After months of waiting – Unbox Your Phone! Oh we plan to
Samsung released their newest installment to the Flagship S series The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ on March 29th, 2017 at an event in New York’s Lincoln Center
Even though we already knew what to expect from the S8, when the phone released everyone was in awe of how beautiful the phone looks. Gone are the traditional home button, the big forehead and the chin that has become the norm in smartphone design. This phone is absolutely gorgeous! and Samsung nailed the design element of the phone and every bit of the phone seems refined in a way now.
As always we are going to judge these Phones by the same parameters we review all devices and it’s going to be awesome.
The Design of Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+
The phone is basically a huge screen with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio which is housed in a curved glass which stretches into an aluminium frame that holds the phone’s internals. The power button is on the right side of the device and the volume rockers are on the left along with a dedicated button for Bixbi – Samsung new Assistant.
Samsung is calling the new display the infinity display and well we all agree. The screen has curved corners for better protection against accidental falls and curved edges which melts over the sides to give a bezel-less look to the device. The phone now has a 83.66% screen to body ratio, what that means is you’ll have a big screen with some seriously small bezels accompanying it.
Samsung housed the home button inside the screen and can be activated by force touching into the screen, Seems similar to another smartphone manufacturer’s home button now, Ahem! *Apple*. The fingerprint reader is at the back now and has a rather disturbing placement, next to the camera module.
The Phone is also IP68 water resistant, so you can go out in rain or use your phone in the shower without ruining them
The Screen of Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+
The phones have huge screens, 5.8 inches for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and 6.2 inches for the Samsung Galaxy S8+. The phones are protected by Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back and the glass finish is slippery but the overall footprint of the devices are very small, The Galaxy S8+ with a 6.2 inch display is easier to handle than the Iphone 7+ which has a 5.5 inch screen.
The screen has a Super AMOLED panel and has a resolution of 1440 x 2960 pixels which amounts to a pixel density of 570 ppi. Samsung screens have always been bright and punchy with a lot of colours and excellent viewing angles and the S8 is no exception.
The Camera of Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+
The Camera on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have the same optics as last year’s Samsung Galaxy S7 series, which performed nicely but we expected a improved camera for the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. The cameras however, are going to have better post processing to improve image quality. The camera setup on both phones are the same with a 12 MP dual pixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture on the back and a 8 MP front facing camera with f/1.7 aperture.
The Battery Life of Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+
The Samsung Galaxy S8 houses a 3000 mAh battery and the Galaxy S8+ houses a 3500 mAh battery. The batteries seem decent but considering the screen sizes of these phones one has to wonder how long will the batteries on these phones last? The phones are Quick Charge compatible so even if your phone does run out it will be easier to juice them up pretty quickly. The battery design was the biggest hurdle Samsung had to face, after Note 7s starting exploding. Samsung said these batteries have gone through an 8 step verification process to avoid any problems. Oh! and also they can be charged wireless charging dock.
The Performance of Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+
The phones will feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip coupled with the Adreno 540 GPU should handle any task you can possibly think of throwing at them. The phones will have 4 Gigabytes of RAM and come with 64 GB internal memory which can be expanded using micro-SD card up to 256 GB. The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will surely not slow down with such configurations.
Other Features of Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+
The Phones have some useful features, the phone has an Iris Scanner like the one on the Note 7 along with a finger-print reader on the back. The phones can also be unlocked using Face Detection. The phones will come with Android 7.0 out of the box with their Touchwiz UI on top, now that can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the users. The Phones will be the first phones to come out with Bluetooth 5.
Samsung introduced Samsung Dex, a dock to turn your smartphone into a Desktop like environment, much like Motorola and Microsoft, Samsung is trying to turn phones into PCs
Samsung also released Bixby, their own virtual assistant like Google Assistant.
Additional features include a Headphone Jack and AKG headphones bundled in the box a USB Type-C port, Wireless and Quick Charging and IP68 water and dust resistance.
Specifications of Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ is available to preorder and comes in 5 colours – Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Coral Blue, Arctic Silver and Maple Gold. The Galaxy S8 will start at USD 750 and Galaxy S8+ will start at USD 850.
What comes in the Box?
The Phone, AKG earphones, Wing Tips, USB Type-C cable, SIM ejector tool, Travel Adaptor and Paperwork.
Our Verdict
Samsung after the Note 7 fiasco has come out all guns blazing with the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ to reclaim the market handle they lost. These stretched out beasts are the best looking smartphones and the best flagship you can buy right now. The phones look futuristic! Samsung didn’t hold back on anything. This is the best Samsung has to offer if you can afford to buy one!
Waiting for the Iphone 8 release this year!
