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.

Before this phone, I had an iPhone for 5+ years. Whenever I needed to upgrade, I never looked at any other phone. My boyfriend has an Android phone and is always pushing me to look at them, so I finally did. I researched for days and narrowed my choices to the Note 8 or the iPhone X. I went with the Note 8 because of the screen size and the pen. I am also someone who gets bored easily so I wanted something different. I always excitedly upgraded my iPhone only to discover that it was pretty much the exact same phone. The customization on the Note 8 is insane. Granted, I am coming from an iPhone so I am sure any Android phone would have blown my mind. I love how much I can change! The pen is also one of my favorite things ever. I can screen shot, pin to my screen, etc. One of the best things I have discovered is the scrolling screenshot! No more downloading an app or taking 10 screenshots to get an entire recipe or set of instructions. The only negative was there was a steep learning curve for me coming from iPhone. In addition, the keyboard is different and I found typing to be quite difficult at first. Guess what? You can make the Note 8 keyboard look exactly like the iPhone. I did this and have had no issues since. Everything about this phone is just better than any other phone I have ever had. I can honestly say that I have no regrets with this purchase and I will be an Android user until something changes my mind.

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

This is the fourth Samsung cell phone with problems. I had a S5 great phone, then purchased a Note 7, recalled both of them had to replace it with S7 after return and wait for Samsung to fix Note 7 problems. Samsung said they would make it up to all of the Note 7 owners. Their offer was a joke. So I keep the S7, it failed right after the warranty expired. Good thing Best Buy cares about it's customers they worked with me to upgrade to new Note 8. Note8 less than 6 months old SCREEN BURN IN and Battery last less than a day. Contacted Samsung support since it's still under manufacture warranty. You would think after all the Note 7 problems they would be more helpful, NOT! wipe your phone send it to them maybe you'll get it back in 10 business day. This is a know problem, they should over night a replacement to me. If it was an Apple device I could exchange it at my local store. Think I'll stop buying Samsung if this is the service I get for defective devices.