Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Hitting Canadian Soil April 19th

Samsung's Galaxy Note 8.0 (GT-N5110) Tablet will be available very soon! Samsung has stated previously that the Note 8.0 will arrive in the second quarter but Best Buy's website indicates that it will be "in our warehouse on 04/19/2013". This suggests that it will be then shipped out to customers. Pre-orders currently have "Limited Quantities Available". Both 16GB and 32GB flavors will be offered but currently, only the 16GB is arriving on the 19th.

With a $429.99 (with a $1.65 Environmental Fee) price tag for the 16GB variant, this is not a cheap tablet. The spec sheet explains the price. The Galaxy Note 8.0 comes equipped with a 1.6 GHz quad core Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, a microSD card slot, 5MP back camera (capable of full HD video recording at 30 frames per second), 1.3 MP front camera, and most importantly, the S Pen. A cool modification to previous Samsung tablets is that this uses the standard microUSB connector rather than the proprietary plug.

Like the Galaxy SIII and Note II, the feel of the device is quite cheap in comparison with the price tag. With much of it being plastic and a similar design that we have all seen before, the software inside is what you are paying for. Almost all of the features from a Note II have been transferred to this tablet, including all the cool S Pen options. Unfortunately,  it does not have Gorilla Glass, an AMOLED screen, or a LED flash. It is also priced a full $100 more than the iPad Mini and just $70 less than the iPad.

If you believe that the S Pen will be used enough to justify the cost, then go ahead! This is a tablet that is as easy to use as any other Note device (because they pretty much use the same software). If you do not believe the S Pen will justify the cost, go get a Nexus 7. It may be slightly less impressive on the specs side of things but it is less then half the price of the Note 8.0.

Source: Best Buy via MobileSyrup