Galaxy Note 8 vs Galaxy Note 5: Worth the Upgrade?

Galaxy Note 8 vs Note 6: Design

While we mentioned this a little bit in our first slide, it needs a little more discussion. The Galaxy Note 8 looks completely different than the Galaxy Note 5 from a few years ago. 

You'll still enjoy a premium top-tier phone made out of glass and metal, but some big changes occurred. With the Note 8, there's no physical home button, it's gone completely for the first time in seven years. Instead, Samsung moved the fingerprint scanner to the back of the phone. This allows for the bigger screen but makes using the scanner more difficult. 

As for the actual design, the front and back are curved similar to the Galaxy Note 5 on the back, making it comfortable to hold. It's also more fragile, so keep that in mind.  

Aside from the screen, there are two very important aspects of the design you should be aware of.  For one, the Galaxy Note 8 is IP68 dust and water-resistant. It can go under 5ft of water for over 30 minutes and work fine. And that includes the S-Pen stylus. The Note 5 is not water-resistant at all. 

The other important factor is storage. Not only does the Note 8 have double the storage, with 64GB built-in, but there's also a microSD slot to expand storage. Rather than being stuck with 32GB like the Note 5. If that was a pain-point, consider this upgrade. 

Don't worry about the home button being gone, you'll quickly get used to it.