So the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphone have finally come to fruition, it's everything we expected thanks in part to all the leaked images and rumors months prior to launch, I've stated on numerous occasions product leaks are nothing more than a tactical marketing ploy from the manufacturer itself, but I digress. Nonetheless, the features and design that's presented on Samsung's newest flagship gadget is quite impressive. With some minor issues here and there, which I'll outline later on in this post.
From hardware to special features, here's everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.
The Design
Arguably the biggest selling point with the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus is its design, choosing one word in description, its "beautiful" . The infinity display covers the entire portion of the smartphone, putting an all display in the palm of your hands. Seriously, if you were take a quick a glance at the Galaxy S8 from a distance, it will give you the illusion one is holding a piece of glass in the hand. The overall structure of the Galaxy S8 and Plus have not change with an acception the bezel being micro thin.The dominant portion of the device covered entirely in metal and glass. You'll definitely need to set aside money and invest in a protective case. Speaking of protection, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus is dust and water resistant with a iP68 protection rating. As far as color scheme goes, consumers have an extended choice of Artic Silver, Maple Gold, Orchid Grey, Black Sky, and Coral Blue.
Source Images: Android Authority
Probably the biggest change to the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus is its elongated, narrow design, making it very comfortable to hold in the hands.Take a close examination at the upper portion of the Galaxy S8 and its chin, it's much smaller than previous gen devices, barley fitting the camera and speaker, adding to its shear compactness.
The volume rocker and power button is in its usual place, absent is the physical home button. With the chin being so small, incorporating a home button would have been virtually impossible. Instead the home button is embedded right onto the display as software.
The Camera
The camera on the Galaxy S8 and S8-Plus is pretty much the same as the latter gen models, starting with rear camera it rocks a 12MP, f/1.7 aperture lens, with phase detection autofocus technology, OIS, LED flash. The front camera gets a bump up in megapixels from5MP to 8MP, which no doubt will take excellent selfie pics, and to add it captures video in 1440p at 30fps. Awesome camera and all, I question Samsung decision to stick with just one camera while it's competitors the iPhone 7-Plus and LG G6 are using dual rear cameras.The decent specs makes it one of the best image capturing smartphones around.
The Hardware
The hardware under hood of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus simply beast out, rocking the latest Qualcomm SnapDragon 835 Octa-core chipset (4xKryo 280 + 4xCortex-A53), then you have the Adreno 540 GPU which supplies the smartphones graphics. Included in within the processor is the Exynos 8895: Octa-core (4x2nd Mongoose +Cortex A53. As far as the RAM goes, the Galaxy S8 measures in at 4GB with an 6GB option in some markets. The storage capacity is plentiful coming in at 64GB, as an option you can extend storage capacity up to 256GB via microSD slot. To sum it all up, you have impeccable hardware that makes it seem as if you have a computer workstation that's in the palm of your hand.
Battery Power
Interestingly, Samsung chose to play it safe by incorporating non-removable 3,000mAh battery, which for me is just not enough juice to power up this handheld beast. The biggest problem I had with Galaxy S7 Edge was rapid discharging of battery power, forcing me to make some tweaks and changes to extend battery life. The biggest contributing factor to power depletion aside from the processor in any high-end smartphone is high resolution displays that's packed on a smartphone. With S8 series both packing a exuberant amount of pixels that uses AMOLED technology. You definitely could see the same problem arise with Galaxy S8.
The Display
The display on the both the Galaxy S8 and S8-Plus is constructed out of Gorilla Glass measuring in at 5.8-inches and 6.2-inches. Both brightly lit using AMOLED technology, packing a 2,960 x1440 pixel resolution, with the display being being so elongated the aspect ratio increases up to 18:5:9. The Galaxy S8 series will no doubt provide super crispy visuals to the naked eye.
Security
The thing I love about Android is it afford users with an array of security options, more so with Samsung smartphones. With the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, its two standout security features are the fingerprint reader and Iris scanner. The Iris scanner feature made its debut in the Galaxy Note 7, but never had the chance to really be fully used due to the Note 7 exploding battery issues. The Iris scanner is a defense-grade security that unlocks the phone by reading the pattern in your Iris, this form of security measure is pretty unique in that its very difficult replicate since humans in whole Iris pattern is not the same.
Then there's the fingerprint reader which is no longer placed on the home button since there is no physical button. Its now placed in back of the smartphone situated right next to the camera. A move by Samsung that is met with raised eyebrows, many who have tested the fingerprint reader stated that its rather difficult to access it with just one hand, being its placed near the top portion of the smartphone. Nevertheless, fingerprint reader on the Galaxy 8 like its latter models is fully functional.
Then there's Bixby
Yes Bixby, the latest and newest personal assistant created by Samsung. Its coming into a market that's already saturated with personal AI's starting with Apple's Siri and ending with Google Assistant ( yes Cortana, Alexa I see you). So what sets this apart from the competition, rather than jump starting the digital assistant by using touch to control handsets and software, Bixby can also adhere to voice commands, along with location awareness and image recognition.
The integrated camera on the smartphone plays a big role in how Bixby is to be used, it enable users to identity certain buildings, popular tourist destination, while accessing websites, dispatching information all from a captured image. Bixby will in turn make certain recommendations.
The whole image capturing feature in Bixby not only gives information on the object you captured with the camera, but it also quotes prices and even tells you where to purchase. The only thing that can elevate Bixby to the top is time, development and how well it responds to commands in real world tests.
Connection, Ports, Jacks
Let me get this right out of way the before expanding this paragraph on this particular topic, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will have a audio jack. Unlike some of their competitors, Samsung didn't bite the audio via USB dust instead it chose to stand pat, sticking with tradition by leaving the audio jack right where it belongs.
Speaking of USB, 3.1 Type-C that is, it's still present on the Galaxy S8 series and like it's last variants, it will guarantee ultra fast charging .
You still have Internet connection made possible from your monopolistic carrier of choice, the Galaxy S8 and S8-Plus also options users with WiFi a/b/g/n/ac.
News flash, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8-Plus is the first smartphones on the entire planet to have Bluetooth 5.0. Why the burst of excitement? Well this means sharp, crispy clear audio outputted to your wireless headphones.
........ my Final Impressions
The Samsung Galaxy S8 by far is the best smartphone in this current market that's asaturated with some impressive handheld devices, by far the most stunning display around. Though it has a elongated design, its nicely compact which will fit comfortably in your hands. And that camera? No real drastic changes here, yet it will more than likely be one the best cameras incorporated onto a smartphone. Yes, there is songs of praises from yours truly, but the device itself is not perfect, I mean what smartphone is.
I have grave concerns with the battery only being 3,000mAh, which I guess is understandable, incorporating a bigger battery would indeed compromise its design. This is sort of a consumer sacrifice, if having a thin compact design with a near bezel-less display is your main selling point. Then there's the fingerprint reader being situated near the very top of the device, making it rather difficult to access with one hand.
The issues I've outlined definitely does not take away from the Galaxy S8 potential greatness. Barring any type of tragic issue, you know the one we had with the Galaxy Note 7, this could arguably be the best smartphone in the market to date.