Samsung Galaxy S8 Review

I just recently upgraded to the Samsung Galaxy S8 & so far I absolutely love it! A few months ago my S7 Edge took a fateful fall from my hand & shattered right by the home button, effectively sending a spiderweb fracture throughout the bottom third of my screen.

Everything was fine until the cracks kept spreading (and I may have dropped her a few more time), but once it started cutting my fingertips up, I decided it may be time for a new phone.

I have been stuck on Samsung since the S3 & had been considering a few other options for this upgrade. The first phone I really wanted to test out was the Google Pixel because of the camera & because I was curious how well Google’s first phone turned out. I was also considering the iPhone, but both the iPhone & the Pixel will have newer version coming out later this year – so that’s a little bit of a deterrent knowing that you’re basically purchasing an obsolete machine.

Enter the Samsung Galaxy S8!

Unbox Your Phone – This was a huge selling point for me. The S8 has a screen similar to the S7 Edge in that the screen is curved on the right & left sides which gives the appearance of a wider, more immersive screen. Samsung also decided to do away with a physical home button – it is now all screen, all the way down. There is about 1/8″ @ the top & bottom of the phone that isn’t screen, but it is unreal how much larger this makes the phone seem!

Screen & Feels – The S7 Edge was a great phone, but I feel that the S8 is the optimized version. First of all the S7 Edge has a more curved edge which led to some interference issues if you didn’t have a case adding a little buffer (may be touching edge while texting). The S8 is perfect so far & haven’t had any issues with the Edge being too sensitive.

The S8 also feels a lot better in your hand – really reminds me of the S5 which was a little less wide than the following models. The S7 Edge’s dimensions are 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7 mm & the S8 measures in @ 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0 mm. This is a huge deal because that difference of 4.5mm means you can reach those apps that usually require you to use 2-handed operation.

 

 

Camera

Samsung’s cameras are top-notch & the S8 is no different – other than it’s slightly improved. The front camera is 8mp & the rear camera is 12mp. Both feature a F1.7 lens and include a multitude of filters/editing options.

Features:

• Auto
• Pro
• Panorama
• Selective Focus
• Slow Motion
• Hyperlapse
• Food
• Virtual Shot
• Filters
• Selfie Enhancement
• Drawing & other Snapchat-like Features
• Bixby Vision – translates text & you can shop for products by taking pictures

Bixby

In a few of the reviews I read on the S8, people were dogging on the Bixby assistant. Makes sense considering that it only supports Korean for voice, but will be adding English in the near future – you also have the Google assistant, so not sure about the need for Bixby in that capacity. There is a Bixby button underneath the volume buttons on the left side, or you can swipe left from the Home screen.

I think Bixby is awesome because it curates all of your highlights into a feed – which is the basis for every addictive social media site we scroll through everyday. Components of the feed include:

• Facebook trends
• Youtube
• Photos
• Reminders
• Weather
• S Health Activity
• Flipboard – News, Sports, Business, Science, Entertainment, Technology, etc.

I’m only a couple days into using it, so I don’t have a lot of testimonial to it, but seems super convenient & I feel like it will help me keep things organized, and stay up-to-date on relevant news & stories.

Overall, loving this phone so far. Tons of awesome features, professional-grade camera, high quality display, Bixby, and the list goes on! Oh, and forgot to mention that it’s waterproof – so it really does do everything.