Samsung’s new Galaxy Note8 smartphone offers a few things that should please longtime fans of the company’s Note phones: high-performing cameras; a big, beautiful display; and a sensitive, versatile stylus
Those features, along with overall strong test results, were enough to lift the Note8 to near the top of Consumer Reports’ smartphone rankings. It’s up to consumers to decide whether they can erase bad memories of the Note7, which Samsung had to recall last year because of a series of battery fires
The Note8, which starts at $930, is the most recent in Samsung’s line of extra-large phones known as “phablets.” Its 6.3-inch screen is one of the biggest you can buy. Combine that screen acreage with the included stylus and you have a phone that feels like an actual notepad, ready for quick handwritten notes or just doodling
Inside that big package is a big battery—though it’s slightly smaller than the one in the Samsung Galaxy S8+—one that provides the phone with 24.5 hours of juice in Consumer Reports testing. That’s one of the highest figures for any phone
“Overall, the Note8 falls near the top of our smartphone ratings and looks to be a solid top performer for Samsung,” says Richard Fisco, Consumer Reports’ head of smartphone testing
Long-Lasting Battery
Battery life matters a lot in a device that helps you run your life
To test smartphone batteries, the lab uses a robotic arm that simulates what a person would do if he or she were using the phone throughout an average day. It surfs the internet, takes pictures, uses the GPS navigation and, of course, makes phone calls
The Note8’s battery is slightly smaller than the ill-fated Note7 battery, and it’s also slightly smaller than the one in the S8+. But what really matters isn’t a battery’s size, but how long it keeps a smartphone running. The Note8’s battery clocked in at 24.5 hours in CR testing. That’s just below the 26 hours that both Galaxy S8 phones lasted, but the Note8 still has one of the top battery-test results in our ratings
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