After months of leaked pics and rumors, Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 is now officially a corporeal thing of reality.The Note 8 definitely feels different than a typical 7-inch tablet; it's noticeably wider of course, but still feels comfortable in my hands. It's a simple, elegant design with really smooth edges and corners. The Note 8 feels to be made of the same stuff as the Note 10.1, with a bit more metal thrown in for durability sake. It's also fairly thin and at only 0.74 pounds it's only slightly heavier than the iPad Mini.
From left to right sit three bottom bezel buttons: menu, home button, and the back button and Samsung has added the ability to use the S-Pen with the three buttons. Something that was missing on the Note II.
The Galaxy Note 8 will ship with Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), with Samsung's ever-present TouchWiz UI over it. While in most international markets the Note 8 will include 3G (HSPA+ 21) capability, in the U.S. it'll strictly be a Wi-fi-only tablet. The tablet includes GPS support and the 3G version will have support for the GLONASS satellite navigation system.
The sharp, colorful 8-inch screen measured 1,280x800 pixels with a 189 ppi and Samsung's TouchWiz UI makes yet another tablet appearance. Swiping felt responsive whether when using the S-Pen or my fingers and apps seemed to load without much delay.
Hardware features
The Note 8 houses an unidentified 1.6GHz quad-core A9 and 2GB of RAM. Tablet mainstays like 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS are included as well as gyroscope, accelerometer, and a digital compass. The tablet will come in both 16GB and 32GB varieties.
The Note 8 houses an unidentified 1.6GHz quad-core A9 and 2GB of RAM. Tablet mainstays like 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS are included as well as gyroscope, accelerometer, and a digital compass. The tablet will come in both 16GB and 32GB varieties.
