Bigger, Badder, But I Still Want More.Forgive me for passing up the chance to beat the exploding battery joke into the ground.Lets get straight to the point Samsungs once dominant flagship phablet is back after a two year hiatus.Sporting a stunning extra widescreen 1.You have not yet voted on this site If you have already visited the site, please help us classify the good from the bad by voting on this site.Galaxy Note 8 is bigger and more engaging than ever before, and it packs a larger power pack than any Note besides the ill fated Galaxy Note 7 too.But a lot has changed since 2.Note 8 is now more expensive than ever.That means there are two questions it needs to answer Does the Galaxy Note 8 still make sense in 2.What is it A giant phone with a built in stylus.Like. Its about time Samsung joined the dual camera game.The podcast craze of the past several years shows no signs of slowing down, and while every armchair broadcaster with a voice recorder app is eager to get in the game.At first glance, the answer might be no.The Note 8s 6. 3 inch 2.ASUS_Eee_PC_4G_Linux_Eee_PC_User_s_Manual_page_0069_bg.png' alt='Eeepc 4G Manual Screen Resolution Linux Mint' title='Eeepc 4G Manual Screen Resolution Linux Mint' />AMOLED display is insignificantly larger than the 6.S8 Plus though that bezel less design remains strikingly pretty, and its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8.GB of storage and built in micro.SD card reader arent any different either.Aside from slightly boxier corners, the Note 8s luscious glass and aluminum body is pretty much the same too.You even get the same annoying Bixby Button below the volume rocker, which still cant be remapped to something useful.The one small improvement is that Samsung has upped the Note 8s RAM from 4.GB to 6. GB, which is nice nod to the Galaxy Notes traditional fan base of power users.However, on a day to day basis, its an improvement that isnt always that noticeable despite benchmarks that put the Note 8 a tiny bit ahead of its smaller siblings.That means the decision really hedges on Samsungs signature S Pen stylus and the companys first ever dual camera module.Now Ill be the first person to say that after years of improvements to mobile operating systems, weve gotten to a point where UIs are properly designed for touch based navigation.Across both i. OS and Android, theres never a time when youre screaming out for a mouse or something more precise.Which, for me, softens the allure of a stylus.But after over a week using the Note 8, the S Pen is starting to win me over.Theres just so much you can do, whether its jotting down notes without even unlocking the phone, or using the new full sentence translation feature to make up for my shoddy Mandarin reading comprehension.But strangely, the best part about the S Pen is the multiple methods it has for goofing off by making your own homegrown gifs.Option one is to whip out the S Pen, hit Smart Select and put a rectangle over any video you can see on the screen.Boom. gif made. Option two, the Live Messages feature, is new for 2.Live Messages lets you make animated drawings on a background color of your choosing or even on top of pictures youve taken.Its a virtual meme making machine, and a joyful addition to a phone thats so often seen in the hands of no fun allowed corporate execs.But thats still only answering half the question of why you should get a Note 8 over the cheaper S8.The other part of the equation are Samsungs new dual rear cams, which pairs the S8 and S8 Plus camera with a second 1.Its a camera set up weve already seen in last years i.Phone 7 Plus. The little special sauce Samsung adds to the mix is the presence of optical image stabilization on both cameras.This is a welcome improvement, because as things get farther away, camera shake tends to becomes a much bigger nuisance.Unfortunately, even with this new addition, the Note 8s camera performance isnt flawless.The first issue is that like on the i.Phone 7 Plus, you dont actually have full control over which lens youre using.Sometimes in low light environments, hitting the 2x button to zoom results in digital enhancement instead of optical.That means you are just cropping in and getting a lower resolution final image, instead of using the lens with double the focal length.At least its not a problem unique to the Note 8.Sometimes when the Note 8 opted for digital zoom instead of optical, the i.Phone didnt. While other times, the situation was reversed.And the really frustrating part is that neither phone offers an override for when you might know better than the silicon nanny holding your hand.Yet even in ideal conditions, the Note 8 didnt always nail it.Take, for example, photos I got when I tried to snap a picture of New Yorks favorite large adult son at a recent Yankees game.At first I was absolutely thrilled that the Note 8s zoom let me get up close and personal like not many phone cameras can.But when looking at pics side by side from the Note 8 and the i.Phone 7 Plus, things were close, but the i.Phones pic was sharper and less blown out.But when you put a little effort in, the Note 8 can still absolutely dazzle.I was blown away by a shot I took of the nighttime New York skyline with Samsungs new camera module.Ive taken this exact shot with a budget DSLR and not gotten something this good.Not only did it let me get everything out of that zoom lens, its photo is sharper, less noisy, and way more colorful than the best I could get from the i.Phone 7 Plus. On top of all that, Samsung has a new live focus mode that lets you adjust depth of field similar to how you might on a big DSLR or mirrorless camera.That lets you choose between backgrounds with the creamy blurriness portrait shooters love, or sharpness all the way from front to back depending on what youre going for.And you still get the super saturated colors and razor sharp focus that Samsungs cameras have become known for.Camera and stylus aside, there are a few other little Samsung surprises like the new app pair feature, which lets you create combos that launch two apps in multi window mode with a single touchperfect for anyone whos ever wanted to find an address from an email or text while keeping an eye on the map.And despite a battery thats actually smaller in capacity than the one in the S8 Plus 3,3.Ah versus 3,5. 00 m.Ah, the Note 8s time of 1.S8 Pluss 1. 0 4. With stuff like this, the Galaxy Note 8 is starting to make a pretty good case, but Im still not sure.The Galaxy Note 8 is supposed to be a phone of excess.Its supposed to have all the most outrageous tech while simultaneously pushing boundaries that other companies wouldnt dream about touching.Yet its screen is only marginally bigger than the S8 Plus and it doesnt look that much different either.And even though I like many of the S Pens new features like Live Messages and full sentence translation, they really arent much more than a collection of handy software tricks.Samsungs new dual camera module isnt even a clear cut winner against last years i.Phone 7 Plus, not to mention whatever new handsets Apple is planning on announcing next week.So despite sporting best in class components from its screen to its stylus, Samsungs phablet still seems a bit tame.The only thing about the Note 8 thats really excessive these days is its price.Now, Im not saying people shouldnt get one, that would be ridiculous I just mean that you really need to find a deal if you want to feel like youre getting your moneys worth.Carriers are already hocking buy one get one promos that would make getting two Note 8s feel like stealing.Samsung is even offering its own pre order bonuses with your choice of either a Gear 3.GB micro. SD card and a wireless charger.But shelling out a full 9.The Note 8 is a great device especially that screen and I think Samsung has rightfully regained its spot back on top of the Android dogpile.But for a phone that this expensive, I still want more.READMESamsungs dual rear cameras are a great, and necessary addition to its flagship phone.The S Pen still sets the Note 8 apart from other big phones, but its new features are largely just iterative software tricks.The Note 8 isnt that much bigger or more powerful than an S8 Plus, youre paying for the stylus and the dual cameras.Its suggested retail price is 9.SPEC DUMPAndroid Nougat 7.Qualcomm Snapdragon 8.GB of RAM 6. 4GB of storage micro.SD card slot 6. AMOLED display headphone jack USB C wireless charging fingerprint sensor iris sensor face scanner f1.MP main rear camera with OIS f2.MP secondary camera with 2x zoom and OIS 8 MP front camera 3,3.How to Wake Up in Your Dreams.Now that you know what lucid dreaming is, and you know the benefits and risks, its time to give it a solid try.Get ready, oneironautswere about to take off the training wheels.Welcome to Week Three of Lifehackers Lucid Dream Workshop.Lucid dreams can be more than escapist fantasy, but in order to reap the benefits of yourRead more Read.How to Prepare for and Induce Lucid Dreams.To increase the likelihood of having a lucid dream, you need to prep your environment, watch what you eat, drink, and otherwise ingest, and fall asleep the right way.For starters, you need to make sure youre getting enough sleep for lucid dreaming to be a possibility.You have more REM sleep in the second half of your night than you do in the first half, and more REM sleep means increased odds of having lucid dreams.In fact, the likelihood of you having a lucid dream increases more with each successive REM period.On an average night where youre getting the recommended eight hours of sleep, youll experience about six REM periods.The last three of those REM periods happen in the last quarter or two hours in this case of the night.So, if you arent sleeping enough and only getting about six hours of sleep each night, youre basically reducing your chances of going lucid by half.You need to get good sleep, and lots of it, for this to work.If you can find a way to extend your sleep at least one night a week, like on a weekend, do so.What you put in your body affects your likelihood of having lucid dreams as well.Alcohol and drugs inhibit your REM sleep and disrupt your sleep cycles, so avoid nightcaps as much as possible.And while sleeping pills and melatonin can help induce sleep, keep in mind they may interfere with normal sleep cycles.Food and non alcoholic drinks can play a major role in dreams too.Some people have more vivid dreams depending on what they eat, or report having nightmares if they eat certain types of food too late in the evening.Ive personally had success with pickles, apple juice, peanut butter, and spicy foods as helpful elements.Also, reducing screen time before bed is always a good idea.Many of us struggle to get enough sleep every night, but is the sleep we get any good While itsRead more Read.Lastly, you need to fall asleep with the intention of having a lucid dream.Its not quite as simple as merely thinking about being lucid before bedtime, but that is actually a huge part of it.Oneironauts, this is the MILD Technique, from Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen La.Berge, Ph. D. and Howard Rheingold Set up dream recall Before going to bed resolve to wake up and recall dreams during each dream period throughout the night or the first dream period after dawn, or after 6 a. Ms Windows 7 X64 Rtm Gold Untouched Iso . Recall your dream When you awaken from a dream period, no matter what time it is, try to recall as many details as possible from your dream.If you find yourself so drowsy that you are drifting back to sleep, do something to arouse yourself.Focus your intent While returning to sleep, concentrate singlemindedly on your intention to remember to recognize that youre dreaming.Tell yourself Next time Im dreaming, I want to remember Im dreaming.Really try to feel that you mean it.Narrow your thoughts to this idea alone.If you find yourself thinking about anything else, just let go of these thoughts and bring your mind back to your intention to remember.Repeat Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until your intention is set, then let yourself fall asleep.If, while falling asleep, you find yourself thinking of anything else, repeat the procedure so that the last thing in your mind before falling asleep is your intention to remember to recognize the next time you are dreaming.Without the prep work and this intention exercise, lucid dreaming will only ever occur due to chance, which will be infrequent at best.If you want to further increase your odds of inducing a lucid dream, however, you can try whats known as lucid dream scheduling, where you use an alarm clock to time out prime lucid dreaming periods.For example, if you know youll be able to get a full eight hours of sleep one night, set your alarm clock to go off after only six hours.Then, do the MILD exercise above, and go to back to sleep holding on to that intention to recognize youre dreaming.Remember, those last two hours are prime lucid dreaming time, so why not boost your oddsNightcaps come in all shapes and sizes.Some people like to have a drink before bed, and othersRead more Read.How to Tell Youre Having a Dream.Okay, so youre dreaming.But how do you realize youre in a dream so you can wake up within it There are two popular methods spotting dream signs, and critical state testing.Dream signs, which have nothing to do with dream interpretation, are essentially a mental catalog of the inconsistencies you normally experience while in a dream.They can be hard to spot, and you may not have many that appear regularly, but they are there.For example, one of my major dream signs is being with people I dont recognize but still feel convinced I know.If I can establish the fact that this friend Im with in my dream isnt actually somebody Ive met before, I can become aware of the dream and may be able to become lucid.Other people I know have dream signs like people dont have discernible faces, or any faces at all, or I never seem to be myself when I dream.Yours could be much simpler, however, like never wearing clothes you usually wear, or perhaps none at all.Or maybe youll notice the layout of a familiar place is nothing like it was before.Whatever they may be for you, start writing down your dream signs in your dream journal.The more regular inconsistencies you can note and become aware of, the more likely you are to notice them while youre dreaming and become aware.Critical state testing, on the other hand, is something you must practice in the waking world.These tests are designed to be routinely performed while youre awake, so that when you are tumbling through dreamland, you can perform the same test and realize youre asleep.Its very effective if you do it right.Thats why establishing a personal critical state test is going to be your next assignment.Dear Lifehacker,I like to use my smartphone and tablet in bed.I know that screen time before bedRead more Read.Assignment Establish a Routine Am I Dreaming Check.Critical state tests can be something as simple as asking yourself, Am I dreaming or as complicated as going over a dream state checklist.No matter what you choose to do, however, asking yourself if youre dreaming should be a part of your test.After all, if you never ask if youre dreaming in the waking world, what are the odds youll do it when youre asleep My personal critical state test is very simple I look at my hands and flip them over, ask myself if Im dreaming aloud if possible, then look around to make sure I actually know all the people Im with dream signs.If anything seems slightly amiss, I tell myself to hover or fly.When you conduct your test is important, though.Create a rule set for yourself and follow it.For example, you can establish that youll execute your test every time you go to the bathroom, have a glass of water, see an attractive person, get up from your desk, talk to a certain person, etc.If you can, try to incorporate the dreams youve been having within your rule set.For example, if youve been having dreams that poke at your social anxiety, make uncomfortable social situations one of your triggers for a test.Or if youre afraid of heights and you have dreams about that, do a test every time you feel that fear.But a critical state test, no matter how personalized, is useless if you dont do it with some regularity.Since youre just getting started, youre best off doing it at least 1.Once you get into the practice of it, about five times a day may be good enough.Eventually, youll go to perform your routine check, and lo and behold, you actually will be dreaming.Excitement and wonder will wash over you as you become intentionally lucid for the first time.Okay, oneironauts sleep tight and dream on.Weve discussed how much sleep you need at least seven hours, for most people, but often our real Read more Read.
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