To give a base to this whole thing, let me get my history out of the way first. Please don't be turned off by the first few lines. 
I?ve owned every iPhone and iPad in every generation. I loved them all. They?re beautiful and they work great. I never found myself thinking, ?If only I could do X it?d be perfect.? If I had to characterize myself I?d say I?m platform agnostic but the majority of my device history is Apple. Anyway, the iPhones were all great but the recent onslaught of flagship Android phones had my gadget lust pegged and I had to try a few.
Way back when, I cut my teeth on Android with the Nexus One. I loved that phone and it colored my preferences for Android devices to this day. My preference is always vanilla Android. If I can?t get that on the device I want then the bevy of launchers available makes at least the feel of vanilla possible. I owned a Day 1 Nexus 7 and sold it a couple months later. Then last month in a trade for my iPhone 5, I got cash and a basically new Nexus 7. The guy never used it so it looks like it?s right out of the box. It?s still a great device if not just a bit slow at times. I?ve owned numerous BlackBerry devices (I still miss the 9900, a truly elegant device) and even a Samsung Focus Windows Phone. I?m a bit obsessive and have to try everything. I?m sure you can relate. My recent Android history includes the HTC One X and Galaxy Note 2 as well as briefly owning and returning a Kindle Fire HD and Nook HD+. It was with those two phones, though, where I saw how far Android had come. I had used my Mom?s old DROID 2 and needless to say it left a bad taste in my mouth. Even CM7 couldn?t save it. But no matter what I tried, I always ended up back on iPhone and iPad. I always recommended (and still do) iPhones and iPads to my friends and family. Most of them are not as technology-centric as we are so having something that works easily is what they need. But that?s not why I?m here.
Then I saw the HTC One. It was love at first sight. I did all my usual research and took the plunge. Long story short, I now use a One running TrickDroid 1.0 GE as my daily driver. I?ve had it for a little over two months and it?s probably my favorite phone ever. The addition of the TrickDroid ROM really put it over the edge. I?m looking forward to the official HTC GE ROM being released because there are a couple tiny bugs I?m dealing with but nothing remotely close to unstable. As far as I know those same bugs will be there in the official release so don?t take that as a slam against TrickDroid.
Now to the Galaxy Note 8.0. Let me preface this by admitting I?m not a Samsung fan and it has NOTHING to do with plastic. I know that?s not a good start for ?showing some Note 8 love? but hear me out. TouchWiz wastes so much space (as does Sense, to be fair? I?ll never understand the 4x4 grid; these phones today can do 5x5 easily and look so much better; I guess that?s what 3rd party launchers are for). Their iPhone commercials also left a bad taste in my mouth. You make great devices; show everyone why the device is great (hint: Beam isn?t what makes them great). The only thing I got out of those commercials is that TONS of people buy iPhones and you can share by bumping your phones together. How many people do that? My wife and I still make fun of the end ?Mmmyep, simple as that!? as we bump our phones into the display models at Best Buy. Different strokes, people, don?t judge what entertains us, lol. You know my favorite Samsung commercials? The ones for the Galaxy Note 2. Those were good. They showed the device being used and had only small digs at the competition. Good balance. As I said before, I owned a Galaxy Note 2 and really loved the phone once I put a new launcher on it. It was just too big for use as a phone. What I really loved was the S Pen and have missed it since. So that leads to when I picked up my Note 8 about a week ago. I know it?s the Note 8.0 but I?m not typing 8.0 every time, forgive me.
The Note 8 is impressive. I?ve been using it alongside my iPad mini this past week and it has finally convinced me I can cut the umbilical. I?m selling the iPad mini. Someone on another thread pointed out reviewers skimming over the iPad mini?s 1024x768 screen and blasting the Note 8 for its 1280x800 resolution. Look, Apple is a media darling and quite frankly they make great products. The mini was a compromise. They couldn?t power a Retina display and keep it that thin so they compromised. Rene posted some great stuff about that on iMore. Samsung, however, has put an absolutely great display in this Note 8. Honestly, I was questioning the resolution after being so used to the beautiful screen on my HTC One. However instead of believing what I read, I went to Best Buy and used it. The screen is perfectly fine. My only niggle has been reading text in Falcon Pro. It looks fantastic on my HTC One (does it have an abbreviation? I know we used HOX for the One X but talking about how sleek and beautiful my HO is just doesn?t sound right). Falcon Pro?s design language begs for a hi-res screen so I can?t fault the Note 8 here. I?m still amazed every time I play Temple Run 2 or Temple Run Oz. The graphics are beautiful for such a ?simple? game. Speaking of Temple Run 2, set to the highest quality the game?s frame rate NEVER drops on my Note 8. On the One it?ll skip now and then and of course I slam into a tree or go flying off a cliff every time. I don?t do any hardcore gaming on my tablets but I?m tempted now just to see what this thing can do (any suggestions from you big gamers?). I?m thoroughly impressed by the Exynos processor. As much as I love my One, I?m dying to see the Note 3. I know I said the Note 2 was too big but the Note 8 now has me wondering if I can make the trade-off.
So the screen is great, the CPU is fantastic and performance is wonderful. Arguably, when it comes to a tablet, those are the biggest dealbreakers. That leads me into the Note line?s biggest selling point, IMO, the S Pen. I always envisioned using my iPad mini to take notes in meetings at work, but no matter which stylus I used it was not a good experience. I even found a cloth stylus that glided on the screen easily but it still wasn?t precise enough for notes. This week I used my Note 8 to take notes during a training session and I was truly impressed. The S Pen is perfect. I took 7 pages of notes and then emailed them to myself in PDF format. True productivity. I?m curious to keep trying new things with it. Given that it?s only been a week I?m sure I haven?t scratched the surface. Please feel free to add any cool uses you?ve found to this thread. I can?t wait to keep going with this great device.
If something else strikes me I?ll come back and post an update but for now I?m excited to see what else I can do with my Note 8 and can?t wait to see what the future variants hold in store. If you made it to the end of my spiel, thanks for staying tuned. I appreciate it!
I?ve owned every iPhone and iPad in every generation. I loved them all. They?re beautiful and they work great. I never found myself thinking, ?If only I could do X it?d be perfect.? If I had to characterize myself I?d say I?m platform agnostic but the majority of my device history is Apple. Anyway, the iPhones were all great but the recent onslaught of flagship Android phones had my gadget lust pegged and I had to try a few. Way back when, I cut my teeth on Android with the Nexus One. I loved that phone and it colored my preferences for Android devices to this day. My preference is always vanilla Android. If I can?t get that on the device I want then the bevy of launchers available makes at least the feel of vanilla possible. I owned a Day 1 Nexus 7 and sold it a couple months later. Then last month in a trade for my iPhone 5, I got cash and a basically new Nexus 7. The guy never used it so it looks like it?s right out of the box. It?s still a great device if not just a bit slow at times. I?ve owned numerous BlackBerry devices (I still miss the 9900, a truly elegant device) and even a Samsung Focus Windows Phone. I?m a bit obsessive and have to try everything.
I?m sure you can relate. My recent Android history includes the HTC One X and Galaxy Note 2 as well as briefly owning and returning a Kindle Fire HD and Nook HD+. It was with those two phones, though, where I saw how far Android had come. I had used my Mom?s old DROID 2 and needless to say it left a bad taste in my mouth. Even CM7 couldn?t save it. But no matter what I tried, I always ended up back on iPhone and iPad. I always recommended (and still do) iPhones and iPads to my friends and family. Most of them are not as technology-centric as we are so having something that works easily is what they need. But that?s not why I?m here.Then I saw the HTC One. It was love at first sight. I did all my usual research and took the plunge. Long story short, I now use a One running TrickDroid 1.0 GE as my daily driver. I?ve had it for a little over two months and it?s probably my favorite phone ever. The addition of the TrickDroid ROM really put it over the edge. I?m looking forward to the official HTC GE ROM being released because there are a couple tiny bugs I?m dealing with but nothing remotely close to unstable. As far as I know those same bugs will be there in the official release so don?t take that as a slam against TrickDroid.
Now to the Galaxy Note 8.0. Let me preface this by admitting I?m not a Samsung fan and it has NOTHING to do with plastic. I know that?s not a good start for ?showing some Note 8 love? but hear me out. TouchWiz wastes so much space (as does Sense, to be fair? I?ll never understand the 4x4 grid; these phones today can do 5x5 easily and look so much better; I guess that?s what 3rd party launchers are for). Their iPhone commercials also left a bad taste in my mouth. You make great devices; show everyone why the device is great (hint: Beam isn?t what makes them great). The only thing I got out of those commercials is that TONS of people buy iPhones and you can share by bumping your phones together. How many people do that? My wife and I still make fun of the end ?Mmmyep, simple as that!? as we bump our phones into the display models at Best Buy. Different strokes, people, don?t judge what entertains us, lol. You know my favorite Samsung commercials? The ones for the Galaxy Note 2. Those were good. They showed the device being used and had only small digs at the competition. Good balance. As I said before, I owned a Galaxy Note 2 and really loved the phone once I put a new launcher on it. It was just too big for use as a phone. What I really loved was the S Pen and have missed it since. So that leads to when I picked up my Note 8 about a week ago. I know it?s the Note 8.0 but I?m not typing 8.0 every time, forgive me.
The Note 8 is impressive. I?ve been using it alongside my iPad mini this past week and it has finally convinced me I can cut the umbilical. I?m selling the iPad mini. Someone on another thread pointed out reviewers skimming over the iPad mini?s 1024x768 screen and blasting the Note 8 for its 1280x800 resolution. Look, Apple is a media darling and quite frankly they make great products. The mini was a compromise. They couldn?t power a Retina display and keep it that thin so they compromised. Rene posted some great stuff about that on iMore. Samsung, however, has put an absolutely great display in this Note 8. Honestly, I was questioning the resolution after being so used to the beautiful screen on my HTC One. However instead of believing what I read, I went to Best Buy and used it. The screen is perfectly fine. My only niggle has been reading text in Falcon Pro. It looks fantastic on my HTC One (does it have an abbreviation? I know we used HOX for the One X but talking about how sleek and beautiful my HO is just doesn?t sound right). Falcon Pro?s design language begs for a hi-res screen so I can?t fault the Note 8 here. I?m still amazed every time I play Temple Run 2 or Temple Run Oz. The graphics are beautiful for such a ?simple? game. Speaking of Temple Run 2, set to the highest quality the game?s frame rate NEVER drops on my Note 8. On the One it?ll skip now and then and of course I slam into a tree or go flying off a cliff every time. I don?t do any hardcore gaming on my tablets but I?m tempted now just to see what this thing can do (any suggestions from you big gamers?). I?m thoroughly impressed by the Exynos processor. As much as I love my One, I?m dying to see the Note 3. I know I said the Note 2 was too big but the Note 8 now has me wondering if I can make the trade-off.
So the screen is great, the CPU is fantastic and performance is wonderful. Arguably, when it comes to a tablet, those are the biggest dealbreakers. That leads me into the Note line?s biggest selling point, IMO, the S Pen. I always envisioned using my iPad mini to take notes in meetings at work, but no matter which stylus I used it was not a good experience. I even found a cloth stylus that glided on the screen easily but it still wasn?t precise enough for notes. This week I used my Note 8 to take notes during a training session and I was truly impressed. The S Pen is perfect. I took 7 pages of notes and then emailed them to myself in PDF format. True productivity. I?m curious to keep trying new things with it. Given that it?s only been a week I?m sure I haven?t scratched the surface. Please feel free to add any cool uses you?ve found to this thread. I can?t wait to keep going with this great device.
If something else strikes me I?ll come back and post an update but for now I?m excited to see what else I can do with my Note 8 and can?t wait to see what the future variants hold in store.
If you made it to the end of my spiel, thanks for staying tuned. I appreciate it!
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