Samsung Galaxy S8 & S8+ - Quick Hands On
- Avichai Elimelech
- May 5, 2017
- 2 min read
Samsung and I have never seen eye to eye when it comes to smartphones, going back as far as the Galaxy S1. Something about Samsung's take on Android, the hardware itself etc. just didn't click.
On March 29th Samsung has announced their latest iteration of the Galaxy line-up - The Galaxy S8 & S8+.
I've had the chance to play a little with the devices, and these are my thoughts so far.
THIS IS BY NO MEANS A REVIEW, AS MY TIME WITH THE DEVICE WAS LIMITED - IT IS A QUICK HANDS ON.
Bottom Line:
Though S8 and S8+ are very very tempting – the price is higher than the last generation models, there are some compromises in the hardware department (see the design section), and the software is my main concern – I’ve seen flagship Samsung devices showing signs of lag when they are as little as 4 months old.
I would wait a couple of months to see how the smartphone ages in terms of software (and hardware - Note 7 battery explosions... Ahm... Ahm), and at June Apple will probably debut their next iPhone.
Design
Yes, it is as beautiful as they say - the screen doesn't feel big on the S8 and S8+ though it is 5.8” and 6.2” respectively.
The screen covers more than 83% of the front of the device, making it as though you’re holding just a screen and not a phone. It doesn’t feel slippery but I would be careful with it without a case as the outside is made mostly out of glass… The screen has good brightness and visible under direct light (which is better than the previous models).
The tactile home button is a very nice edition, feels kinda weird to press and have a haptic feedback, but it seems the way of the industry right now.
There are 2 issues I see with the design:
Finger print sensor placement is just bad, without a case I couldn’t tell if I’m pressing it or the camera lens.
The dedicated Bixby button – Bixby is Samsung’s spin on the virtual assistant, and it got it’s on button on the device – I would’ve been happy to remap that button for something else but Samsung keeps turning off that option with every software patch coming out.
Camera
The camera is as good or better than the Galaxy S7 line-up. Photos I took looked pretty good, and everything I read out there says the same – good camera to have in your pocket.
Software
Well, that subject has been Samsung’s Achilles heel for, well – ever! Samsung’s devices tend to age very badly software wise, I hope this isn’t the case (only time will tell) but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.
Yes, the software is less cumbersome than previous models, but it’s far from vanilla Android which is my personal favorite.
The devices run Android 7.0 out of the box, with Samsung’s take on the matter.
It has some advantages - tweaks to screen resolution, quick shortcuts, setting tweaks etc. that vanilla Android doesn't have, but it's not enough when a few months later your device starts lagging.
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