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Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 - A Mini Tablet With The Added Option Of Stylus Control

9/2/2013 9:16:34 AM

Unlike most other smartphones and tablets, Samsung’s Galaxy Note range of products all come with a stylus for jotting down notes and drawing on screen. The Galaxy Note 8.0 is a tablet with an 8in screen and, thanks to its white and silver plastic build, it looks like a larger version of the Galaxy S3 smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

Despite its low weight (340g) and compact dimensions, we were concerned that the Note’s smooth plastic build might make it prone to slipping out of our hands, but this wasn’t a problem. It is easier to grasp than other similarly sized tablets thanks to the thick border around the screen. The stylus slots inside the device when not in use. There’s only 16GB of built-in storage, but additional space can be added via a Micro SD memory card slot.

Samsung has modified the Android 4.1 operating system, adding features designed for the Note’s stylus. Pop the pen out of its slot and the home screen automatically displays a list of your current notes and drawings with options for creating more. Alternatively it can be set to display a blank note ready for your doodles whenever the stylus is removed from its holder.

Samsung has modified the Android 4.1 operating system, adding features designed for the Note’s stylus.

Samsung has modified the Android 4.1 operating system, adding features designed for the Note’s stylus.

The ability to quickly scrawl down a note or circle an important part of a picture is useful, but the Note’s pen features haven’t been substantially improved since we saw the larger Note 10.1 back in Issue 381. The pen isn’t pressure sensitive, which limits its usefulness for drawing ambitious artworks and diagrams. The note-taking apps handwriting recognition isn’t quite fast enough to interpret notes as they are written, nor can it be used on finished notes later. Only a small number of other apps take advantage of the stylus.

There are other modifications to Android besides those relating to the stylus. One of the most eye-catching is the ability to run two apps side-by-side as you would on a PC. Only a small selection of apps work this way, though, and they can feel very cramped on the 8in screen, with its resolution of 1280x800 pixels. It’s a feature that would work better on a bigger, higher-resolution display.

The pen isn’t pressure sensitive, which limits its usefulness for drawing ambitious artworks and diagrams.

The pen isn’t pressure sensitive, which limits its usefulness for drawing ambitious artworks and diagrams.

Extra features aside, the Note can be used like any other tablet. Reading webpages and emails was a pleasure, thanks to the bright screen, with its crisp text. Contrast could’ve been better, though, and this was especially noticeable when watching movies and TV shows with lots of dark scenes.

The Android interface and apps felt smooth and fast thanks to the speedy 1.6 GHZ quad core processor and 2GB of memory. Battery life lasted just over eight and a half hours when playing videos continuously. It’s behind the iPad Mini, which lasts more than 12 hours, but it’s still good compared to other similarly sized tablets.

It’s behind the iPad Mini, which lasts more than 12 hours, but it’s still good compared to other similarly sized tablets

It’s behind the iPad Mini, which lasts more than 12 hours, but it’s still good compared to other similarly sized tablets

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 is a good compact Android tablet, but the stylus features are too rough around the edges to fully justify its relatively high price. Although it has a lower resolution screen and doesn’t have a memory card slot, the iPad Mini’s lower price and superior battery life make it better value.

Specifications

·         OS: Android (4.2.2, 4.1.2) Touch-Wiz UI

·         Dimensions: 8.30 x 5.35 x 0.31 inches (210.8 x 135.9 x 7.95 mm)

·         Weight: 11.92 oz (338 g)

·         Display: 8.0 inches (1,280 x 800 pixels), 189ppi

·         Touchscreen: Multi-touch

·         Battery: 4,600mAh

·         Chipset: Samsung Exynos 4 Quad (Exynos 4412)

·         Processor: Quad core, 1.6GHz, ARM Cortex-A9

·         Graphics: ARM Mali-400 MP4

·         Memory: 2GB RAM

·         Storage: 16GB

·         Camera: 5 megapixels, 1080p HD (30 fps)

·         Bluetooth: 4.0

·         Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n 5GHz

·         USB: USB 2.0, micro USB, Mass storage device

·         Pricing: $400

 

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