On Sunday, our friends from Samsung will be announcing at the Mobile World Congress; the newly anticipated Samsung S9. It is confirmed and we can't wait to know what will be new in terms of features considering the design won't change as much (referring to the leaks). This will be their answer to Apple's latest iPhone X. Before we head on with the novelty, let's back up a little and take a look at the previous model which is the Samsung S8+. I have been using it for the past couple months and wanted to share a review about what I loved and one thing that I particularly hate. Hopefully, this will give you some clarity on whatever or not you should upgrade to the S9 or even simply keep the S8. In some cases, upgrade to the S8 if you own an older phone. So here we go!
My gear for the review
Samsung S8+ shot At Six Hotel, Stockholm
More Links
- Learn more about the Samsung S8+
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- Follow Samsung on Instagram
My First Impressions
Two things you realize at the first glance, it's a beautiful phone. The industrial design of the S8 especially the Plus size, it's big but narrow which is pretty comfortable in your hands. The phone is big in how tall it is but you can still easily stretch your fingers across the length. I would give a personal edge to Samsung for always finding ways to keep innovating new products. I am sure it's never easy to create new things and re-evaluate your entire process along the way. Another thing, my review unit came in a "midnight black" colour but you noticed a shiny finish that reminds me of the Jet Black colour from the iPhone 7. It's really beautiful but very easy to scratch! If I may, if you want a really good protection and a slim case at the same time; I would definitely get a case from our friends at Moment. What's good with Moment is that you can attach a small lens and this will enhance your lens into taking really good photos. We made a review about them on ABDZ. One last thing from the design where I felt it was lacking but possibly made an improvement on the S9 (according to the leaks). The fingerprint sensor, it is bad and so poorly placed that you wouldn't want to use that particular feature. I am glad to see that Samsung might have heard our prayers and improved that issue with the S9.
The Display
I personally think the phone display represents about 80% of your phone usage. Well with the Samsung S8+ display, it's such a beauty. The S8+ comes with a 6.2-inch screen size . It's huge! It’s an AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2960 x 1440px, offering a better contrast and a brighter picture. With an aspect ratio of 18.5:9, the screen is taller and has a narrower feel. The display is just perfect to surf the web and especially watching videos like on YouTube. At a very good deal, I would personally buy the S8+ just for the display alone or as a complete package phone. You already have what is the best display on the market and it is well-suited for your day-to-day life.
Complete Package
The S8+ is the best complete package phone on the market at the moment. It's integrated with Snapdragon 835 which makes the phone super fast for anything. You can easily multi-task and have a ton of apps open at the same time. My review unit had 64GB storage and you can also slide in microSD card for extra storage. There are also features that comes in handy and standard with Samsung. We have a waterproof phone at IP68, wireless charging, fast charging, and a 3500mAh battery. It's overall quite complete and we mostly don't use all these rocking features but it's there if you ever need them. It's running Android Nougat 7.0 mixed with Samsung software, the overall experience comes with a cute UI and fun transitions to simply enhance your daily life with the phone.
Samsung S8+ Gallery
Pros
- Stunning and sleek design design
- Incredible Display
- Awesome Phone Specs
- Software Experience
Cons
- Fingerprint Sensor Placement
- The Camera
- What is Bixby
One thing though...
One thing I have neglected to mention during this entire review and I wanted to keep it at the end because there is a possible nice ending. It's the camera, it's an overall good experience but not great at the same time. Some will say that is quite enough for them but for me, the camera represents 80% of my phone usage. If the camera doesn't perform well, we have a problem. It's probably because I am coming from being the Google Pixel user for the last year and it's the best image processor on any phone. The problem with the S8+ is not the camera but the image processor software. It's not something I can depend on which is not amazing considering that the camera is the one that you always have with you. But we have something to redeem ourselves. This Sunday, Samsung will announce the S9 and it comes with the tagline: "Camera Reimagined". It's a pretty bold statement, let's find out soon enough.
More Links
- Learn more about the Samsung S8+
