Test : Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

While new announcements were rare at MWC 2013, it was during the latter that Samsung decided to announce its new Galaxy Note tablet, the 8.0, which completes the range alongside the Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy Note 10.1. It is the brand's first 8″ tablet to integrate S Pen technology. When we saw the advantages of the stylus on the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note 10.1, we think that the 8″ format is undoubtedly more ideal for nomads who need to have more space to write, but in a less clutter.

Apart from the design, the Galaxy Note 8.0 borrows its technical characteristics from its predecessors and apart from the S Pen, it remains quite classic. Even the well-optimized TouchWiz overlay lets you tell yourself when you first get started that it's Samsung's Galaxy range.

Characteristics

As a reminder of the characteristics, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet offers you:

We therefore find ourselves in the presence of characteristics in tune with the times. It's not the best on the market anymore, but it's not either and it's far from the worst. In our test, we were only able to test the WiFi version, but the 3G/3G+ version is indeed available and according to the MWC 2013 announcement, you can even call with your tablet... -free so as not to be too ridiculous in the street 😛

On the packaging side, the Galaxy Note 8.0 takes what was established with the Galaxy S4, namely an “eco-friendly” box and apart from this ecological side, the Korean brand is not original. We thus find the tablet, the booklets for a first grip, hands-free kit earphones, a USB cable for synchronization and charging and of course a mains charger.

Count from €399 for the 16GB WiFi version.

Design

The Galaxy Note 8.0 basically takes the design of the Galaxy S4 but bigger and with bigger edges around the screen. We thus find the silver edge and an all-plastic back with the pattern of the sort of grid, but less pronounced than the new Samsung smartphone. As I just told you, you don't change a team that wins (or doesn't) and like the rest of the range, the finish is plastic. It's clear that it's a notch below what Apple offers with its iPad mini but quite honestly, it's not that shocking and apart from the too glossy aspect, I prefer this finish to that of the Google Nexus 7 for example.

The tablet fits well in my hand and while I expected it to slip out of my hands often, it didn't happen once, although it's much more common with the Galaxy S4. It may be due to its size which forces me to hold it more firmly, but so far I have not counted any attempt to fall, even a few tens of centimeters! Knock on wood. The weight of 338g is average and the Galaxy Note 8.0 is held very well in one hand without tiring the arm. I have always been one of the defenders of 7″/8″ tablets and after the Google Nexus 7, Apple iPad mini and now the Galaxy Note 8.0, I confirm that for me, this is the ideal format.

We therefore find on the front the 8″ screen with a resolution of 1280×800. At the top of the screen is the Samsung logo with the light sensor and the 1.3 megapixel visio camera to its right. At the bottom of the screen is the home button with its two sensitive buttons (Option and Back) so typical of the Galaxy range. Suddenly, it is with a double click on the home button that will allow you to access S Voice and a long press to bring up Google Now or the multi-tasking menu.

On the back, we find the glossy plastic back with the 5-megapixel digital camera at the top, the Samsung logo in the middle and the S Pen stylus at the very bottom left. The back does not come off and therefore the battery is irremovable. On the upper edge is just the 3.5mm jack. On the right edge are the power and / or standby button, the two volume buttons and as on the Galaxy S4, an IrDA (Infrared) port to use the tablet as a universal remote control. On the left edge is the MicroSD port, convenient for purely multimedia content. And finally, on the bottom edge, you will find the MHL-compatible MicroUSB port as well as the tablet's two speakers.

And as for the S Pen stylus, it's about the same as the one already found on the Galaxy Note 2 except that its base is bigger. When you hold the tablet in portrait mode, the S Pen pulls out with your right hand. It's normal in absolute terms, but I prefer to say it for lefties.

HD Screen and Sound

On the screen side, the Galaxy Note 8.0 takes more from the Galaxy Note 10.1 than from the Galaxy Note 2. Thus, it is not an OLED screen but a TFT type screen with a resolution of 1280×800 and “only ” 189dpi in density. We are a long way from the 2560×1600 of the Google Nexus 10. So there, you can ask yourself why Samsung did not choose a better resolution for its tablet? This is probably to continue to have a floor price. Still, we are at a time when everything should now be released with a minimum Full HD resolution. The successor to the Google Nexus 7 should soon show up with better resolution, just like the iPad mini. It's a shame Samsung didn't see fit to take the lead.

Next, to be honest, I found the screen to be relatively pleasing. Although I'm starting to get used to high screen densities, I wasn't bothered by the Galaxy Note 8.0's TFT screen, nor was the resolution which was enough for me in absolute terms. The colors felt natural to me and somehow, even though I have gray blacks, I prefer those colors to the overly saturated ones of an AMOLED display. TFT technology obliges, the viewing angles are not the best and it's normal to see the colors wash out when you are no longer in front of the screen. Likewise, I didn't have any particular problems in outdoor conditions, which pleasantly surprised me.

On the sound side, I can only advise you to use earphones or headphones as well as an external speaker because the speakers are barely worthy of those of a smartphone. Obviously, it can help you out for YouTube videos, but that will be all.

Use, Performance

As you know now, the Galaxy Note 8.0 offers you Android 4.1.2 with the famous TouchWiz overlay. The latter is obviously optimized for the S Pen and integrates some rather nice standard applications when you are a real stylus user, but we will come back to this later.

In the meantime, let's talk performance. We thus find a quad-core Exynos processor clocked at 1.6Ghz with 2GB of RAM and I have had no complaints about the performance, everything responds to the eye and it's nickel. Basically, we take a Galaxy Note 2 and stick an 8″ screen on it. If you were able to play with the Galaxy Note 10.1 which showed a very large number of software slowdowns, TouchWiz is now perfectly optimized and it is somewhere a step forward. For those who like numbers, we obviously launched the usual benchmarks and unsurprisingly, Samsung's Exynos is doing with honors except with 3D Mark where we don't know why, it doesn't work great or even not at all everything, we end up with the same results as the Galaxy S3 or the Galaxy Note 2.

Back to TouchWiz. It's starting to make a few products that Samsung's overlay hasn't changed too much, so we find what we already know about the other products in the Galaxy range, especially after the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 2. As for the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Korean brand has focused on software added value. We thus find the page dedicated to the creation of notes of all kinds as soon as you remove the S Pen but also all the software suite that we are beginning to know. I am thinking in particular of S Note, AllShare, ChatOn, AirView, MP3 player, S Planner, multi-windowing or even popup applications.

On the S Pen side, it reacts exactly like on the Galaxy Note 2 or even better in fact. Indeed, on the Note 2, I tended to find it too sensitive. Suddenly, when I wanted to write fly paws, it was almost impossible because the stylus was too sensitive. Samsung obviously fixed the problem and I had no issues with the Galaxy Note 8.0 smearing on the Galaxy Note 8.0. It is also more pleasant on a larger screen without forgetting that the Korean brand finally allows access to the two sensitive buttons with the stylus.

But that may be where the shoe pinches. Indeed, with the Galaxy Note 2, I used the stylus quite a bit, whereas on the Galaxy Note 8.0, I didn't use the S Pen that much. Maybe because it's only a tablet and you don't necessarily have the instantaneous side of the Note 2. It might have had another effect if I had a 3G version... And yet, I find the tablet very pleasant to use and apart from some content in US magazines, it often accompanies me on the move. Which reminds me of the fact that I used multi-windowing a lot more on this Galaxy Note 8.0 than on the Galaxy Note 2 or Galaxy S4.

For multimedia, of course, I had no performance issues and it was quite pleasant for videos, as well as for reading books. Note that Samsung has integrated a “Reading Mode”, supposed to optimize the screen for reading ebooks. Quite honestly, I didn't notice any noticeable difference...

Autonomy, APN and Visio

An APN on a tablet… Nah but hello what?!? (private joke) As a result, you can imagine, I didn't particularly dwell on the tablet's camera. It's a simple 5 Megapixel camera and when I say simple, I think it's the same sensor as the Galaxy Nexus. It is not even backlit, I would have liked to have nothing in this case and perhaps save a few tens of euros on the final price. We are far from what the iPad mini, iPad and iPod touch have recently offered. That's a shame.

For the video part, with a resolution of 1.3 Megapixels, I had no particular problems with Google Hangouts or Skype. Make sure you have a good light source anyway.

On the autonomy side, I sincerely thought that Samsung was going to offer at least or almost a similar autonomy to the competition which are all around 10 hours or even more for the iPad mini in my daily use. Well, I was disappointed on that side with autonomy in only 7h/8h. I haven't yet got into the habit of measuring everything, but FYI, it was mainly used around web browsing, social networks and reading ebooks. I played very little or watched videos with it. I know the screen can consume, even if you're just reading and the CPU is at its lowest, but still, I really expected more.

Conclusion

Samsung signs with the Galaxy Note 8.0 a successful tablet that should appeal to the most creative among you. I also think that it is in this form, with these performances, that the Galaxy Note 10.1 should have been released at the time. The S Pen reacts to the finger and the eye and the writing experience is always more pleasant than any stylus for capacitive screen.

My biggest concern comes from its positioning, especially with the shadow of a Galaxy Note 3 which should point the tip of its nose by next school year with the same size as the Galaxy Note 2 but with a 6″ screen and Full HD resolution. After that there is still this price that I find a little excessive when you see the Google Nexus 7 or the Apple iPad mini which shines thanks to its applications. The stylus is good, there's nothing to say, but it's not necessarily the primary criterion when buying a tablet, which justifies its final score. Put an extra point if that's really what you're looking for.

Photo Gallery

While new announcements were rare at MWC 2013, it was during the latter that Samsung decided to announce its new Galaxy Note tablet, the 8.0, which completes the range alongside the Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy Note 10.1. It is the brand's first 8″ tablet to integrate S Pen technology. When we saw the advantages of the stylus on the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note 10.1, we think that the 8″ format is undoubtedly more ideal for nomads who need to have more space to write, but in a less clutter.

Apart from the design, the Galaxy Note 8.0 borrows its technical characteristics from its predecessors and apart from the S Pen, it remains quite classic. Even the well-optimized TouchWiz overlay lets you tell yourself when you first get started that it's Samsung's Galaxy range.

Characteristics

As a reminder of the characteristics, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet offers you:

We therefore find ourselves in the presence of characteristics in tune with the times. It's not the best on the market anymore, but it's not either and it's far from the worst. In our test, we were only able to test the WiFi version, but the 3G/3G+ version is indeed available and according to the MWC 2013 announcement, you can even call with your tablet... -free so as not to be too ridiculous in the street 😛

On the packaging side, the Galaxy Note 8.0 takes what was established with the Galaxy S4, namely an “eco-friendly” box and apart from this ecological side, the Korean brand is not original. We thus find the tablet, the booklets for a first grip, hands-free kit earphones, a USB cable for synchronization and charging and of course a mains charger.

Count from €399 for the 16GB WiFi version.

Design

The Galaxy Note 8.0 basically takes the design of the Galaxy S4 but bigger and with bigger edges around the screen. We thus find the silver edge and an all-plastic back with the pattern of the sort of grid, but less pronounced than the new Samsung smartphone. As I just told you, you don't change a team that wins (or doesn't) and like the rest of the range, the finish is plastic. It's clear that it's a notch below what Apple offers with its iPad mini but quite honestly, it's not that shocking and apart from the too glossy aspect, I prefer this finish to that of the Google Nexus 7 for example.

The tablet fits well in my hand and while I expected it to slip out of my hands often, it didn't happen once, although it's much more common with the Galaxy S4. It may be due to its size which forces me to hold it more firmly, but so far I have not counted any attempt to fall, even a few tens of centimeters! Knock on wood. The weight of 338g is average and the Galaxy Note 8.0 is held very well in one hand without tiring the arm. I have always been one of the defenders of 7″/8″ tablets and after the Google Nexus 7, Apple iPad mini and now the Galaxy Note 8.0, I confirm that for me, this is the ideal format.

We therefore find on the front the 8″ screen with a resolution of 1280×800. At the top of the screen is the Samsung logo with the light sensor and the 1.3 megapixel visio camera to its right. At the bottom of the screen is the home button with its two sensitive buttons (Option and Back) so typical of the Galaxy range. Suddenly, it is with a double click on the home button that will allow you to access S Voice and a long press to bring up Google Now or the multi-tasking menu.

On the back, we find the glossy plastic back with the 5-megapixel digital camera at the top, the Samsung logo in the middle and the S Pen stylus at the very bottom left. The back does not come off and therefore the battery is irremovable. On the upper edge is just the 3.5mm jack. On the right edge are the power and / or standby button, the two volume buttons and as on the Galaxy S4, an IrDA (Infrared) port to use the tablet as a universal remote control. On the left edge is the MicroSD port, convenient for purely multimedia content. And finally, on the bottom edge, you will find the MHL-compatible MicroUSB port as well as the tablet's two speakers.

And as for the S Pen stylus, it's about the same as the one already found on the Galaxy Note 2 except that its base is bigger. When you hold the tablet in portrait mode, the S Pen pulls out with your right hand. It's normal in absolute terms, but I prefer to say it for lefties.

HD Screen and Sound

On the screen side, the Galaxy Note 8.0 takes more from the Galaxy Note 10.1 than from the Galaxy Note 2. Thus, it is not an OLED screen but a TFT type screen with a resolution of 1280×800 and “only ” 189dpi in density. We are a long way from the 2560×1600 of the Google Nexus 10. So there, you can ask yourself why Samsung did not choose a better resolution for its tablet? This is probably to continue to have a floor price. Still, we are at a time when everything should now be released with a minimum Full HD resolution. The successor to the Google Nexus 7 should soon show up with better resolution, just like the iPad mini. It's a shame Samsung didn't see fit to take the lead.

Next, to be honest, I found the screen to be relatively pleasing. Although I'm starting to get used to high screen densities, I wasn't bothered by the Galaxy Note 8.0's TFT screen, nor was the resolution which was enough for me in absolute terms. The colors felt natural to me and somehow, even though I have gray blacks, I prefer those colors to the overly saturated ones of an AMOLED display. TFT technology obliges, the viewing angles are not the best and it's normal to see the colors wash out when you are no longer in front of the screen. Likewise, I didn't have any particular problems in outdoor conditions, which pleasantly surprised me.

On the sound side, I can only advise you to use earphones or headphones as well as an external speaker because the speakers are barely worthy of those of a smartphone. Obviously, it can help you out for YouTube videos, but that will be all.

Use, Performance

As you know now, the Galaxy Note 8.0 offers you Android 4.1.2 with the famous TouchWiz overlay. The latter is obviously optimized for the S Pen and integrates some rather nice standard applications when you are a real stylus user, but we will come back to this later.

In the meantime, let's talk performance. We thus find a quad-core Exynos processor clocked at 1.6Ghz with 2GB of RAM and I have had no complaints about the performance, everything responds to the eye and it's nickel. Basically, we take a Galaxy Note 2 and stick an 8″ screen on it. If you were able to play with the Galaxy Note 10.1 which showed a very large number of software slowdowns, TouchWiz is now perfectly optimized and it is somewhere a step forward. For those who like numbers, we obviously launched the usual benchmarks and unsurprisingly, Samsung's Exynos is doing with honors except with 3D Mark where we don't know why, it doesn't work great or even not at all everything, we end up with the same results as the Galaxy S3 or the Galaxy Note 2.

Back to TouchWiz. It's starting to make a few products that Samsung's overlay hasn't changed too much, so we find what we already know about the other products in the Galaxy range, especially after the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Note 2. As for the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Korean brand has focused on software added value. We thus find the page dedicated to the creation of notes of all kinds as soon as you remove the S Pen but also all the software suite that we are beginning to know. I am thinking in particular of S Note, AllShare, ChatOn, AirView, MP3 player, S Planner, multi-windowing or even popup applications.

On the S Pen side, it reacts exactly like on the Galaxy Note 2 or even better in fact. Indeed, on the Note 2, I tended to find it too sensitive. Suddenly, when I wanted to write fly paws, it was almost impossible because the stylus was too sensitive. Samsung obviously fixed the problem and I had no issues with the Galaxy Note 8.0 smearing on the Galaxy Note 8.0. It is also more pleasant on a larger screen without forgetting that the Korean brand finally allows access to the two sensitive buttons with the stylus.

But that may be where the shoe pinches. Indeed, with the Galaxy Note 2, I used the stylus quite a bit, whereas on the Galaxy Note 8.0, I didn't use the S Pen that much. Maybe because it's only a tablet and you don't necessarily have the instantaneous side of the Note 2. It might have had another effect if I had a 3G version... And yet, I find the tablet very pleasant to use and apart from some content in US magazines, it often accompanies me on the move. Which reminds me of the fact that I used multi-windowing a lot more on this Galaxy Note 8.0 than on the Galaxy Note 2 or Galaxy S4.

For multimedia, of course, I had no performance issues and it was quite pleasant for videos, as well as for reading books. Note that Samsung has integrated a “Reading Mode”, supposed to optimize the screen for reading ebooks. Quite honestly, I didn't notice any noticeable difference...

Autonomy, APN and Visio

An APN on a tablet… Nah but hello what?!? (private joke) As a result, you can imagine, I didn't particularly dwell on the tablet's camera. It's a simple 5 Megapixel camera and when I say simple, I think it's the same sensor as the Galaxy Nexus. It is not even backlit, I would have liked to have nothing in this case and perhaps save a few tens of euros on the final price. We are far from what the iPad mini, iPad and iPod touch have recently offered. That's a shame.

For the video part, with a resolution of 1.3 Megapixels, I had no particular problems with Google Hangouts or Skype. Make sure you have a good light source anyway.

On the autonomy side, I sincerely thought that Samsung was going to offer at least or almost a similar autonomy to the competition which are all around 10 hours or even more for the iPad mini in my daily use. Well, I was disappointed on that side with autonomy in only 7h/8h. I haven't yet got into the habit of measuring everything, but FYI, it was mainly used around web browsing, social networks and reading ebooks. I played very little or watched videos with it. I know the screen can consume, even if you're just reading and the CPU is at its lowest, but still, I really expected more.

Conclusion

Samsung signs with the Galaxy Note 8.0 a successful tablet that should appeal to the most creative among you. I also think that it is in this form, with these performances, that the Galaxy Note 10.1 should have been released at the time. The S Pen reacts to the finger and the eye and the writing experience is always more pleasant than any stylus for capacitive screen.

My biggest concern comes from its positioning, especially with the shadow of a Galaxy Note 3 which should point the tip of its nose by next school year with the same size as the Galaxy Note 2 but with a 6″ screen and Full HD resolution. After that there is still this price that I find a little excessive when you see the Google Nexus 7 or the Apple iPad mini which shines thanks to its applications. The stylus is fine, there's nothing to say, but it's not necessarily the primary criterion when buying a tablet, which justifies its final score. Put an extra point if that's really what you're looking for.

Photo Gallery