Gadgetory

we're looking at what is likely the most expensive android smartphone of the year and it's Samsung's first handset with a dual sensor camera system there's going to be a lot of tough photography competition this year will this phone leave the pack here's our Galaxy Note 8 real camera review brought to you by deep brand we're trying something a little different with this review there are two sensors on this phone a standard view and a zoom the primary shooter on the note performs similarly to the Galaxy S II we reviewed earlier in the year so instead of retreading those tests will be focusing on what makes this phone different from its predecessor and that means we can deliver part of the conclusion right up front on this video the pros this shooter is fast not just the dual pixel focusing speed but also shot recycle time from photo to photo this is also one of the better low-light performers of the year easily delivering exposures that take a bit more work from competing phones Mekons samsung exposures still veer towards over saturating and over sharpening it's a vibrant look for sharing on the web but might not suit all tastes for Samsung's expertise and lens manufacturing we'd like to see higher quality glass on a future Galaxy especially for the quality of lens flaring at night lastly we still see issues with Samsung's hybrid stabilization activating software stabilization in conjunction with the phone's Hardware stabilization often produced twitchy output the OU is working on its own regularly delivered the cleaner video our verdict from the galaxy s 8 a pixel will probably win for people who only want to push a shutter button with no additional input or control and a V 20 will crush it for those folks mounting their phones on tripods to dial in exactly the composition that they want but few phones will cover as broad a range of consumers with very good to excellent performance in a majority of shooting scenarios as the Galaxy S a well that's all well and good and if you want that deep dive into the main camera performance our galaxy sa real camera review is linked in the description of this video but we have a whole second camera to talk about now and zoom is the name of the game the second sensor is smaller and including Hardware image stabilization provides a significant benefit to image quality processing is similar to that main camera pushing saturation sharpening and fairly heavy-handed noise reduction but the result is output that plays really well with compressed web services like Instagram no one's really looking to pixel peep on a lower quality camera sensor capturing and utilizing light is always the key to a good photo and in bright light the note 8 becomes one of the best macro shooters available this is not a portrait mode photo this is the natural bouquet shot at the minimum focusing distance of the camera and its stonking gorgeous even an on-the-fly shot like this low-flying airplane at maximum zoom the note is able to preserve a surprising amount of detail unfortunately image integrity does begin to degrade in dimmer conditions in shade were already seeing a duller and noisier exposure indoor shots will often switch to the main camera as our night photos a clueless to the image quality advantage from the larger main camera sensor but now it's a shame we can't actually compare the two cameras at night shifting gears zoomed video looks significantly better than other zoom camera competitors when working with a longer focal length your hand shake is magnified and the OAS does an excellent job of taking some of the shake out of your shots again you need some good light to prevent dull output and the phone fights you to focus as close as it can for a still photograph but this is far more functional where the novelty of a zoom wears off fairly quickly on other phones we've reviewed but this is a feature I'm more likely to revisit the second sensor also means we get a live focus portrait mode and it's good if not quite our favorite background blur mode it's a step above the iPhone but falls just shy of Huawei and like his solution like the iPhone you're fairly limited by distance and light to close too far or too dark the phone just won't shoot a live focus photo indoors we see noticeable image degradation Samsung's flexibility makes this more fun to use not just for adjusting the blur after the fact but also for saving photos from both cameras that's a great safety feature especially as software still has a ways to go for managing the border around your subject lastly we need to talk about the additions to samsung's camera app where we felt the s8 was getting fiddly the no date has to push even more control onto your viewfinder which creates moving targets for specific settings words replace the more discreet symbols on the s8 which contributes to a more cluttered feel I still hate the shutter button doubling as a zoom rocker I continue to miss a lot of shots because I don't perfectly nail the press on this button in the moment and when combined with the 2x button we now have three methods of zoom that button disappears when you focus replaced by an exposure slider this all feels more complicated than it needs to be hiding gestures under other gestures lastly Samsung made a mistake implementing one of my favorite new features I'm really happy to see a new full screen mode to compose content that better fits Samsung's new aspect ratio but to add this button meant removing the HDR toggle and shifting it to the main camera settings this is wrong I'm far more likely to want to toggle HDR than I am to want to switch aspect ratios the app is incredibly functional includes a great set of manual controls for photos but it's getting really busy expect more of a learning curve than on Samsung's of years past and we're not sure we agree with Samsung's use of space to highlight lesser used options against more commonly used photography controls so let's wrap this up where does that leave us with the cameras on the Galaxy Note 8 the great thing here is how we can legitimately piggyback on our conclusion from the galaxy s 8 and as we mentioned before if you want that in-depth look at the main camera sensor our real camera review is linked in this video's description samsung's philosophy still handily represents one of the better Venn diagram overlaps between easy auto modes and more camera complete manual options though the note 8 slides slightly farther away from the easy side of the spectrum because of complications to your viewfinder the core push button get photo experience feels again like another small step back from the galaxy s7 still the no date ticks all the right boxes it's fast it produces crowd-pleasing shots and now Samsung includes the fun options we've enjoyed from competitors they relate to the dual camera party but they brought a solid option to play nothing makes me more nervous than holding a slippery phone over a freeway overpass if only we had a way to add more grip to that back glass a thankfully D brand has a well stocked supply of skins to help you customize your gadgets protecting them from scratches and fingerprints smudges and making them easier to hold on to check out D brand comm slash Galaxy or hit the link in the description below to check out options for your device's as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for our full Galaxy Note 8 coverage including reviews and comparisons and help us out with a share on your favorite social networks for pocket now i'm juan carlos bag now some gadget guy on twitter and instagram and i will catch you all on the next review