New Phone Advice Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (Exynos) ?

AAB · June 20, 2018

Hi,

I saw some good deals on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and well I have been thinking of replacing my aging S5 for a while now(3 years old no 4G) . People who are going to suggest OnePlus 6 and Pixel 2 I value your suggestions, but here are the reasons why I don't want the Pixel 2 and OnePlus 6. They run stock android its well to clean Yea I know stupid but sometimes I feel they lack a lot of basic apps l feel the file manager on S5 is better than whats available on OnePlus 6. The Samsung browser is good night mode etc S Planner these tools do seems useful and well the rest l usually just disable. I have used the OnePlus 6, the phone is snappy but based on my friends experience even after the update the battery performance is bad without much youtube or skype or InShorts etc. It charges fast but that all camera is decent, not great. Also my friend claimed the phone is fast but not as good as before update don't know if it's true or not. I saw a lot of videos of the older One Plus phones with 6 gigs of ram that had visible lag after a year or so..

Now the Pixel for me the photos taken by Pixel though good seem a bit dull at times based on camera tests I have seen, MKBHD said the battery life has taken a hit and device has become a "bit" slow..

Now Why the heck am I saying all this ?

After an exchange of my current phone and a cashback, Note 8 will be available for Rs 46000+ (I know expensive). I want to buy a Phone that will last me a good 3-5 Years without many issues, I have used Nexus 7(2nd gen) tablet which is a good device and had great reviews but well I never was too happy with it and after my usage(faced random restarts and ghost touches), I felt it was overhyped and overrated. The S5, on the other hand, I bought a year after the device launched it was available for just 22k at the time. I was really happy with the camera and display like I was "happy happy", it wasn't perfect heating issues a random restart but the device served me well battery wasn't as spectacular as claimed by people who reviewed the phone but well I was happy my question is what do I do Now?

Google Pixel 2 often goes for sale for 34k, One Plus 6 costs just 34k Is it better to purchase either of these instead of the Note 8, I have no use of the stylus, The camera 2x zoom big display and dual sim is the only thing making me drift to Samsung.

Should I buy it or wait? as the new Exynos Chipsets in S9 are making changes to improve single thread performance is buying the Note 8 at 46k worth it? with 5G and several other changes coming?

Sorry for long post don't have any potatoes but if I am going to spend such a huge amount I want it to last last and stay relevant for some time....

sod16 · June 20, 2018

Well in short, if you want something to last 3-5 years, be prepared to take it for a service. One thing to take note is that a smart phone isn't really designed or even supported to last longer than 2 years. Lithium batteries only really last 500-1000 cycles which again is around 2 years if you charge once or twice a day. That counts as 1 cycle is = 100% of battery use, so 70% and charging , then going down to 30% and charging is 1 cycle (30 + 70 = 100); subject to other variables such as temperature and humidity. Samsung make solid phones, I use to go for Nexus', Pixels, and cheap Chinese flagships until I realised they just aren't using quality components. Take for example the Pixels Microphone, it's been terrible since the Nexus and it still hasn't improved, and the screen isn't as good as Samsungs yet Google are flogging them at £700+.

Another fact of the matter is that Samsung directly do research and development plus the manufacturing of their screens and batteries so it wouldn't be a bad bet they pick the best for their flagships especially after the Note 8 issue they had. Obviously you could get unlucky and the phone stops working properly a day after the warranty expires (there's always Samsung service centres).

To finally answer your question; it's always worth getting the latest smart phone as that will give you software support for longer plus any additional revisions they make to the hardware. Samsung sell dual sim S9s btw. You have to specify when you buy it.