Samsung Galaxy S8 Review

Samsung Galaxy S8 is the boldest smartphone that the company has ever created. The smartphone aims to get the trust of the people back to the company after the Samsung Galaxy Note7 fiasco. In this review, we will answer the question that I get a lot of the Samsung Galaxy S8. Is it the best smartphone on the market? Does it have a good camera? Is the smartphone really that good in performance and design? Well, check out our review of the smartphone to know more about it.

A bezel-less and sexy design

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is the sexiest smartphone in the market right now. There. I said it. Some might disagree with me but I’ll tell you why the Samsung Galaxy S8 is the sexiest smartphone in the market for me.

As you could see, the Samsung Galaxy S8 packs an all-glass design similar to the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge which means that Samsung still delivered the same design language and identity despite having an almost bezel-less display. The curves at the back of the smartphone make the Samsung Galaxy S8 really ergonomic and this year, Samsung has opted for on-screen capacitive buttons instead of the hardware buttons in which we have seen on most Samsung smartphones. Well, it isn’t a big change when it comes to experience but it’s a big change for Samsung when it comes to their identity in their smartphones.

Since there’s no home button on the front of the smartphone, the fingerprint scanner of the Samsung Galaxy S8 is placed at the back. Actually, I’m having a hard time recognizing the fingerprint scanner when I’m not looking at it as it is placed just beside the camera but no worries because if you have a case for your smartphone, you would easily feel and recognize the fingerprint scanner.

The smartphone also packs a USB Type-C which is expected on a flagship smartphone and thankfully, Samsung didn’t ditch the 3.5mm audio jack on the smartphone which is the feature that was now missing on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Oh and the speaker? The speaker of the Samsung Galaxy S8 is great and the AKG earphones bundled with it? It’s the best one that I had on a smartphone.

An almost bezel-less curved display

Aesthetics is one of the things that you would surely love on the Samsung Galaxy S8. I believe this smartphone is the sexiest in the market right now. Its light, the quality of the smartphone is premium and the great screen-to-body ratio of the smartphone is just astonishing.

Since both the front display and the back features a curved glass which is by the way, really ergonomic but really confusing when you’re getting your pocket form the hand as you won’t easily feel which is the side of the smartphone in where you can find the display.

Speaking of display, the Samsung Galaxy S8 has the best and gorgeous display on all smartphones. Why? First, it’s a Super AMOLED display which means that the smartphone is vivid and saturation of the display was really great. Another thing to love about it is its curved display. It might not be ideal for watching videos due to the black bars on the side due to its ratio and for some games that don’t support the display ratio, the display of the smartphone still has a really great quality. The saturation of the display is great and using the smartphone outside isn’t a problem. I really appreciate that Samsung has used this display ratio as the smartphone looks thinner but taller which makes the smartphone ergonomic and yet, still packs a large screen size.

Godlike Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S8 packs an Exynos 8895 processor inside instead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. Nonetheless, the Exynos processor inside the smartphone has a Godlike performance for a smartphone. Whether you want to play games like NBA 2k17, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Dragon Nest II, or whatever that games are or using heavy applications such as photo and video editors, the Exynos 8895 won’t have a problem with that.

I have a love-hate relationship with its TouchWiz UI. Yes, it really looks good and the new effects were really awesome especially when you received a notification in where the edges of the screen light up and then an oval pops up on the screen. It might be a small feature but it really adds to the feel and eye candy on the TouchWiz UI. The interface and colors look really well too and they’re just perfect for the Galaxy S8.

So why do I hate it? Well, I don’t really hate the interface it’s just that after a few weeks or months of use, I do experience some lags. But of course, not all people will get to experience what I experience because I’m a heavy smartphone user. So yeah, there are some lags here and there but it mostly happens when I have a lot of apps that are running. But don’t worry because closing apps or restarting the smartphone would make it lag-free again. But yeah, it’s a little bit of hassle.

Bixby Voice is not useful. Yet.

One of the reasons why I didn’t push through with the review of the Samsung Galaxy S8 before was the lack of Bixby Voice and as of this posting, the Bixby Voice is now available on the Samsung Galaxy S8.

For a new voice assistant, the Bixby Voice did a great job when it comes to voice recognition and its functions however it really needs more support for apps but hey, Samsung did a great job on Bixby. It’s actually easily to activate Bixby, you only need to press and hold the dedicated Bixby button and then say your command. It’s actually useful if you don’t want to look at your smartphone. However, Samsung still needs to improve Bixby Voice even more but again, the Bixby Voice does really have a bright future if they continue to improve it. Especially the Bixby vision, the feature that lets the smartphone recognize an object by just taking a photo. Well, the Bixby Vision doesn’t fare well and it couldn’t recognize some objects really well.

A decent work day battery life

The Samsung Galaxy S8 packs a 3000mAh battery. Samsung learned its lesson from the Galaxy Note7 and Samsung has made big improvements when manufacturing their battery and speaking of battery life, the Samsung Galaxy S8 can last a workday if you’re a casual user or just doing some light tasks such as browsing the Facebook and the web but if you’re a heavy gamer, be sure to get a power bank with you. The charging time is really fast on the Samsung Galaxy S8 too. It only takes a few minutes before you can charge a smartphone up to 60%.

The Amazing Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S8 might only have a single camera but it’s definitely one of the best ones in the industry. The smartphone got a 12-megapixel dual pixel sensor at the back with f1/.7 aperture. We also got an 8MP front camera with the same f/1.7 aperture. Overall, both cameras pack an amazing performance whether you use the smartphone on low light or on decent lighting conditions.

Another cool new feature of Galaxy S8’s camera is the stickers and also some effects. Well, they’re really cute and I’m pretty sure that those people who love Snapchat or Instagram’s stickers, they’ll definitely love the stickers on the Samsung Galaxy S8 as this one is already built in on the app itself.

The rear camera of the Samsung Galaxy S8 is one of the best in the industry. The photos that I took using the Samsung Galaxy S8 are sharp and they are really good. The colors are on point and it can shoot really well whatever condition you are in. However, for a flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S8 lacks a dual lens camera at the back and unfortunately, if you are into bokeh or portrait mode, the Samsung Galaxy S8’s selective focus doesn’t work well. But again, the Samsung Galaxy S8 still has one of the best cameras in the industry. Check out the photos that I took using the Samsung Galaxy S8:

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is probably the best Android smartphone to get right now in the Philippines (Well, as long as the Galaxy Note8 isn’t out yet). You got a great camera, great design, a great performance, and a great battery life. There’s a chance that you’re reading this after the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Note8, well, the Galaxy Note8 is a more refined and better version of the Galaxy S8 but if you want a cheaper and still a great flagship smartphone with a really good hardware, well, the Galaxy S8 is here folks. It’s currently the best smartphone to get (But again, as long as the Galaxy Note8 isn’t out yet)