Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Tips and Tricks
Factory OS: Android 7 (Nougat)
Have you updated your Operating System?
Then view tips for the most recent OS version(s): Android 9 (Pie) & Android 8 (Oreo)
Or view tips for all Android versions
Looking for a charger for your Samsung Galaxy Note 8? Our guide shows you the best deals and provides advice on charger types.
Important: We take no responsibility for chargers purchased that are incompatible with your device. Please check your user manual or product descriptions before you buy.
The good news is that unless you own an iPhone (which uses the Apple Lightning Charger), almost all smartphones on the market today use the standard 5 watt Micro USB connection. This is great for consumers because it means you can normally borrow a charger from someone else if your phone is out of juice (unless they own an iPhone of course). Many shopping centres and events also provide charging stations for this connection.
Charger types
Chargers can be classified into the following four categories:
USB Charger – This is normally a simple cable that connects from your phone (micro USB port) to your laptops or desktop PCs (normal USB port). They’re super cheap and super convenient. They are often included in your phone box, but we recommend you buy extras so you can leave one at home, one at work, one at friends place etc.
Mains Charger – These also normally come in your phone’s box, but it’s also useful to have them dotted around the house or workplace so you’re never far away from a re-charge.
Car Charger – If you have a car, you should get a car charger. These simply plug into your cigarette lighter and the other end plugs into your phone. We recommend buying one for each car that you own.
Portable Charger – Also known as an external battery pack, these are great for camping, festivals or going anywhere where you may not have a mains power supply. They come in many sizes ranging from tiny portable ones providing one charge, to large power packs allowing you to charge your device multiple times.
Get the best chargers!
To help you choose, we’ve listed the best-selling chargers for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Simply click on the products below to find out more (if you don’t see any products below, make sure you pause any ad blocking software):
A great new feature is dual shot which lets you take a picture of someone else with the rear camera, while simultaneously taking a picture of yourself with the front facing camera. The problem is this feature isn’t obvious to find as it isn’t included in the list of camera Modes.
To find it open your Camera App and you will see three icons in the top right corner. Dual shot is the middle icon of these. Press that and you both cameras will activate allowing you to shoot away.
If you see the following errors:
Resting robot
Exclamation point (for rooted phones)
No command
This indicates that your phone is in Android Recovery mode and often appear when you try to recover or reboot.
To fix this, follow these steps:
1. Once any of the three appears, press and hold your phone’s volume up button for 10-15 seconds.
2. Next, without letting go of the volume up button, press and release the power button once. It will display a menu.
3. Navigate around the menu using the volume button.
4. Select Reboot System Now and your phone should be rebooting
Alternatively, you can do the following:
1. When any of the three appears, press and hold the power button for 2-3 seconds.
2. Then, without letting go of the power button, press and release the volume up button, once. It will display the same menu.
3. Select Reboot System Now and your phone should reboot.
If Reboot System Now doesn’t work try updating first.
If you are not happy with your notification light, then you can change and tweak it. Go to the Play Store and download an App called Light Flow.
You might need to enable the notification light before the App works. Go to Settings – Display – LED Indicator.
Sometimes you will want to prevent your device from displaying or indexing folders on your Phone storage or USB storage.
To do this, simply rename the folder and place a . (full top / period) before the file or folder name.
This can be done through the Files App or by plugging your device in to your computer and renaming it there.
To enable / disable your notification light, go to Settings – Display – LED indicator.
From here you can choose various options.
This may not be available on all models. An alternative however is to download NoLED from the Play Store, which has many options for incoming notifications.
There are a number of solutions to this error. Go through the following steps:
Go to Settings – Applications – Application manager.
Then find the App called Media Storage.
If you can’t see it listed, then select More at the top and then select Show system apps.
Once found, click Media Storage and then Force Close. Then select Clear Data. (warning: this will delete the cache for your media player so you may lose things such as recently played, most played etc. But you will not lose your music).
Next, go back to list of Apps and find Music Player. Again, press Force Close and then Clear Data.
Once that’s done, go to the Play Store and download an App called Re Scan Media and run it. Wait 5 minutes for the device to re-scan your media.
If you still cannot play your music, then try turning your phone off and removing your SDCard / memory card (if you have one). Then turn the phone on without the card. Then turn it off again and reinsert the card. Finally turn it on again with the card back in.
If you still can’t play music, then some users have said that there may be a conflict with the Twitter App. Try uninstalling this and see if the error persists.
If you don’t like the default A-Z way of viewing your contacts you can change this.
First, go to your Contacts App and press the Menu key or More at the top of the screen.
Then select Settings.
Then choose Sort by.
Instead of the simple swipe gesture to unlock your phone, you can set a custom one which can be extremely difficult for a thief to guess.
From your home screen, go to Settings – Lock screen and security – Screen lock type and choose Pattern.
It is also a good idea to untick Use visible pattern. Then if someone is watching over your shoulder while you entering your pattern, it will be harder for them to remember the pattern.
If you have forgotten your unlock pattern, then after 5 unsuccessful tries a button will appear saying ‘Forgot pattern’.
Press this and you will be asked to enter your Gmail username/password. The phone will then ask for a new unlock pattern.
If you don’t have a Gmail account, then you will have to either call your carrier or factory reset your phone.
To take a screenshot on your device, press the Home and Power buttons at the same time. Sometimes you may need to press the Home button first for a second, then the Power button.
Hold them together for between 1-2 seconds and you should hear a camera shutter sound.
To locate the screenshot you’ve just taken, go to your Apps and find My Files.
Then it should be under Device Storage or Internal Storage – DCIM – Screenshots.
It’s possible that they may also be found under Device Storage or Internal Storage – Pictures – Screenshots.
If you want to move the Screenshot to another folder, then long press on the file name. You should see a tick appear.
Then press the More button in the top right and select Move or Copy. Then select the destination of the screenshot.


