Note 8 vs S8 plus

Samsung has done it again. Having supersized the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus earlier this year, the company has somehow made the Galaxy Note 8 even bigger. It has also supersized the Galaxy Note 8’s price tag, so what are the differences between it and the larger Galaxy S8 Plus and is it worth the (spoiler) significant price premium? Let’s break it down.Yes, it shouldn’t explode. Let’s just get that ‘difference’ out the way at the start)

  Galaxy Note 8 (left), Galaxy S8 Plus (right)

Displays

• Galaxy Note 8 - 6.3-inch, 18.5:9 aspect ratio, Super AMOLED, 1440 x 2960 pixels (521 ppi pixel density), 83.2% screen-to-body ratio, HDR10 compliant, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
• Galaxy S8 Plus - 6.2-inch, 18.5:9 aspect ratio,  Super AMOLED, 1440 x 2960 pixels (529 ppi pixel density), 84% screen-to-body ratio, HDR10 compliant, Corning Gorilla Glass 5  

Samsung has managed to fit an even larger ‘Infinity Display’ into the Galaxy Note 8 than the Galaxy S8 Plus, making it the biggest panel the company has ever put into a premium smartphone. It is also 0.6-inches bigger than the display in the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7.

Design & Size - Similar

Put the Galaxy Note 8 beside the Galaxy S8 Plus and it is hard to tell them apart. Both share the same come aesthetic with glass backs, Infinity Displays and an aluminium chassis. Though look closer and the Galaxy Note 8 is noticeably bigger:

• Galaxy Note 8 - 162.5 x 74.8 x 8.6 mm (6.40 x 2.94 x 0.34 in), 195 g (6.88 oz)
• Galaxy S8 Plus - 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm (6.00 x 3.09 x 0.31-inch), 173g (6.10 oz)

Despite the 0.1-inch difference in their screen size the Galaxy Note 8 is 12% heavier as well as being taller, wider and thicker. It is also 40g heavier than the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8. This is a big phone.

Cameras - Doubles Up

Let’s start with what hasn’t changed. Both the front facing camera (complete with hit and miss iris scanner) and primary rear camera are identical to the Galaxy S8 Plus:

• Front - 8MP, f/1.7, autofocus, 1/3.6" sensor size, 1.22 µm pixel size, 1440p@30fps, dual video call, Auto HDR
• Rear - 12 MP, f/1.7, autofocus, 1/2.5" sensor size, 1.4 µm pixel size, 4K video recording, OIS, Auto HDR, LED flash

But there is a second camera on the back (12MP, f/2.4, OIS) which provides the Galaxy Note 8 with a 2x optical zoom and a bunch of party tricks.

Performance - RAMs Home Advantage

Like so many aspect of the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, what sits behind these phones is again almost identical (and different by geography):

• Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8 Plus (US) - Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 octa-core chipset (4x 2.35GHz and 4x 1.9GHz Kryo CPUs), Adreno 540 GPU
• Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8 Plus (Europe and Asia) - Exynos 8895 (4x 2.3 GHz & 4x 1.7 GHz CPUs), ARM Mali-G71 MP20 GPU

The difference is the Galaxy Note 8 has 6GB of RAM, 50% more than the 4GB inside the Galaxy S8 Plus. Samsung is not making a big deal about this (some limited editions of the Galaxy S8 Plus can be found outside the US with 6GB of RAM) but it should improve multitasking because more apps can be held (and therefore quickly resumed) in memory.

Rest the phone is unchanged for the S8 plus.

Some new S-pen features that the Note 8 offers.

Battery Life - A Backwards Step

Understandably Samsung does not want its phones to explode in 2017, which is why it has been more conservative with its battery capacities this year. That continues with the Galaxy Note 8.

So while the Galaxy Note 7 had an incendiary 3500 mAh battery, the Galaxy Note 8 has downgraded this to 3300 mAh, despite being a bigger phone and despite sporting a much larger display (screens are still the number one consumer of battery life). Furthermore the Galaxy S8 Plus has a 3500 mAh battery.

Why is the Galaxy Note 8 left behind? Once again this is to accommodate its famous stylus. And Samsung has confirmed you shouldn’t expect the Galaxy Note 8 to match the Galaxy S8 Plus for stamina.

expensive, but the Galaxy Note 8 is a very impressive smartphone