Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Phone review:

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Phone review:

 
Editor's note: The Galaxy Note 8 is now on sale in select markets, including the US.

After testing it from San Francisco to Los Angeles and up to Lake Tahoe, I can confidently say that the Galaxy Note 8 is without a doubt Samsung's best, most feature-packed phone.

But it's also deeply burdened. Does it scrub away the bad taste of last year's disastrous Note 7 double-recall? Is the battery safe? Does it offer enough over the cheaper Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus to make it worth the sky-high price? (See prices below.)

Finally, we have answers. Samsung has amped up its safety testing and reduced the Note 8's battery size to avoid repeating last year's fatal battery mistake, though we won't know if it's truly safe until weeks have gone by without a reported incident.

Buyers of the Galaxy Note 7 -- who had to relinquish their flame-prone phones -- and 2015's Galaxy Note 5 -- until now, the "best" Note phone you could buy -- will find the Note 8 to be the high-end handset they should have gotten last year, and then some. It largely merges the Note 7 with the S8 and S8 Plus. The upshot: It's really good, but feels rehashed instead of truly fresh. Samsung played it safe.

One bright star is the presence of a dual camera setup on the Note 8's back. Samsung's first twin-lens phone can create pretty depth-effect portraits that finally catch it up to the hottest trend in phones. There's also the Note 8's vibrant 6.3-inch OLED screen, and a tall, slim design that goes lean on bezels. Battery life here goes on and on. You'll find a welcome repeat of the Galaxy S8's top-of-the-line processor, water resistance, expandable storage and wireless charging, plus fun ways to create animated GIFs that belong to the Note 8 alone. The S Pen stylus has some real efficiencies you don't get on any other phone.