The major compact tablet
manufacturers all seem to see
the future in different screen
sizes, and it’s clear that Samsung is a big
fan of 8in as the sweet spot. The Galaxy
Note 8.0 has a lot of competition,
though, so we were keen to see how
one of the biggest names in consumer
electronics would make a product that
really stands out.
Samsung’s answer is pen input. The
Galaxy Note 8.0 comes with aWacombased
S Pen stylus, which stows neatly
into a slot in the bottom-right corner of
the tablet. It’s pressure sensitive and far
more accurate than a capacitive stylus, making the Note 8.0 ideal for note
taking, creative sketching or fine
photo-editing tasks. It’s even possible to
enter text via handwriting recognition,
using a panel built into the stock
Samsung keyboard, and it’s something
that works surprisingly well. In fact,
where the S Pen feels a little gimmicky
on a smaller device such as the Galaxy
Note II, it’s far more practical here,
where the larger screen makes for a
more comfortable experience.
Another unusual feature is the ability
to use the 3G model as a giant phone,
much like the Asus Fonepad. Alas,
we haven’t been able to test this as
Samsung only sent us the Wi-Fi model,
although at only £40 or so more it isn’t
that much to spend on top of the
standard version. Again, though, you’ll
look rather odd holding this 8in device
up to your ear in public.
Physically, the Samsung Galaxy Note
8.0 treads familiar ground. The rear
panel is constructed of glossy plastic,
just like on Samsung’s flagship
smartphones over the past couple of
years; the trim is silver plastic, and the
glass front is smooth under the finger.
The whole shebang weighs 340g and,
although it flexes a fair bit when
twisted, it does feel well put together. In terms of size, it’s taller, wider and
thicker than an iPad mini, but we’re not
talking huge differences. In fact, the
broader screen surround makes the
Galaxy Note 8.0 the more comfortable
device to hold one-handed.
As with Samsung’s smartphones,
there’s plenty of practicality on show.
There’s a microSD slot for expanding
the device’s 16GB of onboard storage;
the micro-USB socket on the bottom
edge is used for charging the device as
well as data transfer; and the tablet is
stuffed with bundled software, covering
everything from music streaming to
photo editing.
The Galaxy Note 8.0 runs Samsung’s
TouchWiz overlay on top of Android
4.1, and this is packed with tools and
features, although at first it does feel a
little overwhelming.
As this is a premium product, it’s no
surprise to find it has both front- and
rear-facing cameras, although there’s
no LED flash to help out in low light. The
snapper on the rear is a 5-megapixel
unit that shoots 720p video, and the one
on the front captures 1.3-megapixel
images. Quality from the rear camera
is surprisingly good, with crisp,
well-balanced images produced in good
light. Low-light performance is much
less impressive, though, with photos
becoming soft, blurry and lacking
in contrast.
The screen is a high point. Although
the resolution is a mere 800 x 1,280 –
rather left behind by the Full HD panel
of the Nexus 7 – the image quality is
superlative. It has a ridiculously high
maximum brightness that’s far better
than an iPad mini, and the colours it
produces are beautifully vivid.
Performance is excellent, too. It
smashed many rivals in our intensive
benchmarks, and in real-world use the
Galaxy Note 8.0’s 1.6GHz quad-core
Exynos processor and fast graphics chip
are clearly up to the job, with smooth
frame rates in all the games we threw at
it. All this power does take its toll on
battery life, though. In our looping video
test, it lasted 7hrs 44mins, which is
about acceptable for its size, but
well short of the best compact tablets
on the market.
All in all, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
is a superb compact tablet with some
unique features that set it apart from
the competition. Its screen, camera and
performance are all superb, and the
stylus capability is genuinely useful
and usable.
However, there is one big problem,
and that’s the price. At £340, it’s a lot
more expensive than Apple’s iPad mini,
and pricier even than many 10in
Android tablets. Unless that pen will
really make a difference to your daily
routing, the Galaxy Note 8.0 will be a
tough sell.
