Dual cameras in smartphones, especially when it comes to top models price category are now widely used.
What do dual cameras give in smartphones?
A long time ago, in the days of LG Optimus 3D/3D Max and HTC EVO 3D, dual cameras were used for stereoscopic (3D) surround shooting, but in modern smartphones their purpose is different.
The second rear camera, as a rule, has a different focal length and, accordingly, provides a different angle of view when shooting photos and videos.
It is noteworthy that in some devices, the additional camera has a wider viewing angle (smaller equivalent focal length), such a solution can be seen, for example, in the LG G5, G6. And in others, an additional camera provides a narrower angle of view (larger equivalent focal length). This option is implemented in the iPhone 7 Plus/8 Plus.
How an exception can be cited Huawei smartphones where the cameras have the same focal length.
In addition to the changed viewing angle, the presence of two cameras allows developers to implement the trendy background blur effect at a very high level today. Often this is used in portrait photography. An image with blur begins, in a certain way, to resemble a picture that can be obtained on serious cameras with large matrices (mirrorless and SLR cameras).
If speak about samsung galaxy Note8, here, as in the iPhone 7 Plus / 8 Plus, the additional camera has an increased focal length (2X zoom is provided).
Camera Samsung Galaxy Note8
When comparing the shooting capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy Note8 with others top smartphones Samsung, which appeared this year (speech in this case is about the hit Galaxy S8 and S8 +), the difference between them basically consists only in functions related to additional cameras oh Galaxy Note8.
Video modes (meaning a combination of resolution and shooting speed) in the Galaxy Note8 are good, but today the model is inferior to some competitors in these parameters.
The main benefit of an additional camera, which, by the way, is used for the first time in Samsung smartphones, is a better implementation of the background blur function.
If earlier Samsung smartphones It was possible to reproach for the far from perfect work of this function, then there are practically no complaints about the Galaxy Note8. Given the growing popularity of this "chip", the revision turned out to be relevant.
As for the double optical zoom, which is obtained due to differences in the focal lengths of the lenses of the main and additional cameras, then you should not bet on this feature. The differences in viewing angles are not so significant.
Latest iPhone models continues to disappoint experts and fans. The media is full of articles that understand iPhone problems X, as well as complaints about its high cost and disappointing comparative tests with competitor products.
The popular British edition of Express provides speed testing data for the latest released smartphones from Apple and Samsung. Internet LTE. We are talking about the flagship iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy Note 8, respectively. It turned out that mobile device from Samsung is generally out of competition and in a number of indicators leaves its competitor from Apple far behind. The fact is that Apple in the iPhone X abandoned some of the fast LTE technologies used by rival Samsung.
The iPhone X, which starts at 80,000 rubles on the Yandex Market, certainly supports modern 4G technologies, but is not capable of developing speeds comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Note in 8Gigabit LTE mode. Unlike Apple, Samsung has supported future generation technologies in its phones.
On YouTube channel user BooredAtWork clearly showed when testing the difference between the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in new LTE technologies.
The video clearly shows a big difference in download and upload speeds. So, Galaxy Note 8 is 2 times faster than iPhone X.
BooredAtWork in my test used mobile network T-Mobile in New York and San Jose. For example, during a test in New York, the iPhone X showed download / upload speeds of 30 Mbps at 44 Mbps. While the Galaxy Note 8 confidently provides download speeds of about 101 Mbps, and upload speeds of 42 Mbps.
As BooredAtWork emphasizes, given that the test was conducted using publicly available tools, the data may not be completely objective. But still, the latest flagship from the South Korean corporation confidently showed a higher download speed than its rival.
According to the information, Samsung is already working on a new device - Galaxy S9.
The Galaxy Note 8 is equipped with the same dual camera package as the iPhone X. This system has a secondary telephoto lens that allows you to create 2x optical zoom pictures. Both rear cameras support Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) for crisp photos, even in low light.
Samsung has also used dual cameras in its devices, which can artificially visualize the DSLR bokeh effect in a photo - a feature called Live Focus helps to highlight the subject thanks to a slightly blurred background.
The iPhone X also has similar functionality, but unlike the iPhone, Samsung can adjust the level of background blur after the photo has been taken.
In addition, the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus will likely boast improved facial recognition, which is of course important for security. However, while rumors about this, representatives of Samsung have not confirmed.
Also, Samsung specialists, according to unconfirmed reports, plan to release the Galaxy X. Presumably, new flagship will have a foldable OLED display. The new futuristic smartphone is rumored to fold down to the size of a tablet, so Samsung will create a new hybrid device that will take its place in the tablet-laptop segment.
It is expected that the Samsung Galaxy X, like its competitor from Apple, will be released in limited quantities.
Some sources say that Samsung will release a new flagship next year, first only in its home market.
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Samsung played things pretty safe regarding hardware. You could also argue that timing simply worked out this way. But, whichever way you cut it, the Note8 is based on the same duo of current top-end chips, like the S8 - the Exynos 8895 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835.
Before we get into any actual numbers and analysis, it is worth noting that both of these are efficient 10nm silicone, powerful enough to drive a flagship experience, with little to no compromises. That said you can expect both variants of the Note8 to chew through power-user tasks as intended.
Still, Samsung's official stance on all matters regarding performance variations remain unchanged. Namely, the Korean giant wants you to believe there are not. Besides not being feasible from a purely objective technical standpoint, we know for a fact that that is not the case with the US and non-US S8 units.
Both chips have a total of eight cores - a pretty standard setup. Qualcomm has its custom Kryo 280 cores working at 2.35 GHz. These do have a bit more wiggle room in terms of maximum frequency (2.45 GHz, as rated by Qualcomm), but this is what Samsung decided to go for. As for the Exynos 8895, it has four of redesigned M1 "Mongoose" V2 custom cores, clocked at 2.3 GHz and a less power-intensive cluster of four Cortex-A53 units, at 1.7 GHz.
There are some differences in the graphics department as well: an Adreno 540 on the Snapdragon 835 and a Mali-G71 MP20 on the Exynos 8895.
As far as some other interesting comparisons go, we lined up some of the company's older flagships, like the S7 edge and the Note5. We also included the Note7, regardless of its demise. So, we can get a pretty good idea of performance variances throughout the years on both the Snapdragon and Exynos fronts.
We also have a selection of current flagships from other manufacturers, most running on the Snapdragon 835 chip. This makes for a good potential optimization comparison. Naturally, we threw in Huawei's Kirin 960 chip in the mix, as well as the older Snapdragon 821. The LG G6 and Google Pixel XL are still selling quite well with it on board.
Kicking things off with some pure CPU performance numbers and GeekBench 4 in particular, we find the Exynos-powered Note8 out-inch its S8 siblings by only a few points in multi-core. The difference is a bit more noticeable between the Snapdragon 835 inside the phablet and the S8+. This does indicate that the Korean giant is clearly working hard to minimize the performance delta between the two chips.
Higher is better
Single-core runs on GeekBench 4.1 paints a very identical picture. Even looking as far down as the Snapdragon 821 inside the LG G6, performance variances just aren't all that significant.
Higher is better
On to more compound benchmarks and Basemark OS II 2.0. We can see clearly a lot of Snapdragon inclination here as well. The US Note8 does appear to make up quite a few points here, but do bear in mind that this is a really old benchmark platform, no longer equipped to properly handle new types of loads. In modern Android terms, the Exynos 8895 does objectively handle loads better and more efficiently.
Higher is better
AnTuTu 6 seems to favor the Snapdragon variant as well. However, we are happy to see that the differences are really small, meaning we can safely rule out any major substitutions in the flash storage department either. Both units we tested have 64GB chips, which appear to be equally snappy.
Higher is better
The Mali-G71 MP20 and Adreno 540, driving graphics inside the Exynos 8895 and Snapdragon 835, respectively have always had their differences. Back when the S8 was unveiled and went through our review procedure, we discovered a rather significant drop in performance in the Adreno 540. We never quite put our finger on the cause back then, but we did naturally expect the situation with the Note8 to be identical.
Higher is better
Higher is better
However, new numbers make it clear that something has changed big time. In most OpenGL 3.0 and 3.1 loads, the Mali-G71 MP20 seems to do better at pushing pixels on screen. However, the Adreno 540 consistently showed higher frame rates off-screen - pretty inconsistent with what we observed on the S8 pair.
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
Differences start to shrink more and more with more demanding GPU loads, two things remain consistent - the Mali-G71 MP20 seems to perform predictably in the S8, S8+ and Note8, while the Adreno 540 in the Note8 does noticeably better than the on inside the S8 pair.
Higher is better
Digging a bit deeper, we think we finally reached the route of the problem. According to official specs, the Adreno 540 should have a maximum clock frequency of 710 MHz. The one inside our US Note8 unit does indeed, match that speed. However, our S8+ Snapdragon unit is capped 40 Mhz lower at 670 Mhz.
Higher is better
To be frank, the difference in GPU clock speed is a new discovery for us, but it concerns the Snapdragon 835 models of the S8 and S8+ rather than the Note8.
The key takeaway here is that the GPU performance variance between the two Note8 chipset variants is now smaller than ever.
All things considered, the only problem we really had with the Note8, while using it as a gaming platform had to do with ergonomics, rather than performance. In its quest to abolish bezels, Samsung has left a pretty limited area for you to rest your fingers on when holding the phone horizontally. To mitigate this, the OS offers a special edge touch rejection while in game. It works pretty well and only leaves the user with the task to overcome any residual tendency to shy away from gripping the screen.
Granted, the less curvy panel on the Note8 and slightly more grippy sides do make for better horizontal handling overall. Well, at least a bit.
The specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 have improved markedly compared to the 2016 smartphone. First of all, the improvements affected the computing power of the device.
With the advent Note line it differed primarily in the size of the displays. However, subsequently the screens of smartphones grew and the difference de facto disappeared between the top S and Note. However, the manufacturer still needed to somehow separate the devices on the market, so the Note had to be improved.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 received a processor Samsung Exynos 8895 which has 8 cores. Four cores are represented by Exynos M2's own modified architecture and have a frequency of 2.3 GHz. The second half is Cortex-A53 with increased 1.7 GHz. Such nuclei are less expensive smartphones are used as a productive cluster, here they perform an “economical” role.
The Mali-G71 graphics are by far the best that ARM has.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 received an increased volume random access memory. Now it's 6 GB, which makes it easy to compete with Chinese offerings. There are also several storage options, up to 256 GB. Samsung released such versions of the Galaxy S8+ specifically for the Chinese market.
The device supports most latest versions wireless communications. It's about and about Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and about Bluetooth 5.0, and about LTE of the 16th category, which practically reaches the gigabit frontier of mobile data transfer.
The screen has increased only slightly: from 6.2 to 6.3 inches. Formally, its clarity has decreased, but in reality, at 500 ppi and above, the human eye will not notice the difference.
The dual camera with optical zoom and 4K video recording is new and probably the main feature for Note 8, not counting the stylus. But we have seen this in all incarnations of the apparatus, and the camera - for the first time.
The battery capacity is a little confusing. 3300 mAh for such frequencies seems not enough. But let's see how the device performs in tests. Let's not forget what the attempt to maximize the battery in Note 7 led to.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has few rivals. It is logical that they will be Samsung Galaxy S8 +. The results should be very close.
There is parity in the Basemark benchmarks. But the Galaxy S8+ is still slightly faster.
The browser rendering test shows that the Galaxy S8+ is still slightly faster.
In 3D graphics, the Galaxy Note 8 takes its toll with plenty of RAM.
In Antutu, the Galaxy S8+ earns more points, but the difference is minimal, so it can be associated with the difference in Android versions. We received the Note 8 with Android 7.1.1 out of the box.
Now let's evaluate autonomy. As usual, we did a number of actions imitating a not very active user: some videos, some music, reading books, browsing websites, making calls.
After the test, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 had 81% of the charge left, the Galaxy S8+ had 83%. The difference is small, but Note 8 still consumes a little more. At the same time, we note that for such a sophisticated gadget, in general, the result is excellent, that is, the device is guaranteed to last a day under heavy load, and if you use it without fanaticism, you will not have to plug it into the outlet every day.
A major contributor to the power consumption of the Galaxy Note 8 is, of course, the large OLED screen. It can be seen that as soon as it turns on, the consumption grows. This is especially noticeable when reading. Typically, smartphones at this point have an energy consumption of no more than 1%. Also, the Always One display still consumes something, so there is a charge consumption in standby mode, albeit a small one.
Energy saving is managed in the Optimization item of the smartphone settings menu. You can also get there from the Edge panel, which slides out to the right when you tap on the curved part of the display, if such a panel is activated in the Edge settings.
There are two power saving modes, each of them is configurable and has its own parameters. You can further reduce the load on the GPU by changing the resolution in the screen settings.
In addition, you can configure applications that will have permissions to run in the background. In the same way, you can prevent certain software from working in the background and updating.
In games, we expect the Galaxy Note 8 to perform at its best. Everyone should work well.
No game has been able to make the Galaxy Note 8 even stumble. Everything is just fine.
The S Pen stylus is the hallmark of the Galaxy Note line. The pen recognizes 4096 degrees of pressure and glides across the screen with ease. There is no feeling that you are scratching on glass: the movements are natural and smooth.
Why do you need an S Pen? Draw, write down reminders, make notes on the photo. Drawing with a pen is faster and more convenient than with a finger.
You can also draw notes on the lock screen. We take out the S Pen, press the button on the side and quickly write “Feed the Barsik”. The reminder flies into notes, or remains on the lock screen - so that you do not forget about Barsik.
And no, the stylus will not get stuck if you insert it into your smartphone with the back side. And yes, following the trends, S Pen is not afraid of water. Suddenly you feel like writing a note in the pool or in the rain?
New S Pen features - Live Messages and Translation. How the first works, you saw at the beginning of the review. Translation works like this:
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In two weeks of working with Note 8, the stylus came in handy twice: draw a route on the map and translate one word in Instagram. This does not mean that the S Pen is a bad thing. Creative and business people will find use for it: it is responsive and handy tool for drawing and work. But most people just don't need it.
Samsung equipped its flagship with a dual camera for the first time, and was the first in the world to add optical stabilization to both modules. Now you can shoot smooth videos and sharp photos not only in normal mode, but also with 2x optical zoom.
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Scroll through the gallery to evaluate the quality of the photo in different lighting conditions and different modes shooting.In our opinion, this is one of best cameras to date. In poor lighting, only HTC U11 () can compete. We are waiting for an early response from LG V30, iPhone 8 and Google Pixel 2.
The main camera is wide-angle, with a focal length of 26mm and f/1.7 aperture. The second is a "narrow" tele-camera with 52 mm. This roughly corresponds to the field of view of the human eye, so it is also suitable for shooting portraits without perspective distortion. Both modules have a resolution of 12 megapixels.
Maximum blur
No blur
Move the slider left and right to see the difference.Optical zoom is available on many smartphones, such as the iPhone 7 Plus. But very tricky: when there is little light, the smartphone closes the “narrow” camera and shoots at the first, faster one. And it brings the object closer not with optical, but with digital zoom. Because of this, detail drops.
Thanks to optical stabilization and the relatively high aperture of the second camera (f / 2.4), Galaxy Note 8 continues to shoot on it. Therefore, noise and smearing is much less.
And this is how the Galaxy Note 8 (left) and iPhone 7 Plus (right) take portraits in the dark:
This is not to say that the “one-year-old” iPhone 7 Plus loses to the Galaxy Note 8. Both make mistakes with the blurring of small, monochromatic details. The iPhone produces better detail, but the trade-off is graininess in the picture.
Let's not forget that Apple had a year to improve processing algorithms, and two weeks have passed since the announcement of the Galaxy Note 8.
The front camera of the Galaxy Note 8 is f / 1.7 in terms of aperture as the main one, with a resolution of 8 megapixels. There is autofocus. In good light, the quality is excellent, in the dark it is conspicuously low dynamic range. You can shoot 1440p video at 30fps.
Not for long samsung display Galaxy S8 Plus was considered the best in the world: experts from DisplayMate champion the title of Galaxy Note 8. Its screen is 22% brighter, viewing angles are larger, and colors are more correct.
It's hard to feel the difference, but the Galaxy Note 8's display produces a stunning picture even under "hard" lighting - an undeniable fact. Colors span the entire DCI-P3 gamut and support for HDR10 with wide dynamic range.
Galaxy Note 8 screen "infinite", that is, with thin bezels and an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. Therefore, the 6.3-inch diagonal does not sound like a sentence: typing and taking pictures with one hand is real.
What Samsung without the Always On feature? She is here too. This is when the time and notification icons are highlighted on the lock screen, and the battery is not wasted. In theory. In fact, 8-10% per day "eats", keep in mind.
Externally, the Galaxy Note 8 is a strict, serious version of . Square corners and flat edges have replaced smooth contours. At the same time, Note 8 has not lost its charm and charm.
The device is protected from water according to the IP68 standard, even when the S Pen is removed from the smartphone. If the liquid flows into the groove - it's not scary. Have you ever wanted to draw pictures in the rain or by the sea? Dare!
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (6.3 inches) is taller and narrower than the Apple iPhone 7 Plus (5.5 inches). Therefore, it is more convenient to hold it.
Many argue that the Galaxy Note 8 is more grippy than the S8 Plus. In fact, there is no difference - both are huge. The scanner is still high, it is inconvenient to reach for it, and given the length of the smartphone, it is dangerous.
You have to intercept the device in your hand, which is not so scary: the Galaxy Note 8 “sticks” to your fingers quite well, despite the all-glass case made of Gorilla Glass 5. The glass is not afraid of small scratches, but it will not save you from cracks when dropped.
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See the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 from every angleAnother way to unlock is by iris. True, people in the metro begin to look strange when, after 2-3 attempts, you lift your smartphone high and bulge your eyes, looking at the screen.
6 GB of RAM in the Galaxy Note 8 and 4 GB in the Galaxy S8 Plus. That's the whole difference in the "iron". The extra 2 GB will keep more applications running, but this does not affect the power in any way. Built-in memory can be 64, 128 or 256 GB.
In Russia and Europe, a version with a Samsung Exynos 8895 processor will be sold, in the USA - with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. Both are eight-core, both are made using an energy-efficient 10-nanometer process. We have a European version on the test, and here are its results in benchmarks:
In games, the smartphone practically does not heat up. WoT: Blitz on high graphics settings gave the maximum possible frame rate - 55-60. We switched the screen resolution from Full HD to Quad HD - the game “dipped” a couple of times to 40 fps, which is also not bad.
With other "heavy" games in order: Asphalt Extreme, Dead Trigger 2 and Guns of Boom never lag. So business people - namely, they are designed Galaxy Note 8 - will be able to come off during a break. The interface works smoothly, as befits a flagship.
During the test, the Internet behaved strangely: sometimes the connection “fell off”, when leaving the building I could not switch from 2G to 4G for a long time, and most often I did not catch 2G in the metro. On the test Galaxy S8 Plus, this was not the case. We hope that this will not happen on the Galaxy Note 8 with the final firmware.
The sound quality in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is no different from the Galaxy S8 Plus. One of the best among smartphones, but not the best: HTC U11 is currently in the lead.
The Galaxy Note 8 boasts a Wolfson DAC, a decent AKG headset in the box, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Samsung has not yet succumbed to the provocations of Apple and HTC, who have abandoned the jack. And this is good.
Alas, stereo speakers were not delivered to the Galaxy Note 8. For two, one speaker on the lower edge is blown off, and it turns out well for him: the volume margin is large, at the maximum the sound does not turn into mush.
Out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and the company promises to roll it out by the end of autumn. android update 8.0 oreo. On top of the system is Samsung's proprietary shell.
The interface looks neat and spacious, most of the settings are really useful. But there are so many of them that, most likely, you will never use half.
The double icon at the bottom is called App Pair. By clicking on it, the screen is divided into two parts, in each of which the program is running. You can create any pair.
Samsung does not leave hope for the success of Bixby and promotes its intelligent assistant. I even singled out a separate button on the case. Bixby does not yet understand the Russian language, so feel free to assign Google Assistant or any other application to this button. For example, through bxActions.
The burning batteries of the Galaxy Note 7 forced Samsung to play it safe with the batteries in the Note 8. The capacity was reduced to 3300 mAh, and from now on, each batch passes a multi-stage control. Let me remind you that the Galaxy S8 Plus has a 3500 mAh battery.
For a smartphone, where the main charge item is the screen, the loss of 200 mAh is noticeable. The Galaxy S8 Plus worked for me from morning to 12 at night, and the Galaxy Note 8 went to charge at 9 pm. The screen time has also dropped: from 5.5-6 hours on the Galaxy S8 Plus to 4.5 hours on the Galaxy Note 8.
The drop in survivability is confirmed by tests. We played Full HD videos at maximum brightness until the battery was depleted, charged again to 100% and did the same with the Subway Surfers game. What happened in the end, and how competitors showed themselves - look at the graph:
From the flagship for 70 thousand rubles you expect maximum opportunities - and Galaxy Note 8 gives them. In addition to maximum autonomy. And she plays an important role. Especially in a smartphone, which is "sharpened" for work, communication, games and media content.
The pill will be sweetened quickly wireless charger and fast wired using Qualcomm Quickcharge 3.0 technology. Half an hour at the outlet, and the battery will last for 3-4 hours. Charging from 0 to 100% will take 1 hour 41 minutes.
The Galaxy Note 8 will be fought either by new flagships or devices from the near future - the iPhone 8, which will be shown on September 12, and the Google Pixel 2.
The LG V30 has already entered the fray. It also has an elongated display with thin bezels and dual camera, only instead of zoom - wide angle. The main module received optics with f / 1.6 aperture. In addition, the LG V30 is much more profitable: $750 versus $930 for the Galaxy Note 8. Sales start on September 21 - a day earlier than the Samsung flagship.
Now the main rival of the Galaxy Note 8 is its fellow - Galaxy S8 Plus (
