Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsThe future is in your pocket
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2018
Let's get this out of the way: It's expensive, I bought the 512GB version (for the 8gb ram); For all of that expense, I wish Samsung would just let us have the choice of what to do with the Bixbi button out of the box instead of having to download BxActions to remap it. Samsung already has our money, funneling customers right into the Samsung revenue stream just seems greedy. Having said all that, none of that is insurmountable, just mildly annoying.
I've given a lot of the Samsung software features a chance and to be honest there's more to like than dislike.
Launcher: I really miss the Google Feed from my Pixel XL and getting out of the habit of sliding over to the left to access it is tough to break; I just remapped (with BxActions) my Bixbi key to the Google Feed, but am using the Samsung launcher with a nice dark theme. The app drawer, the Samsung calendar, homescreens, all are very nice and smooth.
Edge Apps: I just discovered today that you can use the Edge launcher app to have an easily-accessible home row of apps without having to dump out the Home Screen from whatever app you're in to launch into another app.
Gallery: The editing features built into the Gallery app is top-notch and pretty easy to use.
S-Pen: This is the reason you buy a Note, and this version of the S-Pen is the best yet; Screen Off-Memo and the accompanying Samsung Notes application is so natural and instinctive to use; Yank out the S-Pen while the screen is off and start writing, everything is auto-saved; gorgeous!
Keyboard: I didn't think anything topped the G-Board, but with a little bit of tweaking to your liking, the Samsung keyboard is phenomenal; I find that it's far smarter to suggest common words that Gboard, has a nice floating keyboard option for games, and when you pull out your S-Pen, it flips to a very capable handwriting interface...I've started using this to take notes which are quickly and accurately transcribed into text in any app.
The camera is fast and competent, with LOTS of features...If you spend a lot of time in the camera tweaking settings, this will keep you occupied for a while.
Finally there's Dex mode, which I've found to be JUST ABOUT as good a replacement for a desktop machine. Google Docs and Office 365 are present and accounted for and work well, the Chrome browser switches to a tabbed mode in Dex mode, and multi-tasking is adequate, but not perfect. You can even play games with mouse and keyboard! It's not PERFECT, of course, you're still running mobile apps, some of which refuse to play nice on a desktop setting, but they work well for the most part, and for my use cases, fulfills 90% of what I need a home desktop for. I haven't tried any series IDE work or video editing with Dex, but the apps are there, ready to be used.
All of this great stuff is wrapped up in a beautiful metal-and-glass package with battery life that lasts all day, a beautiful 6.5" 1440p screen with the deepest possible blacks and bright, vibrant colors, and stereo speakers that pack a punch in such a small package. Samsung really went all-out on the hardware of this device, and I'm looking forward to making it my main computing platform.
