Samsung Note 8

[NamelessPFG]

So I'm seeing a lot of comments that people whose accessory promo rewards were delayed - particularly the microSD + wireless charger option - actually only got 128 GB cards after all. Maybe I just got lucky alongside the other early bird pre-order folks by getting a 256 GB card.

I don't know when Samsung is gonna deliver on those promises of UFS memory cards, but having a crapton of removable storage that still works without an Internet connection and doesn't require the kludge of USB dongles is still a pretty considerable advantage, especially for those who like to use the camera frequently or keep a lot of music and video on their phones. (Or tons of Nandroid backups, but that's not a factor with locked bootloaders.)

In other news, while I want to try out the DeX Station at some point, it's just too damned expensive, like the Galaxy Smart Dock from the Note 2 days that preceded it. Surely, a USB-C hub with separate adapters would do the job, right? Well, turns out you need a kernel patch to circumvent the hardware ID check Samsung does to lock out the DeX interface on anything other than their own product.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...atch-enable-dex-desktop-hdmi-adapter-t3673541

And of course, because it's a kernel patch, locked-bootloader Snapdragon users need not apply. I wish Samsung would cut the crap with that; the Note 2, S6 and Note 5 all used Exynos worldwide, even here in North America. I'm not as certain as to why they did that with the Note 2, but the S6 and Note 5 would've been crippled badly with the SD810 or even the SD808 (worse GPU than the SD805), proving that they can get their in-house SoC to work with CDMA carriers like Sprint and Verizon if they so choose.

 

[refraxion]

low standards = no lag. Evidently the lag of the "Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S3, S4, S5, S7 Edge, Note 3, Note 4, Note 5, (and) Note 7" didn't stop you from getting another Galaxy anything. And seriously, you kept the FireNote 7?!?

Also it hasn't even been two months with Note 8. And we're all talking about how lagwiz will lag over time. Let's revisit this in February.

Thank you. I don't need to bother with someone who is obviously a Samsung shill. The lag isn't there? It's like someone saying that nothing is noticeable beyond 60fps

Namecalling is not allowed here, if you disagree with someone you're welcome to discuss why without the insults. -Oldie

 

[Trimlock]

Thank you. I don't need to bother with someone who is obviously a Samsung shill. The lag isn't there? It's like someone saying that nothing is noticeable beyond 60fps

One of the things Samsung is known for is their terrible touch latency. I don’t know if it’s been fixed or not but it gets worse with each software update it seems.

 

[NIZMOZ]

Yes, it sure does. Looks like the GPS doesn't have issues with satellite fixing, but still seems to have issues with "drifting". I'm assuming you are sitting still right? The GPS is reporting you moving at 2.2km/h. All my Samsung phones had that issue.

If it settles down after about 15 seconds and reports 0, that should be fine, but if it still randomly shoots around, that's a problem.

Yep, I was sitting in my chair in front of the computer. Here is another of me doing the same.

 

[NIZMOZ]

low standards = no lag. Evidently the lag of the "Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S3, S4, S5, S7 Edge, Note 3, Note 4, Note 5, (and) Note 7" didn't stop you from getting another Galaxy anything. And seriously, you kept the FireNote 7?!?

Also it hasn't even been two months with Note 8. And we're all talking about how lagwiz will lag over time. Let's revisit this in February.

I have far from low standards. I am very picky about lag on my phones. And I can guarantee you my Note 8 has ZERO lag. I didn't get to keep my Note 7. It was turned in for an iPhone 7 plus.

 

[CHANG3D]

Nice house in Texas... You might as well share your address... I would suggest you take that screenshot down.

 

[NIZMOZ]

Thank you. I don't need to bother with someone who is obviously a Samsung shill. The lag isn't there? It's like someone saying that nothing is noticeable beyond 60fps

Excuse me? I've had more phones than people on this forum. I only listed my Samsung devices. I've had every generation of iPhone, and I've had LG v10, V20, HTC models as well. So let's not go there kiddo.

You don't own the phone, I do, and there is NO LAG. Go see people talking about it on Android Central and MacRumors even, they don't have lag either.

Reporting someone for name calling, then name calling yourself, has a twinge of hypocrisy to it. You get a vacation too. -Oldie

 

[CHANG3D]

You listed all your Galaxy devices and said that they all lagged except for the Note 8. Who knows for how long you had your Note 7, however short time it got recalled, and it evidently lagged too. So now you expect us to believe that your Note 8 wouldn't lag over time? Oh please.

 

[NIZMOZ]

You listed all your Galaxy devices and said that they all lagged except for the Note 8. Who knows for how long you had your Note 7, however short time it got recalled, and it evidently lagged too. So now you expect us to believe that your Note 8 wouldn't lag over time? Oh please.

The note 8 has 6gb of memory. That has drastically helped it.

 

[CHANG3D]

Same could be said of when all your older galaxies went from 2GB to 3. And then from 3 to 4. Sorry, until Samsung proves otherwise, I will continue to believe that lagwiz will lag over time.

 

[NIZMOZ]

https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-8/836515-lag.html

 

[Trimlock]

Same could be said of when all your older galaxies went from 2GB to 3. And then from 3 to 4. Sorry, until Samsung proves otherwise, I will continue to believe that lagwiz will lag over time.

My Note 3 didn't lag for maybe a year, then Samsung did their typical "software update" and it lagged to high hell, almost unusable.

 

[NIZMOZ]

My Note 3 didn't lag for maybe a year, then Samsung did their typical "software update" and it lagged to high hell, almost unusable.

My s7 edge which I still have and use (work phone), barely lags but it does lag. It got bad after the update as well, but once I did a reset it fixed all its lag for the most part and has been good since. Just slow compared to the Note.

 

[refraxion]

Excuse me? I've had more phones than people on this forum. I only listed my Samsung devices. I've had every generation of iPhone, and I've had LG v10, V20, HTC models as well. So let's not go there kiddo.

You don't own the phone, I do, and there is NO LAG. Go see people talking about it on Android Central and MacRumors even, they don't have lag either.

I don't own the phone? Ok. Despite the phone is sitting in the box right next to me getting ready to be shipped back. There IS the typical Samsung lag on it creeping in and I haven't even filled the 64gb of memory yet. It may be faster than my note 5 right now, but the typical annoyances like typing in Hangouts (which is blistering fast on the OP5/pixel) is still seen.

I'm going to assume you do not read as I have said many times before that I do in fact own the Note 8, Galaxy S8, Note 2,4,5 and several other Samsung devices. And yes, I too own other phones from IPhone 3G up to the latest (wife uses them) but this isn't an e-peen fest, sorry. I'm strictly talking about the known Samsung TouchWiz lag, which is still apparent despite what fanboys say.

 

[Zorachus]

I am very tempted to pick up the Note 8, looks like a great big screen, beautiful design, etc...

But man I have been bitten by the Lagwiz bug on every Samsung Galaxy phone I've had in the past, even the S8+ had micro stutters and slight hiccups, compared to my Nexus 6P which is still buttery smooth. Every Galaxy phone I had was always warp speed fast out of the box, and remained super smooth and very good the first couple of months, but it seems the lag starts creeping in after several months of use, like the 4 to 6 months period, it's not same smoothness as the first month of use. Whereas a Pixel phone, the first month, the sixth month, the 12th month now, it's still a super smooth phone.

And then I hear every year, oh Samsung really optimized Touchwiz this year, it's been overhauled this time to be much smoother, and year after year the lag still pops up again 6 months down the road. Yeah the first month or two it's still gonna be great, but tell me that six months from now. But I do agree, each year the lag seems to take longer to pop up, and the 6GB RAM + Exynos seems to be really be the sweet spot the Galaxy phone needs, it's the Snapdragon that bogs the Galaxy phones down more. So maybe the Note 8 is the very first ever Galaxy phone that won't lag down the road, and be smooth as a Pixel ? Maybe. Only time will tell, it's too early to say the now, the phone is still new.

I would love to see a comparison of the Note 8 vs Pixel 2 XL, not now though, but after six months of real world daily use, then pit the two phones against each other, not freshly wiped new installs, but both phones after months and months of day to day use, lets see how they operate and perform after that time ? I would think the Pixel 2 XL will still be buttery smooth in six months, and the Note 8 doubtfully not anymore.

 

[refraxion]

Also Zorachus, North America (Canada and U.S) uses Snapdragon 835. I've always loved the exynos versions as they performed better and smoother than their Snapdragon counterparts.

They stopped shipping the exynos versions to Canada and it's now the same between both countries which is a shame. Exynos > Snapdragon imo.

 

[NIZMOZ]

I don't own the phone? Ok. Despite the phone is sitting in the box right next to me getting ready to be shipped back. There IS the typical Samsung lag on it creeping in and I haven't even filled the 64gb of memory yet. It may be faster than my note 5 right now, but the typical annoyances like typing in Hangouts (which is blistering fast on the OP5/pixel) is still seen.

I'm going to assume you do not read as I have said many times before that I do in fact own the Note 8, Galaxy S8, Note 2,4,5 and several other Samsung devices. And yes, I too own other phones from IPhone 3G up to the latest (wife uses them) but this isn't an e-peen fest, sorry. I'm strictly talking about the known Samsung TouchWiz lag, which is still apparent despite what fanboys say.

Sorry, I don't remember names who is the OP or not in this thread. Either way, you are the one that is wrong. One person out of hundreds...maybe it's your APP that is the issue. So far proof is out there Note 8 hasn't shown any Samsung LAG like other phones in the past have.

 

[Trimlock]

My s7 edge which I still have and use (work phone), barely lags but it does lag. It got bad after the update as well, but once I did a reset it fixed all its lag for the most part and has been good since. Just slow compared to the Note.

The Note 3 existed before and after Google decided to introduce Google Services, which granted broke a lot of phones at the time but it seems that Samsung never got it right. Most phones I've used after that were fairly smooth after a Google update, what I think introduces LagWiz is the fact they want their own services too.

After the update my Note 3 went from having 16 hours of standby time (which wasn't that great...) to 7. An update fixed it, but that was 3 months AFTER they had updated the phoned. At that point in time I decided to not buy phones from them again.

 

[jyi786]

I will tell you straight up that I have never had lag on my Samsung phones...because I've always, always used a custom ROM. Every single Samsung phone I've had. If I get the Note 8, it will probably be the first Samsung phone I own that will keep Touchwiz. I can also attest that Touchwiz definitely has lag, because every time I've used it OOTB I had lag in one form or another. From what I know as a life-long flashaholic, as stated before, this is most likely due to either poor kernel optimization, or simply battery saving optimization.

All this will most likely be mitigated by the fact that since I get an Exynos version, I'll be able to flash a "custom" Touchwiz ROM on it, until such a time comes that Lineage is available on it. Can't say the same for the Snapdragon versions, though.

 

[Trimlock]

I will tell you straight up that I have never had lag on my Samsung phones...because I've always, always used a custom ROM. Every single Samsung phone I've had. If I get the Note 8, it will probably be the first Samsung phone I own that will keep Touchwiz. I can also attest that Touchwiz definitely has lag, because every time I've used it OOTB I had lag in one form or another. From what I know as a life-long flashaholic, as stated before, this is most likely due to either poor kernel optimization, or simply battery saving optimization.

All this will most likely be mitigated by the fact that since I get an Exynos version, I'll be able to flash a "custom" Touchwiz ROM on it, until such a time comes that Lineage is available on it. Can't say the same for the Snapdragon versions, though.

Samsung has services that run along side Google Services. I think that with older hardware they port over their services to the new update and do limited testing.

 

[CHANG3D]

I am very tempted to pick up the Note 8, looks like a great big screen, beautiful design, etc...

But man I have been bitten by the Lagwiz bug on every Samsung Galaxy phone I've had in the past, even the S8+ had micro stutters and slight hiccups, compared to my Nexus 6P which is still buttery smooth. Every Galaxy phone I had was always warp speed fast out of the box, and remained super smooth and very good the first couple of months, but it seems the lag starts creeping in after several months of use, like the 4 to 6 months period, it's not same smoothness as the first month of use. Whereas a Pixel phone, the first month, the sixth month, the 12th month now, it's still a super smooth phone.

And then I hear every year, oh Samsung really optimized Touchwiz this year, it's been overhauled this time to be much smoother, and year after year the lag still pops up again 6 months down the road. Yeah the first month or two it's still gonna be great, but tell me that six months from now. But I do agree, each year the lag seems to take longer to pop up, and the 6GB RAM + Exynos seems to be really be the sweet spot the Galaxy phone needs, it's the Snapdragon that bogs the Galaxy phones down more. So maybe the Note 8 is the very first ever Galaxy phone that won't lag down the road, and be smooth as a Pixel ? Maybe. Only time will tell, it's too early to say the now, the phone is still new.

I would love to see a comparison of the Note 8 vs Pixel 2 XL, not now though, but after six months of real world daily use, then pit the two phones against each other, not freshly wiped new installs, but both phones after months and months of day to day use, lets see how they operate and perform after that time ? I would think the Pixel 2 XL will still be buttery smooth in six months, and the Note 8 doubtfully not anymore.

I know you have got bitten by the lagwiz bug on every Samsung phone, but so did NIZMOZ, and yet he's still arguing that the Note 8 will not suffer from lagwiz that he has gotten with every single Galaxy iteration since Galaxy S2 and the original Note. It's just not logical!

 

[NamelessPFG]

More fingerprint scanner talk: I noticed it was outright rejecting my left index finger, so I went into the settings, and sure enough, it wasn't coming up at all, so I deleted the old enrollment and made a new one.

Now it's coming up as reliably as my right index finger. What the hell? I don't get fingerprint scanners sometimes, as they can be quite quirky even if your fingertips are dry.

Word of warning, though: you have to reauthenticate many apps that use biometrics if you make any changes to the enrollments like that. Samsung Pay, Keepass2Android and possibly PayPal come to mind, though most banking apps seem to not need that.

 

[NIZMOZ]

I know you have got bitten by the lagwiz bug on every Samsung phone, but so did NIZMOZ, and yet he's still arguing that the Note 8 will not suffer from lagwiz that he has gotten with every single Galaxy iteration since Galaxy S2 and the original Note. It's just not logical!

It's the first Samsung with 6gb of memory and Samsung tuned the software. It's all on the Android forums. Not one person has said they have lag yet.

 

[CHANG3D]

It's the first Samsung with 6gb of memory and Samsung tuned the software. It's all on the Android forums. Not one person has said they have lag yet.

keyword... "Yet"

Also Android specific forum? Haha

 

[Trimlock]

It's the first Samsung with 6gb of memory and Samsung tuned the software. It's all on the Android forums. Not one person has said they have lag yet.

Note 3 was the first with 3gb of ram and it was “tuned” as well.

 

[NamelessPFG]

I can't speak for the Note 3, but I still remember what my Note 4 felt like on the near-launch KitKat NK4 firmware: ridiculously slow to respond to a recents button press, took like a whole second to pull the overview up at its worst moments.

Lollipop 5.0.1 only worsened this overall, alongside introducing GPU performance penalties on SD805-based variants that were significant enough to get some Gear VR games like Omega Agent postponed from Note 4 release (they debuted on S6 first).

Lollipop 5.1.1 and Marshmallow 6.0.1 tightened things up a bit better than the original KitKat releases in the end, but it still wouldn't hold a candle to the Note 8 in smoothness - or any 2014 flagship with a custom AOSP-derived ROM, the Note 4 itself included.

The thing is, most Note users like the additional TouchWiz features enough to put up with the sluggish experience (remember that AOSP didn't even have split-screen multi-tasking until Nougat, and only brought in PIP/windowing with Oreo when Samsung's done it since Jelly Bean or earlier), enough that they didn't just install a custom AOSP-based ROM back when Samsung still had plenty of unlocked bootloader variants here in the US, and the Note 8 is finally showing that maybe we don't have to choose between smoothness and features after all. We'll know when Oreo drops, be it this year or the next.

Heck, they've added a few things that most reviewers still don't touch on, like the new Glance view that lets an app full-screen when you hover the pen over its thumbnail and let you use it that way, but immediately revert back to a thumbnail once you pull the pen out of range (which, unfortunately, means you can't use your fingers to navigate the "glanced" app as a side effect). I could see this being quite useful for OneNote or a document viewer for people who don't want to go through setting up split-screen between two apps.

In other Note 8 news: that Caseology Vault just saved its glass ass from tarmac after it slipped out of my pocket when heading home tonight. Even with a case on and seeing it land flat on its back side, I was a bit nervous given the horror stories I've heard about the apparent fragility of the S8's glass panels cracking too easily, even landing on carpet and in a case. Maybe I don't need OtterBox levels of bulk to keep this thing reasonably pristine after all.

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

Same could be said of when all your older galaxies went from 2GB to 3. And then from 3 to 4. Sorry, until Samsung proves otherwise, I will continue to believe that lagwiz will lag over time.

My nexus 6p lagged over time too, just as bad as my Note 3 and Note 4, and Nexus 4.

 

[Zorachus]

My nexus 6p lagged over time too, just as bad as my Note 3 and Note 4, and Nexus 4.

Totally disagree, I actually went back to my Nexus 6P after returning my Galaxy S8+ due to Lagwiz. The S8+ did have slight micro stutters, and little hiccups here and there. I dusted off my old Nexus, installed a fresh Oreo ROM, and the phone just flies, smooth as hot butter. I'll take a 2 year old phone like the 6P that's warp speed fast and almost zero lag, compared to a brand new phone with lag.

Again I would bet between the two top Android flagships this year, the Galaxy Note 8 and Pixel 2 XL, come 6 months later, I would say the Pixel will still be smooth and lag free, and not sure how the Note 8 will be months down the road ? I know everyone saying the Note 8 is lag free and super fast, yeah I believe that, but the phone has only been out for less than two months, all Galaxy phones perform great the first few months. Let's see how it performs after 6+ months of use ?

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

Totally disagree, I actually went back to my Nexus 6P after returning my Galaxy S8+ due to Lagwiz. The S8+ did have slight micro stutters, and little hiccups here and there. I dusted off my old Nexus, installed a fresh Oreo ROM, and the phone just flies, smooth as hot butter. I'll take a 2 year old phone like the 6P that's warp speed fast and almost zero lag, compared to a brand new phone with lag.

Again I would bet between the two top Android flagships this year, the Galaxy Note 8 and Pixel 2 XL, come 6 months later, I would say the Pixel will still be smooth and lag free, and not sure how the Note 8 will be months down the road ? I know everyone saying the Note 8 is lag free and super fast, yeah I believe that, but the phone has only been out for less than two months, all Galaxy phones perform great the first few months. Let's see how it performs after 6+ months of use ?

Yes, installed a "fresh" oreo rom, it's fast after a reset, then slows down like every other android phone that I've had, go ahead and look it up, the suggested fix is a clean wipe.

And I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with, I'm posting my experience, not an opinion.

 

[Zorachus]

Yes, installed a "fresh" oreo rom, it's fast after a reset, then slows down like every other android phone that I've had, go ahead and look it up, the suggested fix is a clean wipe.

And I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with, I'm posting my experience, not an opinion.

Good point.

 

[jyi786]

Yes, installed a "fresh" oreo rom, it's fast after a reset, then slows down like every other android phone that I've had, go ahead and look it up, the suggested fix is a clean wipe.

And I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with, I'm posting my experience, not an opinion.

This is correct. As a ROMer who is currently using a Nexus 6P and is looking to upgrade, I can assure you that my phone has definitely slowed down over time. The last time I "upgraded" it was in July (the most recent release of Pure Nexus).

 

[Trimlock]

Yes, installed a "fresh" oreo rom, it's fast after a reset, then slows down like every other android phone that I've had, go ahead and look it up, the suggested fix is a clean wipe.

And I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with, I'm posting my experience, not an opinion.

Yea it seems that over time that Android does show similar affects that hit Win98SE. Over time the OS just bloats itself.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Yeah, I was gonna say, even TouchWiz-based ROMs smoothen up significantly when you do a factory reset. That doesn't really narrow down the issue of Android optimization much.

I've actually been mucking about with my old Note 4 and my bro's LG G3 (neither of which are in active service), specifically to do some ROM comparisons.

I updated the G3 from Resurrection Remix 7.1.1 to LineageOS 14.1/7.1.2 (why do they use different version numbers from the official Android version they're derived from?), currently trying to give the Note 4 the same LineageOS treatment while preserving the idoneapps SIM unlock I had on it while waiting for the Note 8's release. Neither have an OEM-provided Nougat release anyway because they're 2014 flagships, let alone Oreo (for which I'm still waiting on LineageOS 15).

And yes, I know, LineageOS technically isn't plain old AOSP, but some of the UI enhancements like just having an auto-hiding nav bar and brightness control via swiping the notification/status bar up top ought to be standard Android UI options across all devices. Can't say I'm fond of the LineageOS official root implementation, though; you have to flash it from recovery, and then you quickly find out that a not-insignificant number of root utilities won't work without SuperSU or Magisk root implementations very specifically. Oh, and there's a # icon constantly in your status bar any time something uses root privileges - which, if you're using something like Synapse to control a custom kernel, is all the time.

 

[NIZMOZ]

Either way, I couldn't last. I even went passed my return period. So I will have to sell my Note 8 if AT&T won't take it back. They are trying to get special approval since I only went a week past it. I'll know Monday.

But either way, I went back to an iPhone 8 plus. Feels back at home again. With my whole family owning iPhones, it just made more sense. I still have an s7 edge for my work phone which will be upgrading in March, so I may get a V30 to replace it. The Note 8 is a great phone, but too much phone for me.

 

[jyi786]

Either way, I couldn't last. I even went passed my return period. So I will have to sell my Note 8 if AT&T won't take it back. They are trying to get special approval since I only went a week past it. I'll know Monday.

But either way, I went back to an iPhone 8 plus. Feels back at home again. With my whole family owning iPhones, it just made more sense. I still have an s7 edge for my work phone which will be upgrading in March, so I may get a V30 to replace it. The Note 8 is a great phone, but too much phone for me.

I don't really understand; not knocking, but what was your reasoning for going back? Define "too much phone".

 

[NIZMOZ]

I don't really understand; not knocking, but what was your reasoning for going back? Define "too much phone".

I really don't need the SPEN. I really don't need that large of a screen (rather have width than height). The iPhone feels better in my hand (better balanced over the Note 8 that feels top heavy). And I like iOS better.

 

[jyi786]

I really don't need the SPEN. I really don't need that large of a screen (rather have width than height). The iPhone feels better in my hand (better balanced over the Note 8 that feels top heavy). And I like iOS better.

I mean, to each his own, I guess. Can't say one way or another, but it is just a bit intriguing for one to go from defending the Note 8 so much...back to Apple for those form factor reasons. Again, to each his own.

As for me, I'd never in one million years ever sacrifice the Super AMOLED for a trashy ancient LCD which simply can't give you the contrast ratio or black levels than the AMOLED can. There's a reason Apple went with AMOLED (from Samsung, no less) for the iPhone X.

 

[NIZMOZ]

I mean, to each his own, I guess. Can't say one way or another, but it is just a bit intriguing for one to go from defending the Note 8 so much...back to Apple for those form factor reasons. Again, to each his own.

As for me, I'd never in one million years ever sacrifice the Super AMOLED for a trashy ancient LCD which simply can't give you the contrast ratio or black levels than the AMOLED can. There's a reason Apply went with AMOLED (from Samsung, no less) for the iPhone X.

Trust me, I am suffering on the screen part. It isn't that bad, but it isn't as good as the OLED either. The Note 8 is a great device. I really other than the FPS didn't have any faults with it. I would have gotten the X if Apple kept the dang TouchID and not have that notch. Maybe in a year or two they will fix that. Like I mentioned, I probably will be picking up a V30 as a second device (work phone).

 

[refraxion]

Lol. So I return my Note 8 for legit reasons from real world use cases but I guess everyone has a reason to return their Note 8 as well :thinking:

 

[NamelessPFG]

Hey, it's an expensive piece of kit. If you're paying that much, you'd better be thoroughly satisfied with it.

Honestly, if not for the carrier switch, I probably wouldn't have bought this Note 8, but now that I have it, I can't bring myself to part with it now, lack of removable battery, IR blaster and screen edge curves be damned. The rest of the package is just too damn good. (They're still gripes I'm going to hold, but don't realistically expect any but that last one to be corrected by any other carrier now that even LG isn't doing removable batteries or IR blasters anymore with the V30.)

Having the assurance that it'll work on any major US carrier and a bunch of international ones without having to deal with locked-out bands is a big one in and of itself, and I also just now snapped some photos and annotated them with the pen to help point out how a cable swap went, no need to do so on a separate device. It's just that convenient in a way that pairing some other smartphone with my Note 4 wouldn't be, and I wish Samsung had some real competition there just so I have more choices to pick from in the market.

I've even adapted to the fingerprint sensor placement, though I still prefer front-facing scanners if given a choice. Maybe the Note 9 will deliver the screen-integrated one everyone was hoping for this year, though it would take far more than that to get me to switch from the Note 8. Besides, these phones are getting too expensive to just switch out every year, or even every two years.