Gadgetory

I think we're live the note 8 is officially official the hottest tech story of the week the pocket no team is on the ground in New York City and we're exhausted but we're going to talk about the most iconic large screen phablet ephone in the history of large screen family phones you're already checking your watch I'm Eddie Vetter we've had our first taste of savory numbness so we're gonna share our first impressions thoughts with you guys so yeah we've got a lot to talk about make sure you're charged and ready for episode 267 of the PocketNow weekly two six seven oh five six seven yeah this weekly podcast is where we dissect and discuss those gadgets to make our lives mobile smartphones tablets and wearables it's all the cool stuff you wish you had when you were a kid and you know Star Trek note-taking computing devices we're gonna be honest and say after you know a few alcoholic beverages you're lots you meditate you start to finish like a ton of work because we have a bunch of videos that I do in like five hours or something like that and then we podcast well yeah you got a podcast that's not the point so record it August 24th admit no he eats 12 million 12:30 oh yeah 12:30 pocket now is live reacting the Galaxy Note 8 yeah yeah it doesn't doesn't really react sing something reacting yeah the essential phone this got a lot of we're gonna have a lot of I'm Juan Carlos Peck now senior editor pocketnow.com joined as always by plucky podcast producer Jules wall struggling to introduce each other and host of the PocketNow daily mister I'm a new meta who's editing in fact yeah you can actually hear his macbook cranking up you probably can't given the quality of this live stream right now but we're broadcasting off of somewhat shaky Wi-Fi connection in our air PNP but we still have a lot that we wanted to discuss I mean again we're gonna have to talk a lot about notes stuff real quick though I'm going to jump in and before we get into the tech Buller e to thank this week's sponsor and that's dbrand gram to brand dear and makes a range of vinyl skins and wraps for laptops iPhones and all the latest smartphones including yeah essential phone this one really including essential phone and the brand spanking new Galaxy Note 8 which we'll be discussing this week each skin is precision cut for a perfect fit on every device every time there are a variety of different materials and finishes like marble concrete and a new green carbon fiber and customers can mix and match colors and materials for each part of their device to fit their personality although I do love their black dragon that's the black dragon is pretty sweet that's that's the one that's the one that has my favorite most upset to pull off my galaxy so I had my TAS si we put on the Dragon Skin one because we a daddy brand sponsorship at the time and it made holding that phone so much nicer and sets doing all the camera tests rolling around in the dirt afraid I was gonna drop this Liberty phone but the other one that um was a biggie for me my razor my razor blade laptop the finish is super easy to scratch on that I've got a bunch of dings and Nick's from from Eva last year yeah and so putting his skin on that was a handy and inexpensive way to preserve the look of my sweet there's been just 10 phones they do laptops to all kinds of devices the brand is on it right now so right now every order over $20 gets free shipping anywhere in the world a nice little perk get your hands on some cool new skins for your favorite piece of tech head on over to D brand.com slash weekly that's d brand calm / weekly let him know that we sent you and we thank D Ram for supporting the pocket now weekly indeed true story I mean actually our sponsor can you hook up maybe a one plus buy because our checkers run the third be phone that you would have killed I mean like oh my god this is weekly hashtag P and weekly on Twitter or getting so defensive it's like super sensitive wow so he's super lightweight that's what you're saying podcast at pocketnow.com also a place to email your questions so that we can save them for a later date for a rainy day and - you're completely sure what's the satisfaction so we already have a great question from at mapreduce regular viewer of the show how much charge do you three have this late into the evening hashtag p.m. weekly the essential phone is impression 42% you know and I I'm a little charger I hold it off the charger at 6 a.m. that's what you got on your b20 so I'm on my site I have a spare battery so I just keep charging that's that's a to me and right now I'm on 34% okay 34% on the second battery on the second battery and a day this is the third charge cycle of the day okay so I'm doing better than the third charge and so Galaxy s8 active is on 16 though the active the best phones lineup equals the second charge Oh so baila waves oh that's impressive though is for it to last in that kind of cells earlier than three hours and actually running data that whole time because you kept all our notes going to the entire show so I'm actually not gonna hate on Samsung their that's or us their once sir is no hate on this phone so I'm at forty one percent on my LG g6 but I did have fifteen percent top off at the bar okay so I would be down closer to like like danger battery low battery warning is the best performance on the g6 meds not bad for me the g6 is not good no it's not but I've been using the honor nine as my camera oh my god and so with the exception of doing a couple wide-angle shots up most of my most of my phone photos have come from a different phone and that's usually where I've got my screen fo but I know listeners I'm sorry the webcam is crap but you gotta at least like take a second pull it out because they have to see the finish on this thing oh it's in my bedroom you guys talk real quick I'll be right back guys I handled the pre-brief yeah I was kind of disappointed to hear that but you know the rumors are that you know 18t wants to do a little thing probably that same time period so I think I would be dumb not to do something particularly that honor 9 was actually a unit because it was a while to get it look I was actually wanting to get it for myself but it's a gorgeous phone so it really is a pretty phone oh I feel it's a little I feel it's a little galaxy s7 even oh no no no well it's it's the back layer lasers so the frame is very s 7e the glass is wholly unique so the back is a complete galaxy us of an edge the bottom is galaxy s of an edge the top is a galaxy s6 and yeah and then the front is a mix between iPhone 7 + 1 + + 5 I mean there's still some Samsung going on there - I feel Samsung was the predominant influence over this phone and not necessarily in a bad way because it's blending a lot of things but the thing that I'm still consistently impressed with and this is something that you know I think we have a little disagreement with on the note 4 and we'll get to the note 4 here in just a minute I promise window grandboy about this is is the flush camera centers where the glass is unbroken yes on the back of the honours still I think one of the most impressive things I've seen yes on if I mean it's just so simple to do so I just I remember the first time I might use the Huawei which was the Nexus 6p yeah and it was just funny because remember back in Latin America our concept of always is these very cheesy phone and so like to get a 6p for me I was like mate by Huawei but I just there's a long way before the 6p there's a wall way after the 6p that 6p continues to be one of my favorite phones of all time any 918 I have many reasons and it just made me start believing in this company and like I received the honor eight late yeah then I received the p10 sorry then the mate 9 then the p10 and just my exposure to Huawei hardware yeah like the taste I love how I remember when I used to go to Bali presentations five years ago and it was all the way the CEO was always like this is better than this over competition this is better than this other competition and that Huawei is not trying to compete no I think not always arme US market well I I feel like the US market is still the last enough that they've they've got some inconsistencies in how they're trying to crack it but when worldwide they're the number three yes that's impressive growth because like you prior to the Nexus 6p is a brand that was not on my radar no zero and how quickly we've seen them change that perception it's now genuinely looking forward to new products that they put out yeah you know that I know you know what the funny part is and I think this is gonna serve as a good segue segue yes before the before Samsung started doing Nexus devices Samsung was really not as much in our radar either yeah HTC was the big bad yeah and it was the carry over from the Windows Windows Windows Mobile and they AC make the first Android phone yes and then Samsung did the Nexus S and then the Nexus a gallon Galaxy Nexus which was my first ever no sorry my first the Nexus One was average Android phone it was the Galaxy Nexus yeah and well the Galaxy Nexus was thrown that really sort of I think blew open Samsung design yeah my wife is a huge fans the first editors money has a way yeah oh my god I remember I remember holding that phone back and I still have it I have it I have that unit there in my drawer and I was like this phone is so big it's so hard to manage and now we handle the Galaxy Note reigns yeah who could possibly use a 4.7 inch screen in their daily driver 720p is a very easy are you gonna use all of those dots with HD resolution only you remember that beautiful spent I'll criticize yes I still do I mean that's one of the things I was actually hoping to see Samsung because we should jump in place to start would be quark on Twitter doesn't know it feel more like a revolution or evolution which is always a good place I defer to you immigration in a razor it's an iteration I I wouldn't use any of those words it's so high something that needed to be in the place of the note I understand the reason why I can't understand why Samsung is doing this they had a rough year last year yeah I you know I found I thought I found it to be bold for the company than in a presentation where they're supposed to praise their new products and they took the time during the presentation to admit that they the still and they had a beer yeah and they use the words when he was disappointed here yeah I love that like ever since DJ ko has taken over the company oh my god like I love the humbleness well Samsung has been so much more grounded in there yes you don't have to say hi GG let's do a Broadway show to announce a phone yeah kinds of shenanigans and yeah I think we all appreciate that kind of a Congress a more grown-up conversation with I mean there was still the spectating when you headed it to the s pod because we had we were kind of transitioning into a whole bunch of things too with Kwan HD you know potential for 4k chip that ego 575 and then we started writing into refinements as six design smooth like glass couples it's not really like you went there as an s3 really they have a nature like them or this is like the more in this one the whistle and the iconic Samsung whistle now getting back to the no date don't cringe you that so the press conference because I love that moment were they actually and they were pulling video I'm sure a lot of you probably saw some even for Lhasa Carter was there they pull a video of people talking about like their experience isn't just like how emotional this stuff gets and we might want to be kind of cynical about something like that but this is probably the device you spend most of your day interacting with other people this is happy like your lifeline to other communication I think it's important to recognize like how many people they left in a lurch the flip side of that though is I think they went a little overboard on the fanservice all you boil knows people you're the fans that kept us afloat that the warm fuzzy could be like I understand I understand balancing that conversation and being appreciative of your customer base but after appointment was getting a little much for me in the whole life I told you I guess fees what I'm selling awesome and loved loved up I sold you I got invited to that fan so fun fact I actually received an email from Samsung bear in mind I've been using the Galaxy Note since version 2 yeah so I'm sure that they had some way to try it are my personal user every single Samsung in the NSA they're all over your stuff right now I don't know it's just so I received the B invite to come to unpacked and write a fan and they had like this stack of they had a it was a very big group of people that were there I think that like half the half the people that were there were media and then the other half were people that were invited by Samsung I think it was I don't take it the wrong way I I feel that the reaction to the note yeah because they made a good point I mean this company is like okay let's like bow down except the feet and let's offer people whatever they want and and let's see if we can snatch a victory out of the jaws of this defeat but if you think about it if you think about it and when this happened to Samsung at the beginning of the note 7 problem it wasn't like we are going to replace your phone with another Samsung no we will replace your phone with whatever you want yeah and so for the company to notice that people replace their phones with another Samsung I remember that the metric was like 91% yeah there was almost no migration no migration to the competition and so I feel that it was a good move to praise loyalty I understand that but I start to get a little twitchy when some of the starts to become like we're besties and were your friends and the conversation starts drifting into that kind of feel I got it you know these cuz it's like at the end of the day this is still a multi billion-dollar multinational corporation whose main responsibility is to their shareholders to tender morality for them and that's you know that's just why I kind of feel like it gets a little much or got a little for me during that conversation but I wanted them to get on the talk about the no date which we're not even doing whole fan thing where it was like dude the only reason why the LGB 21-hour prize for the best moment of 2016 was my default was because the note died yeah but I think we were all in agreeance that the Galaxy Note 7 was the best vote of 2016 not for me but for other people other people the general tso me I feel like Samsung has made very conversation with its Brandon it's realized what's when it's done and we call situation it rebounded by doing this whole you know edition and in the guise of that was going to resource these parts for you know just making up the loss you know it would make anywhere near than our money that they would have otherwise I feel like that was one employ you know if they're doing it in developed countries where you know in can be debated that there's some fandom to agree over there but you know it's also kind of a mid-range just as a general main range device with a phablet and status and that putting the no nathie up there with same signaling to them that we're doing this as a token we're doing this as a way to let you know that we are making sure that checks are in balance and that when we get to the note a because the they've started offering $425 rebates to go to note 7 quarters for the donate we're going to do it right and we're going to make sure that everything is polished up by the time this all blows through so I feel like that is the foundation of where that section of the audience is coming from do you think where we're going here is like where's the nest chicken of audience here and what's this play what do you think well that's that's what I think we have yet to see I think the essay was the the proper Samsung spawns to getting people back in line not making jokes about Samsung phones exploding and so now I think we still need to see you go still - nothing no no no it's not that the s8 was the completion of that conversation the s8 was just to show we're back on track we're making boundary-pushing devices literally and that starts you back on the road towards changing over that that knee-jerk reaction who soon flew that's gonna blow up you know like it takes time to undo that I still think we'll need to see over the next two fiscal quarters how much damage was really done to the node name well don't think it was going to be much I don't think we're gonna see a significant drop although the bottom is we're not going to get the numbers remember Sam sorry about the vid Samsung is one of the companies that does not release yeah but I mean that's me pretty good insight on how s8 sold after that again we're never going to get the full picture but as I said okay si has been like remember Samson wasn't making money cent making profit since the s4 since the s4 so this is just proof I know but we've still got general trend data on like how many essays have been shipped how many assets have been stocked and we can get a pretty good sense of once we start seeing that kind of data for the note if there was a significant lasting impact to the note brand from last year well I'm assuming we're gonna see that that kind of dip in light of the end of this year you know as the note no longer stands as the sole big-screen device we're gonna have the most exciting hardware update that we've ever seen from Apple we're gonna see something I think we're going to see something pretty cool from LG and internationally you've got intense pressure now from huawei the mate has never been stronger and pixel two is yet is starting to take that enthusiast conversation you know the people who really cared about like that that Nexus behind a software update conversation they're not that those people have no interest in an LG or Samsung they're looking at something Google Direct and although I think this is probably going to be this the toughest competition while Samsung stilllooking their wounds on what used to be the only big screen in town but you know I don't think that's going to be the biggest deterrent of the no date honestly it's not competition so what's the big grant then yeah I want to ask you to try don't try to say you like CG likes to play this game try to do the try to make some memory and remember when was the last time that you ever heard a phone in its entry tier like you know this this is yes this is the cheapest version of this particular phone that you can buy and at being retail that nine hundred and sixty dollars rising good credit then you spread that over 24 months or it may team under lunette yes that's what you just went crazy Larry yes it's nearly fifty nine areas $40 a month it's nearly $50 for down twice like you know okay so the property market for you the point the point being is never has a phone you visit this expensive lately and the reason why I'm saying entry tears because shirt like you cannot even know that there's gonna be well in United States be honest if you go for a 256 gig iPhone and costs $1000 an iPhone 7 plus oh yeah you can make an iPhone 7 plus things like that you don't have but you don't have but the base model of the know date to cost between 920 and men and $60 it just reminds me of that time when Steve Ballmer with the launch of the iPhone like nobody no nobody had ever paid $500 for an iPhone plus the subsidy yeah which was the launch of the first iPhone yeah no I I feel though that we have crested into this territory because how expensive was the note 700 something 850 I mean we were talking in an almost $900 device last year yeah so the note has always played in this top tier premium it was less expensive when Trayvon was less expensive heritage it was a ladder's that photo was a letter step first thing was the iPhone 7 plus that $20 increase between you know seven point nine and seven sixty nine but but that's that's kind of what I'm getting at is like we're going forty notes at the police we're not going on drums so Galaxy s8 small phone to so in the 200m in the case of the Galaxy Note 5 vs s6 edge+ the note 5 was $50 cheaper right it was 750 it would wait it was seven months 750 and and the s6 edge+ was $100 it was 850 that was like the oh yeah truly and and what was it that they were selling they were selling a fashion bomb that Iran had the first curved screens on a phone that large that was a beautiful phone I mean it was it was a pretty fun um but again what we're talking about are different scenarios so I'm saying from from model year to model year Samsung already set a $900 expectation near the no 7 and 6 and we're talking like unlocked $30 more than that now so I feel prices gonna put a hurt on this but I also think this is the next phase of what the premium flagship tier is going to represent and I think that thousand-dollar ceiling this now gives Apple I mean what's crazy is that fact that Samsung did not price this at $9.99 gives Apple room to actually hit that price point make it an exclusive luxury device Badgett and fill it that way and make it in a completely emotional purchase kind of like an Apple watch Edition right you know you can make it you can now make that a part of the conversation that it represents some kind of status where phones haven't done that for a really long time I'm going to complete I really don't like the premise that Samsung is giving room to Apple in order to make it just gave me an idea right now so that so remember that the iphone 7s iphone 7 s plus and iPhone 8 are ruins of E glass and stainless steel yeah what if it's ceramic instead of glass we heard rumors that Apple was working on a material means ceramic this would be used on the Apple watch edition yep ceramic on your essential phone and like what's the cool thing about ceramic it doesn't scratch yeah like this band that I got for the gear s 3 is ceramic it doesn't scratch yeah so what if that's the reason why they're gonna price the phone so expensive well I mean as long as there's a reason I mean I know there are other things there are things on essential phone that spec junkies are probably not gonna really like right or you know what I think is also funny like 2 years ago was kind of a novelty if the phone was water-resistant now it's like oh phones not water was there's a night of conversation exactly and that's time I think that's kind of funny to watch how that's kind of stuff cycles yeah you know where you don't need it until suddenly a phone that you like has it and now it's a total deal-breaker if a different phone doesn't have that feature when we can't you can't say there is no other phone that's made out of ceramic and titanium fermions a deal breaker not having waters I mean like that's just it I mean for me personally I like good drop resistance and durability water resistance is nice yo sorry the b20 was still a solid option for me even lacking water resistance still would've liked the be 34 ya get both but you have to seal up the battery and I understand those compromises - I can I can still look at the essential and say there is a reason you pay more for more expensive manufacturer and premium build so it's not like you know it's just outright a deal-breaker you just have to find the right audience member for that it was the seven-headed all phones we're talking about $1000 what's where's the 300 dog gap here I'm not see is the biggest question which is actually the question of a Thursday ly whenever it goes live eight really worth - nine hundred and sixty dollars mr. Hornbeck no less tested the 1+5 who's clearly with the otter 9-mer hey I mean what do you think that so to me I always think that the question of worth is toxic because there is an audience for every device I have to find who that audiences the audience might be three people into kept see and that that device is a failure but you want to match like that that phone could be the absolute right perfect fit for that one person that's always the question I'm trying to find so we're looking at a note which is nine hundred and thirty dollars plus I can't justify that for a lot of people in my circle of family and friends okay I'm here right so I have difficulty there but there are a couple things if you're really into stylus fine point find touch you know an interaction in navigation it's literally the best game the only game in town for the implementation of that feature this is you're looking for it on a phone yes this is the first proper Samsung with a dual-camera sensor so if you want the novelty of having a zoom sensor portrait mode you're into that kind of fun photography on the go what other Samsung's gonna do it for you if you were a consumer would you buy it I say that well since I wouldn't because I mean personally if you're asking me I wouldn't because I like content creation devices like the b20 yeah and that's that's a phone that is much better able for me to get you a love of the body I'll be 30 with an extra well what I use I use my my V 20 with a stylo pen true I use I use my ability phone with a fine-tipped active stylus it just doesn't have nearly the kind of software interaction that I learned oh yeah so again I can't I can't write off this notion of price because also a part of this is that Samsung is the only manufacturer which is as successfully nearly as successfully as Apple become a lifestyle brand true so the note also becomes a status symbol and I don't want to dismiss that for people there are people walking around if you go to an airport you see some dude walking around with a Louie Vuitton duffel bag and you're like you spent way too much to put crap in a bag but that's his gig that's his style is that what he wants it's a status based on exclusivity thing there's so few phones out there have styluses that offer sizes I mean about the G style ersatz 3 or whatever technology and that those are you know more affordable less functional and when you're talking about the software suite the Samsung has developed around it that takes a lot of effort Oh conversation if the conversation is style then the S Pen is irrelevant because if the conversation is static right now the SI plus is a BOGO deal on t-mobile right you know so like let's have status if you're buying a phone today and it's the SI plus you have status today if you buy well that's not the argument I'm trying to make my translucent feature which people are willing to pay more for in which case whether to treat it as an aspirational purchase where you say my for I think they do I don't know I mean a big part of that is is what is their social networking service kind of so I mean they do treat that feature is like be an artist to be creative just be fun and be a threeway by our thousand dollar phone I would be I don't know what the trend is but I did know like for example my ex-wife went crazy over the Galaxy Note 2 not because it was a galaxy not because it had a pen just because the file was big yeah and I have well known we know there's so much data to say that people were using the note more for this I have yes I have I know an insane amount of women particularly that prefer the iPhone 7 plus just because it's big well any but think about that that actually makes a lot of sense because what do you not carry around that you can put larger devices into in the case of in the case of a woman that you know they have a person anniversary I mean so it what's funny is if there was there was like this really good data right before the launch of the iPhone se about the popularity of the iPhone 5s you know it meant yeah especially younger men who were one they didn't have the purchasing power to buy a great overpriced gadgets but than to it's like we were in another phase of like skinny jeans yes I mean again as fashion in status they wanted the Apple logo but they didn't want something that would Bend in a pocket so the iPhone 6 was actually out of the question because they hadn't fixed Club rails on the volume rocker yeah not specifically because that but there was the whole person Joe your age everybody yeah exactly um good job Zach quickness in the right direction let me Molly Nelson but that that became like this pocket trend for a hot you know got minute where people wanted these tiny phones to complement their personal style I feel the note still fits that conversation but I feel its power is waning largely because what you're talking about popular big-screen phones are no longer unique it's so longer and now the thing is well then let's go back to the reason so why did my ex-wife want a note bear in mind my job was to review phones it still is and you know I was like oh my god like the battery on this thing is there are a whole bunch of other reasons that go hand in hand but I think people still look at a big screen or something that's a bit larger in the true-true but none of me it wasn't that for me it was actually cumbersome - you know - yeah for me it was just going on whatever tradeshow I went to and not have to worry about charging the phone and if anything I carried a spare battery and I would just replace it yeah and so um you know whenever something good going back to the whole concept you go going back to the whole concept of our of our discussion the other day our our tech debate denver if the note was productive or not is like okay so what is this park trying to replace its triumphalism notepad which is what i would i say it in my hands on up in the debate okay this park is trying to replace note that it's trying to replace or sketchpad whatever bad and what was worthy characteristics of these things like for example when this paper never runs out of battery replacement for paper a kindle well but you can't draw you can oh the perfect replacement for paper for a book okay like what product does a perfect job of replacing the product that's place yeah you charge it once a month yeah it moves it every day and charge it once a month it completes its purpose and it actually looks like if you're reading paper so in the case of the note let's forget about the whole concept of reading paper or not what it's trying to be this tool this notepad that's always available to you that whenever whenever you just remember the photo somebody gave you a phone number at 9 p.m. and you're like hey just jot that and just pull the note ok can the note truly achieve that is the question well but that's also I think part of the misnomer is we are still judging the note on this one feature of s-pen as opposed to it being Samsung is the everything in the kitchen sink kind of company so Samsung is trying to add a feature to a crazy Swiss Army knife gasps yes they're not focusing on just something like the to your point something like the blackberry is the longevity device that and and it features a hardware keyboard those two pieces define blackberry that's a longer learning feature but what can you do on a blackberry for a creative professional or a multimedia content creator or a sketch are very an exam so you can have all the battery life in the world but can you do a lot so I'll give you an example Angela Angela Angela's a good friend her mother them Dom is an amazing cartoonist and the moment the iPad pro with Apple pencil came out yeah it was no room for discussion and I'm like so what is it that you like about the iPad pro so when she's like so have you ever attend you have you ever used the Wacom like like like Adam Lane is all about that and I'm like ok so let's just say that the Wacom is like driving an old Chevy from the 80s it gets the job done right don't get me wrong but then you move to the Apple pencil and it's like it's like a face at a cartoonist for drawer and they asked them exactly what they wanted mm-hmm and it got delivered on the so but so what and this is the reason why I've always said like I remember back in the day of pocket pcs these are products I didn't have to worry about the battery ever dying so they were perfect notepads for me okay things like that and so I passed last for ten hours yeah of permanent use right but what are the trade-offs there because you know we have to examine the compromises on obviously you know you just throw your iPad in your back pocket right obviously they tried the iPad Mini and it failed right and they have well and they never even bothered any support secretary and so and so it's like I feel I've always felt that about the note I always felt that it would have been an amazing tablet they came out with a note 8.0 yeah it failed they're trying to go back into the tablet space with the s-pen and so you know I'm like okay isn't there a way for the note to just go back to what it was you know what was it it was again the vanguard phone and I stole that word from you yeah it was that product that you had the better life so the note 2 and they know three in one year the note would feel like it was a whole generation ahead exactly because it actually did achieve its purpose right it had amazing battery life and it also had the pen yeah so that is the main reason why ever since the note 2 that was always my android phone not necessarily because it was a good phone I felt that it was a terrible thought I was too big and too cumbersome and it was too flimsy know what you want but I love being able to pull the damp and out right and actually use it but then ever since I started using the note 5 no it was just the Note edge actually which I never used the note 4 so actually no I was a note for fanatic the the note 5 is where we saw Samsung shift and back yeah and in it was all about trying to create that pretty first exactly is now exactly so I don't disagree with you there but I still feel that what Samsung is trying to tell us in the way that they're producing gadgets is this is what been selling their phones so for are you great people like us that I mean we still the fans well we're totally besties with multi-billion dollar companies um so when um when we tend to rationally look at this sort of comparative specs and we make hard decisions I mean we're still appealing and emotionally and justifying with rationale after active we just we have different criteria for what get us emotionally lit up right now about different devices now when we're looking at the way that Samsung was saying these are the features that are moving products and that are making people excited and you know that they're not playing quite the same thin game as like Motorola is trying to do right now and I don't think they're being very successful with the z2 but it's the same thing you know actually that's a perfect example so the Z the Moto G Force Moto z2 force according to Android enthusiasts the killer feature of the Moto C was the bigger battery according to Motorola the killer feature of a force is the shatter shield screen so if they didn't called the Moto Z to force just the moto g2 and left off the name force no one would have been cranked all it would have been is an update to the thin phone that we have oh and they added the shatter shield screen to the thin phone yeah that's an upgrade but because they called it horse everyone was focused on the battery and that's why people got upset and so I think something similar has a homily with Sam used on bear in mind the forces so the force has been the iteration of the max if there was always the razor Gary's urbex the razor's open one you have thick one yes the turbo about what yo five letters take the perception of the Moto Z 2 you have an amazing point true and as Andrew in a very general way I kind of feel something similar has happened with Samsung when you call something a note we had an expectation of removable batteries business great durability extended battery life because of the larger frame yeah that's not what Samsung is whatever you know we're all smart 430 rumors 21st thing was actually responds to we need pretty phones because that's what severely gonna fix us so I mean every single point is sitting there trying to fix something when it comes to safe well isn't it but but almost every company does this thing where they have to pivot you can court the geeks and the enthusiasts to a degree and then after a point you've got to find a way to go mass market and I think the Essex was their imperfect way to pivot to become a little bit more lifestyle II like Apple was and then I think they've evolved and they've improved from there the s7 was a great year for Samsung it was a great year you know I'm even sure they're the note 4 is like this experiment well it totally was I'm sure that I was an experiment in it s6 the s6 edge the s6 edge+ and the note 5 they did not know and look at the regions where they would sell in s6 edge+ and not a note and by the way Samsung the reason why your note 4 failed is not because the phone was bad wait no it's not because the idea of the phone was bad it was because the phone was clunky AF no Ford quite possibly one of the best phones ever made true story future tech debate because what I wanted to go back to those is talk about some of this because we had actually a really great Drive is you know it's almost 1:00 in the morning it is one of the morning exactly 1:00 in the morning we have this great conversation talking about design yeah and so one of the things that I've been really impressed with on the honor nine how flush the glass the glass is completely unbroken from the back of the phone to the camera sensor and I was a little disappointed with the the camera module bar on the note 8 after the wonderful work that's been done I really like it I like it it's like the black rounded rectangle and I see you either black or on your choice of deep sea blue because I steamrollered over you in the car I would actually like to hear what why does that stand out for you as a design accent why so I like composition when I take photos for example and write oh I hate the fact that of the essay in that of the essay in an essay plus even though they were trying to look for symmetry in that fingerprint scan oh you know I think that there it's completely asymmetrical it's like it's not aligned with anything and so for me it's like completely unpleasant to look at the phone from its back and which is hilarious because it's completely symmetrical from the front yak with you know and then when I grab the the SI acted like the top bezels are larger than this from all those things make me cringe I have that problem and so what I like about the note is not necessarily I hate the fact that the fingerprint scanners that homicide I hate I hate the fact that they couldn't be smarter about it but I feel that the design is symmetrical it's just so it's basically places to see they hung the frame straight yes okay okay that yes that I can appreciate because because again I'm looking at this more from the thickness because it's the thing that is it consistently impressed me from the s6 to the s8 was they've gone thinner they went thinner on the phone and then you have this lump of a camera that's stuck out on the s6 and that was the one of the only phones that I ever damaged the camera glass because it's stuck out so are you couldn't put that phone down without resting on that camera sensor you know you get to the SAT and Samsung's finally sunk this sensor where it's in the years and +7 the assembly it still has the mark henick card that pops out from the back I mean the SAE I mean you can run your thumb across and only feel that little bit of a seam yeah from where the module is housed and how that's blended with the rest of the phone I just thought was such a great mechanical achievement engineering achievement that then the note 8 is calling attention to the fact that there's this separate module and to me that that makes it look like it stands out but I can totally see your point where let me ask is having that bar at least sort of frame with the exception of Huawei phones and every other dual camera smartphone has a terrible explanation either the iPhone said well fine so beep fine yeah I agree is ridiculous I bowled lakes out ridiculously I'm like really Jonny it's really bad well yeah really well and it makes me a little nervous for the renders that we've seen that all they've done is rotated it degree oh my god because the problem the problem was in the orientation the problem was the fact that it sticks out yeah crazy but you know I just want to miss around people involved actually from Andrew Wallace it seems that Samsung is chasing Apple with the zoom camera instead of going with a wide-angle or monochrome and color sense yes and no yes and no so let's go use it like twenty eight millimeters for the Apple and then that's a two times R that's the same but only four okay so I know I don't talk to mobility but telephoto yes you're never gonna use it no you're never going to use it I've not but baseball games out yes he's not so hard I'm black but okay the implementation of portrait is actually it's very very good yeah so I don't even okay so why don't I use portrait on the iPhone number one because no this whole over it no control over it and you know and you can't really predict how close or far you have to be from the subject and so the moment you switch the portrait mode you have to eat normally you're like this because you're used to the 27 millimeter distance and then it's like oh my god you're so close you have to move back and so like it automatically deters that and have you gone through that experience where you see something at the moment and you want to capture it but you want to capture what you see yeah you know and then when you pull the phone out and the phone is not depicting that messy it feels so so disappointing it feels really classic which is the reason why the g6 is so important the g6 is one of those folks that actually portrays what you're seeing with the wide angle and use that field of view giving you that field of view at the few vinaya see and so I love the fact that Samsung doesn't force you to business portrait live with it it's like take the photo and if you don't like it you can always go WOW you can always go guys regular shot you can't own up or down it's what I love about rich captured bear in mind I despised Windows bug I hated it but I would never leave that on Lumia 930 oh yeah ever just because of rich captured there was just no way there was nothing it was a class of its own and and I love like I would be willing to use portrait mode now with the way Samsung has it where I can choose well this is this is what I think is interesting and I think to Samsung's credit they've taken my least favorite dual camera implementation they have great one of my biggest problems with it though which was image stabilization on the zoom sensor true so pitches did you play with any of the video while we were you were doing your hands on like monsoon shootings his little handheld segments and let him know it's surprisingly good for it being the less good sensor right so your image quality is never going to be less good Atlee aperture on that on that sensors atrocious well but that's not so I mean we're always going to have those problems with changing the focal length yeah right so it's never gonna be your little light solution you're always gonna have issues there yeah but hopefully they don't political where it doesn't even work you know I bet they will know do that I was cracking with a certain range I was cracking up over the comparison of the Sampson was doing in the presentation yeah cuz those the good photo looked terrible looks at night and this is the Gallatin like the telephoto lens it's not working at night you guys yeah so it doesn't that's already funny but it's also like their example of look at how much better ours is is still like that looks like any crop zoom camera sensor they were that they were bold enough to admit that this was the photo of the phone yeah whereas other companies will show you something that I'm not even a 5d Mark four could pull off you know and I remember when it was just that was it just after Microsoft bought Nokia and they did that oh you know image stabilization was just to a sample of image stabilization from a DSLR advertisement from the Lumia 920 was so embarrassed yeah that was rough so barren but one of the things that that made me happy and this is this is I'm totally in agreement with you here is so they took my least favorite dual camera setup but then they added the control from my favorite dual camera setup for the toward Allah which is Huawei so the way that you take the photo yeah and really the only reason why I still I'm still going to give huawei the edge here is because the way that Huawei does the bouquet slider those lines up with your actual camera apertures like it's not it's not perfect and again in software background for employers so it's all just post-processing but the fact that they give you those little F stops you know this is like an F for this is like an f2 and I want Samsung could give me just markers so I know like how much blurred did I put on this photo should I do less should I do more and it's just a generic slider I wish I had some note like yeah even if it was just a percentage like you know full background - full blur and you gave me like 20 percent or 30 percent something like that I think would be a lot more helpful um but that's that's again it's to Samsung's credit that especially in the United States they're taking this feature from a player that no one really knows about but follow am like I still still think they're ahead of the curve I do have to agree I do have to agree - but I've not touched the camera on this phone because it was too focused on the s-pen which I have to do for the video and I also had that be des no - so did you get tax reticulated let me snap cameras great I'm here at the events and I'm just you know I don't know I don't going back to the topic of the note you know after you it's funny how much how little I cared about the prices like the essential phone up until I actually which is funny I actually got this review that has a funny story which is I was not supposed to get a review in it but I did it was a funny story it was the result the result of being at the right place at the right time but you know I didn't hold the beatniks late right ever I had never experienced it it was like to actually hold the phone like in the case of the g6 it's the whole concept of larger you know larger screen over smaller frame yeah but it's not you know it's a taller display of that plays with surface area but you're not really we've done that yeah we've done that whether it is literally more surface area in a phone line whereas the essential phone is like the true embodiment of a large display or small and then using titanium and ceramic to be able to make the phone sturdy enough to withstand the frame that's needed for this I'm going 5.7 inches oh I see what you're saying especially because of the top bezel sinking and so yeah so you know there are literally you guys can't see on this crappy webcam I don't know why I'm on this whirring no keep trying and so I going back to the topic of the note I love the whole concept yes you do need a large canvas on a note phone if you want them to replace a note pad it's just this is the for me this is the future like true note bezels whereas we still have vessels to a certain degree with it with a note and obviously that's for Apple is pointing with the rumours of the iPhone 8 now I mean what's funny though is you instantly ran into the compromise of having no forehead bezel when we tried to do a phone call test yeah and you still need you mean we're fighting physics it's some more room to put like a speaker it's just it's like if it was a full tweeter no yeah you know what what because I don't want to be that guy's ago it's not if it's not perfect it's not worth it you know like I really get frustrated by those kinds of conversations do Bert do Berger you know like no really you just need to know that that could be a compromising last week - no there's no Motorola it's not gonna sound like like an echo chamber or anything but I think what's frustrating is throughout our tech career I feel like every single one of these concerns has had a solution so what if you had the vibration bone conduct tissue conduction screen of a Kyocera kisser oh yeah you wouldn't have to worry about whether or not you had you dedicated to space to the gritty remember you I've never heard of phone call for bone conduction no how about you use the aftershocks cited all over their convention because email issues with fidelity you know it's not gonna be the highest quality audio experience but the Brigadier was loud and again the whole point of that phone was like you might be on a job construction site you know moving heavy machinery so you're mashing this phone up against the side of your face and it's sending audio through waves in the air and kind of jiggling the soft tissue of your face to help reinforce that audio I thought it worked phenomenally well I'd only one side your face until just forcing your brain over to you so I don't know I mean do you really think and you know the price tag the legacy problems with the no7 and the rumors of the iPhone 8 I mean if the iPhone is truly what we've seen in photos like we are talking about essential foam on steroids like essential phone has a bezel at the bottom and a weird camera loop at the top yeah this is apparently zip like nothing four millimeter business trying to do the math in like a fraction of a second but that's that's the biggest question is open obviously the note is gonna sell like hotcakes because it's you know it's a note but is it going to truly dent what Apple is doing which is literally leapfrogging everything no in fact I really think that the note is gonna help reinforce what Apple is doing if one just from the conversation of price points that we can now as phrase yes we can escalate the price to Apple will be that company even though so many manufacturers are playing with different form factors taller aspect ratios higher resolution displays when Apple does it that'll validate those moves for a number of consumers and apples number first and apples never first but I think Apple also has an opportunity to shake up the market in other ways not that we want to drift too much on this pie tasks but the work they're doing with AR and VR the AR KITT developer life is crazy compelling and it's not like Apple to be ahead that's one thing they also show the reverse the day of their 3d sensing yeah camera it's like according to according to KGI their evaluation according to their evaluation that seems that the technology that Apple has will take competitors at least two years to be able to mimic namely Qualcomm and that is mostly because they're waiting to see what Apple is if Apple can be successful and by that point it'll take two years for them to actually real just think about it I mean how how cool is this thing after B to be able to replace such ID I mean touch ID literally touch anything was not the first fingerprint scan and then hassle about the backbone of basically every future fingerprint scanner the HP the HP 55 or Mindy yes that was my first fingerprint scanner then we got this Motorola I think it was the Droid 2 when there were city tricks in there too but the Atrix didn't have a fingerprint scanner no there was there was a nature there was one Atrix that had it on the back okay of the top I'm going in any case the one thing that is the big ask for any Apple consumer is to have to you know wake up in the morning and put their phone to their face instead of you know finding it and actually you know hitting the touch ID button and then yeah I gave up on iris unlock on my si+ just because I would rather have the phone unlocked I've had as I'm holding it really because this is my behavior this is so the the sa back that is so flush yeah so flush but my typical behavior every time that I unlock this phone is doing this this is terrible it's well Samsung's implementation of it is the works for the most part but especially like you know you pick up a meet 19 and as you're pulling this humongous phone out of your pocket it's already unlocked you haven't held it up to your case if T&G six you know again is a perfect example of I want the phone screen unlocked and ready to use before my eyes have locked on to it so I completely agree with your point for something like that but what I think is gonna be really compelling though is if this 3d sensing technology apples working on really does leapfrog project tango an apple becomes that for service where we're really starting to interact with reality with data and services Apple could then move forward on markets like the problems we have with automobiles in a really compelling way because Google really hasn't moved the needle much on that kind of interaction and then companies like Samsung I just don't think on Talent and I find that if you're starting the industry and I find that interesting that you don't need a special phone for that to work that sounds I don't you know one oboe fat sounds like you're saying that all these people through these you know and the trickle-down firms that you know you supply them the software you supply them all the parts that and they provide the services to you know I don't think you know Apple could almost a first-party hardware but you know it seems it sounds like that you can transfer transition them into a role of being like a model like a Microsoft Surface and well know the reason why I think Apple is the compelling solution in this space is because they have to developer toolkit that people are really gravitating towards if you don't have developers on board that you don't have services and it doesn't matter how fancy your camera array is your sand we're a fab to go or your fab to you bro I find that they never going to mean like a are is fun but like man I want to bring a board on on a fab to pro yeah it's big enough it's like the size of my foot and true story rarely alive it's not it's not the same size in my place it's big but it's not that Brett it's bigger than you I mean like let's let's kind of put a pin in no date let's actually kind of just wrap up our thoughts I'm totally with you I think the biggest concern of the phone from a tax standpoint is slightly smaller battery than si plus I do think that that is going to be a lifestyle problem but I feel like consumers it's something that consumers complain about and they never really seems to influence their purchasing decision okay so how many people in your circle of family and friends like ah my iPhone just doesn't get the same battery life that it yes - better keep buying my phones it's just you know these companies have listened marketing is probably one of the most important discoveries in human history they're influencing I think that I am not over exaggerating the importance of marketing and written life like it's it's insane how much buying sessions are determined not in sometimes it's not necessarily I mean I know a presidential candidate that wanted elections not necessarily because of good publicity it was just because there was so much buzz around the idea that winning I mean it's no news right over there we couldn't do it so listen I mean listen they could think about how Sampson handled the launch of the s8 all of us had a phone like they distributed this like in the past getting review units from Samsung was a like ever since after the note2 it's like insane remembered no to was galaxy s3s three was I think my last good yeah Samson and so then afterwards it's like the company became really stuck up they kind of still are but they're not as bad they're not as bad and they're looking they're moons but but but it was so difficult to get phones from them it was so difficult to get you know and we were an emerging Channel we weren't emerging it was difficult and you know we would completely get ignored who have to buy the phones and you know door jobs but you know in the case of the SA and I was like they reached out to everybody you wanted to say you want to say and so obviously the more you get people to talk about the phone the more it becomes a motive most of this is a Spanish word yeah but it becomes like the it's like going on Subway noticing that everybody has an iPhone yeah and so right now with us everybody it's funny I the other the first time that I met SAFF and we met up with a group of youtubers everybody had an s7 edge yeah but we were just geeks and now in the case of the s8 big want to create that appeal where everybody has an essay and they achieved it to a certain degree they did really so you can't it's very difficult for you to compete with with the marketing machine because when you're competing with his influence and you know if you sit down with ten of your friends two of them probably just one will have an educated will make the decision on a phone based on an educated decision you know is this really the phone for me whereas the rest of the people I mean I can give you so many cases of products that I consume mainly because I watch TV commercials when I was a kid I mean think about the popular the popularity that Apple has today it had a lot to do with the fact that a lot of these kids were using Apple's whose when they were children a lot and then ylabel again a marketing machine that's been affected since the early eighties exactly I mean we see that effect and I've seen that effect in so many of both products I even see that inside football teams like FC Barcelona like like the result if CMOS said on today as the result of something that started in 1989 you know it wasn't processed yeah that ended up becoming a culmination today and so the same goes with marketing these companies are extremely aggressive not necessarily just in creating mindshare from older consumers but also in the younger crowd that will eventually become a consumer I mean what are we we cater to a very crowd as much as we cater to - you know - amid the Generation X crowd right and so the more we have the phone and we show off that we use the phone and except this is just a new way to reach consumers through BTL marketing which is below the line and you know what going back to your question is the no date you know what will the I mean it's hard to say that Samsung is not going to succeed because their marketing power is insane yeah would I consider the noting to be a great phone from an educated perspective uh it doesn't do it for you no it does okay just listen this is I'll give you I'll give you a little turnover I'll give you a little tip over how I review phones I am very pushy about review guides review guides for me are very important or a big part of keynotes yeah usually people ignore presentations whenever were pre-breathe because we already saw the phone we already filmed everything we wanted we just don't have peace the video but I like to be part of keynotes because I like to see what the promise behind the product is yeah what are you trying to sell to me in that can you really deliver what and so the question is do you really want to talk yeah and so does the note 8 really replace about that and is it really a productivity tool for me my answer would be that the note 3 did a better job in that in particular I'm not trying to subtract anything from the phone it's a gorgeous display amazing build quality it's a great camera and it didn't even need the secondary lens to be a green no you know it's it's got it's it's an amazing phone on its own is it surely a productivity tool that will help you do more you know it's it's there you can use some of these features but will these really help you solve daily needs not necessarily at least for me right I know your user scenario is different you know so it really depends on the consumer so I think and again because again I completely agree with you except for the note 3 the note 4 was quite possibly my best the best phone no cases they're half as good okay hahaha or are you it's the note 4 plus the note 3 well that's no good it's actually 3 but this is this is also why it why I think Samsung is is likely to see that dip over this these next two fiscal quarters where the note can't nominate well I use this race is the power of the note waning because who is Samsung going up against at the end of this year yeah but possibly the only company that really does give them a run for their money in terms of marketing agree and probably the company that has done the best job of making their consumers lifestyle consumers not geeky techie yeah consumers that's that's dirty in general consumer less and if anything they've done an amazing job and making geeky techie consumers enjoy the concept of lifestyle dialogues they consume totally I mean just playing this this this last year of Apple advertisements has been phenomenal content I keep pointing to the bicycle in the rain ad for the iPhone 7 yes waterproofing not a big deal lots of phones have water resistance ratings before the iPhone came out and yet you watch that commercial and you have that ECDC pumping in the background opening the garage doors thunderstorms pouring down in the early Elle's yes that's rad it doesn't matter what the phone is your scale it up and you've got your pulse rate going so you've got that internationally we've got a resurgent qua way again coming out May 10 and what do we see from Google but Google is starting to make their pivot into more consumer oriented territory so I don't think the pixel 2 is really gonna upset note specifically no but this is the second year if pixel 2 proves to be a solid device this is where consumers start paying attention to Google as a brand because pixel had way more buzz than it really deserved yes and it was because Google was finally talking directly to consumers not making a developer phone that's when the Nexus was and what is Nexxus geeky techie that's dirty nubs pixel well that's totally exactly the same without a saga which is hilarious Lily's over here the pixel is the Nexus one was far better looking than the pixel no I don't like the pixel but I probably take it over Nexus 5 and and by the way like so I get your point over the pixel and the essential clone is probably the reason why I like using this phone most yeah is because it feels like a pixel it does not look like a pixel yeah so it fixes everything that I did and I know I set the camera yeah I can't raise the burner yeah clip regula yeah well no I mean like the pixel camera even with the ring okay is a much better experience that's the the essential phone camera right now it's so in need of a software update but you know you've been shooting at the bar at night and then holding it right up next to an honor and be like how much easier it was to get a good because I could get a good shot I'll be an essential with patients with patients whereas like it was just like a couple like flip flip flip flip flip on my honor and I pay like a much better photo life's too bad essential phone that's your marketing campaign life's too fast bouncing RNA is not a it's not a stepping stone against other volunteer we're not talking about this against the pixel to you because we don't have it to compare with the same thing for that iPhone 8 if you feel like that you want it now and you feel it that it has made an appeal to you then you should do the appropriate course and save up and bias or you know that's your mood you don't feel like convinced you at this point and you know you've got the rest of 2017 with out either I know for something to turn to you can borrow for quite possibly the best would buy by mid Ranger or whatever and you know you'll be much I want to celebrates the passing mention of and rinoa Oreo not sober so what you can't really see very well on this webcam and for anyone who's listening is a cool that's one went out of his way to get the mint oreos so it's an Android green so officially the name of the the next generation of Android operating system is already on taste very minty it is quite minty there is a little bit kind of a toothpaste flavor so there you have it another rambling episode of the pocket now weekly has come and gone this show is over but the conversation continues on Twitter where our lovely guest this week I may be meta is I may underscore Rivera on the Twitter's Jules is at point Jules and I'm humbly at some gadget guy pocket now is around the web on Twitter Instagram Facebook Google+ YouTube and Harlem's like Pocky NomCom also now in Spanish es pocket now calm because we're basically everywhere I chose like this cannot exist without your support chairing the weekly with your family and friends who love mobile technology and by reviewing this podcast anywhere you can leave a podcast review once again we want to thank this week's sponsor D brand they're helping you protect your gadgets from scratches and drops and they're helping us keep the lights on here at pocket now but ultimately there would not be a show if it weren't for our listeners and subscribers who have kept this on the air since 2012 the pocket now weekly we'll be back next week with all kinds of delicious technology goodness from Eva from Eva man I'm gonna be back on another airplane so make sure you to Beckett that didn't work at all what