AT&T announced on Wednesday that the LTE-capable Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 will join the carrier's roster in "the coming weeks" as an AT&T exclusive.
First unveiled at Mobile World Congress, the Note 8.0 runs
Android
4.1 Jelly Bean and features a 1.6GHz quad-core processor. Additional
details include a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1.3-megapixel
front-facing camera, 16GB of internal memory, and a microSD slot for
cards up to 32GB. It's got a 4,600mAh battery inside.
The
Galaxy Note 8.0 features an integrated S Pen digital stylus and comes with a suite of related apps.
AT&T continues to expand its 4G LTE network at a nice clip. Currently blanketing more than 200 million people in the United States, the carrier hopes to reach 300 million people by the end of 2014.
Design
Like the iPad Mini, the Note 8’s larger-than-typical screen necessitates
a wider body -- by about an inch -- than, say, the Nexus 7. So,
depending on how you're holding the tablet, its more expansive frame may
feel a bit awkward, especially if your hands are of the wee variety.
The Note 8 feels to be made of the same stuff as the Note 10.1, with a
bit more metal along its edges thrown in for durability's sake. Its
corners are smoothly rounded, but its more corpulent profile yields a
slightly heavier device than the iPad Mini; however, you’d probably have
to be holding one in each hand to notice the difference.
| Weight in pounds | 0.76 | 0.68 | 0.74 | 1.25 |
| Width in inches (landscape) | 8.2 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 6.4 |
| Height in inches | 5.3 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 9.4 |
| Depth in inches | 0.31 | 0.28 | 0.4 | 0.35 |
| Side bezel width in inches (landscape) | 0.7 | 0.25 | 0.8 | 1.0 |
The Note 8’s design isn’t as simple or as elegant as the Mini’s, but
what it lacks in simplicity, it attempts to make up for in utility. On
the bottom bezel sit three buttons: a menu key, home key, and the back
key. Samsung has also added the ability to use the S Pen with the three
buttons, something that was missing on the Note 2.
The Note 8's back doesn't appear to be reinforced with anything but plastic. As is the case with most Samsung tablets.
The 5-megapixel rear-facing camera is located directly in the top middle
of the back, and although the placement feels natural when holding the
camera in portrait, my fingers were constantly getting in the way of
shots when holding it in landscape. The back button as well can be a
nuisance with the tablet held this way. There were several times when
trying to take a picture or playing Riptide GP that I accidentally hit
it. As a result of these buttons, we get back a small percentage of
screen real estate that would otherwise be occupied by the Android nav
bar. I’m thankful to have this space back, but making accommodations for
the physical buttons' placement will take some getting used to.
Somewhat inverse to that, while the physical home button is a very
welcome addition, its convex nature makes it difficult to press with the
stylus.
The S Pen of course returns with its pressure
sensitivity in tow and writing with it felt a lot less cumbersome here
compared with on the 10.1-inch Note. Though of identical length, the S
Pen has a smaller radius than the Note 10.1's, and thanks to its flatter
design is even less likely to roll away. The grooved pen button is a
bit smaller than before, making it less likely to elicit accidental
presses. The tablet includes palm rejection tech; however, if the skin
on the knife edge of your hand folds in just the right way, making a
"point," the tablet will, much to my frustration, mistakenly believe
you're trying to write with it and accept inputs from it.
The Note 8's 1,280x800 resolution screen is one
of the best I've seen on any tablet. Writing with the Stylus while
holding the tablet will take some getting used to.
The front-facing camera sits off to the top-right corner on the front.
On the bottom edge are two speaker grills, a Micro-USB port, and a slot
for the S Pen. On the right edge sits a microSD card slot with an IR
blaster, volume rocker, and power/sleep button on the left edge. The top
edge holds the headphone jack.
Software features
Since the release of the Note 10.1, Samsung has been working to improve
the user experience in its Note family of tablets, adding software
enhancements that probably should have been there from the get-go. The
Note 8 reaps the benefit of the company's hindsight as it includes not
only the additions we’ve seen added to the Note 10.1, but a few unique
additions of its own.
Android 4.1.2 is a capable OS, but hopefully we
see and update to 4.2.2 soon. The performance increases in that version
appear to have been dramatic.
