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Samsung has had a pretty tough year in 2016, with the Note 7 battery fiasco. This meant that they needed something really impressive to regain the trust of their customers. There was no other way of doing that other than with their other flagship, the Galaxy S series. It won’t be wrong to say that they might have achieved just that.
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ truly push the boundaries of smartphone design and features. This year, Samsung decided to get rid of the physical button at the front, to make the experience more immersive. It’s also good to see Samsung take the Note 7 battery issue as a learning curb to deliver better products. The Samsung S8 and S8+ are testimonials of that. The battery on the new S8 variants have undergone through an eight point safety check, which sounds reassuring.
The new S8 and S8+ also feature the latest hardware. The S8 comes with 5.8-inch screen while the S8+ features a 6.2-inch screen. We’re taking a look at the bigger variant. Besides the screen size, the only other difference between the two is the battery. There’s plenty to talk about. Of course the phone is not short on its price either. The S8+ is priced just under Rs. 65,000*, which is a lot. So does the S8+ live up to its price? Let’s take a look at it.
Design and Build
The Samsung S8+ marks the biggest design change seen in the Galaxy S series since the first Galaxy phone launched in 2010. After seven iterations, Samsung has finally decided to do away with the physical buttons at the front. So, all you're left with is the massive 6.2-inch edge-to-edge screen and the slim bezel at the top and bottom. Samsung calls it the Infinity Display
It's no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S8+ is one of the best-looking smartphones we've ever reviewed. It's all-screen and no-bezel design sets a benchmark for smartphones. Not to mentions, it leads to a very immersive experience, when you turn the screen on. We also love the way the screen blends with the metal frame. This gives the phone a very monolithic feel that is further accentuated on the black variant that we used. The S8+ is also available in gold and blue, the latter being exclusive to the S8+ variant.
The curvy corner makes the phone an absolute delight to hold. It weighs merely 173g. Because of the curved screen, the phone has a smaller footprint, compared to many phones that carry a smaller 5.5-inch screen. In retrospect, the phone is taller, not wider. You can use the phone in one hand, but reaching the corners are a bit of a struggle.
The biggest complain most people have with the design is the placement of the fingerprint sensor. Since there is no space at the front, it's been awkwardly repositioned at the back, right next to the camera lens. It is difficult to spot. The first few times we tried using it, we ended up pressing the camera lens, which resulted in smudges. You have to get used to it, before you get it right.
The fingerprint sensor placement is a genuine complain, but it's backed by a larger concern, which is dropping the phone while adjusting it in one hand. The curved screen and the polished edges makes the phone extremely slippery, so a case is definitely recommended.
The S8+ carries a similar build to last year’s model. In some cases it's even better. The phone features a metal build all around, which is reinforced with Gorilla Glass 5 coating, at the front and the back. It makes the phone sturdy, but it is a huge fingerprint magnet. That’s another reason to buy a case. The S8+ has an Ingress rating of IP68, which means you can use it in the rains without any problems.
The rest of the design is the same. The speaker is placed at the bottom, right next to the USB Type-C and the much-expected headphone jack. The SD card and the SIM card tray are placed at the top. All the buttons are easily accessible while using the phone in one hand.
We're absolutely love the S8+'s design. That edge-to-edge screen alone is a major reason to buy the phone. It looks amazing, is incredibly portable for its screen size and is easily manageable. Moving forward, it’s probably going to be a trend setter for other smartphone manufacturers.
Features
You can expect nothing but the latest hardware with the Galaxy S8+. It carries Samsung’s proprietary Exynos 8995 processor. It’s their most powerful processor yet, equipped with eight cores with a maximum clock speed of 2.35GHz. It's not just about power, the processor also adds plenty of features to the spec sheet, which include support for VR gaming and faster connectivity.
In addition to the processor, the phone comes with 4GB of RAM, which seems sufficient for multi-tasking. You get 64GB of internal storage with the expandability option of 256GB with the help of a microSD card. The memory card tray is a dedicated one.
The S8+ comes with dual SIM and LTE support. Thanks to the high-end processor, the phone also supports the latest connectivity features. It’s the first phone to feature Gigabit LTE (Cat 16 LTE) and Gigabit Wi-Fi (1024 QAM). This means that you can get download speeds of 1Gbps if you’re using an LTE carrier or Wi-Fi network that support it. Samsung claims that S8+ also enjoys 20 per cent faster download speeds, as compared to the previous variant.
The S8+ is also the first phone to come with Bluetooth 5.0. The improvements include a faster connection and four times the range than the outgoing standard. This means you can walk into other rooms in your home without losing the connection on your wireless headphones or speakers. Of course, the connected devices also need to support Bluetooth 5.0. There are few devices at the moment, but the number is sure enough to increase soon.
The curve screen is easily the biggest highlight of the phone. It measures 6.2 inches diagonally and comes with a QHD (1440 x 2960) resolution, with a pixel density of 524 ppi. The catch here though is that you can adjust the screen resolution to full HD or even HD, based on your preference. It’s included mostly to help reduce battery consumption.
Most apps are designed for 16:9 aspect ratio. The S8+ offers an aspect ratio of 18:5.9 because of which, most apps don’t fit the whole screen. This doesn’t seem like a big problem when using the phone vertically, but when playing videos or games, you’ll face black borders on each sides. To make up for them, Samsung has included a full screen mode that lets you enhance the app, to fit in the whole screen. It’s done with the help of software, so you either get a warped screen or a cropped image. In the display settings, you can choose which apps you want to use in Full screen mode.
A big introduction to the security features is the iris scanner. The iris in our eyes is what gives it the colour. It also holds a pattern that is unique to every person. To offer a better security system, the S8+ comes with a sensor that can scan the Iris, to unlock the phone. It can also be used with other Samsung services. Although it’s hands-free, we didn’t quite like it. Every time you want to unlock the phone, you have to align it with your eyes, which is a little odd to do in public. Not just that, it doesn’t work well in low-light conditions or if you are wearing glasses.
The fingerprint sensor is also a big disappointment. We struggled constantly to unlock the device. Besides Iris scanning and the Fingerprint scanner, Samsung has also included Face recognition feature, which we’re not very confident about too. It can easily be bypassed using a photograph of the user. We found it comfortable using a traditional on-screen pattern lock or a pin code.
The Samsung S8+ comes with the latest Android 7 (Nougat) layered with the new Samsung Experience UI. We actually like the way it looks. It’s minimalistic, yet carries a premium look. You can customize the layout to have a separate homescreen or have the app drawer integrated with it. The notifications drawer comes with many more shortcuts than the ones provided in stock Android. The settings panel is completely redesigned. Most of the settings are segregated into categories. It can be a little overwhelming to find certain features, but you get used to it in time.
With the new S8+, Samsung has also introduced their brand new virtual assistant, Bixby. You can access it by swiping right on the homescreen or by pressing the dedicated button placed under the volume rocker keys. Bixby is designed to primarily carry out four features that include, voice search, visual search, set reminders and recommend things relevant to you. In retrospect, it’s not any different to Google Now. It even has a dedicated homepage, which carries relevant cards, just like Google Now. The only difference being that it requires you to have a Samsung account to use.
Visual search is the only thing that sets Bixby apart from its competition. You can actually use the camera on the S8+ to click a photo and search for things you see in it. Bixby looks at the subject in focus and recommends related actions. For example, we clicked an image of a TV and Bixby took us to pages where we could buy it. It’s still in the initial stages, so the search results aren’t accurate all the time. A few more updates might improve the performance. Besides that, you still have Google Assistant on-board, which is pretty much the best voice assistant you can have at the moment.
It’s surprising to see that the S8+ doesn’t come with a dual camera setup. In fact, the S8+ boasts the same 12MP rear camera, featured in last year’s S7 Edge. The camera also comes with a 26mm wide angle lens and an aperture value of f/1.7 that make it pretty good. You also get phase detection auto focus and optical image stabilisation. The front camera has been upgraded to 8MP and it can shoot 4k videos at 30fps.
The interface of the camera app is designed to be quick and simple to understand. There are eight modes present for the rear camera, so there’s plenty to play around with. You get a Pro mode, which allows you to take control of Aperture, Shutter speed, ISO and other elements to click good images in tricky situations. There’s also a selective mode that allows you to adjust focus after you’ve clicked the photo. It’s a pretty handy tool. Besides that, you also get slow motion video recording, which is limited to HD resolution.
You can flip through the cameras by simply swiping up on the screen. The Front camera also has Selective focus. The 8MP sensor can shoot stunning shots. The lens is pretty wide, but if you want to include more faces in a photo, then you can use the Wide Selfie mode.
The new camera app also comes with a whole range of Snapchat-like face-filters that are fun to use in portrait images. You can use them with both, the front and the rear camera. Standard filters are also available. They can be accessed by simply swiping left on the homescreen of the app. The camera is also integrated with Bixby to carry out a quick search, if needed.
The S8+ features only a 3,500 mAh battery. When compared to other large screen smartphones, it’s a lot less for the screen size. However, Samsung claims it to have optimised it to last longer. You also get two power saver modes. The S8+ charges fast, thanks to the fast charging, USB Type-C port. Wireless charging is also supported but you’ll have to invest in the charging cradle separately.
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy S8+ is fun to use, right from the moment you hold the phone in your hand. The 6.2-inch bezel-less screen lives up to the expectation with pretty much anything you run on it. We used most of the apps in the Full screen mode and loved the immersive experience. Scrolling through Facebook and Instagram feeds was fun. We didn’t even have to enlarge the image. While reading articles, you don’t have to scroll much. The big screen of the S8+ is more comfortable to use with both hands. It makes it easier to scroll through pages and click on apps placed in far corners of the screen.
Watching videos and games is also fun on the full screen mode. The phone changed the position of the on-screen buttons while playing N.O.V.A Legacy. Other games like Asphalt 8: Airborne and the Need for Speed: No Limits the experience was still enjoyable. Using the full screen mode is addictive once you get used to it. Most users might not even notice the difference.
The 12 Megapixel camera might seem less compared to other flagship phones, but it works just as well in most scenarios. One of the first things we noticed about the camera is its responsiveness. The app opens almost instantly. There are no struggles with close range focusing. Because of this, the macro shots look pretty detailed. Even the finest of textures in the photographs can be seen clearly.
For day-to-day photography, the S8+ offers a good camera. Photos we clicked came out looking clean and we barely saw the autofocussing feature miss its mark. However, we did notice some of photos looked a bit over-exposed. Because of that, the brighter colours looked a little saturated. But what you miss in the Auto mode, you can make up for in the Pro mode. Adjusting the shutter speed and aperture gets the right tone in images. The controls and dials are easy to use.
The front camera works well with decent lighting. Face detection accurately focuses on everybody in the frame, even if the others are at a distance. Skin tones get captured well, alongside the fine facial details. There is no Pro mode for the front-facing camera. The beautification features work well, but we don’t know how much you would want to use it. We had fun playing with all the on-board filters though.
When it comes to the overall performance, the Exynos 8995 processor is well equipped for pretty much any task you throw at it. We had multiple applications running, including games, social media apps and even the browser. The S8+ doesn’t break a sweat and it’s clearly good at multi-tasking, even when you have two apps running side-by-side on the screen.
Running graphically demanding games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, N.O.V.A Legacy and Real Racing wasn’t an issue either. We did put the phone on Performance mode, while playing games, but didn’t notice much difference here. The games rendered pretty smoothly and we didn’t come across any glitches, even after an hour of heavy gaming. During that time, the phone did get a little warm, but it wasn’t enough to be a big problem.
We ran a couple of benchmarks on the phone and the got the following scores.
After the sort of performance we got, we were a little surprised to not find the S8+ in the top three ranks on AnTuTu benchmark. We got similar scores form Geekbench 4 and CPU-Z, where the S8+ was trailing behind some of the other flagship phones. Rest assured, the performance in real life is pretty good. We ran the 3D Mark’s Sling Shot Extreme test twice, once with the performance mode and once without it. As expected, we didn’t get see a lot of difference in both the results.
Verdict
Samsung has set itself aside with the new Galaxy S8 and S8+. It’s without a doubt, one of the best phones money can buy right now. There are so many reasons for why you should buy the phone, however it’s the 6.2-inch curve screen that is the final deal maker. It’s just the overall experience you get with the S8+ that makes it stand apart, even in the flagship range. So if you have the money to spend on a smartphone, then by all means consider the S8+. Our only reminder is, don’t forget to buy a case.
Samsung has set itself aside with the new Galaxy S8 and S8+. It’s without a doubt, one of the best phones money can buy right now. There are so many reasons for why you should buy the phone, however it’s the 6.2-inch curve screen that is the final deal maker. It’s just the overall experience you get with the S8+ that makes it stand apart, even in the flagship range. So if you have the money to spend on a smartphone, then by all means consider the S8+. Our only reminder is, don’t forget to buy a case.
