Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 review

 Overseas, it doubles as a phone. Here in the US, it's just a tablet with an S Pen onboard. For its stateside debut, Samsung's stripped the Galaxy Note 8.0 of the very HSPA+ radios that made it an 8-inch curiosity at this year's Mobile World Congress. Now, as it's primed to go on sale, the Note 8.0 has sobered up, combining a host of compelling TouchWiz software tricks lifted from its high-profile Galaxy mates into a more serious, along with a more pocketable size.
Its 8-inch form factor may be new, but the bits used within should be plenty familiar: Samsung's borrowed elements from previous products, including the Note 10.1's 1,280 x 800 TFT display (albeit with a higher pixel density of 189 ppi). Meanwhile, the Note 8.0 draws inspiration from some Samsung phones, too, with chrome accents, a bulging rear camera module and a build that manages to be reminiscent of both the Galaxy S III and Note II. What's more, it packs a 1.6GHz Exynos 4 Quad inside -- yep, just like its predecessor. It'd be easy to pass the Note 8.0 off as a comfortable retread; a Best of edition for the Note line. In a way, it is. But, Samsung's not so daft -- there's a cushy market for tablets as a second screen and the company knows this all too well. So, can it best the iPad mini as the go-to, do-everything couch companion? Or is this $399 tablet more of a supernova for the Galaxy line? Follow along to find out.

 To love Samsung is to accept the company's hallmark: plastic. You can't have one without the other, and no amount of consumer uproar is going to change the company's position. Time and again, the company has defined premium by durability and a sheer abundance of software, and not necessarily by sexy industrial design. So, brace yourself for the obvious and expected jabs at what can only be described as the Note 8.0's wallflower design. It's inoffensive, unappealing and wholly forgettable -- which might even be the point. And that's not just some leap of reasoning. We know from our GS 4-focused talks with Samsung's US design studio, that an appeal to the senses boils down to materials, an approach that's clearly at play here.
But, try as we might to wish the company's product line into something more refined à la HTC or Apple, the Note 8.0's unremarkable, all-plastic shell serves a purpose. It's unassumingly sturdy, soft to the touch without being slippery, light in hand without feeling disposable and just wide enough at 210.8 x 135.9 x 7.95mm (8.3 x 5.4 x 0.31 inches) to be perfectly manageable for single-handed use. Unless you're suffering from Avian Bone Syndrome, the Note 8.0 won't fatigue your wrists with extended use; a portion of its weight is wisely distributed at the base to keep the tablet from falling out of your grasp.

You may not notice it initially, but Samsung's Note 8.0 isn't as monochromatic as it appears. Examine the device's backplate close-up and you'll notice a much more subdued implementation of the cross-hatching we first saw on the Galaxy S 4. And that's about as much ornamentation as you'll find on the Note 8.0; the rest of its back side is a vast expanse of white, punctuated by the hump housing a 5-megapixel camera (no flash) and an understated Samsung logo just below. Underneath that non-removable backplate lies the 4,600mAh battery.
Unlike previous Notes, the hardware keys (power button and volume rocker), IR blaster and S Pen all line the Note 8.0's right side, with a covered microSD port occupying the opposite edge all by its lonesome. This clean arrangement was a smart move on Samsung's part, one that should save consumers the confusion of fumbling around simply to raise or lower the speaker volume. Speaking of which, the dual-speaker setup on the bottom edge (over by the micro-USB port) isn't nearly as user-friendly. Whereas the Note 10.1 positioned its speakers on the front face (read: out of the way of consumers' hands), the Note 8.0's smaller size and portrait orientation mean users will have to be mindful about not covering the lower speaker when watching video in landscape.

Head-on, the Note 8.0 looks just like any other high-end Galaxy device: capacitive buttons for menu and back hug the physical home button below the display, while the company's logo, a front-facing camera and sensor reside up top. Thankfully, much of that front face is dominated by the 8-inch screen -- the surrounding bezels are generous enough to accommodate thumbs without hampering the tablet's overall flair. That's not to say it's a perfect fit. We did have to be somewhat mindful when reading an e-book, for example, as any accidental encroachment of the thumb onto the edge of the screen can trigger a page flip. It's not ideal, but it's also not unworkable.
As for the S Pen, allow us to nitpick for just a moment. There's nothing wrong, per se, with the ergonomics of Samsung's stylus: it's essentially unchanged from what ships with the Note II, only its base is marginally larger. What irks us, though, is the slight notch Samsung's allotted for its removal, now placed on the right side of the Note 8.0. Users familiar with the Note II will undoubtedly reach behind the tablet, out of sheer habit, to detach the S Pen. Thus, it forces Note diehards into a bit of retraining. Again, it's a very minor quibble, but we'd prefer if Samsung kept the experience consistent for its user base.

It may be the Note line's claim to fame (and existence), but we can't shake the feeling that the S Pen is now just a relic, a built-in accessory necessary to distinguish the very first Note as a new category. A justification, even, for its then-ostentatious screen size. As we move deeper into 2013, we now find mega-smartphone displays becoming the norm. One could even argue that Note-sized smartphones might eventually even cannibalize the need for tablets proper. And yet, barring creative professions like graphic design, there's no real productivity boost to be had, no efficiency gained by resorting to a stylus over the finger.
We can isolate only handful of cases where consumers may prefer the S Pen: content previews, for example, on Flipboard or menu dropdowns on sites like Amazon. Aside from that, though, we're hard-pressed to care about the pen. In fact, we've found it hampers our workflow when attempting to compose an email or a simple text in Google Voice -- something the keyboard's Swype-like input mode handles with ease.

Display

When the Note 10.1 debuted, we pooh-poohed its display for its fairly low 1,280 x 800 resolution. On that device, the poor pixel density wasn't just a distraction; it also detracted from the Note 10.1's usefulness as a graphics workstation. Repurposed on an 8-inch screen, however, that resolution becomes much more palatable, thanks to a higher ppi of 189. Contrast that with the lesser 1,024 x 768 IPS display and 163 ppi on Apple's 7.9-inch iPad mini and it's clear which mid-sized tablet wins the eye candy war.
When it inherited the legacy of the Note 10.1's display, the Note 8.0 also lost that other signature Samsung spec: AMOLED. No, the Note 8.0 doesn't boast the oversaturation common on the near entirety of Samsung's mobile portfolio, but the TFT LCD display employed here is bright, balanced and readable even at full tilt. Yes, there's some washout apparent at a 15-degree turn, but it doesn't really have any meaningful negative impact on the user experience. If you aim to use the Note 8.0 outdoors, then we advise you to seek out shade. Discerning the contents of the screen in daylight, even at full brightness, was a downright chore. Handily, there is an option for outdoor visibility buried within the camera settings, but outside of that specific software, the setting has no effect on general-purpose usage.