Samsung Galaxy Note 8, 64GB, Midnight Black - For GSM (Renewed)

I must start this review by saying that I have wanted a Samsung Note 8 since they came out in 2017. I owned a Samsung Note 4 and loved it, until it starting overheating and the battery swelled up. It still works but not consistently now. I then had my sights set on the Samsung Note 7, but we all know what happened to those phones' batteries. So for a few years I have been trying out various phones (Motorola, LG, Blackberry) waiting for the best moment to purchase the phone that I've had my sights set on. Finally I came across the phone on Amazon by Hybrid IT. What a great price! Yet at the same time I was a bit nervous about a refurbished phone, although honestly I have owned several and have had mostly good experiences. I finally took the plunge and added the phone to my cart. It took a little longer to come in only due to the current pandemic. It was scheduled to arrive on 4/16/20 but actually surprised me on 4/15/20. I anxiously opened the package and was blown-away! It was in perfect condition! Not a scratch to be found on any part of the phone. It looked brand new. I set the phone up, which was a breeze, and made the decision to use it for a solid week before writing this review. After a week I can tell you that this phone was worth the wait! The battery lasts a solid day and that's with regular usage throughout the day. The colors are vibrant. The response time is as quick or quicker than the newer model Motorola that I was using. There are so many options on this phone, which makes it so much fun to use. The camera works very well and takes solid pictures; it also isn't as complicated as some camera set ups and I prefer that. I am very happy with this phone and hope to be able to use it for several years like I did the Note 4. Would I recommend it to you? Most definitely!

I bought 3 of these from 2 sellers (2x from BuySPRY for $409 & 1 from Prime Mobility for $380 about 3 weeks later) The phones look new. No scratches, no nicks, no screen burn in, no issues at all. The software is on Android 8.0 and updated to the latest security patches after setup. Metro PCS works on it. There is no carrier bloatware on it. I also had a 4th Note 8 from AT&T that is unlocked and activated on Metro. It doesn't allow me to update the software because it isn't on AT&T's network. It is on 8.0 but stuck on the July security patch. It has a ton of bloatware that cannot be uninstalled. These factory unlocked phones are much better. This is still one of the best smartphones you can get. It will get the 9.0 update soon. The CPU is still top notch and the cameras are excellent. This is the best phone under $400. It is basically like a brand new phone if you buy it renewed from Amazon. There is nothing even close in this price range. Even at $500, it is still better than anything new in that price range. If Amazon keeps doing renewed phones like this, I don't think I'll ever buy a new one again.Update: DO NOT UPDATE TO THE ANDROID 9.0 PIE ONE UI SOFTWARE. IT BREAKS SEVERAL FEATURES. CONTACTS, RECENTS, CAMERA, THEMES, AUTO HIDE NAV BAR ALL BREAK OR BECOME WORSE.I am going to stay on Oreo on all 4 phones for now. The main reason is the way the nav bar works now. On Oreo, it would be the normal nav bar then it auto hides after a few seconds. Now it stays there all the time which risks burn in. I want as much screen space as possible even on a large phone. Especially on an AMOLED screen, I want both the nav bar and the notification bar to auto hide and only appear when I swipe up from the bottom or swipe down from the top. This is possible on the Note 8 with Oreo if you install an app called "full screen mode tool with keyboard support". This app does not require root but does require a PC with ADB commands. It allows the note 8 to basically be true full screen all the way to the corners on every app at all times. This is how I want it and I believe this is how it should be out of the box and stay that way on all future updates. This Pie One UI update breaks that and there is no way to fix it since it is baked in to the OS. The only way to fix it is to not update it or wait for Samsung to fix it in a future update. The second options seems very unlikely so you are stuck with a vulnerable phone if you want it working the way it was since 2017. This is not good and you should have the option to keep Oreo and just install critical security patches. So, for now, I'm going to have to not recommend this device anymore and drop a couple stars.

Background: I've owned and loved dearly a Note 4, followed by an LG Stylo 4. While the Stylo was a bit of an upgrade over the Note 4, the Note 8 is leaps and bounds above that. So my comparisons will be against those two models.First off, i'm cheap. So there's no way I'd pay full price for the latest Note - it's just not worth that premium price. Thus I started with the Stylo 4 a few months ago - an excellent value phone in many ways.Now that Note 8s are "ancient", they're much more affordable so they're finally in my cheapskate price range.The Note 8 is *blazing* fast compared to the Note 4 or Stylo 4 (with the Stylo being considerably newer than the Note 4, it wasn't hardly any faster). The Note 8 does everything almost instantly: Open apps, switching between apps, loading web pages. Wowsers it's QUICK!Next, battery life. The Note 4 was terrible, even with a brand new battery. Between the Samsung and AT&T bloatware, and the fact that it's just older less power-efficient, I'd rarely get through a day on the Note 4. The Stylo 4 has unbelievable battery life - I could often go two days without charging even with moderate to high usage. The Note 8 is darn near that, amazingly, despite the fact that it performs MUCH better than the Stylo. I'm not in constant worry about using the GPS and wanting to plug it in at the same time. Or play Word with Friends and watch the battery go down a perctange point every few minutes, which it did on the Note 4.Of course the Note 8 has the venerable stylus which is great for note taking or precision taps on the screen. The Stylo 4's stylus is NOT precision the way the Note's is, but it's really good for lots of things including writing notes (that look like you wrote in crayon). The Note 8's is top notch.A number of people complain about the position of the Note 8's fingerprint sensor. I often unlock the phone with my left hand and then tap with my right. So the position seems fine to me. I also unlock it with my right hand and, while it's a little bit of a stretch, it's not that bad really once you get used to it. However, the Stylo 4's fingerprint sensor is really in a perfect spot, so kudos to LG on that one.The Note 8's screen is... amazeballs. It seems to be brighter than the Stylo's, but also has richer colors. It's a joy to look at.The Note 8's speaker is also louder and clearer than the Stylo's. It's what you'd expect from a premium phone.The curved screen is pretty pointless to me. It's gimicky and makes things hard to tap reliably when they're near the edge - even worse if you're using the stylus. I just don't see the point of it, other than it looks cool. Meh.I haven't used the camera much, so I can't comment on that. But I was excited to write this review and endorse the Note 8 so I figured I'd pass on that one.All that I've said is about the Note 8 in general. In particular, the one I bought was this refurbished one. The phone arrived in "near mint" condition. Screen was flawless. Popped my AT&T SIM chip and booted it. Absolutely no problems connecting to anything. It was completely as advertised. However, I did have to run about a thousand system updates over the course of several nights. Now it's up to Android 9, which seems to have battery life improvements and some very nice UI simplifications and streamlining.All things considered, buying this phone now that it's dropped in price so much over new is a really great deal. You won't be sorry upgrading from the Note 4, or the Stylo 4 which is still a current model (even though the Note 8 is older).

La batería se descarga demasiado rápido

I was having some issues with the phone (it was echoing on the other line when I made a call). I contacted the seller and they accepted it for warranty service. When I got it back it still had the echo. I contacted them again and they issued me a full refund. The seller was very quick with their responses and understanding with my issue. I am confident that my case was a one off event. I recommend buying this product just off the customer service alone.

No viene con cargador original

Performance wise is ok but battery performance is severely degraded.

Good one