Following the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, Samsung has tried hard to create a better version of their product. Has it created a bash? We yet to find so. For now, let’s welcome the new Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus.
Experts believe that Galaxy S8 is the best improvement in smartphone design in years and the biggest step forward to the holy grail of an all-screen phone. It comes with 64GB ROM+ microSD wireless charging, IP68, brilliant screen, tiny body, great camera, an iris scanner, 24-hour battery, pressure-sensitive screen, notification LED and much more.
Samsung is the market leader in screen technology, and the S8 has the company’s best smartphone display to date. It’s simply beautiful, with rich colors, inky blacks, excellent viewing angles and a surprisingly large brightness range. The Samsung Galaxy S8 has curved screens like last year’s model, but now the top and bottom bezels of the phone are much smaller, giving it a screen-to-body ratio of 83%.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is also water resistant to depths of 1.5m for 30 minutes with an IP68 rating, and Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5, which should hopefully make both front and back more scratch resistant.
The S8’s camera is very similar to the one fitted to last year’s Galaxy S7 Edge. It focused, shot and captured dark scenes better than the Google Pixel XL but the S8’s HDR function is not quite as good as Google’s HDR+. The camera app is great, with enough options and manual controls to keep most people floating with joy.
Nothing is perfect, of course
The fingerprint scanner could be positioned better, the battery could last longer, the pace of software updates is questionable and the lack of USB-PD is disappointing. But what you get is a brilliant, exciting smartphone that’s beautiful. It feels like you’re holding the future. Sadly, its virtual assistant Bixby is still half-baked also the Samsung Galaxy S8 still runs on Android 7.0 Nougat.
For the most part, Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is a slam dunk. It’s brilliantly designed, brimming with horsepower and has a beautiful screen. That’s all most people will need, and our gripes are minor. It’s too bad Bixby is still incomplete, its voice interface doesn’t work yet, and the stuff we did get can be hit-or-miss. Fortunately, Bixby is strictly optional, and the rest of the phone is remarkably polished. Long story short, if you’re looking for a new phone, this should be at the top of your list.
