SAMSUNGGalaxy Note 8 64GB Unlocked GSM LTE Android Phone w/ Dual 12 Megapixel Camera - Midnight Black

Update: After a couple of months with the device I am more thrilled to have switched than I was before. It's not a perfect device but it definitely deserves 5 stars for the amount of functionality you get. Here are a few things I've learned over my short time with the phone:-Battery life takes some time to "even out". The OS "learns" how you use the device over time (generally a couple of weeks) and puts installed apps that you don't use to sleep until you actually need them. In the Settings menu there is a battery saver option that you can have set to off, medium, or max. Starting out with the saver set to off it says I would get 24 hours of battery life. Now, it says 34 hours with the saver off, and 122 hours at max settings. I did an extreme test where I turned every radio on the device on turn the display to max resolution and brightness and turned the audio up to about 50%, I turned the Always on Display on. Then I proceeded to play music, and long YouTube videos, do some web surfing, and played some games. The phone lasted for 17H and 25min with 7H and 27m screen on time and it still had 13% battery power left. Enough said.-The Samsung keyboard sucks,, mainly because of the predictive text and auto correction. Just use Swiftkey, which is awesome.-The Samsung email app is nice. No real complaints there. I chose it over all other email clients for now.-The security features on this device are spectacular!. Even after formatting the phone from the bootloader it would not let me set it up as a new device without my old credentials. The Iris scanner, fingerprint ID, and Face Recognition are solid and work wonderfully. Some people want to complain about the location of the fingerprint sensor but I have long fingers and I have zero problems with it. Secure Folders is a welcomed addition to the security lineup and is useful for putting certain apps or folders under lock and key. Samsung Pay is also a great feature because it doesn't rely on NFC and doesn't use your original card numbers. I always have NFC off and I'm using an Otterbox Defender case and Samsung Pay works every time.-Bluetooth is the main battery killer believe it or not. Both my Samsung Gear S3 Frontier smartwatch and the Galaxy Note 8 suffer from this problem. Having bluetooth on drains the battery quickly compared to all other features and settings minus maybe display brightness. Starting out, this will kill battery life but over a month or so it will level out depending on your usage. Most of the time with the phone connected to my watch I will get home from work with about 78-84% battery life. Starting out it was closer to 65-73%. With it off I can leave with 85-93% easy. I'm hoping they fix some of this when Samsung finally releases Android 8.0 Oreo for the device.-You get use to the single speaker. The Note 8 only has one speaker from which you can hear music or loud speaker during a phone call. It is easily muffled and admittingly not as loud as the iPhone 8 Plus speakers. I do wish there were two speakers on the Note 8 but it is plenty loud enough with the one.-Screen protectors are hard to find if you have an Otterbox Defender case. You get lift and a drop in screen sensitivity A LOT. But there are options out there that work just fine. Just be sure to absolutely CENTER the protector on the device. The first one I got left an air pocket right down the middle of the device screen that you could only see under certain lighting conditions. The second one just sucked to be honest. The screen sensitivity just dropped to almost nothing even when there was not an air pocket and the protector had full contact with the screen minus the left and right edge. The third one is a keeper, although I do notice a slight drop in screen sensitivity it works well enough to keep the phone responsive. My point is here, that the curved screen on the Note 8 does pose a problem at least for those who use a thick rugged case, but with a few hours (or days) of mind numbing searching, a little blood, and some sweat, you can find something that works.My original review is below:I shelved my iPhone 8 Plus for this and don't regret it at all. I've been using the iPhone since the iPhone 3G and have loved the finished polish of ios and Apple devices in general. Why did I get the Galaxy Note 8? Two main reasons:1) More bang for my buck-I spent less on the Galaxy Note 8 but got so much more in the way of features and specs. Whereas the 8 Plus was lacking so many common features found in many of the top end phones today, I feel the Note 8 has gotten me back up to date with the latest tech available for smart devices. I essentially got everything the iPhone X and 8 Plus offer in one package and for less. The build quality is excellent and I'm not restricted to just Samsung products to get the most out of my device. I have this phone in a Otterbox Defender Series case and wireless charging works fine every time. Face ID, Iris Scanning, Fingerprint ID, and Pin Codes all work without a problem (at least for me). It comes with Android 7.1.1 modified by Samsung. It's fast and fluid and because it's Android, heavily modifiable (unlike Apple anything). Yes, the phone only comes with 64GB, but yes it is possible to put up to 256GB of memory in the device and be golden. If you don't want to put 256, put 128, or 64 or however much your wallet can afford, which leads me to the second point,2) Options! So many options! I've dealt with android before so I know most of this has to do with the operating system, but there is so much you can do with this device in the way of customizing the performance,, maintaining battery life, personalizing the interface, and increasing productivity to your hearts content. Samsung has several preinstalled apps on the device that are in fact quite useful, but if you don't want them, uninstall them and that's it. No penalty, no harm, no foul. Samsung also has a Themes app that makes it easy to download both free and paid themes for the device. The complexity of the device (and of Android in general) is not for everyone. There is a lot you can tweak and alter to get all that you would want out of the device. Of course there are plenty of presets in various categories to help the casual user streamline the customization process too, so there is no need to be shy.Overall I really enjoy this smartphone and am happy to use it as my daily driver. Battery life is acceptable ( I work a 10 hour shift in the mornings and when I come home in the evenings I'm normally somewhere between 77-83 percent battery power. This is after spending the day checking emails, maybe making a call or two, and watching Youtube videos during my breaks. Also the phone is paired with a Samsung Gear S3 smart watch (also awesome, but not perfect for my tastes). I'm using this device on Straight Talk's AT&T network and I get 84-87 Mbps download speeds while in a metal hangar at work. Whenever Samsung actually releases the next version in their Galaxy series I will be looking with great intention to upgrade if possible.

Bought this used for $270 on Amazon. Owned the phone for less than a week but I'm very impressed. (Probably new-toy syndrome.)Too easy to set up with Ting... just dropped a 128GB microSD card and the SIM card into it. Initial setup was, as always, easy with Android. I flashed Android Pie onto it with no issues, although I had to do it with ODIN as opposed to Smart Switch or Kies because I found out Samsung disabled this feature from both programs (server-side, so older versions will not work).It is physically a very sleek phone. It also feels very sleek... and slippery, and a huge fingerprint magnet. After I cleaned off my grubby paw prints, I slapped a case onto it. The screen itself is rather large and very generous with space. I have smaller hands but I can still comfortably (barely) use gesture typing with just my thumb. I am not a stylus user but trying... the stylus fits neatly into its slot at the bottom right of the phone.The phone's performance is... well, brand new. I can't get it to lag (yet). I'm not a super power user and like to keep things simple, so I haven't tested any crazy 3D gaming yet. (I've included my app list below, just to give you an idea of what I run on this thing.) It's nice to finally have a phone that keeps up with me.The camera is beautiful so far. I haven't used it as much as I want to yet but I have faith this will be better than my broken camera on my S7 Edge. Plenty of options in the app... nice, sharp, and colorful!Call quality seems fine... not tinny, not terrible, good to go. Network connectivity to WiFi is as fast as any of my laptops. Haven't tested tethering or anything like that yet.More to follow as I play around with it!-- Gmail- Disa- Hangouts- WhatsApp- Google Maps- Here WeGo- Adobe Lightroom- GoPro- Google Photos- SJCAM- Google Chrome- Netguard- Tasker- Timely- Aldiko Classic- Amazon Kindle- Amazon Music- Dropbox- Duolingo- YouTubeUPDATE 20190906: Still pretty happy with the phone.Delved into VR use... it is pretty nice considering the battery drain while using it isn't as bad as my Galaxy Edge S7, plus it is fun to use! (Don't bother with the 2016 version of the Samsung Gear... it will mar any screen protectors and it is a super-tight fit with the connector AND the other side.) No lag so far with what I've used for Oculus Apps.One thing that drives me nuts is that I tend to take unintentional screenshots by just trying to hit the Power button or trying to lower the volume but reaching a bit too low on the left side.Pretty long battery life. Lasts me a full day and has more than 30% left with my normal use.

Coming from an iPhone 6+, I was looking for something new and exciting in my next phone. My two options were the Pixel 2 or the Note 8. Previously used a Note 2 so it had been some time since I last used Android. I was dreading the iOS/Android conversion process but figured whatever. After setting up my phone with the apps/music/etc, it's quite fast and very snappy. Took some time getting used to the size since it's a tad skinnier/taller than an iPhone plus model but I'm sure it' won't be an issue after a couple weeks or so. Pretty much everything on the phone is very nice from the S-Pen to the display. The display is very crisp and bright and I like the fact you can change the default resolution of it. On the highest setting, apps, web pages, text, etc, all seem to pop off the screen. Very nice and something definitely worth the switch. I always get unlocked phones so I can bypass all the bloatware garbage the carriers install on these phones. With a stock Android/Samsung setup, everything works well and is very speedy. One thing I found cumbersome/irritating were all the different options/settings on this thing. Considerably more than just about any other phone I've used. Definitely takes some time getting used to. Battery life seems good. I use my phone quite heavily throughout the day and battery life hasn't been an issue yet. The S-Pen is definitely a nifty little tool for everything from doodling or whatever. I haven't really used it much but definitely a nice accessory. So far it's been a pretty solid experience with this phone so I'm hoping the battery thing from Note 7 won't be happening with this phone.