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With the Galaxy Note 10 launching soon, Samsung thinks you'd spend $900 on the 2-year-old Note 8

By Florin Troaca

Updated: Aug 12, 2019, 7:47 PM

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With the Galaxy Note 10 launching soon, Samsung thinks you'd spend $900 on the 2-year-old Note 8

Last week, after Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, the company quickly started taking pre-orders for the two smartphones. Thus, you can already order your very own Note 10 (for $949) and Note 10+ (starting at $1,099), although they won't ship before August 23.

Thanks to impressive screen-to-body ratios of over 90%, the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ have fresh, eye-catching designs that simply make older Note iterations look dated. In addition, the new phones obviously bring upgraded specs, including a superior processor (Snapdragon 855 in the US), more storage space (at least 256 GB on both models), and improved cameras.

Usually, when a new high-end smartphone is announced, older generation models begin to be discounted. However, at this very moment, Samsung is selling last year's Note 9 starting at $999, so there are no discounts here. But what's really strange is that, on Samsung's website, the ageing Galaxy Note 8 (pictured above) is currently priced at $899.99, almost as high as it was on its launch day, back in September 2017.

It makes little sense for Samsung to assume that customers would pay $900 for the Galaxy Note 8, which is now 2 years old. Not just because two newer Galaxy Note generations are here, but also because you can get the Note 8 for considerably less when you buy it from Amazon or other places.

The Galaxy Note 8 is still a very good smartphone, that's hardly up for debate. The device is just not worth $899.99 right now when you can order a Galaxy Note 10 for only $50 more. Granted, the Note 10 lacks two features that are available on the Note 8 - microSD card support and a 3.5mm audio jack - while its display has a lower pixel resolution (1080 x 2280 versus 1440 x 2960). Nevertheless, the display of Note 10 is sharp enough and the phone offers plenty of storage space, so these are not issues to seriously complain about. It's true that the lack of a 3.5mm headset jack may vex some Galaxy Note fans, but at least Samsung is offering free USB Type-C headphones with the Note 10.

The Galaxy Note 10 might not be a huge upgrade over the Note 9, but, given its price, we think it's vastly better than any Note 8 that costs $900.

Display

Size

6.3-inch

Technology

Super AMOLED

Dynamic AMOLED

Screen-to-body

82.98 %

91.34 %

Features

HDR support, Scratch-resistant glass, Ambient light sensor, Proximity sensor

Hardware

System chip

Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 MSM8998 (10 nm)

Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SM8150 (7 nm)

Processor

Octa-core, 2350 MHz, Kryo 280, 64-bit

Octa-core, 2840 MHz, Kryo 485, 64-bit

GPU

Adreno 540

Adreno 640

RAM

6GB (LPDDR4)

8GB (LPDDR4)

Internal storage

64GB

256GB, not expandable

Android (8.0 Oreo, 7.1 Nougat), Samsung Experience UI

Android (11, 10, 9.0 Pie), Samsung One UI

Battery

Capacity

3300 mAh

3500 mAh

Charging

Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0

Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0, USB Power Delivery, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charging

Talk time

22.00 hours

Talk time (4G)

38 hours

Internet use

3G: 12 hours; LTE: 13 hours; Wi-Fi: 14 hours

LTE: 14 hours; Wi-Fi: 14 hours

Music playback

74.00 hours

60.00 hours

Video playback

16.00 hours

19.00 hours

Camera

Rear

Dual camera

Triple camera

Main camera

12 MP (Features: OIS, PDAF)

Specifications

Aperture size: F1.7
Focal length: 26 mm
Sensor size: 1/2.55"
Pixel size: 1.4 μm

Aperture size: F1.5/F2.4
Focal length: 27 mm
Sensor size: 1/2.55"
Pixel size: 1.4 μm

Second camera

12 MP (Telephoto, OIS, Autofocus)

Specifications

Optical zoom: 2.0x
Aperture size: F2.4
Focal Length: 52 mm
Pixel size: 1 μm

Optical zoom: 2.0x
Aperture size: F2.1
Focal Length: 52 mm
Sensor size: 1/3.6"
Pixel size: 1 μm

Third camera

16 MP (Ultra-wide)

Specifications

Aperture size: F2.2
Focal Length: 13 mm
Pixel size: 1 μm

Video recording

3840x2160 (4K UHD) (30 fps), 1920x1080 (Full HD) (60 fps), 1280x720 (HD) (240 fps)

3840x2160 (4K UHD) (60 fps), 1920x1080 (Full HD) (240 fps), 1280x720 (HD) (960 fps)

Features

Time-lapse video, Hyperlapse, Continuous autofocus, Object tracking, Picture-taking during video recording, Video light, EIS, Video calling, Video sharing

OIS, HDR, Time-lapse video, Hyperlapse, EIS

Front

8 MP

10 MP

Video capture

3840x2160 (4K UHD) (30 fps)

Design

Dimensions

6.40 x 2.94 x 0.34 inches
(162.5 x 74.8 x 8.6 mm)

5.94 x 2.83 x 0.31 inches
(151 x 71.8 x 7.9 mm)

Weight

6.88 oz (195.0 g)