steps ahead of Apple. The new Galaxy note 8 crushes all its competition this year with such a margine that price is irrelevant. Hoping the iPhone 10 would be a close match but it's still playing catch up to Samsung. Now that Apple is sourcing the new iPhone 10's AMOLED display directly from Samsung from the last generation AMOLED display, it gives the market a clear view of who is leading and who is following. Factor in the Note 8's longer battery life, higher resolution display, significantly brighter display, deeper water resistant rating, S-pen, home button, finger print scanner, bigger screen, no rear camera bump, micro SD upgradable memory, 6gb of ram, etc....the Note 8 really doesn't have any competition this year for the best smart phone for 2018. Too bad Samsung abandons the tablet market and doesn't go after the iPad with the ferociousness it does in the smart phone segment........ Long story short "Buy the Note 8". The Galaxy Note 8 is a monster. It's not only the best, but a bargain for what you get.

As a longtime Apple products user and iPhone X owner I decided to try the Samsung Note 8 despite not being a real big fan of Android phones. To my surprise, I found the switch was well worth it, especially due to the ability to have functional stylus that works with the phone (sorry Steve Jobs, you were wrong on this one.) The Note 8 offered many advantages over waiting for the Note 9 - first, the price was considerably lower through Best Buy although this is last years model. Second, I still can use it with much of my software syncing, though there are some apps that I have to depend on for use just with my iPad. Better display on the Samsung,no "notch" on the screen, did I mention the stylus is great? I actually like it better than the Note 9 stylus, especially not that awful stylus color on the new Note, not to mention the price. Coupled with a nice case it works for me. Its not perfect, there are some limitations, but then again what phone doesn't have some issues? I'll get plenty of use out of the Note 8 before I see any legitimate reason to upgrade. Still like Apple products too but Samsung Note 8 is a much better phone in my opinion than the X, which for the price was somewhat disappointing, especially after all the hype from last year.

I've had several Note series phones over the years, and still have most of them. Yes actually, I had the note 4 Edge last and loved it so I doubled down on the Note 8 yesterday but I got a better deal at Best buy believe it or not and had to take the one I got at AT&T back. AT&T didn’t have any cases or screen covers so that is why I went by Best Buy immediately after I purchased it. I saved $200 bucks and it was the exact same phone only it was the unlocked version and it will work with any carrier in the US. Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, and even the smaller companies like Metro PCS, Kricket etc. They offer any phone you want like that at Best Buy and for a better price so I took the savings and bought the 2 year tap warranty in case I drop it or loose it or whatever I get a new one and it still came out costing less than AT&T was charging me just for the phone with no insurance or anything. Also, when you buy it unlocked it doesn’t come with all the bloatware and silly stuff you don’t need that the carriers always have baked into them so all of that stuff isn’t running in the background all the time eating up your battery and the biggest bonus . . . I don’t have to listen to any carrier “jingle” song every time I turn the phone off or on. It’s just another little advertising trick all the carriers use to get in your head every chance they get and I have always hated that. If you ever need to re-up on a phone, go to best buy, get the unlocked version of whatever one you want and the two year tap. It just makes sense.

I have had this phone since the Day 1 launch in the US. Its a very good phone with some difficulties. The phone is difficult to hold in one hand because its so big and you will need a good case if you want to save it from cracks. Trust me, that'll happen. The phone flew for the first few months but trust Samsung's bloatware to weigh things down after 6 months or so. Even with 6 GB ram, the phone shows the occasional stutters now and then. I am surprised. I like to keep my phone streamlined in terms of apps downloaded vs used on a daily basis ratio so I am surprised. I keep telling myself that I wont buy a Samsung but I keep returning to them because of their awesome hardware. The battery is a real letdown though. It usually lasts for half a day before I have to plug it in. I keep my location on so that Google can keep an eerie track on my whereabouts but still this is unacceptable from a phone as powerful as this. They played it safe after the Note 7 fiasco but it really handicapped the phone. I don't use the Pen which comes with the phone anymore.At this point its just a novelty item used to bump up the price of the phone. I had a Note 5 before this and the S Pen was much sturdier before. Lastly, with the way the prices are going sky-high and mid-tier phones becoming so good, its hard to justify the price I paid for this phone. Over a 1000 dollars after taxes.

Got this phone on preorder and it arrived sooner than promised. I was a bit nervous about the phone after reading early reviews stating that the fingerprint scanner is 'awkward' or 'poorly placed'. I am forced to have my phone encrypted and either on huge password or fingerprint, for security, so I have used the fingerprint scanner on previous phones and was concerned my life was about to get more difficult. Not so!! I don't know what people are talking about with the fingerprint scanner. It's GREAT. you just place your index finger over the back of the phone and INSTANTLY it's unlocked. NO swiping. No having to have it in the perfect orientation. You can actually add multiple 'different' fingerprints and just set it to different parts of your index finger. That way if you're more misaligned than typical, it will still unlock. SUPER smooth. Literally will save minutes of frustration per day from my previous device.. Yeah, other than that, everybody else will tell you how wonderful the device is in every other way. My only 'complaint' is that the phone is too tall [compared to my previous Note4]. It will just take getting used too. The width is smaller than the note 4 which is amazing. I'm in love.. <3 <3

Normally I wouldn't write reviews, but I felt compelled to write this one. As of this time I pre-ordered and recieved. Was shipped by UPS ground, which was faster then expected. Sadly if you have Sprint don't waste you're time at the moment(9/10/17). I just spent 3 hours on the phone and via online talking with them trying to activate the sim card and through the issues with that. Ultimately it came down to the phone(unlocked version) being not supported on their Network. So as of right now my only options are to hope a new sim card will work maybe work, wait for them to finally add support for the device, or take it back and spend the extra $40+ difference ($30 + taxes) between this unlocked version or the sprint branded one loaded with all the bloatware that should never come preinstalled on a phone. Great phone. But be careful.

I bought the Note 8 to replace my slowly dying Moto G 4, which had been a replacement for my dead Note 4. Both of these previous phones had died as a result of the constant need to connect a cable in order to charge them. The Note 8 has wireless charging so I'm hopeful it will have a longer life span. This phone also has NFC (Near Field Communication) that works with Google Pay. It didn't take long for me to love the ability to pay for purchases with my phone. It's much faster. I never realized how much time I used to spend just trying to pay for purchases with a card. I no longer have to carry around a separate stylus in order to keep the greasy fingerprints off my telephone screen, as it comes with a stylus that also offers lots of functions not readily available on other phones such as partial screen captures and the ability to create .gif files from video. The cameras work in much lower light environments than my previous phones and the image quality is much better. Overall, this is an awesome telephone.