Couple months back we had one of Samsung’s biggest releases in the Galaxy S8 and its larger sibling the Galaxy S8 Plus. Two huge reasons as Samsung was going with a “Infinite Display” featuring no physical button and it comes after the often referred to Galaxy Note 7 release from late last summer. Now I been using Samsung devices since the Galaxy Note 2 and was interested to give this device a more in-depth review then all previous models. Does this longer than usual review pay off?
Style
It’s no secret that Samsung that has been pretty much been trying its hand at unique designs on its Samsung Galaxy for the past few years now. Curving glass, moving buttons and so forth. Some have been hit or miss but Samsung has finally hit the ball out the park with the Galaxy S8 series.
The Galaxy S8+ takes cues from the Note 7 with its fully rounded curved exterior and executed it perfectly. All this while still managing to keep that lovely headphone jack on the bottom. Also on the bottom is a Type C USB port. Nothing is on top but access to its simcard and microUSB tray. On the right side, you get the power button while the left side there is the usual volume rocker and underneath that is the Bixby button. We will get more into that later.
Hardware
One thing you can count on with the Galaxy S is how they rock in the hardware department. The Galaxy S8+ is rolling with a Snapdragon 835 chipset, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, Adreno 540 GPU. This all allows the S8+ to run snappy when going from app to app without much slowdown. Battery life is great as its rolling with a 3,500mAh battery which is backed up with quick charging and wireless charging. I am usually able to get the S8+ from the brink with an hour or so which is awesome. Speaking of battery, I like how Samsung implemented software telling you when the battery is too hot and disable the ability to use certain features till it cools down. I realistically only seen this happen once and it was using the phone in the beaming sun while it also being scorching 90 degrees. But the fact it worked was a plus.
Display
One of the main selling points of the Galaxy S8+ is the “Infinity Display”. It’s the first thing you notice on the S8 and it’s touted to break free of boundaries. It has an 18:5:9 display ratio which allows you to use just about every inch of the screen in your daily use. The 6.2” display itself is of WQHD quality and 529ppi. It’s hard to find a piece of glass that’s looking better than this. Also, it’s coated with Gorilla Glass 5 to withstand some scratches and drops. Now I have dropped it a few times without issue but I have the display can get a bit scratched if some keys or something rub against it. It’s not noticeable though with the display on.
Software
Here is where I have a mixed feeling with the Galaxy S8+. Its running Android 7.0(Nougat), and of course underneath that is TouchWiz. There are features such as “game mode” which is nice for providing more emphasis on your mobile gaming and pushes resources there. I even like how the phone can conserve battery life and will even give you suggestions and updates on what maybe impacting it.
There are times though when I use the Galaxy S8+ and apps will be loaded at least two times and I’ll see this in the Recent apps button. This will result in me having to clear out and restart some apps. It doesn’t happen all the time or rather I adapted to it and just started to deal with it. And there are times when the software itself will come to a haul and then presume. It’s not daily but it is a nuisance at periods.
Security is a priority on the S8 series as there are numerous ways to unlock your phone whether there is retina scan, fingerprint scan or facial recognition. Sadly, the fingerprint scanner is placed poorly on the back resulting in many accidental smudging of the camera.
Camera
In terms of the Galaxy S8 Plus camera not much has changed if you used previous iterations such as the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7. It’s still rocking a 12MP shooter on the back capable of getting crisp colorful images and still records some nice 4K video. While various phone manufacturers have gone with dual lens Samsung is still playing it safe. I guess if it works and consumers haven’t complained about the camera before no need to change.
Front shooter is using an 8MP camera which I won’t lie I don’t use very much. Best way to access the camera is still the super-fast double tap of the Power button. Double tap again will flip it in the opposite direction. There isn’t much to complain about the Galaxy S8+ camera. Quick launch is still one of my features on a smartphone camera and I think Samsung has mastered it.
Usage
Just as the title states I have been using this phone for 90+ days now. Before I tried using the Galaxy S8 but I didn’t care for the size as much. Once I got the S8+ in hand though my perspective changed a bit.
I been doing everything on the Galaxy S8+ from playing mobile games, doing mobile payments via Samsung Pay or heck taking pix and shooting video in the rain during a music festival. It’s held up pretty good on the battery side and display is a marvel to gaze at.
Verdict
Even with its software faults, Samsung has crafted a gem of a smartphone with its Galaxy S8+. Its not hard to grasp, has nice viewing angles thanks to its edge to edge display and has sufficient battery and quick charging to accompany it. Using both the S8 and S8+ I prefer this model but if you want something a little smaller you can get the S8 as well as they are identical spec to spec. If you haven’t decided to get the S8 Plus yet at this point it is virtually available on every carrier and in a magnitude of colors.
