Perfection? The Samsung Galaxy S8
As we have seen for the past 3 years in terms of beauty there is no other phone like Samsung and Samsung did not disappoint this year with its latest flagship the galaxy S8 and S8+. Before I get into the review of the phone, here are some specs of the phone.
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Display size, resolution
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5.8- inch; 2,960x1440 pixels
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Pixel density
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570ppi
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Dimensions (inches)
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5.9 x 2.9 x 0.31 in
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Weight (grams)
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155g
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Android version
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Nougat 7.0
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Camera
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12 megapixels
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Front Facing camera
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8 megapixels
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Video capture
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4k
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Processor
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Octa-core
Qualcomm
Snapdragon 835(2.35GHz + 1.9GHz) or
Exynos 8895(2.35GHz + 1.7 GHz)
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Storage
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64GB
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RAM
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4GB
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Expandable storage
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Up to 2TB
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Battery
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3000mAh
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Fingerprint sensor
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Back cover
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Connector
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USB-C
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Samsung didn’t go big this time on the battery after the Note7 fiasco. But 3000 mAh is more than enough to handle your daily tasks. An average on screen time of 4 hours was recorded doing light tasks at 85-90% brightness. Samsung have also added a wider screen size without increasing the actual phone size. They did that by removing the area that used to contain the home button and stretching down the screen. So, users can get a much more immersed experience; which makes the screen the clearest and sharpest out there. The screen is larger than the iPhone 7 plus but generally the phone is smaller in size. Samsung as two models for this latest flagship phone and it’s not like the previous installments namely: the S6 and S7 with one phone having a normal display and another phone having an edge display, hence the name edge. Both models have edged screens, but they differ in size. The models are S8 and S8+.
Why didn’t
the Samsung Galaxy S7 have a USB type C connecter instead of the traditional micro USB it shipped with, when
almost all its competitors that year offered USB-C connections on their flagships? Well there are
three underlying reasons, one is Samsung Gear VR which has a micro USB port and would be incompatible with
the Samsung Galaxy S7; this would mean that people who already bought the Gear VR in anticipation of using
it with the Samsung Galaxy S7 would be disappointed. The second reason was that Samsung believed that the
market was not ready yet and they were right to a degree, since most existing technology was running either
micro or mini USB. The third and final reason Samsung offered was that USB fast charging was already
extremely effective and Samsung believed that USB-C would be a waste. Finally, Samsung has caught up with
other flagship phones. Its connector is now type-C. But this is not the only feature in the new phone. It
also has a new AI assistant called Bixby. Samsung claims that the new assistant is a combination of Siri and
Google Assistant. Bixby has not been welcomed with open arms with Samsung users in Northern America who
almost entirely prefer Google Assistant. The Samsung Galaxy S8 incorporates a dedicated button on its side
to activate the digital assistant Bixby. When certain S8 users reprogrammed the button to instead activate
Google Assistant Samsung released a patch that prohibited such actions. Is it better than the competition?
Contemporarily, the Google Assistant is better in my honest opinion, but Bixby has hope. However, Bixby has
the advantage internationally specifically Asian users. You can still use Google Assistant on your Galaxy S8
if you so choose, but give Bixby a chance before you dismiss it.
Another new
feature of the new phone is that the finger print sensor is now on the back. This may be good news for
people who have been using LG and nexus phones and who want to upgrade to Samsung. But to others the finger
print is too close to the camera and causes for an awkward experience. Most reviewers claim it only takes a
few weeks to get used to the unorthodox positioning; nevertheless we are obligated to inform you that your
camera lens will be smudged now and again. Samsung has also added other security mechanisms like the
Iris scanner. The iris scanner on the Samsung galaxy S8 is a fast and accurate means of security; it first
debuted on the Samsung galaxy Note 7 and was initially met with appraisal. The scanner is arguably far
superior to face recognition. But despite the fact that Samsung claims the security the scanner offers is
nearly on par with fingerprint sensors the Chaos computer club, Europe’s largest association of hackers, has
proved that the scanner can indeed be fooled. The CCC has shown that the scanner can be fooled with a shot
taken of a person’s eyes with a camera that has a 200 mm lens from a distance of 15 feet away. After taking
the shot all that’s left is printing the picture on a typical paper and add a few wet artificial lens to
mimic a real person’s eye and you are gold. Although we do not condone, in any form of fashion, invading a
person’s privacy by intruding into their phones, but it is possible with the iris scanner in the Galaxy S8.
The iris scanner is however coupled with the fingerprint sensor and is a welcome addition to your security,
even though it has its flaws.
My take on the Samsung Galaxy S8
The Samsung
galaxy S8 is without a doubt the most beautiful phone on the market right now. But you should really ask
yourselves ‘Is it worth it’? Especially considering the price. The phone costs around 850$ and there are
other mid-range phones that are well equipped to perform your desired tasks. Also, there other phones with
specs similar to the S8, but at much lower prices like the one plus 5. If you own an S7, my advice would be
to stick with your S7 because the S8 does not offer a new extraordinary feature that would demand an
upgrade. I would like to point at that the new AI assistant might sound cool but it’s not. Bixby is still in
its early stages and is not as polished as Google Assistant or other competitors out there. If you are the
type of person who doesn’t mind paying the 850$ MSRP, then go right ahead. In conclusion I will say this The
Samsung Galaxy S8 is a beauty to behold.
This is Amanuel with ICT, signing off.