In the last few years, Samsung has created an amazing success story with their Galaxy S phones, and more recently the Galaxy Note range – the first Galaxy Note phone was popular, and the Galaxy Note II was nothing short of a genuine success.

Crisp display; Stylus adds a massive potential for functionality; Familiar interface and feeling to the device; Impressive overall performance of the tablet

Disappointing battery life; despite capacity; Limited storage space – just 16 GB; Front facing camera is poor quality

Some thought the Note 8 might never happen. After the successful launch and subsequent disastrous recall and discontinuation of the Note 7, which still gets namechecked on some airlines as a banned object, you'd have forgiven Samsung for dropping the Note name and starting again.

Stunning design and build; Great screen; Well-implemented stylus and software; Superb cameras

Average battery life; Wildly expensive

The Galaxy Note 8 sure is expensive, but the finest things in life don't come cheap. The reality is the price will likely have dropped a good hundred pounds by Christmas, and you'll possibly be looking to buy it on a contract anyway.

With its exceptional screen, solid performance and an improved S Pen, it's no surprise that Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 is its best big phone ever. It also doesn't hurt that it has one of the best dual camera setups we've ever seen.

Huge; beautiful display; Excellent; water-resistant build; Great dual camera; S Pen is now more useful and fun

Very expensive; Bixby can be flaky; Not a huge improvement over the S8 Plus; US version gets less storage than other regions

I swore off ‘flagship' phones this year, ditching my weary iPhone 6S and dropping £200 on a mid-range Android phone with a battery the size of a small moon. I'm delighted with it to an increasingly boring extent.

It's the best camera phone I've used and it's everything a high-end phone should be; You can feel where the money's gone

The fingerprint scanner is hard to reach and the face/iris scanning alternatives are unreliable

This phone looks spectacular. The shape is the oblong with curved edges we expect from a mobile phone, with a sleek, slick back which is also composed...

Lovely design and build quality; Impressive dual camera; Excellent display; Good performance; Plenty of useful features

Location of fingerprint sensor; Very expensive

The Note8 is a very good smartphone for all of the same reasons the S8 and S8+ are very good smartphones. It has an amazing display, stunning design, is packed with features (some useful, some not), a powerful chipset, lasts a long time on a charge, and works on every carrier in the US.

Display Absolutely gorgeous; The best smartphone screen on the planet, now slightly bigger, Battery life If you had concerns about the downsized battery and the upsized display, put them to bed - the Note8 lasts plenty long on a charge, Camera The primary rear camera takes absolutely gorgeous shots.

Camera The secondary telephoto lens is a little disappointing, and the live photo bokeh effect is hardly a game-changer; I just don't think Samsung's made the case for a dual camera setup here, Cost The Note8 is ludicrously expensive, at $930 unlocked in the US.

A year ago, I wrote that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was the best big phone ever made. It had excellent performance, a great camera, and a refined design that was surprisingly manageable for a device with a large screen.

Lovely display; Fast performance; Reliable battery life; Excellent standard camera

It's enormous; It's expensive; Secondary camera is far inferior to main camera; Terrible fingerprint scanner placement

Samsung's new Galaxy Note 8 (GN8) stands alone as the only flagship smartphone with ‘everything' including its trademark S Pen stylus, which offers a very convenient and useful handwriting interface. Ray Shaw [email protected] has a passion for IT ever since building his first computer in 1980.

A galactic overachiever! Great dual lens camera; S-Pen; gorgeous 6.2in display and more

Quite long; only a down-firing mono speaker; pricey

Worth every penny most advanced phone to date. Great camera, great looks especially the maple gold. Plus the s pen is great too