[Smartphone review] | Samsung galaxy S8 and S8+
Okay, so the galaxy S8 and S8 plus are excellent phones. Absolutely beautiful beasts, but not without imperfections. Though they both are top tier performers in their game, many things about the S8 seem 'out of place'. Here are my thoughts on the Samsung galaxy S8.
Design : Can't say there's much to describe here, the S8 is just gorgeous. The bezel less design and the curved glass back feel every bit as expensive as the phone's price tag.
The entire phone has said goodbye to bezels and feels a lot smaller in the hand, even though the screens are pretty substantially big. For instance, the S8+ is the same size as the iPhone 7 plus. The iPhone only packs a 5.5 inch display whereas the S8+ has a massive 6.3 inch one!
The home button is gone and the bottom portion of the screen is now pressure sensitive. There are onscreen keys to navigate and you can go to home page by pressing down on it. It's pretty awesome and feels exactly like Apple 's new home buttons.
Design : Can't say there's much to describe here, the S8 is just gorgeous. The bezel less design and the curved glass back feel every bit as expensive as the phone's price tag.
The entire phone has said goodbye to bezels and feels a lot smaller in the hand, even though the screens are pretty substantially big. For instance, the S8+ is the same size as the iPhone 7 plus. The iPhone only packs a 5.5 inch display whereas the S8+ has a massive 6.3 inch one!
The home button is gone and the bottom portion of the screen is now pressure sensitive. There are onscreen keys to navigate and you can go to home page by pressing down on it. It's pretty awesome and feels exactly like Apple 's new home buttons.
Display: Both phones are packing the same old Samsung QHD amoled panels. Knowing Samsung' s track record for making incredible displays, the S8 does not become an exception. The panels are vibrant and beautiful, the S8 being 5.7 inches and the S8+, a 6.3 inch one. Colors are a bit over saturated as always, gaining them a yellowish appeal. That can always be tweaked in the display mode settings.
One strange thing is that the galaxy S8 doesn't have QHD resolution rendering out of the box. It's set to 1080p by default, which you have to change yourself down at the settings. Battery saving measures, I guess. Overall, these are some extremely impressive display panels.
Performance: The S8 is running on either a Snapdragon 835 or an Exynos 8895, based in your market. The RAM remains 4 GB. Specs aside, the phone is buttery smooth even for first impressions. There are very few delays and slow downs which can go unnoticed, if you're not constantly focusing on the thorns instead of the roses.(I'm hopeless with that..)
One thing is certain. The S8 has a much better UI compared to the S7. I'm sure we won't see those sluggish animation slowdowns as last year.
There have been a few aesthetician changes to the phone, as you might be noticed. Unfortunately, most of them seem like last moment throw ups and screw ups. Like that awkward fingerprint sensor. Who decided to keep it THERE? There's absolutely no normal way in which you can scan your fingertip without missing, or smudging up the camera lens. (sigh) Samsung. Word is, they wanted to somehow embed the fingerprint sensor within the display, but didn't get reliable results. So they just slapped it beside that camera, as a last resort. It works well, if you somehow manage to reach it!
There are also iris scanners and facial recognition softwares. But it has been found that face unlock on the S8 is pretty easy to fool, with your photograph. Although it's easy and fast to unlock, it isn't secure. Anyone who has a pic of your face can give it a try and might succeed in unlocking it. Like a said, the S8 is kind of like a confused mixture of tech and beauty.
One strange thing is that the galaxy S8 doesn't have QHD resolution rendering out of the box. It's set to 1080p by default, which you have to change yourself down at the settings. Battery saving measures, I guess. Overall, these are some extremely impressive display panels.
Performance: The S8 is running on either a Snapdragon 835 or an Exynos 8895, based in your market. The RAM remains 4 GB. Specs aside, the phone is buttery smooth even for first impressions. There are very few delays and slow downs which can go unnoticed, if you're not constantly focusing on the thorns instead of the roses.(I'm hopeless with that..)
One thing is certain. The S8 has a much better UI compared to the S7. I'm sure we won't see those sluggish animation slowdowns as last year.
There have been a few aesthetician changes to the phone, as you might be noticed. Unfortunately, most of them seem like last moment throw ups and screw ups. Like that awkward fingerprint sensor. Who decided to keep it THERE? There's absolutely no normal way in which you can scan your fingertip without missing, or smudging up the camera lens. (sigh) Samsung. Word is, they wanted to somehow embed the fingerprint sensor within the display, but didn't get reliable results. So they just slapped it beside that camera, as a last resort. It works well, if you somehow manage to reach it!
There are also iris scanners and facial recognition softwares. But it has been found that face unlock on the S8 is pretty easy to fool, with your photograph. Although it's easy and fast to unlock, it isn't secure. Anyone who has a pic of your face can give it a try and might succeed in unlocking it. Like a said, the S8 is kind of like a confused mixture of tech and beauty.
A 'Bixby button'? Really?
There's another unnecessary Samsung feature, an assistant. Samsung has included Bixby, alongside Google assistant. They're pretty serious about this dominating over the Google assistant, as apparently Bixby can "do more". It's true at some points, as Google assistant can't be used to edit an image via voice.
You can do pretty much everything with your voice using Bixby, for which there's a dedicated button in the left hand side, below the volume rockers. Many people don't like it, including me. There isn't an 'official' way to remap the button to anywhere else, but there seems to be a patch that you can apply onto your S8. Samsung really should've given the option the users, within their system software.
Camera: This is another area where Samsung has been a champion for several years. Just like the preceding 'galaxies', the S8 has a stunning 12 mp rear camera and an 8 mp selfie camera. The camera sensor is of the same resolution as the S8, but it isn't the same sensor, if you were wondering. Camera quality is excellent, and digital stabilisation has improved a lot. OIS still produces the jello like wobbling effect in video sometimes, but when you turn in EIS, everything is fixed. There are absolutely zero complaints when it comes to the camera experience. The S8 is a total photography champ, as expected.
You can do pretty much everything with your voice using Bixby, for which there's a dedicated button in the left hand side, below the volume rockers. Many people don't like it, including me. There isn't an 'official' way to remap the button to anywhere else, but there seems to be a patch that you can apply onto your S8. Samsung really should've given the option the users, within their system software.
Camera: This is another area where Samsung has been a champion for several years. Just like the preceding 'galaxies', the S8 has a stunning 12 mp rear camera and an 8 mp selfie camera. The camera sensor is of the same resolution as the S8, but it isn't the same sensor, if you were wondering. Camera quality is excellent, and digital stabilisation has improved a lot. OIS still produces the jello like wobbling effect in video sometimes, but when you turn in EIS, everything is fixed. There are absolutely zero complaints when it comes to the camera experience. The S8 is a total photography champ, as expected.
Awkward fingerprint sensor = Smudgy camera!
Battery: The S8 has a smaller 3000 mAh battery and the S8 plus houses a slightly bigger 3500 mAh battery unit. Samsung is obviously playing it safe here, by providing a battery of slightly smaller capacity than the S7 edge.
There's fast charging support, with USB type C port. So we can expect some pretty awesome charging top up speeds. Battery life is pretty good, with the S8 lasting a day and the S8+ lasting around 1½ days of moderate usage. That's good enough, even for a flagship such as this.
Price / Verdict: The galaxy S8 is a gorgeous phone, no doubt. But the price of around $800, makes us think about the weird fingerprint sensor placement and other hardware.
Sure, you get an awesome display, an amazing camera and water resistance on top. But I suggest you wait and see what else does 2017 have on store for us, at least until Q3 of the year.
There's fast charging support, with USB type C port. So we can expect some pretty awesome charging top up speeds. Battery life is pretty good, with the S8 lasting a day and the S8+ lasting around 1½ days of moderate usage. That's good enough, even for a flagship such as this.
Price / Verdict: The galaxy S8 is a gorgeous phone, no doubt. But the price of around $800, makes us think about the weird fingerprint sensor placement and other hardware.
Sure, you get an awesome display, an amazing camera and water resistance on top. But I suggest you wait and see what else does 2017 have on store for us, at least until Q3 of the year.
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