Unlike most other smartphones and tablets,
Samsung’s Galaxy Note range of products all come with a stylus for jotting down
notes and drawing on screen. The Galaxy Note 8.0 is a tablet with an 8in screen
and, thanks to its white and silver plastic build, it looks like a larger
version of the Galaxy S3 smartphone.
Samsung
Galaxy Note 8.0
Despite its low weight (340g) and compact
dimensions, we were concerned that the Note’s smooth plastic build might make
it prone to slipping out of our hands, but this wasn’t a problem. It is easier
to grasp than other similarly sized tablets thanks to the thick border around
the screen. The stylus slots inside the device when not in use. There’s only
16GB of built-in storage, but additional space can be added via a Micro SD
memory card slot.
Samsung has modified the Android 4.1
operating system, adding features designed for the Note’s stylus. Pop the pen
out of its slot and the home screen automatically displays a list of your
current notes and drawings with options for creating more. Alternatively it can
be set to display a blank note ready for your doodles whenever the stylus is
removed from its holder.
Samsung
has modified the Android 4.1 operating system, adding features designed for the
Note’s stylus.
The ability to quickly scrawl down a note
or circle an important part of a picture is useful, but the Note’s pen features
haven’t been substantially improved since we saw the larger Note 10.1 back in
Issue 381. The pen isn’t pressure sensitive, which limits its usefulness for
drawing ambitious artworks and diagrams. The note-taking apps handwriting
recognition isn’t quite fast enough to interpret notes as they are written, nor
can it be used on finished notes later. Only a small number of other apps take
advantage of the stylus.
There are other modifications to Android
besides those relating to the stylus. One of the most eye-catching is the
ability to run two apps side-by-side as you would on a PC. Only a small
selection of apps work this way, though, and they can feel very cramped on the
8in screen, with its resolution of 1280x800 pixels. It’s a feature that would
work better on a bigger, higher-resolution display.
The
pen isn’t pressure sensitive, which limits its usefulness for drawing ambitious
artworks and diagrams.
Extra features aside, the Note can be used
like any other tablet. Reading webpages and emails was a pleasure, thanks to
the bright screen, with its crisp text. Contrast could’ve been better, though,
and this was especially noticeable when watching movies and TV shows with lots
of dark scenes.
The Android interface and apps felt smooth
and fast thanks to the speedy 1.6 GHZ quad core processor and 2GB of memory.
Battery life lasted just over eight and a half hours when playing videos
continuously. It’s behind the iPad Mini, which lasts more than 12 hours, but
it’s still good compared to other similarly sized tablets.
It’s
behind the iPad Mini, which lasts more than 12 hours, but it’s still good
compared to other similarly sized tablets
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 is a good
compact Android tablet, but the stylus features are too rough around the edges
to fully justify its relatively high price. Although it has a lower resolution
screen and doesn’t have a memory card slot, the iPad Mini’s lower price and
superior battery life make it better value.
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Specifications
·
OS: Android (4.2.2, 4.1.2) Touch-Wiz UI
·
Dimensions: 8.30 x 5.35 x 0.31 inches (210.8 x
135.9 x 7.95 mm)
·
Weight: 11.92 oz (338 g)
·
Display: 8.0 inches (1,280 x 800 pixels),
189ppi
·
Touchscreen: Multi-touch
·
Battery: 4,600mAh
·
Chipset: Samsung Exynos 4 Quad (Exynos 4412)
·
Processor: Quad core, 1.6GHz, ARM Cortex-A9
·
Graphics: ARM Mali-400 MP4
·
Memory: 2GB RAM
·
Storage: 16GB
·
Camera: 5 megapixels, 1080p HD (30 fps)
·
Bluetooth: 4.0
·
Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n 5GHz
·
USB: USB 2.0, micro USB, Mass storage device
·
Pricing: $400
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