Hey we're here in New York City at the Park Avenue Armory right after the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 unveiling.
I'm Scott Stein.
This is Jessica Dolcourt.
And we're gonna talk about the Note 8. So Jessica you used it.
I used it a little bit.
So this seems pretty similar to the S8 and the S8 plus.
But what are the key features here that make it worthwhile.
Yeah, I mean this phone really is a combination of last spring's Galaxy S8 plus.
And last year's Note 7. Because there was that double recall on that Note 7, there are a lot of features on this phone that people didn't actually get a chance to use.
Especially if they were still stuck on their Note 5s.
So what makes it really different from the S8+?
It's not really the size to be honest.
Its not things like the processor.
But there is a second camera on the back, and that's what you're going to be able to use to take portrait mode like Apple's iPhone 7 plus.
And then there's that S pen stylus that you can use to write, draw and navigate around.
So you really have to be like I think a fan of the Note series to get this phone over the S8 plus or maybe even the S8 which is a little bit cheaper.
And I like the idea of that stylus.
And I think the dual camera seems like a really useful feature.
Especially for getting that Adapt the field effect, which you can now do.
But at that expensive price comparatively to where the S8 and S8 Plus are now available for comparably less, is it really worth that step up?
I don't know.
I like the things you can do with the pen, like maybe spot translation.
Or the ability to bring up special customized apps.
But I don't know how much of a pen person I am.
Yeah, I mean I guess you won't know until you start.
You know, I mean if you were to buy it.
You would make it part of your routine.
And then I think you would come to either rely on it or come to decide that you don't really use it and it's not for you.
And in the past there have been other features beyond that have differentiated it.
That you wouldn't even need to use the pen and you would still feel like you had a completely fresh, different phone.
And with the exception of that second camera, I just don't know that that's really there.
This could backfire for Samsung or it could move in Samsung's favor for a number of reasons, especially based on price because we've got these other big phones coming out, right.
There are a lot, so yeah.
We're in the middle of a big phone season.
LG's got its phone, there's the next pixel phone The next iPhone.
So it sounds like a lot of the prices for these maybe increasing.
So is this gonna feel too expensive compare to the others?
Do you want to wait?
Is it gonna feel like the best future set?>> Right, exactly.
It might feel like the most powerful, most advance phone that you can buy on the market depending on what Apple brings to the table.>> Right.>> And also Google and LG.
We just don't know that yet.
Also really interesting for me is what Samsung is doing.
Samsung is actually acknowledging original Note 7 owners and giving them,
Great.
An opportunity to get the phone for less.
So whichever phone you have now, if you were to preorder the Note or buy the Note from Samsung's website specifically, then they'll give you an instant rebate on whichever phone that you have.
And it's pretty sizable.
So I was really excited to see that because I was really convinced that Samsung wasn't going to do anything, that that was it.
They had already said everything they were going to say about the Note 7 and they weren't going to make any other efforts to sort of put the whole Note 7 fire disaster behind it and I'm really glad that the company did and I'm hoping that You know, for the gun shy buyers, that that's enough for them to turn the tide if they just weren't sure.
It is an extra little incentive.
Well, that also brings the point for me like, how essential is the Note 8 at this point because it does feel like its feature set has creeped closer to the Galaxy line.
It's great for the Galaxy line but it just makes it feel more like an extension.
To the point if you opted for the Galaxy phones, the S8 and S8+, you wouldn't really miss all that much.
And so maybe they're trying to provide extra incentive there to consider this model as well.
Yeah.
And that's what they're doing for anybody who Preorder is the Note eight.
Right.
So, you can bundle or you can get a gift.
You have your choice of one or the other.
It's like the Gear 360 camera or a wireless charger and an extra micro-SD card for storage.
I do think also what's really interesting about this for Samsung is that they are competing against all these other phones that are coming.
Yeah, it's a lot.
This is a premium phone, something that they have traditionally done
Every single time but I feel like Samsung has played it safe.
Samsung has held back a little bit, I feel that opens the door to Apple, if Apple has like this real giant killer feature that we are all hoping for and expecting in its anniversary addition phone then what is that going to do to the Samsung and the Note 8, I understand why they held back and played safe, they can But at the sae time, is it exciting?
I don't know.
It's interesting, because Apple is talking all about AR with the iPhone, while Samsung's not talking about AR right now, but they are still bringing up VR, which requires its own new headset now to work with the Note 8.
So it looks so similar, I thought it was the same one, You get a slight variation upgrade, that's backwards compatible but you can take your old one and stick your Note 8 in it.
So that's frustrating but a full review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is in the works coming soon so stay tuned for that and more a lot of other phones here at CNET.
