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Sony Xperia SP review (video)

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Sony is back in the game, that much is for sure. Not only has the storied Japanese company made its first profit in five years, but the Xperia Z and Xperia Tablet Z have been hailed as masterpieces of industrial design and praised for their user experience.

But Sony isn’t just focusing on the high-end market. Plenty of people look for attractively-priced devices with decent specs, and Sony isn’t ready to ignore such an important demographic.

Enter the Sony Xperia SP, a mid-ranger that looks great, at least on paper. But will customers agree? As usual, we take a look at the Sony Xperia SP’s design, specifications, features, and software. In a hurry? Jump straight to the video review.

Design: a consummate Xperia with a gleam of light

From the first glance it’s easy to tell that the SP is a true Xperia. The phone retains the rectangular corners and flat sides of its more expensive siblings, but has a few twists that make it stand out. On the front, Sony opted for its typically minimalist appearance – the front of the SP is the screen and nothing else.

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On the side, the distinctive silver power button makes an appearance, along with a volume rocker and a dedicated camera shutter button.

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The Xperia SP has a solid, hefty feeling to it, conferred by the aluminum frame that runs along its edges. However, at 10 millimeters and 155 grams, it may be too thick and hefty for some users. On the back, you get the 8MP camera, surrounded by a plastic removable cover with a matter finish that helps with the grip.

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The XP’s most distinctive design feature is the transparent strip of plastic on its bottom, which diffuses the colored LED notifications or lights up in rhythm when music plays on the phone. It may not be much, but this little feature is enough to make the Xperia SP stand out from a sea of drab mid-rangers.

sony xperia sp led light aa

At the end of the day, the Xperia SP is a balanced, well designed Sony device, that we think most users will enjoy, as long as they’re okay with its slightly bulky profile.

720p is so last year… or not?

The wave of Full HD devices that hit the market starting with late 2012 means that, for many people, a high-end device needs to have a 1080p panel. All Android smartphones that we consider high-end right now have that configuration. Where does that leave a 4.7-inch 720p device like the Xperia SP? Squarely in the mid-range category, but that doesn’t mean that the display of the SP should be dismissed as outdated.

Because it’s slightly smaller than the Xperia Z, the Xperia SP has a pretty good pixel density at 319ppi. For the record, that’s only slightly lower than what Apple calls Retina, but way lower than the current cream of the crop of Android devices, which hover around 440 ppi, or more in the case of the HTC One.

In terms of quality, the Xperia SP seems to suffer from the same issue that plagues the Xperia Z and the Xperia ZL – poor visibility angles. Look at it dead on (like you are likely to do 90% of the time) and the display of the Xperia SP is beautiful. Turn it slightly and the colors wash out and the text becomes hard to read. It may not be a major problem for most users, but it’s there. Otherwise, most regular users and even power users will find little to complain about the Xperia SP’s display.

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Specs and performance

Living on the bleeding edge of smartphone specifications isn’t for everyone. Quad-core and even octo-core processors are fine and dandy, but it’s easy to forget that most people actually don’t need that level of processing power in their phones. This introduction is necessary because some may be inclined to dismiss the dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor of the Xperia SP as outdated.

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While it may be a year old, the S4 running at 1.7GHz does its job admirably, and powers the operating system without skipping a beat. The presence of an Adreno 320 GPU (the same as in the newer Snapdragon 600 series) and of 1GB of RAM helps provide the oomph required to take the device through the multitasking and graphics intensive applications.

One area where the SP outshines its sleeker sibling, the Xperia Z, is the quality of the sounds it outputs. The rear-mounted speakers are nice and loud, without distorting the sound on high volume. Sony endowed the Xperia SP with the assortment of connectivity options we’ve come to expect from every phone these days, such as WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and NFC. The phone comes in two versions that offer HSDPA and LTE compatibility, while there’s only one storage option available – 8GB. That isn’t much, especially for users who regularly consume media on the go, but the good news is the removable back cover of the XP hides a microSD card slot that makes possible the addition of another 32GB of storage.

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Unfortunately, a removable cover doesn’t necessarily mean that a removable battery is present, and that’s the case with the Xperia SP. The good news is that the 2370mAh battery can go the distance, probably thanks to the less power hungry processor and display. We’ve tested it using a locally stored video played in a loop for a little over three hours, which drained 50 percent of the battery. That means that, provided you are not going too hard on the SP, the device can power through about seven hours of straight media consumption, and get you through a day of moderate use.

The camera of the Xperia SP is in many ways similar to that on the Xperia Z. Both have Sony Exmor sensors at their hearts, though the SP has an older 8MP model, as opposed to 13 on the Z. Most of the software features present on the high-end model make an appearance on the Xperia SP as well – Superior Auto, HDR, touch capture, and Panorama. Ultimately, we found the Xperia SP to be a decent shooter, but the truth is even some devices from last year, like the Galaxy S3, do better in this department.

Sony Xperia SP camera sample – Click to enlarge

Software: Xperia UI redux

If you’ve ever played with the Xperia Z, ZL, or even some of Sony’s devices from last year, you will feel right at home using the SP. Basically, the user interface of the device is a mélange of elements from Ice Cream Sandwich (the color schemes), Jelly Bean (Google Now and more), and Sony additions like the Walkman app and the Album photo gallery app.

In addition to the preloaded apps we’ve mentioned, Sony also added its trademark Small Apps, a suite of applets that are accessible from the recent apps screen, which help users do some light multitasking. In terms of design, the UI of the Xperia SP tends to be minimalist, but in a pleasant, non-obtrusive way. Sony tried to keep it simple, and for the most part, the result is great.

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Hands-on video review

Pricing and final thoughts

The Sony Xperia SP is available for roughly US $ 500 unlocked, which is a decent price for a device in this class. The SP isn’t currently ranged by any American carrier, but it should come for $ 100 to $ 150 on a two year contract. Now for the big question – is it worth it?

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If you are a spec fiend, there isn’t anything on the Xperia SP to get you excited. You’ll be better off with an Xperia Z (if you prefer Sony), Galaxy S4, or HTC One.

However, if you are a budget-conscious customer that wants to get the most bang for the buck, the Sony Xperia SP is an excellent choice. It costs far less than current high-end devices, and it’s able to hold its own respectably.

What do you think about the Sony Xperia SP? Vote in our poll or tell us in the comments.

Bogdan Petrovan contributed to this review.

Android Authority

ASUS PadFone Infinity review: the convertible phone goes full HD and beyond

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Almost exactly two years ago, Motorola’s Android-in-Webtop-OS solution was kicked off the stage by ASUS’ PadFone, the world’s first phone that could fully power a tablet module from its own OS. The original concept took a while to materialize, but since then the company has kept up with a surprisingly rapid product cycle. It was only five months from the first PadFone to the PadFone 2; and now seven months later, ASUS is offering the PadFone Infinity: a non-surprising full HD update for both the phone and the tablet module. The phone itself also benefits from a newer 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 SoC, as well as a new brushed-aluminum body. So, does this upgraded package have what it takes to kill the “glass is half empty” mentality? Or would consumers still rather have two separate devices? Read on to find out.

Gallery: ASUS PadFone Infinity review

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, ASUS

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Review: ThL W100, the cheapest branded quad-core smartphone on the market

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thl-w100-promo-image Some people mistakenly think that all Android phones that come out of China are white-label devices with no support and no hope of future upgrades. That is true of some phones, but not all. China has several popular international brands including ZTE, Huawei and Lenovo. ThL is another brand that is popular in China where it has over 340 stores across the country. Its phones are also for sale internationally from places like Chinavasion. The ThL W100 is its latest smartphone and it was launched only this week. Not only does this phone have a 4.5 inch IPS display, sport a quad-core Cortex A7 based processor, include an 8MP rear camera along with an amazing 5MP front-facing camera, it only costs $ 169! That makes it the first branded quad-core Android smartphone to be offered internationally for less than $ 200.

Hardware

At the heart of the W100 is the MTK6589, a quad-core A7 processor designed for low power but yet quad-core performance. A7 cores are becoming increasingly popular and are starting to replace the Cortex A9 cores that were popular in dual-core phones. By using the A7 core the MTK6589 is able to reduce its energy needs, but at the same time offer quad-core performance. Here are the full specs of the ThL W100:

4.5 inch, 960 x 540, 5 point multi-touch IPS display
Android 4.2
1.2GHz MTK6589 quad-core CPU
PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU
8MP Rear Camera + 5MP Front-Facing Camera
RAM: 1GB
Dual-SIM
3G: WCDMA: 850/2100MHz
2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n
GPS
Bluetooth
Full support for Google Play
Micro SD Card Slot
Proximity Sensor
Accelerometer Sensor
Light Sensor
Magnetic Field Sensor

thl-w100-in-the-box

The device is 134 mm long, 70 mm wide and 9 mm thick which is reasonable considering the 4.5 inch display. However the phone is amazingly light. It weighs just 102 grams and when I first picked it up I thought I had forgotten to put the battery in! Much of this lightness is achieved by using lots of plastic, so no aluminum uni-body designs here, but still it is pleasure to hold.

The phone only comes with 4GB of internal storage that is divided into 1GB phone storage and 3GB external storage. This can be a problem for larger apps or games as they simply won’t fit into the 1GB of phone storage. However the good news is that a microSD card can be added and in the settings the microSD card can be set as the default write location. This helps keep the price down but doesn’t leave the user frustrated with no hope of expanding the storage.

Although the resolution of the screen is “only” 960 x 540 the display is remarkably high quality. The IPS screen has excellent viewing angles, the colors are vibrant and when on full brightness the screen doesn’t look washed-out. Below is a photo comparing the same image on a HTC One S, a Nexus 7 and the ThL W100. Although the HTC One S offers deeper coloring, I think the W100 is actually the best of the three displays (in terms of color at least).

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Connectivity

The phone has all the standard connectivity options like Wi-Fi ( 802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth, 2G GSM and 3G. It doesn’t have NFC nor does it support LTE but for only $ 169 that isn’t a problem!

There are two SIM card slots both of which can be used for normal GSM services and messaging but only one of which can be used for 3G. It doesn’t matter which slot is used for 3G as everything is configurable via the settings. Which SIM is used by default to make calls, which SIM is the default for SMS and which SIM should be used for 3G can all be set accordingly. Both slots are unlocked and will work with any SIM card, contract free.

For 3G the phone only supports 850 and 2100MHz. The latter number is the “normal” 3G frequency and should work in most places around the world, however a lot of carriers also use a secondary 3G spectrum range. In Asia this tends to be 850MHz, as supported by the W100, while in Europe it tends to be 900MHz. I tested the 3G slot with a local carrier which uses 2100MHz and 900MHz networks. The 3G worked fine but the range and effectiveness wasn’t as good as a phone that also supports 900MHz. The 3G connectivity will be optimal in areas with only a 2100MHz network or with a 850MHz/2100MHz network.

I compared the Wi-Fi signals strengths of the W100 with a HTC One S and a Nexus 7 using the free “Wifi Analyzer” app from the Google Play Store. The W100 performed just as well as those two devices and I was able to access the Internet from all around the house and outside without any problems.

Software

The phone runs Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean and includes Google Play and Google Now. The phone is running a slightly tweaked version of stock Android. The most noticeable difference is the transparency of the app draw. When the app draw is opened the background (but not the desktop) can still be seen. It is visually pleasing and a nice touch from ThL. The other thing I noticed was that the settings app uses color icons. Other than that, everything looks to be stock Android.

The device supports Google Play and although not all the official Google apps like YouTube etc are pre-loaded, it is a simple matter to install them via the Play Store. Using Google Play was simple and I didn’t encounter any “incompatible” apps. All the top free, paid and essential apps like Twitter, Yahoo! and Facebook all reported compatibility with the W100. For those who like customization it is worth noting that the phone isn’t rooted by default.

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Performance

The MediaTek MT6589 is becoming increasingly popular at the lower end of the quad-core smartphone market and since it uses one of the the latest core architectures from ARM, it is a good choice for this phone (and other in the range).

I previously tested the 5.8 inch, 720p Mithril phone which uses the same processor and the results are very similar with the W100 getting slightly higher benchmark results mainly due to its smaller screen (and hence less effort needed by the CPU/GPU).

The phone scores 13,041 on AnTuTu (compared to the Mithril’s 12,737). Putting that into some context it means that AnTuTu rates the W100 as being faster than the Google Nexus 7, the Asus Transformer Prime (both of which are Tegra 3 quad-core devices) and faster than the Samsung Galaxy Note. Similarly the W100 scores 4006 on Quadrant putting it on par with the Asus Transformer Prime. For further comparison the ThL W1, which is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9 based MT6577, scored 6436 on AnTuTu and 2737 on Quadrant. Older dual core phones like the HTC One score just under 7000 on AnTuTu. Overall the phone performed well and there was no lags or annoying pauses. It felt as fluid and usable as any of the Android devices I have at hand, maybe even better.

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A quick test using Epic Citadel showed that the W100 can manage an average of 47.4 frames per second at 960 x 544 using the high resolution mode. The Tegra 3 based Asus Transformer TF300 manages 46.5 FPS and the Nexus 7 53.7 FPS.

Camera

The W100 includes an 8MP camera which takes vibrant pictures and is certainly well beyond what to expect in this price range. Also the inclusion of a 5MP front facing camera is remarkable. The built-in camera app includes features like face detection, HDR, continuous shooting and panorama. The camera works well for quasi-macros shots and I was able to get a good focus lock on objects even when quite close. The dandelion picture below demonstrates this the best.

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Battery

In the box ThL provide two 1800 mAh batteries. The advantage of two batteries is that you can leave home with both fully charged and know that you will get double the battery life during long journeys or times away from a mains socket! The device includes a fairly standard USB mains charging adapter and the phone can also be charged from a laptop or PC since charging only requires 500mA. My battery tests revealed that the ThL W100 can play video for about six hours on one charge. In another test I found that a full battery will allow you to watch YouTube videos over Wi-Fi for about five hours or play heavy 3D games for about three hours.

Conclusion

For those with questions about buying electronics online from China, see our guide (part one, part two) – it isn’t as difficult as you might imagine. For $ 169 this phone could be missing half the features it has an I would still recommend it! OK, this isn’t a Samsung Galaxy S4 or a HTC One, but it costs a lot less than they do. The W100 has a quad core processor based on ARM’s low power consumption Cortex A7, a vibrant IPS display, good connectivity options, reasonable battery life and a nice 8MP camera. The support for only 850MHz and 2100MHz on the 3G side could be limiting to some, but there are other advantages like dual-SIM support plus features like GPS and a compass. All that from a branded Chinese company for just $ 169.

Android Authority

ASUS Transformer Book review: meet ASUS’ first detachable Ultrabook

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More Info

For a while, it looked like ASUS’ Transformer Book would turn out to be vaporware: after debuting to much fanfare a year ago, it encountered numerous delays, and even missed the crucial holiday shopping season. Now it’s finally here, priced at $ 1,499 with a Core i7 processor, a 13.3-inch (1080p) screen and a detachable keyboard dock housing both a spare battery and a 500GB hard drive. The problem is the timing: Intel is about to launch its new Haswell chips, and here’s the Transformer Book, arriving on the scene with a lofty price and a year-old CPU.

It’d be easy enough to tell you just wait for a refresh, which is how we’ve been ending all of our PC reviews in the weeks leading up to this year’s Computex. But it’s still worth investigating whether the Transformer Book (aka the TX300) is a compelling idea. Though we’ve seen many tablet hybrids (the Surface Pro, etc.), they’ve mostly had smaller 11-inch screens. So what happens when you take that form factor and stretch it to accommodate a bigger screen — and a more spacious keyboard? And how does it compare to all those convertible options out there, like the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 or the Dell XPS 12? Let’s have a look.

Gallery: ASUS Transformer Book review

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS

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Nintendo 3DS XL Circle Pad Pro review: just like the original, but bigger

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Nintendo seems to have a knack for repeat performances. Nintendo DS? Quickly supplanted by the DS Lite — and the DSi didn’t last too long either before it was succeeded by the DSi XL. Even the 3DS saw a revision, when it was supersized last summer. These redesigns typically don’t change more than the device’s size, but when the 3DS XL was announced, some gamers were left wanting. Didn’t the original 3DS get an accessory specifically to address the lack of a second analog pad? Why didn’t Nintendo take the opportunity to add dual-analog controls? Well, if that happened, Nintendo couldn’t release an encore Circle Pad Pro accessory, could it? Let’s take a look at the 3DS XL Circle Pad Pro and see what’s changed.

Gallery: 3DS XL Circle Pad Pro

Filed under: Peripherals, Nintendo

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Samsung Galaxy Fame Review

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samsung-galaxy-fame-in-hand

When think of Samsung phones, what do you think of? The Galaxy S4? The Note 2? Maybe the upcoming Note 3? Yeah, that makes sense. The Samsung Galaxy Fame, on the other hand, probably isn’t going to be the first thing that comes to mind.

It’s easy to forget, especially for people like us, that budget phones make up a sizable portion of the market. Samsung most definitely has not forgotten that portion of the market, and for proof you need look no further than the Galaxy Fame. It’s small and it’s cheap, but is it worth the money? Read on to find out.

In a hurry? Check out our video review or jump to the conclusion at the end of the article.

Specs

3.5-inch display (320 x 480, 165 ppi)
1 GHz CPU
512 MB RAM
4 GB internal storage (expandable via microSD)
5 MP rear facing camera
0.3 MP front facing camera
1300 mAh battery

Build Quality & Design

The Galaxy Fame seems to take its design cues from, well, most any Samsung phone currently on the market. It’s a little curvier, but this is probably necessary due to its thickness. Still this makes the Fame a perfect fit for smaller hands. For me, it felt a little on the small-ish side, but it should be fairly usable for most people. One touch that seemed out of the ordinary was the gold-tinted faux metal surrounding the bezel. For some it might seem a little too ornate, but others may find it to be a nice change of pace.

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Like most other Samsung phones, the Galaxy Fame is built from plastic. Unlike most of those phones, however, the Fame feels a little heavy for its size. This is understandable: the components don’t get any lighter after a certain point, and neither does the plastic. If anything, it actually gives the Fame a sturdier feel than some of Samsung’s larger phones.

Display

We’ve seen time and time again that one of the main areas where the cuts are made for budget considerations is the screen. Still, for the most part, the main sacrifice is screen resolution. The 3.5-inch screen features a resolution of 480 x 320 and a pixel density of around 165 pixels per inch. If that was the only issue with the Samsung Galaxy Fame’s display, it wouldn’t be too bad, but unfortunately this isn’t the case.

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The last time we reviewed a device with a display this size and resolution (the Sony Xperia E Dual) we noticed some pretty big issues with the screen, and we’re seeing a lot of the same problems here. No matter where you set the brightness, the screen looks washed out. Viewing angles generally aren’t too bad, but viewing the screen from the right side results in a not-so-fun viewing experience pretty quickly.

Performance

With a single-core 1 GHz CPU and 512 MB of RAM, we weren’t expecting a whole lot in the performance department, but we still ran our usual suite of tests.

Starting with AnTuTu, we ran the benchmark 10 times and calculated the average. In this case, it showed exactly why we run these benchmarks so many times, as the low score was 3,182 and the high score was a somewhat inexplicable 8,412. In the end, the average score was 5,075.

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Next up we tried to run Epic Citadel, but the key word in that sentence is “tried.” Unfortunately, while the app launched, it consistently crashed before we got the chance to run the benchmark.

In real world testing, it was clear that TouchWiz bogged down the hardware a bit, as stuttering was present scrolling through home screens. Light gaming was possible, but heavier apps presented too much difficulty for the hardware. If you’re looking for a quick round of Angry Birds, you’ll be fine, but don’t expect too much more.

Software

The Samsung Galaxy Fame runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and, of course, Samsung’s own TouchWiz UI. While striving for a single feel across all devices makes sense from a marketing and design standpoint, we would have preferred to see a less hardware-intensive overlay, or even better, stock Android.

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Looking at other software, many of Samsung’s usual apps make an appearance. S Planner, Game Hub, S Memo (simply called “Memo” here) and ChatON are present, but no S Voice. Along with an FM Radio app and the file manager My Files, Quickoffice is the major bundled app. This app allows you to view and presumably edit common office documents, though they can’t be created within the app. As with most phones Samsung currently ships, Dropbox is also included.

Camera

Given the specs and price point, we didn’t have the highest of hopes for the Samsung Galaxy Fame’s camera, and as a result, we were somewhat surprised by the quality of the photos it produced. That said, image quality is directly proportionate to the amount of light present when the photo is taken. Outdoors with sunlight or in well lit rooms, you’ll get a fairly accurate representation of whatever it may be that you’re pointing the camera at. In a poorly lit room, however, results that you’re happy with will be much harder to find.

samsung-galaxy-fame-camera

The Galaxy Fame’s rear-facing camera is capable of capturing video, though you’ll probably only ever want to rely on it in a pinch. The resolution tops out at VGA quality (640 x 480), and has the same issues with low light capture as still photos do.

Battery

The Galaxy Fame’s battery capacity of 1,300 mAh may have you shaking your head, but keep in mind that it isn’t powering the most demanding hardware or pushing a particularly large amount of pixels. We have found in the past that the manufacturers claims of talk time often link up with general moderate to heavy use. In this case, Samsung claims around 6 to 8.5 hours of talk time depending on the network you’re connected to.

samsung-galaxy-fame-battery

During testing and benchmarking, we found that the numbers did seem to line up. After around 5 hours of fairly heavy testing and benchmarking, the battery was down to around 50 percent. This might seem unusually good in this case, but it’s necessary to keep in mind that we had no SIM inserted and therefore no connectivity other than WiFi. Still, depending on your use, it seems that a full day without a charge should be no problem at all.

Video

Conclusion

So, does the Samsung Galaxy Fame hold up? Well, yes and no. It certainly gets points for style, and anyone pining for the halcyon days of flip phones might like the form factor. On the other hand, its relatively poor performance and less-than-beautiful screen aren’t going to help win the Galaxy Fame any fans.

What do you think? Have you tried the Galaxy Fame, or do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments!

Android Authority

Hangouts — full Android app review

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HangoutsArticle

Mountain View yesterday at Google I/O announced their new messenger app, Hangouts, for Android, Chrome, and iOS! It has been a long time in the making, and it’s finally here. The Google Talk replacement is available for Android, Chrome, and iOS.

Hangouts brings with it a plethora of new features to toy around with, including group messaging, inline pictures, and more! As per the usual, if you’d rather watch the video review, just head down to the bottom of the article.

HangoutsScreenShots1

Design

When you first open Google Hangouts you’ll be met with a new and fresh interface. The app opens to a window that shows your current conversations. Similarly to Gmail, you can archive messages by sliding your conversations to the left or the right.

By sliding to the right of the app you can start a new Hangout with someone. In the New Hangout page, you’ll see the people that you most frequently contact, and below that you’ll see everyone in your Google+ circles. If you have a lot of people circled, this list is pretty gigantic. Thankfully, you can easily search for a name or circle you want to chat with.

Hangouts doesn’t use the green or grey dots that Google Talk used to identify if someone is online or offline. Instead, you can tell if a contact is online if their profile picture is faded or clear. A faded profile picture means your contact is unavailable, and a clear picture means they’re online. One downside is that Hangouts doesn’t support the “invisible” status like Google Talk did.

After opening a conversation simply slide back to the left to go back to your active conversations list. At the top right is a plus sign that lets you start a new hangout. Similarly to Gmail, if you want to archive a conversation, simply slide them off the screen. You can view them later in the archived hangouts section of the app or your “Chats” category in Gmail.

HangoutsScreenShots2

Next to the plus sign is the menu button, which is made up of the usual three dots. In this menu you can access your archived hangouts, hangout invites, and you can set a notification snooze for an allotted amount of time. If you want to sleep and you keep your phone by your bedside, you can set it to eight hours. During that time Google Hangouts won’t bother you.

The settings menu isn’t really anything special. Really all you can do there is change your notification behaviors (i.e. set a new ringtone or turn notifications off entirely) or vibration settings. There’s also a way to control the blocked users list and customize invites for your circles. There also seems to be an option that’ll quickly take you to your Google+ profile page.

Functionality

When you get down to the core of Hangouts, it basically functions the same way Google Talk did. You can have text conversations with people and start video chats just like you could on Google Talk. The difference here is that video chats are now Google Hangouts like they are on Google+ instead of normal video calls on Google Talk.

Google has had some new functionality to the app though. You can now have group chats, which was a much needed feature in Google Talk. In my testing, this worked seamlessly. It’s a great feature if you often need to have group chats with your team at work or with a bunch of gaming buddies during your downtime.

One of the best features of the new Google Hangouts app is the amount of emojis there are. Hundreds of them are available at your fingertips. There’s smileys, animals, dragons, and much, much more. I think you can easily say that there’s an emoji for every expression in Hangouts.

In the Chrome extension of Hangouts, you can make unicorns dance across the chat window. Considering that it has dancing unicorns, I’m quite disappointed with the lack of a nyan cat. Unfortunately, dancing unicorns (and nyan cats) aren’t available in the mobile app.

Lastly, one of the great things about Hangouts is that you can now share images directly through the app. This functionality wasn’t really there with Google Talk. Normally people would have to upload the picture elsewhere, such as imgur, and then paste the link. Now you can easily share files straight from your device.

HangoutsScreenShots3

Conclusion

Overall, the new Google Hangouts app is a vast, and welcome improvement over Google Talk. As was expected, Google has had a few launch problems. Some people aren’t able to get the Hangouts app working on their tablets, and some people aren’t getting switched from Talk to Hangouts a full day or longer after updating. Issues like these really dull the excitement of a big release. It shouldn’t be long before all of the kinks are worked out, as Google seems to be on top of things after already pushing out a new update since the app’s release yesterday.

SMS support for Google Hangouts also still seems to be up in the air. We’re not sure if that’s going to get added, but if it does, there’ll be a more positive outlook on the new Hangouts app. It’d also be nice if AT&T would unblock video calling through the Android version of Hangouts on their network. I guess you can’t have everything, can you?

Aside from the kinks that’ll eventually get worked out, there really isn’t a reason to not like Google Hangouts. Of course, at the time of this writing, the lack of SMS support is a tad disappointing.

You can update the old Google Talk app to get the new Google Hangouts. Keep in mind that it may take up to a few days to get the new interface though. You can also just download the new Hangouts app from the Google Play Store.

Android Authority

Acer Liquid E1 Review

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Early this year, world-famous netbook and laptop maker Acer unleashed the mid-range Acer Liquid E1 V360 into the Asian and European markets. Not a few of the critics quickly passed judgment: ho-hum, another forgettable phone.

Acer’s releases into the Android smartphone market are usually either easily lost from memory after a brief sizzle, or simply maligned by critics and thereafter erased from humanity’s consciousness.

Will the same fate befall the Acer Liquid E1 V360? Allowed to stand and shine on its own merit, does this new release from Acer have even a bit of sparkle and glitter to catch the wandering eye? Read on and find out. (Or view our quick video review of this phone.)

Physical Build and Design

Dimensions and Weight

Length	132 mm ( 5.20 in)
Width	68.5 mm ( 2.70 in)
Thickness	9.9 mm ( 0.39 in)
Weight	130 g ( 4.59 oz)

At first glance, the Acer Liquid E1′s design (especially its front panel) reminds me of the Galaxy Nexus. Both phones have similar shapes and have round corners though the Liquid E1 is rounder and has a flat screen. This phone is also slightly smaller than the Galaxy S3.

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I like the Liquid E1′s size because it makes the phone easy to carry and handle. All hardware buttons are accessible with one hand and my thumb can reach the 4 corners of the screen. The plastic frame, though, adds a few more millimeters to the phone’s width.

Front and sides

At the front is an all-black touchscreen panel, accented by the Acer logo on top and surrounded by a plastic frame. The black and white combo of my test unit looks nice, but I don’t feel any air of class or sophistication. No such vibes for me, truly. Rather, it looks just like a black touchpanel encased in pearly white plastic frame. Though, don’t get me wrong — it’s not bad-looking at all.

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The black variant of this phone actually looks more elegant with its black and red combination.

On the plastic frame, you can find two grilles: one grille at the bottom for the phone mic and another grille at the top for the phone’s speaker.

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The E1 also doesn’t have physical or capacitive navigation buttons, yet it has a wide and empty bottom bezel. Such a waste of space!

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Sides

The hard plastic serving as the phone’s frame also makes up the sides of the phone. The phone’s bottom edges round and smoothen towards the back — a shape that makes the phone comfortable to hold.

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You can find the Power button and the headphone jack at the top side. The Micro USB port sits at the left side.

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The volume rocker is on the right side. You can identify which volume key is up or down by the number of raised dots on the key: two dots for volume up and one dot for volume down.

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Back

At the back is a removable back cover. It’s not glossy, but a bit smooth matte, so it’s not prone to smudges. The back also has a dimpled texture (like those on golf balls, but smaller ones) in the central region of a hyperbolic design. It seems to work well for good traction.

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The stereo loudspeaker grilles, camera, LED flash, camera mic, Acer logo, and DTS logo are all located at the back of the phone.

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The backplate is removable. On the underside of the hard plastic cover is the NFC chip. Protected by the backplate are the 1,760-mAh Li-ion battery, the Mini-SIM (2FF) slot, and the microSD card slot for up to 32 GB of additional storage.

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The back cover snaps into place via plastic hooks on its underside. I do not guarantee the durability of the said hooks. In my experience, after carefully removing the plastic backplate of my test unit a few times, the hooks seem to lose their grip, resulting in a backplate that doesn’t snap tightly into place anymore. Here’s how the top part of the back of my unit looks now:

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Screen and display

The phone’s screen size still remains within the comfortable range for smartphones. Packed into its 4.5-inch IPS LCD is a display of 960×540 pixels (qHD) resolution, with pixel density of about 245 ppi. It’s a clear, crisp, and sharp display. Colors are quite brilliant, but not oversaturated as those on OLED-based displays.

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The touchscreen itself is quite sensitive and responsive. Navigating the homescreens and the App Drawer is fluid and smooth.

I notice the vertical striping in the display, though. I find it annoying. But, most people probably won’t mind. Most people won’t probably even notice.

Processing Power

Chipset	MediaTek MT6577
CPU	1.0 GHz dual-core ARMv7
GPU	PowerVR SGX 531
RAM	1 GB
Internal memory	4 GB
External memory	microSD, up to 32 GB

The phone is generally fast and smooth enough for moderate use and enjoyment. Although I observe occasional lag when scrolling through homescreens, the jitter and lag are most perceptible in the browsers — both stock Android Browser and Google Chrome. When rendering webpages, the page shows some tearing; when scrolling up or down a page, you’ll notice the lag.

Launching apps, though, is quick and easy. The phone can easily deal with HD apps, such as HD games like Cut the Rope: Time Travel HD.

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Most of the the phone’s 4-gigabyte internal storage is used by the system and only a small portion is available to the user. This means that you will need to invest in a high-capacity microSD card if you intend to keep a lot of data and files on your phone.

Benchmarks

The following benchmarks may provide a closer look into the Acer Liquid E1′s overall performance:

Benchmark	Score
Quadrant	2957
AnTuTu	6533
CF-Bench	5018
Vellamo Mobile Benchmark HTML5	1369
Vellamo Mobile Benchmark Metal	376
Geekbench 2	821
Linpack for Android Single Thread (in MFLOPS)	39.193
Linpack for Android Multi-thread (in MFLOPS)	56.581
Nenamark 1 (in fps)	44.3
Nenamark 2 (in fps)	24.9
An3DBenchXL	27274
SunSpider 0.9.1 JavaScript (in ms, lower is better) (using Google Chrome)	1814.5
BrowserMark (using Google Chrome)	2110
Google V8 Benchmark Suite (using Google Chrome)	1225

Battery Life

Providing power to the phone is a Li-ion 1,760 mAh battery that can last up to about 400 hours on standby or 8 hours of talk time. The battery is removable, so you can buy spare or replacement battery packs if you need them.

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Connectivity

For connectivity, the Acer Liquid E1 provides these:

GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
HSDPA (900/2100 MHz)
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Micro USB 2.0
Near Field Communication
Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, EDR
3.5-mm headphone jack
standard Mini-SIM (2FF); dual SIM on some variants

Camera

The Liquid E1 carries a 5-megapixel camera at the back and a VGA camera on the front. Camera performance is quite fast and surprisingly snappy. Autofocus is fast and shutter speed is acceptable. There is some shutter lag, but it’s barely noticeable, especially in bright lighting. The lag becomes more pronounced when the camera is used in low lighting or when Night Mode is active.

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You can choose any of these available shooting modes: Normal, Panorama, Multi-angle View, HDR, Auto Scene Detect, Continuous Shot, and Beautification.

You can also specify one of the available scenes: Auto, Night, Sunset, Party, Portrait, Landscape, Night Portrait, Theatre, Beach, Snow, Steady Photo, Fireworks, Sports, and Candle Light.

Or, if needed, you can use lower image sizes for photos such as 3 MP, 2 MP, 1.3 MP, or VGA. The highest maximum image size is 5 MP. For videos, you can record at 720p, 480p, HVGA, or MMS resolution.

Here are some sample outdoor photos that I captured using the Liquid E1:

Sample photo (outdoor, daytime, Normal Mode, Auto Scene)

Sample photo (outdoor, daytime Normal Mode, Auto Scene)

And, three more sample indoor shots (Auto Mode, Night Mode, and with flash):

[[ auto, night, flash ]]

Sample photo (indoor, Normal Mode, Auto Scene)

Sample photo (indoor, Night Mode, Auto Scene)

Sample photo (indoor, Night Mode, Auto Scene, flash active)

Media Playback

Video playback on the Liquid E1 is not stellar, but it’s not awful either. The phone can play Standard Definition (SD) videos with no problem at all. It can play 720p HD videos decently with some occasional lag. It’s in the 1080p Full HD videos that the phone clearly starts to show its multimedia limitations; the lag becomes very noticeable along with pixelation and screen tearing.

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Sound quality, however, is surprisingly wonderful. I suppose much of the accolade goes to the DTS technology that the phone uses, and the dual stereo loudspeakers at the back of the phone. You’ll get even better sound quality by using headphones and by setting equalizer presets.

Software and UI

The Acer Liquid E1 comes with a slightly modded version of Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean with Acer UI 5.0. The user interface hasn’t deviated much from the AOSP interface or the interface on the Nexus. As such, it has a simple and fast interface. Even the lockscreen itself has a simple unlocking animation: shutter blinds effect.

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Navigation is purely virtual. The phone uses no hardware or capacitive navigation buttons.

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Acer, to its great credit, has provided on the Notification Shade what HTC has never provided yet: toggle buttons.

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The Float Caller feature is quite a useful one. It pops up an interactive alert box for incoming calls instead of opening the Phone app and blocking whatever is on your screen.

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Acer has also thrown in several apps integrated into its AcerCloud service. There’s also a File Manager app and a ToDo app — both of which I appreciate.

The phone’s UI can be easily personalized, although the customization options aren’t as extensive or as flexible as in other phones. But, I do appreciate the power scheduling feature, wherein you can define when to automatically turn on or turn off your phone.

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The My Style app also lets you alter the phone’s look and feel a bit:

set homescreen and lockscreen wallpapers (including video wallpaper);
enable shortcuts on the lockscreen and decide what shortcuts to place there;
set custom ringtones, notification alerts, and volume levels; and
set a homescreen transition animation effects.

Price and Availability

The Acer Liquid E1 is already available in certain markets in Europe and Asia. The handset’s off-contract retail price falls within the range US$ 260 to US$ 300 (about 200 to 230 euros).

Video Review

Find out more about the Acer Liquid E1 in our video review on YouTube:

Conclusion

Don’t expect the Liquid E1 to make your eyes pop with stunning visuals or stunning performance. It is not meant for that, nor does it pretend to be that kind of Android phone. For what it’s worth, it’s a mid-range phone that can do mid-range smartphone tasks — and quite well, I might say.

With an okay design, adequate cover and protection, fairly fast processing power plus fast OS and UI, and basic multimedia features, the Liquid E1 can be a perfect phone for those who don’t need the extra power or superlative performance.

What about you? What do you like or dislike about the Acer Liquid E1 V360? Would you consider buying this Acer phone? Share your thoughts in the comments.

(with contributions from Alvin Ybañez)

Android Authority

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 Review

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samsung-galaxy-xcover-2-in-hand

When you have a job that doesn’t put you or your devices through very much physical wear and tear, it’s easy to pick a phone. Which one has the features you want at a price you’re comfortable with? Boom, there you go.

But what if you need a phone that can withstand the rigors of a particularly demanding job? Suddenly, your choices are limited. While you can just get a strong case, there are phones build with this very issue in mind, which is why today we’re taking a look at the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2.

In a hurry? Check out our video review or jump to the conclusion at the end of the article.

Specs

4-inch WVGA display (480 x 800, 233 ppi)
1GHz Cortex-A9 CPU
Mali-400MP GPU
1 GB RAM
4 GB internal storage (expandable via microSD)
5 MP rear-facing camera
0.3 MP front-facing camera
1,700 mAh battery

Build Quality & Design

There is a term that carpenters and mechanics use all the time: “Good, fast, cheap: pick two.” There is something similar when it comes to smartphones: “Rugged or good looking: pick one.” The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 obviously opted for the former. It might be tough, but it certainly isn’t very good looking.

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If you’re looking for a tough phone though, the Galaxy Xcover 2 should be right up your alley. While you probably wouldn’t want to use it as a hammer or to prop up your table, you can definitely throw a lot at it without worry too much about whether or not it will break. The battery panel is held on much more securely than many phones. It’s also IP67 certified, with flaps covering the USB and headphone jacks to resist damage from either sand or liquid.

Display

When you’re looking at a smartphone build to be as rugged as possible, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices. Usually those sacrifices come from the performance and display departments, and in this regard, the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 is no different.

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The screen size of 4.0 inches is somewhat of a blessing in disguise, because with its 480 x 800 WVGA resolution, the Galaxy Xcover 2′s pixel density comes in at around 233 ppi. This isn’t exactly great, but it’s far better than it would be if the Xcover 2 shipped with a 4.5- or even 5.0-inch screen.

One interesting difference between this phone and many other Samsung phones is that it uses an LCD display instead of the Super AMOLED displays normally preferred by Samsung. This leads to an ever-so-slightly sharper-looking display than we would see in a Super AMOLED panel at the same resolution, and less color saturation. Whether this is a plus or a minus is very much up to you, but it’s an interesting difference.

Performance

Now right off the bat, with a phone like the Galaxy Xcover 2 you’d certainly be expecting a beast when it comes to performance, because you’re not going to get one. If you’re looking for low-to-midrange performance, though, you should be perfectly happy.

To figured out where the Xcover 2 stands performance-wise, we hit it with our usual suite of tests. To begin, we looked to AnTuTu. As always we ran AnTuTu benchmark a total of 10 times and averaged the result of each test. Out final result was an average score of 6,602.

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Next, we looked to Epic citadel. Now, because it is so reliant on the display resolution, this isn’t the most scientifically accurate benchmark, but it’s still fun to run. Our first run in high quality mode gave us an average framerate of 35.4 frames per second. The second run, in high performance mode, performed marginally better, turning out 37.2 frames per second.

When it comes to real-world performance, the Galaxy Xcover 2 didn’t blow us away with its speed, but it didn’t feel laggy either. Launching and switching between apps was fairly quick and the few modest games we tried ran well.

Software

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean which, as usual, is heavily covered up by Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. Aside from the newer Galaxy S4, if you’ve seen TouchWiz on one recent phone, you’ve seen it on all of them, so you should have a fairly good idea what to expect.

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Looking at the bundled software, most of it is what you’d expect to see. Without carrier-added bloatware, our review unit was fairly bare-bones. The usual Google apps and Samsungs S-suite of apps both made their expected appearances, and a few apps we’re used to seeing on Samsung phones like My Files and Flipboard were present. Cardio Trainer, a health-focused app, provided the only major surprise.

Camera

The Galaxy Xcover 2 has a 5 megapixel camera in the rear and a 0.3 megapixel up front. Video capture is present, but only 720p.

The rear camera, despite the fairly low megapixel count, manages to take decent photos provided you set them up properly. Low light situations are problematic and you’ll more often than not be left with dark, blurry images, but the visual noise present in many smartphone cameras doesn’t seem to be as apparent here.

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The rear camera in generally seems to be very sensitive to light, actually: too little and the encounter the problems mentioned about, too much and you’ll find yourself with washed out, overblown images. Despite this, if you take your time to properly set up a shot, the camera is capable of taking some fairly decent shots.

The 720p video capture feels like an afterthought. Because of the camera’s sensor, colors are fairly well represented, but footage looks very jerky. This is a problem with most smartphone cameras, but image stabilization would have helped here.

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 ships with a 1,700 mAh battery. Now, it’s fairly easy to look at a battery that size and assume that you’ll need to charge your phone several times a day, but keep in mind that with the relatively modest specs and low resolution, the battery isn’t going to be flying through its charge like it would in a high-end device.

Here’s my own experience. On a day of testing, benchmarking and shooting, I ended up getting just around 12 hours before I decided to plug in. Bear in mind, the battery wasn’t fully drained, but I was seeing warnings to plug it.

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With that in mind, it’s likely that the phone will do better in everyday use. There is one important thing to note, however. While I was connected to WiFi, there was no SIM inserted, so obviously I wasn’t making calls, which would have let to increased battery drain.

Luckily, the battery in the Xcover 2 is removable and replaceable, so if you want to look for an extended battery or simply carry a charged spare with you, this is an option.

Video

Conclusion

In the end, it’s a trade-off. If you’re willing to trade ruggedness and a less worrying about your phone’s well-being for lower specs and a bulkier build, the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 is worth keeping in mind. That said, there are other similar phones like the Kyocera Torque and Samsung’s own Rugby Pro as options to consider.

What do you think? Do you have suggestions for rugged smartphones or would you prefer a phone of your choice and a heavy-duty case? Let us know in the comments!

Android Authority

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 review (video)

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samsung galaxy note 8 front aa

With the Galaxy Note 8, Samsung tried to capitalize on the growing popularity of its stylus-equipped series. The Note 8 aims to strike a balance between the (relative) portability of the 5.5-inch Note 2 and the display real estate offered by the Note 10.1. For some, the 8-inch device, with its thin profile and easy to hold form factor may be the ideal Note, a device that unlocks the true potential of the S Pen.

But others have criticized the Note 8, arguing that Samsung cut too many corners in order to keep the price of the device at a reasonable level.

Regardless on which side of the debate you position yourself, the Note 8 is an interesting device, that is worth your attention. Let’s take a closer look at the Galaxy Note 8’s design, build quality, specifications, features, and software. In a hurry? Jump straight to the video review.

On the 8-inch bandwagon

It is fairly clear that Samsung targeted Apple’s iPad mini with the new Galaxy Note 8. At 8-inch, the Note is slightly wider than 7-inchers such as the Nexus 7 or the Galaxy Tab 7, but the device is still narrow enough to be hold with one hand, although many will find it unruly. The fact that the device is just eight millimeters thick certainly helps with the handling.

samsung galaxy note 8 front screen aa

samsung galaxy note 8 grip aa

Design-wise, the Note 8 is a typical product of Samsung’s design language that was first exemplified in the Galaxy S3. In fact, the tablet looks a bit like someone at Samsung took a Galaxy S3 and flattened it with a roller. The bezels surrounding the 8-inch display are relatively narrow, and, on the bottom, we find the typical Samsung button setup, with a central physical Home button flanked by two capacitive keys. The presence and placement of this button setup indicates that the Note 8 was primarily designed to be used in portrait mode.

On the back, Samsung opted for the typical plastic back cover, which helps with keeping the weight of the device low at 338 grams. The plastic is, however, prone to collecting fingerprints and becoming a little slick to the touch. The sides of the Note 8 are rounded, but not rounded enough to make the grip of the device uncomfortable.

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Display: you get what you pay for

With the barrage of full HD devices coming our way, it’s easy to become spoiled and look down at new devices that don’t belong to the full HD club. The Note 8 features a TFT display of 1280 x 800 resolution, which will certainly not blow your mind, but might be just good enough to offer an enjoyable experience.

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The TFT panels boasts a 189 ppi density, well below the level of 300 ppi at which pixels become indistinguishable for all but the most eagle-eyed of users. This means that, while the images and text will look decent at a normal (for a tablet) viewing distance, the pixels will be distinct once you bring the tablet closer.

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Contrast levels are reasonably good, but if you’re used with AMOLED screens, such as that of the Note 2, the TFT will look a little dull to you.

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Ultimately, the display of the Note 8 will do just fine for reading, and is likely you will find it enjoyable for other activities, but don’t set your expectations too high.

Quad-core performance and an S Pen

Swiping through the colorful TouchWiz, it’s visible that the Exynos 4 Quad processor that powers the Note 8 does a great job. The 1.6GHz CPU has no trouble powering the system with little to no stutter and the Note 8 got an adequate 18,000 score in the AnTuTu benchmark. For reference, the newest devices out there, powered by the Snapdragon 600 processor, go over 25,000 points, while devices from last year hover between 15,000 and 20,000. Assisting the CPU in graphics-intensive and multitasking applications are the Mali-400MP GPU and 2GB of RAM. Overall, the setup ensures a snappy user experience.

samsung galaxy note 8 antutu aa

The Galaxy Note 8 offers two versions of storage, 16GB and 32GB, which can be expanded thanks to the SD card slot on the side. The device we tested didn’t have phone capability like international versions have, but we think that few users will really miss it. (For a discussion of the pros and cons of having a tablet that can make phone calls, check out our Asus Fonepad review.) Another absent feature is NFC, probably removed to minimize costs.

samsung galaxy note 8 performance aa

Of course, the defining feature of any Note device is the presence of the S Pen stylus, which lets users write, diagram, or simply navigate through the interface of the Note 8. The S Pen is slotted in the bottom right corner of the device, and removing it awakes the tablet, a handy ability for quick note taking. The S Pen is one of the unique benefits of the Note 8 and it doesn’t take too much for it to become an extension of your hand.

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Battery and camera: move along folks

The Galaxy Note 8 is equipped with a non-removable 4600mAh battery, which, in theory, should get most “average” users through two days of moderate usage. In our tests, the Note 8 endured a full day of moderate to heavy usage, which is certainly important with a device designed for productivity. However, power users should be cautioned that several hours of intensive use can deplete the Note 8, leaving them scrambling for an outlet. Overall, we rate the battery of the Note 8 as decent, but not spectacular.

samsung galaxy note 8 battery aa

Tablet cameras are notorious for their poor optics (not to mention the ridicule you will be exposed to for using them). The Note 8 is no exception – the 5 megapixel back camera lacks a flash, and we feel that Samsung put it in there to cross a point off a checklist, rather than as a true selling point. The shooter can take some decent images in adequate conditions, but don’t think of it as anything more than an emergency/backup camera for the times your primary camera is out for some reason.

Camera sample – click to enlarge

TouchWiz and S Pen apps

The Galaxy Note 8 runs Samsung’s colorful TouchWiz Android 4.1.2 implementation, with a few modifications made to accommodate the S Pen. Some of the tweaks include power widgets in the notification dropdown and a couple of navigation additions like palm motions.

samsung galaxy note 8 touchwiz aa

The most appealing and potentially useful software features of the Note 8 are related to the S Pen, which gives you many new ways of performing otherwise unwieldy little tasks, such as taking notes or annotating documents. Like the S Pen on the Note 2, the stylus on the Note 8 features Air View functionality, which shows previews when the users hovers the tip of the stylus over certain elements. For instance, you can read a message without opening it or preview an image folder by hovering the S Pen over it.

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The S Pen also enables gestures, made in conjunction with the button, such as the cut out, the ability to capture a portion of the screen for scrapbooking or for quick messaging.

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Quick Commands lets you flick with the stylus on the screen to open a customizable menu of various little tasks, which can be a useful ability for multitaskers.

samsung galaxy note 8 quick commands aa

Speaking of which, Multi-window, the ability to use several apps at once on the 8-inch screen of the Note, is present.

Hands-on video

Pricing and final thoughts

The 16GB, Wi-Fi only version of the Galaxy Note 8 is available in the United States for $ 399, a price that isn’t exactly cheap, but not unreasonably high either. It’s clear that Samsung made some compromises in the specs and features department to be able to offer the Note 8 at that price point, but does the end result justify the financial effort?

samsung galaxy note 8 price aa

The answer boils down to one point – do you care about the S Pen, and if so, how much are you willing to pay to have it? The stylus is the biggest selling factor of a device that is in most regards average. The camera is lackluster, the battery life is only decent, and the software is standard fare if you don’t care about the S Pen features. On the plus side, the Galaxy Note 8 offers great performance and the display is relatively good, making it a good option for media consumption and gaming.

In the end, the price of the Note 8 may be justified by the presence of the S Pen and the functionality it brings to the table. If you are not impressed with it, or if digital scribing isn’t your thing, you may be better off with a cheaper competitor of a similar size.

What do you make of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8? Is it worth the price? Vote in our poll and let us know in the comments.

Bogdan Petrovan contributed to this review.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Android Authority