Flagship phones are interesting.
They are top of the line and expensive — and we can’t get enough of them.
Every year companies such as Samsung and Apple release a new model of their super deluxe smartphone, pricing them at $750 and up, and every year or two we line up around the block to buy the shiny new one.
Last year was not a great one for Samsung. I’m sure they’d rather forget the Galaxy Note 7 troubles. I’m sure they learned from the experience.
This year, Samsung is back with the Galaxy S8 and S8+, and I like almost everything about them. There’s one feature that really bugs me, but I’ll get to that later.
• DESIGN: I reviewed the smaller S8, and I think it might be the best-looking phone I’ve seen.
Samsung has pushed the screen out to the edges on the side, with curved Gorilla glass.
Last year Samsung released the S7 and S7 Edge with the curved glass. This year the “infinity display” is standard on both S8 and S8+. There is no S8 Edge.
The screen extends to within a third of an inch of the top and bottom of the phone’s face. Because the screen is taller (5.8 inches measured diagonally), the S8 doesn’t feel oversize, although I still can’t reach the entire screen with one hand.
The physical buttons are gone, replaced by onscreen buttons that work nicely. There is a small vibration when you press the home button. It feels like you’re pressing a real button.
Samsung is really pushing the envelope in screen/phone design, and I think it’s beautiful.
Usually it’s Apple that leads the field in getting rid of things, such as the headphone jack, but this time Samsung has killed the home button, and I hope I never see it again.
For the record, the S8 phones do still have a headphone jack.
If the front of this year’s new iPhone were to look like the S8, I’d be completely happy.
• SPECS: The S8 and S8+ are largely the same on the inside.
The S8 phones use Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 835 processor running Octa-core (2.35GHz Quad + 1.9GHz Quad).
They both have 4 gigabytes of RAM and 64 gigabytes of internal storage. They have a microSD card slot so you can add up to another 256 gigabytes of storage.
They each have facial recognition, iris scanning and a fingerprint reader to unlock the phone.
The main camera has a 12-megapixel sensor with an f/1.7 lens with optical image stabilization. The front camera has an 8-megapixel sensor with an f/1.7 lens. They shoot 4K video at 30 frames per second.
The operating system is Android verison 7.0 (Nougat), and the phones can power up through the USB-C port or wireless charging.
Communication options include 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v5.0, NFC, GPS and, of course, 4G LTE.
The S8’s Bluetooth can pair with, and play audio through, two devices at once.
• DIFFERENCES: The S8 and S8+ differ in only a few features.
The S8 has a 5.8-inch screen vs. the 6.2-inch screen on the S8+. Both screens have the same 2,960 x 1,440 pixel resolution, meaning the S8 has a pixel density of 570 pixels per inch vs. 529 ppi for the S8+.
The S8 has a 3,000 milliamp-hour battery vs. the 3,500 mAh battery in the S8+.
Samsung says the S8 can use LTE to surf the internet for 12 hours and the S8+ can surf data for 15 hours.
Neither model’s battery is removable, but that’s not a bad thing, because both are IP68 water resistant. They can both be submerged in up to 5 feet of water for 30 minutes. A battery door cuts down on water resistance.
The S8 measures 2.68 x 5.86 x 0.32 inches and weighs 5.46 ounces. The S8+ is 2.89 x 6.28 x 0.32 inches and weighs 6.1 ounces.
• PRICING AND AVAILABILITY: The S8 and S8+ are available from all the major carriers. Color selection may vary. Samsung’s website shows five colors — midnight black, orchid gray, coral blue, arctic silver and maple gold. The 64gb S8 costs $750 and the S8+ is $850.
• WORTHY UPGRADE? Yes. The S8 is a great phone and a worthy upgrade to almost every phone that came before it.
We live in a time of great handsets. Apple and Samsung are volleying back and forth, taking turns introducing better and better phones.
The iPhone 7 is great, but I think the S8 is better. The hardware is simply a step ahead, although it still doesn’t make me want to switch to an Android phone.
As I said earlier, the S8 is almost a perfect phone, but I do have one complaint — the placement of the fingerprint reader is completely stupid.
They’ve placed the reader just to the right of the camera lens on the phone’s backside.
Other phones, such as Google’s Pixel phone, have the fingerprint reader centered and well away from the camera.
I can’t tell you how often I put my finger squarely on the camera lens by mistake. I can’t believe the design team thought placement directly to the right of the camera lens was the best choice.
Perhaps it was a concession for a bigger battery compartment.
But the S8 is so close to perfect hardware, I can forgive its one flaw. Besides, facial recognition and iris scanning are much more elegant ways of unlocking the phone. Both work exceptionally well.
If you’re in the market for an Android phone, I’m betting you’ll be quite happy with the Galaxy S8.
