Gadgetory

a good morning on Thursday August 24th in the aftermath of the Samsung experience it's episode 273 of the 359 podcast on BPG and in the house today we got Ben Fox Ruben Rodger Chang and Jessica Dolkar is back with us again good morning everybody how we recovering as suggested by our headline we are going to be answering even more questions on the Galaxy Note 8 and because you did the kind of affair without a great job yesterday that's why Jessica they flew me out and here we go for the recording of the podcast see you back in the chat in a couple of minutes here and three - welcome to the 359 I'm Roger Chang I'm Ben Fox ribbon and with us a special guest Jessica dual-core hey hey hello so we tried to give you everything on the Galaxy Note 8 and yesterday and we failed miserably so we had to bring in the professional brand Jessica who's probably spent the most time with the note 8 yeah anyone had seen that she's had that she has a hands on so just quickly to sum up bottom line from the hands off early impressions that you got from the phone what do you think I think it's pretty good I said before and I'll say it again that I feel like this is the note 7 that we should have had but and then some right so this is Samsung's first phone that's the note returned after the note 7 debacle it's also the first phone ever from Samsung with dual cameras which is really cool but also necessary because pretty much every other high-end phone has dual cameras or will have dual cameras so it's something they kind of like and to have it would have been a huge fail so to that point I mean would how do you think the note eight will stack up because we're getting into phone season oh god the iPhone coming out we've got a pixel - coming out LGV 33 lots of super premium phones coming out how do you think this is gonna stack up I think pretty good for my early impressions there's a feature that's basically their version of portrait mode that they're calling live focus and I think it goes a step further from what we have now right on the iPhone 7 plus but that of course could change with apples next phone there are just a few more features in it there are some more controls over the blur there's a little bit more that you can do with capturing images and Samsung has a really good track record with photography with low-light photography there's dual optical zoom which is something that we expected but there's also dual optical image stabilization oh is on both the camera lenses and that's gonna be really good for low-light pictures when you take video it means that you know it won't shake as much so your video image will remain more steady at the hands-on briefing that I went to they had set up a box and you know the company has loved to troll each other so they had set up this demo station where they had that iPhone 7 plus you know kind of like shaking shaking and then they had the note 8 shaking I always a noticeable difference I suppose you want to test it yourself I saw the Box too and I always wondered like maybe they like a justice wagon they were whacking at the box the demo that I saw Mike oh I actually dropped the box myself oh and it was right in the middle okay so with the no date though is the camera really the big selling point I kind of feel like it's supposed to be like the stylus like it's supposed to be like for power users that you supposed to get a lot of work done with this thing yeah so traditionally the note series is for power users it's got the stylus and usually it has the more cutting-edge features but this is really a blend between the no7 of last year and the Galaxy s8 of this year s 8 plus really cuz it's pretty much the same size so I think that you know Samsung these phones are closer together than they ever have been there's less differentiation so the camera is pretty much it the stylus is pretty much we didn't have a lot of the features that they were talking about in all the rumors like being able to talk into the pan sensitive screen right like the iPhone has and just all of these things and in the end you're kind of like okay it is the most premium Samsung phone that you can get if you're not gonna get it for the stylus you're probably getting it for the camera right but then again like I would say six months ago if you drew up a list of features that the note would have had like that list would probably be pretty accurate there was like nothing that really kind of surprised correct I think Samsung played it safe and I think it's very obvious that part of the reason is because you know people didn't get to keep their notes Evan yeah so if you're making the jump from the note five number they say you note six name but if you're making the jump from the note 5 to the note 8 it's cut yeah you're gonna see a lot of difference there if you are wondering if you're gonna get an S 8 and sa plus or the node 8 it's going to be a lot closer it might come down to price for you or it might come down to features Samsung is definitely going to try to sweeten the deal by offering deals and bundles and carriers might reduce the price one great thing about the holiday season if you are considering getting this phone is that there are a ton of promotions so Samsung's trying to get you to preorder the phone with gifts however if you waited to see what came out with all the phones that we have coming up and you wait for a holiday there will be a lot more promotions and deals so it might actually wind up being cheaper in certain ways that's a really good point yeah all right well we got wrap it up here for all justice coverages CNET's coverage on the Galaxy Note 8 checks on SEANET I'm Roger Chang I'm Ben Fox ribbon and I think that's a good all current still we have a few questions about additional features in the chat can we floor those do it bring it alright she's here for Perry asks does it have a heart rate sensor oh yeah it's all it's Samsung hasn't taken away features so if it was in the s7 the s8 etc it's going to be in the note II realize a heart rate sensor wasn't tends to talk about the new features and we were having this discussion yesterday like oh whatever happened to smart stay which is if you look at the screen and then you look away so Samsung doesn't really strip those away you know I didn't check but it hasn't been removed to the best of my knowledge or sometimes like these aren't pre-loaded but you can still get them through various samsung apps where you just download certain individual items but they're still there there are just so many features it's overwhelming and most people aren't using all of them so I feel like every year there are more features I mean well sometimes I think that there are really good Samsung features and sometimes Android adopts them and then everyone's really excited like oh my god Android gods like Android Beam was a great example of I can't oh yeah yeah yeah but there are other times when you remember that Samsung is not really a great software company and they should stick to hardware but what they're trying to do what every vendor om as we would call them tries to do is differentiate and really the only way to do that is to layer their own software on top of what Google is providing so by the way where is the fingerprint sensor yeah yeah yeah and it's a really big deal for me because I you know Dan this design I think it's the worst it doesn't make any see is it even worse for the no day because of the way it's long yeah so to answer your question the fingerprint reader is on the back and it is off to the side of the camera okay now I haven't measured it which is something that I'm gonna do when I get the review unit in but it's a tall phone so the s8 you know me my hands are like not the biggest in the world so you know I'm reaching on the s8 I'm really reaching on the s8 plus and I'm curious to see again I haven't measured it I didn't really spend a lot of time like deeply comparing that I will I want to see if it's moved even further off to the side because of the dual camera array on the back I just don't understand why the sensor can't be centralized underneath it's a natural way I also like fingerprint readers in the power/lock button on the side I think it's a great area it's like 100 percent accuracy with Sony phones do that in the next bit Robin it's really actually it's really great it's sensible because part of the problem for me with a fingerprint sensor on the back is like how many of you sent with your phone just laying down you know it's next to you do you really want to pick up your phone or do you really want to swipe and then do your backup pin or gonna pick it up and do the iris scanner when it's laying down I find out really annoying side bun side button is pretty easy yeah or even on the front like that's fairly easy as well alrighty next bit Robin so let's add okay we are the essential to talk about instead as the next like up-and-comer let's branch off what you were just talking about with the design because Sarada and the chat asks do you guys like that tall design I he says he or she says I can't tell it means it's very unconventional uncomfortable to handle it seems how do you feel about it I don't find it uncomfortable at all the rounded sides really help with that but again like for me like that phone is never going to be a one-handed phone for me actually argue that it's it's becoming the new convention because I think the iPhones gonna have very similar so for a while for a while we were seeing really chunky phones you know I'd like there's like an HTC brick that I remember just trying to hold and for me if they're heavy if they have like sort of thick sides and sharp edges and it's wide in my grip then that is what's uncomfortable for me I don't really mind I also personally believe that people are adaptable we kind of get used to it yeah that's true we got another question here from Lord havoc he says Jessica what's the battery consumption like so far how long does it last that's a great question yeah well I don't have the note we do know the battery is smaller than last year's model so Samsung said that they did acknowledge that part of the reduced capacity of the battery itself is because they wanted to leave more space in the cavities within the cavity of the phone so that they wouldn't repeat the same mistakes of last year but they also promised oh well really it's faster than the note seven which is possible because if there are streamlining they say it's mostly the processor is yes they say they kept saying all-day battery life which was common and big it was turn like all days different for right depending on what you're doing you're not gonna get all day battery life if you're navigating five hours a day and just really music streaming this podcast on repeat exactly this very part all the time we have another good question here yeah from boycott the carry I think I'm getting that right great now asking it does it support all of the apps for the multi window split view I don't believe so yeah because the app has to itself be provisioned to be used in in those dimensions basically yeah I think they said Android multi-view right thing which is in every app which was another thing by the way that started in Google adopted actually does Samsung LG service I feel like LG had a multi window thing that no one cared about because I might be wrong but I'm putting my money on Samsung like LG well maybe I'm wrong I just remember they had it like animals ago that's cool and then proceeded not by the phone which Braden asks is a special offer for previous note 7 owners worldwide or just for the US well I got an update yesterday that it's just for the US I'm hoping fingers crossed it's just for the US for now although I think that they got it they have to start and target different areas from a legal perspective so they're probably starting here and then it'll move to the other regions start here right yeah the real question is how much did my article influence this because I would like to take your welcome there should be like an asterisk in that press release thing because of scene that's exactly one thing I will say though is that it appears that this promotional deal apology money no it appears that this is only happening through Samsung yes and I'm not sure I've been asked before but I'm not sure if the carriers will participate in any way my guess is probably not yes I've actually got I got I think I think you're just gonna have to decide I got I know from Samsung this morning actually just confirming that yeah you have to basically if you register with if you register the phone with Samsung then it should be a problem but you have to do it through Samsung if you didn't register your phone which some people don't you have to present a proof of purchase for the phone to get the to be able to be eligible for this discount you would think they'd be able to tell through activations but that might just be the activations on the counter yeah but they were working with the carriers to retrieve the best thing I don't think they weren't taking down Lee I don't think the carriers have their own promotions exactly as you yeah as you pointed out like once those other phones pop up like you're gonna see a ton of promotion it's like I I know there's supposed to be bundling stuff with the phone now but like it seems like a better bet to wait for sure unless you really want to gear 360 right who doesn't Cyril in the chat is really adamant to find out if there's going to be action memo I don't even know what that means there is a new note app I'm trying to remember like specifically I didn't I don't recall if I saw action memo but you should totally watch the video and look in the air command wheel to see if it's there there's definitely screen off memo which is when you can write on the lock screen basically really cool it's really cool I love that what is action memo it was it's like a it's like an easier way to create a little memo oh okay I know to yourself there was a new write a note I samsung has tried to simplify all of the note apps and the writing apps it was getting a little confusing I think action memo is one of those things that always confused me because I was gonna use it but in the air command that's the little like wheel the menu wheel the navigation menu wheel for the stylus there is a direct write a note from there and I thought that was pretty handy there you go we got a to party here from lost legacy they asked how was the latency on the s-pen and the UI in general and is big space no pointless I don't know which one I want to answer first I can't any answer Bixby first but latency um seemed really good in my test so far again I don't have the review unit that's something that would pop up I that was a big issue that I noticed when I reviewed the original Galaxy Note there were all these issues with writing and I think that Samsung has really gotten pretty good they're licensing all of this from Wacom so it's not all their technology but they're also creating the software interface and connection so that their software will talk to that pen what about this what about Bixby oh my okay well there's the Bixby button Samsung has it exists yeah maybe a theme in 200 countries now right which it doesn't speak English right now English English okay yeah I mean it was in South Korea and it was in the US yet launched but it is still very much a work in progress they said that I think the figure I got was that there was uptake of 30% of users in the US I'm not sure how many of those activations were on purpose and how much was somebody pressing the button so I mean the big thing to remember is that Bixby is not Siri Bixby is not Google Assistant Google assistants on the phone Bixby is the voice analog for everything you can do tapping the phone right so there are all these crazy commands that they showed off but the thing is like all of those commands are things that you can do it just has to occur to you either to do it or to ask for it in that way right I don't know that I'm a person who has trained myself to think that way so the example that they gave yesterday was like open the camera and take the picture in food mode so I really like nested commands I think that was cool too I think it's really great and what's exciting about it is what it can mean for every other digital assistant or virtual assistant is that once you have that structure in place there's so much that you can do I mean imagine using it the way that you would use Siri or Google assistant where you're on asking like a nested command and it totally understands what you want and then you can just sort of like stream-of-consciousness you know go about it but the problem is that Bixby is still very limited in that way to only things that you can do on your phone so if it's something simple where you're like oh my hands are full but hey turn off Wi-Fi or turn on Wi-Fi or something like that that's actually a really nice use case or like you know I use phones all day so like sometimes my hands get tired and I don't want to use them right and that's when something like voice dictation is very useful for me so it useless I mean it doesn't do everything that it could do and I think that if you want to take full advantage of it you kind of have to play around with it and really invest in all these actors so that accuracy is is okay it's pretty accurate for some things but I also just feel like voice assistance in general don't always work yeah so sometimes I don't do them because I'm like wow I've wasted all this time trying to make it easier on myself and I didn't the one thing I will say about Bixby that is kind of great is that it will get you halfway there so if it doesn't know like fully what you're saying you should say if you say open the camera and take this in food mode and it messes up you know but it might open the camera so it's kind of like Grandma it's the grandma voice assistant as well and they try and it's very sweet but sometimes it misses the mark it's not a good review sounds like you need to call your grandma it's there Samsung is planning on now putting this into a smart speaker right right so the goal with Bixby was always that it is gonna be ecosystem wine so you can imagine that your washing machine we're not and so this is a test bed really and so they're going slow and I think that's okay in a way you know in a way they might not really care who uses it on the phone if the goal is to just start slowly and kind of not like mangle it so badly that they have to pull it back and release all these OTAs and blah blah blah blah just going back to the the screen off memo or just the memo and generally like jot down a to-do list they will convert it to text really not on screen off memo I don't think but on a regular note yes really I remember the Newton I'm like that I needed by that but again it's one of those things where I write in my writing is so bad that I keep like looking like to get it right so to get a write to him and I'll just type it myself all right we're almost out of time but we want to get at least one more question and Matthew Cox has a really good one he says with this phone shape our case is practical I think a case is always necessary yeah especially I just think if you're gonna invest this much money in a phone okay like that's almost a thousand bucks yeah well let's say it's not let's say that you go through Samsung's trade-in because you were known seven owner and you get 425 bucks off right like so it's still an expensive phone you still want to preserve the resale value and the trade-in value if especially well always I mean if you want to sell it if you want to pass it on to somebody else like you never want to go out of your way to break your phone so I always recommend the case and I always recommend I'm also like a butterfingers so cases have saved my devices I would recommend a case and I would recommend a screen protector but at least a case that kind of has a lip that comes out over the side so that if it does falls flat first you know face-first although with the curved screen how would that even work yeah Samsung has made cases and all the case makers have I think that's why I think that's why he was asking that is what's the point then the point is protecting your investment yeah ever nobody's gonna force you to get a case risk yeah you do and do you have a crack on the back of the glass pixel no it's only a matter of time a while I want to say one more thing about the colors I'm really sad that the US doesn't get the maple golden deep sea blue like an orchid gray its orchid gray right so it's supposed to be sort of like purpley vaguely like suede or something I think it looks like a brown gray I think it looks a little money personally I think it's fine so we got to wrap it up real quick but elephant in the room is price and one last question will the price of the SA or si plus reduced because of the no 8 release and does it come with dual SIM option I would be very surprised if the price were to reduce no the price has gone down for that state already like you see discounts everywhere cuz it's been out since because it's been out for a while let me finish I don't know that Samsung will reduce the retail price but I think that the retailer is will exactly as Roger said the carriers are gonna drop it to move product I mean they've bought the product like carriers the stores they've already bought it they've got it sitting around so they can do whatever they want with it so yes I think that will drop obviously we're gonna see last year's model drop not the note 7 because nobody hasn't the note 5 will probably do it really cheap all of those I've already dropped but I think that we're gonna start to see some really competitive pricing especially if you're patient in you wait a little while all right I think it's about where we gotta wrap it up for the day all right thanks for already we blew through this week yeah thank you a blur like portrait mode I mean live focus all right if you like to anything you saw her hurt here check us out on CNET our podcast is also available on iTunes TuneIn stitcher SoundCloud feedburner and Google Play Music have a great weekend we'll see this weekend