Samsung Galaxy S8

Key Features

Processor Exynos 8895 Octa US: Snapdragon 835	Battery Capacity 3000mAh
RAM 4GB	Storage 64GB
Display 5.8-inch	Resolution 1440×2960 pixels
Rear Camera 12MP	Front Camera 8MP

Introduction:

The Samsung Galaxy S8 has been officially announced. The new flagship of the brand was finally unveiled on the 29th of March 2017 in New York during the special event of Samsung Unpacked 2017. After the failure of the Galaxy Note 7, the company has lived the crisis of 2016 and a lot of Samsung users got discouraged to purchase another Galaxy product. To surpass these unfortunate times, the Korean company has launched early its new product and made a remarkable marketing campaign to publicly announce its powerful return to the market. But will the new product succeed and continue increasing the sales after the Galaxy A5 and A3?

We’re going to present to you throughout this article our review after testing all the new features presented by Samsung in the Galaxy S8.

Design:

Having the Galaxy S8 in the hands gives the feeling of having the perfect smartphone. The slight change in dimensions is imperceptible since the smartphone remains perfectly compact. To be honest, the Galaxy Note 7 – peace to its “soul” – had already foreshadowed Samsung’s advanced tech in high-end construction. if the battery and a pinch of precipitation had not spoiled the realization, one could probably confirm that the Galaxy S8 is a worthy heir. The latter is a piece of a sacred goldsmith’s work.

I guarantee that every time you’ll enter the device to check a notification or whatever, you’ll be impressed with the design of the screen. The so-called Infinity Display gives the impression that the front of the device is only a plain screen. This is why, unlike previous versions, all models of Galaxy S8 (Orchid Gray, Artic Silver and Midnight Black) have a black front. Thus, it is almost impossible to distinguish the boundaries between the edge and the touch screen. Even the sensors, the front camera and speakers used for calls are camouflaged. It is only when the screen is activated that you recognize the edges. Moreover, the flagship is 8 mm thick but has the same weight as the Galaxy S7 edge.

Concerning the hull, the choice of the glass implies fingerprints on the darkest colors, but also the slipperiness of the mobile in the hand. The robustness of the construction makes it hard to witness any scratches, despite the glass material, but if you’re a perfectionist, using a phone case is highly recommended.

Truth be told, the South Korean manufacturer has proven a unique mastery in the design and finishes of the GS8; by using the Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides corning the metallic perimeter and forming a perfect front panel.

Screen:

The least we can say about the screen is that Samsung has done a very nice job. The new Galaxy S8 devotes 83.6% of the front panel to its screen, despite an 18.5: 9 format, against 72.1% for its predecessor. And this difference in screen size matters much more than the 6.5 mm longer length of the S8.

The screen is the main asset of this new Galaxy S8. This was the most important challenge for Samsung. With the S8, Samsung is able to put a bigger screen on a case whose size has hardly changed. LG took the same path with the G6: the smartphone uses an 18: 9 aspect ratio instead of a classic 16: 9. Samsung uses an 18.5: 9 ratio on the S8, which represents 1440 x 2960 pixels. Unlike traditional QHD smartphones, the S8’s screen is 400 pixels higher.

The Galaxy S8 is equipped with a brighter display than other devices available on the market. The 18.5: 9 ratio also allows you to display more content, use smaller characters, have better use of user interface elements and optimize the use of multi-window mode.

Optimization also allowed the South Korean manufacturer to offer a 5.8-inch screen on the Galaxy S8, while maintaining proportions equivalent to its 2016 model. To do so, it removed the physical home button at the front usually present on its terminals. This is a first for the manufacturer. Yes, the main historical button has disappeared allowing us to benefit from a haptic interaction hidden under the screen, responding sensibly to the pressure of our finger. Even if the button doesn’t appear in the surface, it is always quick to respond the call. We therefore end up with a device with a good grip and a very pleasant user experience.

Performance:

The Samsung Exynos 8895 processor is clocked at 2.3 GHz which equips the Galaxy S8 whereas the US model powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. Accompanied by 4 GB of RAM, the SoC house is extremely powerful to perform any task, from the simplest to the heaviest.

Samsung brings together all the elements to complicate the task of managing the power supply and must consequently push thoroughly its optimization. With a battery of the same capacity as the GS7, a larger and longer screen, increased power and increased usages, Samsung has beaten a record of endurance with the GS8. It has managed to contain the technical abundance of the beast, in its original delivery, that is to say in Full HD + with the Always On mode and in its maximum configuration (WQHD +) with and without Always On.

We also tested Samsung DeX, which transforms the Galaxy S8 into a desktop computer with a USB Type-C dock. After connecting the device, the S8 needs a few seconds to see the DeX interface on the screen. Based on the multi-window mode of Android, we now have an office surface. The latter supports the use of a mouse and a keyboard, and the Samsung browser shows desktop versions of websites, and multitasking is also working very well. The performance is satisfactory but DeX is not as fluid as a real PC.

Bixby you may have heard of it it’s the virtual assistant that’s built for this phone that just does a lot of what Google assistant does now the circumstances surrounding it are interesting because Samsung put a dedicated button on the side of the phone just for launching it a big speed button now a lot of people didn’t like this for fair reason whether they didn’t like Bixby or didn’t want it so they found a way to use an app to remap the Bixby button to do whatever they want probably should have been in the Samsung settings in the first place you can make it the default for the button sure but in regions where people don’t use Bixby or Bixby’s not supported or language supports not there yet or its incomplete let them go on the settings and remap it to whatever they want it could be a legitimate useful separate feature well lately Samsung actually patched that up and blocked any remapping of that button at all on the galaxy s 8 so it’s definitely now just a Bixby button so understandably again people got kind of angry about that nobody wants accidental triggers of the app they want to never use.

Other special specs:

First of all, the integration of the loudspeaker grid, the USB-C port and the mini-jack lacks a bit of alignment. The GS8 recovers the Note 7 iris scanner and also adds facial recognition via the front photo sensor. We now have two other security systems addition to the impeccable fingerprint reader. For the former, the operation remains erratic. Check-in is quick and if you wear glasses, you will be asked to remove them for proper operation. Removing the glasses whenever we want to unlock the phone becomes irritating at a point. As for the facial recognition, the unlocking is done like a cannonball and despite all our efforts to jam the machine with photos of registered users, no fault was found.

When it comes to the benchmarks, they are of course worthy of the best high-end smartphones, and the actual performance in 3D climb significantly. Whereas the Galaxy S7 was able to run games like Real Racing 3 at an average of 53 FPS, the GS8 rather revolve around 58 FPS, with drops to 40 FPS when many items are displayed on the screen. Sadly, the S8 heats up very little in the process.

On the other hand, the GPU Mali-G71 MP20 is doing very well, but Samsung always prefers to find the right balance between performance and autonomy and therefore does not really push the SoC into its entrenchments. For comparison, the Huawei P10 and Honor 8 Pro have more consistent graphics performance around the 60 FPS, but less autonomy under these conditions. The GS8 scores some points here.

Camera:

Samsung had always attached great importance to the camera. With the Galaxy S6 and S7, Samsung has developed its camera specifications and has shown what it is possible to improve. Although the modules are different between the GS7 and the GS8, the construction and concept are identical, whether in terms of stabilization, resolution or opening. That said, the competitors weren’t sleeping either; LG for instance introduced a dual camera with wide angles and Google created the one and only Google Pixel which is for many the best photophone of the moment.

Well in 2017, Samsung is still on track (only for the moment). On the technical level, the manufacturer again relies on a 12-megapixel sensor with a double-pixel technology to ensure a fast and accurate focus. The aperture is f / 1.7, thus allowing a lot of light. The sensor used this time is developed by Samsung itself and not by Sony, as was the case on the Galaxy S7. Samsung also offers an optical image stabilizer and support for RAW format.

The sensor of the front camera is also manufactured by Samsung. It has 8 megapixels (aperture f / 1.7) and has AF (auto focus). The quality of the front camera is superior to that of the Galaxy S7 and is for us one of the best on the market.

On the video side, no need for Samsung to change a winning formula. Stabilization is satisfying our needs and the compensation of movements remains flexible, especially that the light transitions are always managed with brilliance. That makes the GS8 a videophone at the top!

Furthermore, as the Galaxy S8 boasts an IP68 certification, you do not have to worry about the vagaries of everyday life and you can even use it to take pictures underwater. However, do not exceed 1.5 meters of depth and 30 minutes of immersion. Also, note that the speakers will need time to dry completely before being powerful again.

Conclusion:

The long-awaited phone by the Android community is finally here and presented in two sizes, the GS8 and the GS8+. Well, do you know this feeling when you feel immediately at ease with someone or that everything seems perfect from the start? This is what you feel when you get ahold of the Galaxy S8. Samsung’s new flagship features a perfect futuristic design perfect with an impeccable performance and an outstanding camera.

The smartphone will be officially on sale starting from April 2017 at the price of 809 euros for the single version with 64 GB of storage. The smartphone is available in three colors: Orchid Gray (gray), Midnight Black (black) and Arctic Silver (silver).

But the Galaxy S8 is not the only smartphone on the market, and it is necessary to get an idea of what it is capable against its competition. So, will the new Samsung flagship be up to win the competition game? Let’s wait and see.