I'm a little concerned about durability, but no more so than with the S8 or with the current iPhones. The screen has the same technology as Samsung’s Galaxy S series, with a super-high resolution Quad-HD+ Super AMOLED display (though in common with the Galaxy S8 it’s set to full-HD by default to preserve battery life). And as we mentioned in the photography section, as well as accepting a vocal- or text command Samsung’s assistant differs from Google Assistant in that it can also accept image input from the camera or gallery through Bixby Vision. The other concern you might have regards the battery, following the misfortune of the explosive Note 7. The quality of the wide-angle camera is just as good as the Galaxy S8’s which is to say it’s sublime.

You can even use the S Pen in Live Message to create custom-made emojis and GIFs that include your own handwriting.With 6 GB RAM to work with and a Mali G71 MP20 GPU, it tears through any task you set it, from multi-tasking to multimedia, gaming to productivity apps. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Ray Soneira at DisplayMate Technologies has tested the Note 8's display and found that it's even better than the S8's. Two weeks of testing has us convinced: this is a true redesign of your average smartphone from top-to-bottom, edge-to-edge, and rear camera to, well, rear camera. It also features Samsung’s biggest display yet: with its gorgeous Super AMOLED QHD+ display reaching a total of 6. In the box, you get a bunch of accessories: AKG-branded earbuds, two different USB adapters, and various S Pen nibs. A thin white tab is always visible on the far right of this display, and you simply tap this to pull in various quick access options.

The last big one-up is less obvious, but one you’ll likely be taking full advantage of if you take the leap. It’s impossible for us to compare it to the Note 7’s S Pen without one to hand, but in use we can say it feels smooth and accurate, with no lag, friction or other annoyances.

But Bixby can do pretty much everything OK Google can do, plus manage settings and local applications on the phone.Among other things, handwriting and doodles can also be converted to GIFs and emoji should you so desire, and you can now hover the S Pen over any text or sentence to translate it, or use it for currency conversions. After all of our hands on time with the Note 8 it has us convinced: this is a true redesign of not just the Note series, but of the average smartphone from top-to-bottom, edge-to-edge, and rear camera to, well, rear camera. For example, if it does not support one band, could make you not to have 4G coverage in rural areas or having bad coverage inside buildings, but having it without problems in cities. If you're a faithful, longtime Samsung owner who likes the company's design and services, this device is terrific.