SAMSUNG GALAXY S8 REVIEW

SAMSUNG GALAXY S8 REVIEW

 Samsung focussed on the Galaxy Tab S3 at MWC but the long wait for its 2017 flagship phoneis over. Can the firm really improve on the amazing Galaxy S7? It can indeed but our in-depth review shows it's not faultless.

We have no doubt the Galaxy S8 is the best phone you can buy right now but rivals are coming including the OnePlus 5 and iPhone 8. We've also had hands-on with the HTC U11.

BUILT AND DESIGN

If the Galaxy S7 was stunning in design then we're not exactly sure how to describe the Galaxy S8 apart from that it’s on another level. It makes its predecessor, and other phones, look rather dated.

Samsung has brought its edge screen technology to both phones this year so you don't need to buy the larger Galaxy S8 Plus to get the full experience. This not only looks great but has a big advantage when it comes to keeping the size of the phone from getting out of control.

The S8 is pretty much the same width, thickness and weight compared to its predecessor. It's just a few millimetres taller but jumps from 5.1- to 5.8in when it comes to screen size. So what would typically be an unwieldy device feels barely any different in the hand. Also see:Galaxy S8 Active latest rumours

It's a really impressive piece of craftsmanship largely down to significantly reducing the bezels at the top and bottom. A screen-to-body ratio of over 83 percent is impressive stuff.

The physical home button and accompanying capacitive keys are gone to achieve this. Now you have on-screen navigation and a pressure sensitive home button built into the display – we'll talk about this more later.

The fingerprint scanner is now on the back but quite awkwardly next to the camera rather than below it. Right-handed users are likely to smudge the camera when using it. This is our main bugbear in terms of the design and it should really be below the camera, despite creating an unsymmetrical look. Also see: Samsung Pay is now available .

A lot of users will be pleased to hear that Samsung has retained the headphone jack on the bottom. The Galaxy S8 is made from a lot of glass once again so it’s a little slippery but has a Gorilla Glass 5 back to resist damage. You'll probably want to get a case to protect this expensive slab of metal and glass, though, which is a shame considering the outstanding design. Check out the best Galaxy S8 cases.

As you'd expect the Galaxy S8 is fully dust and waterproof like its predecessor so has an IP68 rating. That extra button you see on the left side of the phone is to quickly launch Bixby, Samsung's artificial intelligence assistance .

SPEC AND HARDWARE

Compared to the Galaxy S7, the new Galaxy S8 isn’t dramatically different when it comes to the specs and hardware on offer. That's partly because the S7 ticked a lot of boxes but there are new components with the screen being the most obvious and impactful change.

Infinity Display

As mentioned in the design section, Samsung has impressively jumped from 5.1- to 5.8in when it comes to screen size. This is despite the phone only being a little taller in shape. If that's not big enough, the Galaxy S8 Plus is a whopping 6.2in.

Like the LG G6, the Galaxy S8's display had rounded corners which look great, matching the curvature of the phone's metal frame. Samsung has also opted for a similar aspect ratio of 18.5:9 meaning the screen is very tall (or wide in landscape). Samsung calls it the 'Infinity Display'. Read: Galaxy S8 vs LG G6.

You can fit more on the screen, of course, and the aspect ratio suits content like videos much better so you can, depending on the source content, watch videos without annoying black bars. Depending on what you're viewing, the viewing area is up to 36 percent bigger.

The phone sticks to Samsung's preferred SuperAMOLED display technology ensuring great contrast and colours. The Galaxy S8 screen resolution is WQHD+, 2960x1440 in this case because the screen is so tall. A pixel density of 570ppi is enough for anyone.

It's worth noting that it defaults to Full HD+ (2220x1080) but you can change it in the settings if you wish. The lower resolution improves graphics performance and also aids battery life without a noticeable drop in quality. If you want, you can also drop it down to 1480x720.

Specs aside, the Galaxy S8 also now has the well-known edge screen as standard so there's no need to buy the edge version any longer (like the Galaxy S7 edge). The curve is more subtle than previous edge devices, though, so you just have the edge panels rather than any other additional functionality.

There are some new features to make the screen easier to use one-handed which we'll cover in the software section, and the display is always-on should you want it to be.

One last thing to mention about the screen is that it has Mobile HDR Premium certification by the UHD alliance. The ability to display HDR content sounds good but you'll only get it with certain titles on Amazon Prime Video. More partners will be announced.

Processor

Once again, the Galaxy S8 has have a different processor for different markets around the world.

Samsung has been a bit vague on the subject but, as we suspected, the UK model has have the firm's new Exynos 9 8895 chip rather than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 which the two companies collaborated on.

Samsung's latest octa-core processor has clock speeds of 2.3- and 1.7GHz (four cores each) and a Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. The firm claims a 10 percent increase in CPU performance and a 20 percent gain on the GPU side.

We're very impressed with the performance here with some of the highest benchmark results we've seen. It's the graphics boost that's particularly noteworthy considering the resolution. We tested at default settings and switching to the full amount of pixels didn't drop the framerates much.

MEMORY AND STORAGE

Not a huge amount has changed in this department but here’s the deal.

The Galaxy S8 still has 4GB of RAM and comes with 64GB of storage as standard. There's a 6/128GB model but that's been made for the Asian market. 

As usual, the phone has expandable storage so you can add up to 256GB via the Micro-SD card slot.

Fingerprint and Iris scanners

As mentioned already, the fingerprint scanner has moved to the back in order to fit a much larger screen. We're all for this – LG has been doing it since the G2 – but the placement isn't very ergonomic.

Samsung appears to have prioritised the symmetry of design over functionality here so most users will be making the camera lens grubby when reaching for the sensor. The scanner is fast when it works but the placement and size of it make it quite frustrating to use, especially with a case on.

The firm says you won't need the fingerprint scanner as much because of the improved Iris scanner which debuted on the Note 7. While this works, it's still frustrating to use a lot of the time as you'll need to hold the phone up like you're taking a selfie, hold it the right distance away and require things like good lighting.

If you're bothered about security then the Galaxy S8 is likely to be a bit annoying, with the best options being a pattern or numerical PIN rather than the more advanced biometrics.

Cameras

There’s no change from the fantastic camera inside the Galaxy S7. So the Galaxy S8 has a 12Mp Dual Pixel with an impressive f/1.7 aperture and other features like optical image stabilisation (OIS) and 4K recording.

The camera does 'multi-frame image processing' where it takes three shots instead of one and uses the extras to do things like reduce blur and perfect other elements like focus. It does this when it thinks it needs to like a moving object or low light situations.

It's the new processor that makes this already awesome camera even better. Some shots, unedited, are unbelievable.

Battery life

Samsung hasn't made a big song and dance about battery life on the Galaxy S8. This may be partly due to the fact it has the same 4000mAh capacity as its predecessor.

Nevertheless, it's good to see features such as USB-C, fast charging and wireless charging all as standard. You'll get around 20 percent battery from a 15 minute charge.

Battery life will always be better when a phone is new and unused but we are, nevertheless, impressed with the Galaxy S8. It lasted almost 48 hours (including two nights) albeit with fairly light usage so on average we expect a little over 24 hours.

Android 7.0 Nougat

As you'd expect, the phone comes pre-loaded with the lasted version of Android, 7.0 Nougat and Samsung hasn't mucked about with it too much. The interface remains clean and easy to use but still has lots going on behind the scenes.

You get quite a lot of pre-installed apps but most are useful including Google's, Microsoft's and Samsung's own. The app draw, for your information, is now accessed with an upwards swipe which will take some users a while to get used to. You can swipe up from the end of the menu to return to the homescreen.

OUR VERDICT

 Samsung has taken the best phone around and made it even better with an impressive screen and design. It ticks a shed load of boxes you'd want a flagship to do. It's the best phone of 2017 so far but it is expensive and the biometrics are a let down. We're keen to see what the likes of Apple, HTC and OnePlus can do to challenge.

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