Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - close competitor to iPad mini or just a upsized Galaxy Note II

Are you a fan of iPad Mini, then you just got your closest competitor in the 8 inch tablet market -  the Galaxy Note 8; regards uncle sammy. After lots of rumors and leaked snaps, the device is finally up in Samsung's gadget portfolio. Although the price of Note 8 is not officially announced, it is quite sure that Samsung will tag a price to draw the attention of iPad Mini lovers. The Mini currently starts at $329, a price that's considered expensive for a tablet of its size

Samsung has given the Galaxy Note 8.0 an S Pen and the slew of Touch Wiz-exclusive software features to help it in its battles. Driving them is the company's Exynos 4 Quad 4412 chipset with four 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 CPUs, Mali 400MP4 GPU and 2GB of RAM.

You might be thinking, wait, that's quite similar to the specs of Note II and as a matter of fact it is. Whether you call it an up-sized Galaxy Note II or a downsized Galaxy Note 10.1, that depends.

Here is a quick brief of the specifications of the Galaxy Note 8.

• General: Optional 2G/3G/4G connectivity
• Form factor: Tablet
• Dimensions: 210.8 x 135.9 x 8 mm, 338 g
• Display: 8" 16M-color TFT capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 800 x 1280 pixels (189ppi)
• Stylus: S Pen, 1024 pressure levels, hover functionality
• Chipset: Exynos 4412 Quad
• CPU: Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 1.6 GHz processor
• GPU: Mali-400MP
• RAM: 2GB
• OS: Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Memory: 16/32GB storage, microSD card slot
• Still camera: 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, face detection and Best faces feature, touch focus and image stabilization; 1.3MP front facing camera, video-calls
• Video camera: Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port with MHL features (TV Out, USB host), GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC
• Battery: 4600 mAh
• Miscellaneous: Nature UX, Extremely rich video/audio codec support, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, Smart stay and Smart rotation eye-tracking, Reading mode

To be honest, without a price, it's difficult to have a strong, concrete opinion of the Note 8. In 8-inch tablet segment, it'll compete directly with the 7.9-inch iPad Mini. The notable difference in the tablet experience might be the app offerings between the two. Apart from the highly applauding form factor, the iPad Mini has the blessings from the Apple's App Store; while the Note 8 is still reliant on the Google Play store. The Play store continues to improve its offerings every day, it's still nowhere near as compelling as Apple's App Store. But don't forget the S-Pen stylus packed with the Note 8, which offers a level of functionality the iPad can't match, and those looking for a highly functional electronic daily planner will want to give it an edge over the iPad Mini.