Last Minute Father’s Day Gift – Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (Review)
All guys love gadgets, especially dads. So if you haven’t sorted out your Father’s Day gift yet, don’t worry. There’s still time. Sure, you could buy some socks or some golf accessories or some other lame excuse for a gift, but don’t you think it’s about time you showed your pops a bit more appreciation on his special day?
Enter the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the device that looks like a tablet and feels like a smartphone. That’s really the first thing you notice about it. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is not as heavy or clunky as an iPad and it’s not as tiny as a smartphone. It’s comparable to an iPad Mini, but it offers a few things that the iPad can’t.
The first thing you’ll notice about this little tablet is that it comes with a 5.5 mm S Pen. This little stylus lets you jot down notes, personalize emails, crop and save just about anything and doodle for days. It slides right into the device itself (with a handy little storage slot at the bottom), so you don’t have to worry about losing it. You can also set the S Pen to hover mode and move it around like a mouse on a desktop. If you like a bit of notepad love with your digital tablet, the S Pen is a huge addition.
The multi-window mode is another feature that sets the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 apart from the iPad Mini. In multi-view mode, you can have two apps running simultaneously. Wanna browse the web and take some notes? Not a problem. Shuffle through tunes while you doodle? Keep em both active. This really takes the second screen experience to another level. You can literally be doing two things at once while you watch whatever TV programs are cluttering your DVR. It’s a great mutli-tasking tool for a new, attention-deficit-driven generation. If you’re looking for a tablet with an integrated HDMI output for sharing photos and videos on a TV or computer monitor, we have a roundup of top picks.
Group Play is another sweet feature that lets you integrate your Galaxy Note 8 with other devices. You can listen to music on multiple devices, collaborate on photos, slideshows, documents and more. It works well for quickly marking up docs and sharing PDFs.
And man, this thing weighs less than one pound and it’s got an 8-inch WXGA display. You can lay it on a table and type, write, game, browse the web, etc., but you can also one-hand this bad boy and watch a video with a steady palm grip. It fits in the pocket of your track jacket, but not in the front pocket of your Levi’s. If you don’t want to schlep around a laptop or full-size tablet, but you want to extend your entertainment outside your phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is a solid middle-of-the-road option.
Although photography likely isn’t your main purpose for picking up on of these devices, there’s a 5MP AF + 1.3MP VT camera in the mix if you need it. You also have full HD playback (1080P) and HD recording capabilities as well.
But the thing that your pops will love the most is that the Galaxy Note 8 can also function as a universal remote control! That’s right, man. Your dad can sit on the couch and pretend to be working on business stuff while also overriding your channel selections. What dad wouldn’t be into that?
There are a couple things about the Galaxy Note 8 that’ll take some time to get used to. The keyboard function on this thing is less than ideal for sausage-finger folks. So if your dad’s got a case on the man-hands, he’ll likely need a Bluetooth enabled keyboard to get any real typing done. The sausage finger factor can also get annoying when you accidently thumb the bottom right button. The back button comes in handy, yes, but not when you got an inadvertent finger shift while watching a YouTube clip. The Galaxy Note 8 is also as slippery as a recently mopped floor of a Burger King bathroom, so you’ll need to invest in some sort of case or something, especially if this thing is going to be held with one hand on the regular.
The Androidy-ness of the Galaxy Note 8 is really where it’s at. Apple’s great and all but Google Play is way better than iTunes. Having a MicroSD slot is just awesome. The intuitive nature of the auto-correct suggestions is also super helpful. Again, this isn’t anything new for Android users, but it’s better than the crazy auto-correct settings that come standard on an iPhone/iPad.
Bottom line, I like this little guy and your pops will, too. It’s just big enough to give you the right balance between phone and tablet. The screen is gorgeous, the dimensions are ideal for one-handing and the thing weighs next to nothing. Yes, it will set you back nearly four bills, but so what? Isn’t your dad worth it?
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Chris Stout on June 13, 2013 at 8:45 pm, and is filed under Lifestyle. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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