Samsung Galaxy S8 - Review of an almost perfect smartphone with an increased price. Review of Samsung Galaxy S8 - detailed characteristics of the flagship When the galaxy s8 came out

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is one of the most anticipated flagships of 2017, so we decided not to delay its review. The demand for the new model turned out to be simply colossal, people lined up in huge queues and rushed to pre-order in order to be among the first to receive the first smartphone based on the Snapdragon 835 chip and with an iris scanner. The company tried to offer a truly innovative and, most importantly, reliable product in order to regain its reputation after the self-igniting Note 7. Let's review the Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone to see how successful the flagship turned out to be this time.

Equipment Samsung Galaxy S8

The package package turned out to be quite rich, because Samsung is one of the few manufacturers who continues to accompany their devices with high-quality headsets developed together with AKG. Also inside the box we will find a compact charger, a USB Type-C cable, an adapter for microUSB and USB-A, as well as documents and a paper clip for easy removal of the SIM card tray.

Design

We will look at the characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S8 a little later, but now let's focus on its appearance. The new model inherited the main design lines of the S7 edge and Note 7. The manufacturer decided to abandon the wide frames around the display perimeter, which puts the S8 a level above most of its competitors. The company managed the impossible in a compact-sized case: 148.9x68.1 mm fit a large 5.8-inch display.

Thanks to the new approach, it occupies 84.26% of the front panel of the device. In this regard, the company nicknamed its screen “infinite”. Its side ends are slightly curved, which creates the feeling that you are holding only one display in your hands. The Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone turned out to be truly innovative, because the manufacturer did not limit itself to just one framework. Through the efforts of the world's leading experts, it was possible to develop an impressive design. All elements are made in the same style, and rounded corners and edges perfectly complement the appearance. The corners of the screen are rounded to match the shape of the body. The corporate logo will no longer appear on the front side, because the smartphone is already recognizable.

The new Samsung Galaxy S8 64gb is not so expressive from the back, but there is a recognizable style and symmetry here too. The camera module no longer protrudes beyond the body, and on either side there is an LED backlight, a heart rate sensor and a fingerprint scanner. The latter is not very conveniently located. In an attempt to find it, you can touch the camera lens.

The back and front panels are covered with Gorilla Glass 5, and to give rigidity to the body, the ends are made of metal. They are now polished and painted in the same color as the body, which completes the design. Due to this, the impression is formed that the device consists entirely of glass.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 g955f black looks particularly beautiful, but there is also arctic silver, blue coral, gray orchid, as well as maple gold. The use of premium materials contributes to a better perception of the flagship and a pleasant feeling during use, but unfortunately glass remains the most easily soiled material that quickly collects fingerprints. Samsung Galaxy S8 review in Russian showed that the case does not play, no matter how much pressure you put on it. At the same time, it is better to wear it in a protective bumper, since glass is much inferior in strength to metal.

The Galaxy S8 received a larger display than the S7 edge, but the dimensions of the body, on the contrary, decreased. Thanks to the rounded ends, the case fits like a glove in the hand, making the smartphone comfortable to use even with one hand. The sides of the display are not as curved as in the S7 edge, which helps avoid accidental clicks.

The changes also affected the governing bodies. Now the function keys have become virtual, although they are convenient to use. The Home key detects pressure and confirms every action with vibration, so that soon after purchasing the device it is easy to feel blindly. In the settings you can set your own location of control keys.
The case is equipped with protection against water and dust according to the modern IP68 standard. This means it can be lowered up to 1 meter underwater for up to 30 minutes.

Galaxy S8 display

Samsung Galaxy S8 screen is the first thing that catches your eye. It occupies most of the front surface, and its diagonal is 5.8 inches. As before, the manufacturer uses a Super AMOLED matrix in its technology, but this time the resolution is non-standard - 2960 × 1440 pixels with an innovative aspect ratio of 18.5:9. In this regard, the Samsung Galaxy S8 display is smaller in width, but larger in height compared to classic models, which have an aspect ratio of 16:9. The company's main achievement is that it managed to put a larger display in a body smaller than that of the S7 edge (5.8 versus 5.5 inches).

The review of the Samsung Galaxy S8 64gb smartphone showed that the non-standard resolution had virtually no effect on the application interface. They successfully adapt to it in most cases. In addition, you will always have a choice: use the program with its standard aspect ratio, or stretch it to the entire display. The multitasking menu has a separate key to control the aspect ratio. In games everything is a little more difficult. Sometimes the keys eat up the edges of the screen, but this is not critical. It is not at all necessary to stretch the game across the entire display, because the black bars along the ends do not attract much attention to themselves. The same applies to videos that are shot primarily in the 16:9 aspect ratio.

Samsung Galaxy S8 review in Russian showed that the viewing angles and color rendition are simply amazing. In the parameters, you can select the color formation mode, making them more saturated or realistic. Our testing showed excellent factory calibration with a bias towards “warm” tones, virtually ideal gamma and uniform backlighting. If desired, you can activate the “Blue Filter” in the menu.

Another feature is the ability to select the display resolution - HD (1480×720), FullHD (2220×1080) or WQHD (2960×1440). If you set the maximum resolution, the pixel density per inch will be 570, which is more than enough. There is no talk of any pixel grid; it is impossible to see. It's not even in HD. It is worth noting that as the resolution decreases, autonomy greatly increases, which is associated with a reduced load on the processor. FullHD can be called optimal; higher resolution will only be required for VR glasses.

A review of the Samsung Galaxy S8 2017 showed that the interesting feature of displaying certain information selected by the user on the locked display has been retained. It was possible to implement it due to the fact that in AMOLED panels, each pixel is illuminated separately. The function has been slightly improved. So, now the display goes completely dark when the Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone is in your pocket, which saves battery. The brightness level is adjusted automatically depending on the current light level. A detailed review of the Samsung Galaxy S8 showed that the Edge option could not be avoided. With its help, you can display a curtain on the edge of the screen, with which you can access various applications and functions.

The Galaxy S8 introduced a speed dial panel, which includes four tools that allow you to crop an area of ​​the screen, recognize text from an image, make a GIF from a piece of video, and select an area of ​​the display, and then fix it on top of other programs.

Samsung Galaxy S8 performance

The full Samsung Galaxy S8 review moves on to technical specifications. Let's start with the fact that this model uses Bluetooth 5th generation for the first time, which provides not only higher data transfer speeds, but also the ability to simultaneously work with two BT devices (for example, headphones and smart watches).

Samsung Galaxy S8 technical specifications include a powerful Exynos 8895 chip, developed by Samsung specialists. It is built using a 10 nm process technology and is based on 4 Cortex A53 cores with a frequency of 1.7 GHz and 4 cores with a frequency of up to 2.35 GHz, developed in-house. The video accelerator uses the Mali-G71 MP20, which is 40% more efficient than the Mali T880MP12 installed in the S7 edge.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone features 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of user memory. There is a hybrid tray for a memory card, but when using it you will have to give up one nanoSIM. Performance is at the highest level, which is noticeable both when working with the interface and in resource-intensive applications. There is no dependence on resolution, the device always “flies”. According to the results of synthetic tests, the Galaxy S8 showed phenomenal results, becoming one of the most productive flagships at the moment.

Fingerprint and iris scanner

The characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S8 phone turned out to be excellent - this is the first device with an iris scanner installed. But this function is still imperfect and needs improvement. It can be easily deceived by placing a photograph of the owner of the device under the front camera lens. It is safer to use a traditional fingerprint scanner, which cannot be scanned. By the way, it is located to the right of the camera lens, which is quite unusual and extremely inconvenient. Your finger involuntarily gets on the camera and stains its lens while you are trying to feel the scanner.

Initially, the manufacturer planned to use Synaptics technology, in which the scanner is built under the display glass, but there was not enough time to implement it. This is a complex technology that will definitely appear in the manufacturer’s future devices. It would be more logical to place the scanner under the camera, but over time you begin to get used to the unusual location of the sensor. The scanner works at lightning speed and reads touches from any angle. Samsung Galaxy S8 characteristics photo price will be discussed in detail in our article.

The iris scanner is installed on the front side of the device next to the camera. Luckily it is infrared, so it works well even in complete darkness. The speed and quality of recognition are at the highest level, but may act poorly in bright sunshine. If you wear sunglasses, the quality of recognition depends on the surrounding environment. Glare on the glass can interfere with the normal operation of the scanner, and if there is no glare, it will work well through glasses.

Interface

Samsung Galaxy S8 user reviews speak positively about its shell and stability of operation. The interface is built on Android 7.0 with minor proprietary modifications in the form of the Samsung Experience shell. The company has done an excellent job of optimizing the OS for its own platform, and the interface logic has remained virtually unchanged compared to pure Android. Samsung Galaxy S8 mobile review showed that the icons, notification shade and system applications were redrawn by the company's designers. Visually, the interface has become simpler and more pleasant to use. The animation works smoothly, even the slightest slowdown is not noticeable. To access the menu, you no longer need to search for a separate key, now you just need to perform a top-down gesture on the desktop.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 g950 review showed that during the initial setup, you can choose which applications from the manufacturer to install, and which ones you decide to refuse. The Briefing panel, which previously acted as a news aggregator and was located on one of the desktops, is now being replaced by Bixby. It was built into it as a widget. There is a separate mechanical key to launch the virtual assistant, so it can be removed from the desktop.

Bixby virtual assistant

The Samsung Galaxy S8 64gb smartphone received a new virtual assistant. The essence of the idea is that developers can independently add their own programs and services to it. And it, in turn, provides the user with a convenient voice control system. At the time of the announcement, Bixby already supported work with 50 applications. The assistant will analyze the user's preferences and display data that will be truly interesting to him. New gadgets will also appear, simplifying the use of the gadget and adding new options. This is an interesting idea that will definitely develop.

Samsung Galaxy S8 camera review

Samsung Galaxy S8 review mobile 128gb moves on to photographic capabilities. The resolution of the main module is 12 megapixels with an f/1.7 aperture, optical and digital stabilization, a six-element lens and a sensor with a large pixel size of 1.4μm. In terms of technical characteristics, the camera module has not changed since the S7 edge, but it uses improved image processing mechanisms and a new camera revision. Samsung Galaxy S8 camera review showed that it began to work faster and the detail of frames in low light was slightly improved. Now, as a standard, pictures are saved in JPEG and RAW formats. The shutter button can be pulled up, which enlarges the image with digital zoom, and when pulled down, it returns to its original position. This is a useful addition to the standard interface.

Samsung Galaxy S8 54gb review of the front camera showed that with a resolution of 8 megapixels and an aperture of f/1.7, excellent pictures are obtained. There is support for HDR, the ability to combine several frames into one to increase the viewing angle, and display backlighting, which is useful when shooting in low-light conditions. There are few changes to the camera module, but they were beneficial, and the current characteristics are enough to call the smartphone one of the best in terms of image quality.

Example photo:

Sound

The Samsung Galaxy S8 phone's sound performance is very good even though it has a protective membrane installed to prevent water from entering. The volume reserve is good, even in a fairly noisy environment you can comfortably watch a movie or listen to audio. The included AKG headset sounds great, conveying all frequencies in detail, but sags slightly in the bass. By the way, these are the best complete in-ear headphones, which retail for about $100. As before, they offer to customize the sound in their own way, using an equalizer, ready-made modes and the proprietary Adapt Sound option, in which you can adjust the sound in the headset to suit your hearing.

Autonomy Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S8 review in Russian moves on to autonomy. After the “hot” Note 7, the manufacturer decided to change its approach to creating batteries. They began to test them more thoroughly and not to overextend the capacity, offering a 3000 mAh battery. The autonomy of the Samsung Galaxy S8 at a brightness level of 200 cd/m2 turned out to be as follows:

• 8 hours 46 minutes at HD resolution;
• 7 hours 38 minutes at FullHD;
• 6 hours 59 minutes at WQHD.

This is a good result, considering the screen diagonal and battery capacity. The results show how strongly resolution affects autonomy. The new Samsung Galaxy S8 review showed that it supports fast as well as wireless charging.

Conclusion

Advantages:

• Really rich equipment;
• Premium design and build quality;
• Convenient and pleasant interface;
• High performance;
• Cameras;
• Sound;
• Battery life;
• Protection from moisture and dust;
• High-quality and unusual display, occupying 84.26% of the front side.

Flaws:

• The case strongly collects fingerprints;
• Poor location of the fingerprint scanner;
• Overpriced.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone is undoubtedly one of the best flagships in 2017, made in a futuristic design and with an interesting technical part. It has a user-friendly interface, excellent cameras and autonomy. But not everyone will like the location of the fingerprint scanner and the cost, which is very high.

Where can I buy?

You can purchase a smartphone at competitive prices using the following links.

A smartphone for 55 thousand rubles, which earns every ruble - and is worth every tear of Tim Cook.

To appreciate the coolness of the Galaxy S8, pick it up. Take it quickly. Forget about prejudices and your attitude towards Android. And forget about the iPhone.

Here I am holding the Galaxy S8 in my hands. I would like to treat him calmly, even skeptically, but I can’t. On the contrary, you constantly catch yourself delighted: wow, it fits in one hand, but its screen is larger than the iPhone 7 Plus (5.8 inches versus 5.5 inches). There is both water protection and a headphone jack.

What seems impossible to us on an iPhone works here.

The eighth “galaxy” has actually been brought to perfection. Even phantom clicks on curved edges of the screen have been resolved! If such a smartphone had been shown to me three years ago, I would not have believed it.

How is it possible that so much advanced hardware with such a large battery can fit in one thin device? The answer is simple: courage and real innovation. And not emoticons and “forstachi”.

We have the Galaxy S8, and there is also a version of the Galaxy S8+ - a larger version with a slightly larger battery and screen. Opinions are divided: I like the Galaxy S8 better, while my colleague Mikk Sid likes the larger version – the Galaxy S8+. But I’m writing this article, so I’ll continue to talk exclusively about the standard version of the Galaxy S8.

Design and ergonomics. Pros, pros, no cons

In short: I don’t want to buy an iPhone after the Galaxy S8.

Other devices seem outdated, the cases are ugly. The impression from the G8 is the same as it once was from the first iPhone. Although in essence it is just a smartphone, nothing surprising.

I've been using iPhone Plus for two years and have gotten used to the two-handed nature of my smartphone. I’ve already forgotten what it’s like: you take it with one hand and you can open applications with one thumb, reach the far corners and respond in the messenger. That's good!

That's exactly what the Galaxy S8 does | The S8+ is unique among Samsung Galaxy smartphones: it's a big smartphone in a small body. With the advantages of “phablets”, but fits in the palm of your hand.

Galaxy S8 | The S8+ actually continues the design of previous generations of the Galaxy S series - with two big BUTs. Firstly, abandoned buttons on the front panel. Secondly, we expanded the display matrix in all directions without changing the dimensions of the smartphone.

The result is a stunning curved screen on both sides with minimal bezels at the top and bottom. Shocks anyone when they first meet them, regardless of their prejudices. This is really cool, and there are no other words for it.

The S8's display is very bright, contrasty, and sharp. Black colors are in fact black, an iPhone can only envy this. Thanks to SuperAMOLED, one of the signature features of the latest Galaxy is implemented: always active screen, even after blocking, where all notifications and time are visible. Until you try it, you won’t understand how convenient it is to be in the know without picking up your phone.

You can fully appreciate the screen in photography mode, when viewing photos taken and, of course, in games and videos. The picture almost floats in the air - it seems as if you are holding one display in your hands. I hope that the photos in the article will convey this awesome effect.

But if not, just go to the nearest large hypermarket and take a look in person, it’s worth it.

Does a large curved screen provide real benefits in life? It’s a question of emotions – but also of utility. Samsung has added a traditional Edge widget with shortcuts to the right side, plus quick access to your favorite contacts.

The enlarged screen itself is, of course, a bomb. More information on a smartphone with the same body size is a net profit for any user. You scroll less, you see more, you can more boldly include larger text sizes.

There is not a single real minus. Therefore, large screens will definitely come to all normal smartphones one day.

Productivity and Android. When it works faster than an iPhone

I looked at various tests here before I picked up my Galaxy S8. Allegedly, the iPhone 7 is still faster than it.

Only in real life I noticed exactly the opposite. I work faster with Galaxy S8. And noticeably faster.

Firstly, all my applications load faster on the Galaxy S8 than on the iPhone 7. Slack, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Chrome, YouTube, banking and taxi applications, maps and navigators are installed - about 20 programs in total. They start earlier and allow you to type and enter commands faster.

Secondly, it turns out to work more cheerfully because of the bells and whistles TouchWiz And Android. You get used to quick access to all programs through the curtain, Edge shortcuts, a normally working and really smart assistant.

And here you can leave windows of different applications running on the same screen and use them simultaneously - convenient for copy-pasting and working with docks.

Third, Android itself allows you to configure the system exactly the way you want. And I’m not talking about visual bells and whistles, such as shells, but about the logic of the system and hardware. You run the Android world, which is refreshing after Apple's closed garden.

Last week I wanted to program two NFC tags. The iPhone can't do this because Apple doesn't give users access to the NFC module. And the Galaxy S8 coped with an application downloaded directly from Google Play in a couple of seconds.

It got me thinking: unlike the iPhone, buying an Android flagship gives us full access to all the hardware in the device, allowing us to manage everything and everyone, getting the most out of the money spent. This, among dozens of other reasons, justifies spending 50 thousand rubles on the Galaxy S8.

With such performance and sophistication, switching to the S8 turned out to be a matter of one day. The programs were downloaded from the store in 10 minutes, the settings were set in another 2 minutes. During the day I got used to the new shortcuts.

I didn’t notice any “Android” horror stories; rather, on the contrary, every year TouchWiz and Android itself move further and further away from iOS, which is drowned in emoticons and Chinese-oriented.

Camera. Without the second one it’s no worse, which is funny

The Galaxy S8 has the same main camera as the Galaxy S7 edge and Note7. 12 megapixels, f/1.7 aperture – purely in terms of parameters, it differs little from the iPhone 7 Plus, except that the aperture is slightly better. The lack of a hardware upgrade is not upsetting here: firstly, the software has been updated; secondly, Samsung even then had a killer camera, and it can’t be changed for another year.

What’s funny is that even with last year’s camera, the Galaxy S8 takes better pictures than the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Not always, I agree, but often. I noticed that the Samsung takes great photos of nature - lively, bright, and not boring gray-exposed or bluish, as my iPhone likes to draw.

Pleased with the availability PRO mode in the cell. For me this is generally a must have. After all, you can control all shooting parameters: accurately set white balance, set aperture and shutter speed, ISO and focus points.

And you can save as RAW! And then pull these photos into Photoshop, even if they were taken in terrible lighting or with the white balance off. Everything is in a standard camera, unlike the iPhone.

Frontal The camera has been greatly updated. Firstly, it is now 8 megapixels. Secondly, it has autofocus, which is extremely rare for a front camera. And it became better at shooting in the dark thanks to the f/1.7 aperture. We made a separate article about this, as well as about the Samsung Galaxy S8 cameras in general – both about the front and the main ones.

Personally, this is what surprised me. See these 2 photos:

One was made with a smartphone with 2 cameras, the other with one camera, and actually from 2016. Personally, in the end I liked the photo from the Samsung better. In which there is also a real blur.

This is some food for thought for you. There’s so much hype around the second camera of the seventh iPhone, but here it’s a blast – and there’s not much of a difference.

Not everything is good, but nothing is bad

Much has already been said about the fingerprint sensor, which was forced to climb over to the side of the camera. But I've never used it yet.

I've had enough unlock with a glance– this is one of the features of modern Galaxy, and it simply rules. Now the iPhone lacks something like this, you can’t imagine. You take the phone, turn it in your direction, and use it. And no passwords.

The transfer of the central button forced Samsung to make its virtual analogue. It almost always displays and understands when you press hard on it, a la 3D Touch. Along with the navigation bar, this button disappears in full-screen mode.

I'm not a fan of virtual keys, but they are the future. And I never missed the button; it was almost never needed with the abundance of gestures and Android software bells and whistles.

I am writing this material for people who really want to know an explanation of the characteristics of the Galaxy S8, how they work in practice, and my personal opinion about this or that point in the device. And for this, just a 10-minute video and beautiful pictures are not enough. Therefore, if you are just such a reader, then get ready to spend 10 minutes of your life reading. If not, then I have selected for you under this material 10-minute video reviews of top bloggers on YouTube, which will tell you clearly, quickly and superficially.

So, let's begin! Samsung Galaxy S8 (SM-G950F) at the start of sales costs 55,000 RUB in Russia, 25,000 UAH in Ukraine, 1,800 BYN in Belarus, 301,000 KZT in Kazakhstan. For fun, I converted all these prices into dollars and summarized them in the chart below:

In this section I will tell you all the characteristics: from the body to the cameras.

Design, elements on the case, materials and dimensions of the smartphone

The design of the flagship is not similar to any other device, but the Samsung style is noticeable. Everything is very smooth and in your hands it feels like a piece of glass polished to perfection. I can’t find fault with the joints of the elements; everything fits very well and without cracks. I have a black version, but in our market you can still find gold and amethyst.

By thickness The smartphone is 8 mm, nothing protrudes in the planes. The metal frame on the left and right ends is only 3.5 mm wide, to which the front and rear windows are rounded off. Samsung calls this "Edge Design". Width The S8 is quite narrow - 68 mm, which is one and a half millimeters narrower than the Galaxy S7. Samsung smartphones have always been distinguished by their compact size in terms of body/display ratio. By height The device is 6.5 mm taller than its predecessor and is 149 mm. Weight is 155 g, and as for me this is the optimal indicator that you want to feel in your hand.

Even though the S8's screen diagonal is quite large, I still want to call it a compact smartphone that will be convenient for people with small hands. When I hold it in my hand, I think that this is exactly how it should be and I don’t understand why smartphones were different before.

Ok Steve! In terms of design, I want the Galaxy S8.

On the front there is a large display, with very narrow frames at the top and bottom (each almost 7 mm). There's nothing on the bottom bezel, and part of me says, "So if the area is empty, then remove it entirely in favor of an EVEN larger display!" But the normal part of me (I think it’s normal) understands that before this there were no such screen-to-body ratios, and the engineers tried very hard to create what we have in front.

Above the screen in the center there is a neat earpiece, to the left of which there are two sensors (light and proximity), infrared illumination for recognizing the iris of the eye even in pitch darkness, followed by an indicator light (lit in blue or red). To the right of the speaker are the front camera and a sensor for scanning the iris of the eye. The front camera is not used for iris scanning.

On the back panel we have a protective glass that is scratch-resistant and does not have an oleophobic coating. Just above the center is the Samsung logo, which is not shiny chrome, but has a modest gray color. Above the logo in the center there is a camera, to the left of which is a heart rate sensor and a single-LED flash. I can’t say that the flash stands out in terms of brightness and has a warm tint. To the right of the camera there is a fingerprint scanner, which is inconvenient for me and I don’t use it.

At the top end there is a hybrid tray for two Nano SIM cards, or one card and a memory card. The tray is made of flexible plastic, which is a little disappointing, although this is not so important. The metal frame at the top and bottom ends is wider than the side edges, since the adjacent glass there is not rounded. On top we also have a microphone for noise reduction and two plastic dividers for antennas, which are practically invisible.


At the bottom end there is a USB Tape-C connector, a headphone jack, an external speaker, a conversational microphone and two more dividers for antennas.

On the left side there is a volume rocker and a button that calls up the interface of the Bixby virtual assistant, but more on that later.

On the right side, the power/lock button is located alone in a convenient place.

Chipset

The heart of the flagship SM-G950F is the top-of-the-line 2017 chipset of its own production, Exynos 8895 (analogue). It has 8 cores, 4 of which are low-power for light tasks and energy saving - ARM Cortex-A53 with a maximum frequency of 1690 MHz. The remaining 4 cores are manufactured using Samsung's own Exynos M1 (Mongoose) architecture. It handles complex tasks at a maximum frequency of 2314 MHz.

The biggest feature of the processor is its 10-nanometer (nm) manufacturing technology. Manufacturers have stopped increasing gigahertz and power, and are striving for energy efficiency and compactness. So that you understand, 10 nm is almost half the size of the already small 14 nm top-end Snapdragon 821 chip. At the same time, performance has not gone by the wayside, and energy costs are several times less.

See the comparison of chipset sizes in the picture:

Diagram from Intel presentation

In terms of performance, this is not the most powerful smartphone. In AnTuTu it scores 173 thousand points and gives way to the iPhone 7 Plus. At maximum graphics settings in tanks, the frames per second of the Galaxy S8 does not reach 60. On average it shows 50 frames per second. But this is not critical, since the human eye can capture a maximum of 30 frames per second.

In summer, when the weather is very hot, the smartphone gets a little warm and holding it in your hands is very uncomfortable. Heating was noticed not only in games under maximum load, but this problem can be much more noticeable in other smartphones with a similar powerful chip.

Considering that the chipset is made using the finest technical process, I don’t understand the heating. However, I have not previously heard about heating problems from other users, and I am almost sure that this point concerns my device, which is not commercial (sent for review by the manufacturer). Plus, given that the processor and core architecture are new, over time all games and programs will be better optimized for this solution.

Memory

The device has 4 GB of RAM. This is quite enough for all tasks and I did not feel any shortcomings. The AIDA64 application shows an honest 3.5 GB of RAM. 64 GB of permanent memory, and no other versions found. 54 GB available for use. It is possible to expand the memory using a MicroSD card up to 256 GB, and the card slot is separate from the SIM card.

Memory speed is excellent and reaches 787 MB/s when reading and 195 MB/s when transferring. This is the fastest indicator currently in smartphones.

Autonomy

I’ll say right away that autonomy is not the strong point of the Samsung S8. The battery capacity is 3000 mAh, and it shows average survivability. But if you take into account the display resolution and its diagonal, then everything is pretty good.

After an hour of playing, the battery drained by 20%, meaning you can play for 5 hours without interruption at maximum resolution. Plays video over Wi-Fi – 7.5 hours. But working with a GPS navigator with a rarely active display will drain the battery in 20 hours. Still, the high resolution of the display makes itself felt (by the way, it can be lowered, which will have a positive effect on autonomy).

The Korean flagship is infected from 0 to 100% in 1 hour 15 minutes. The included charger charged the battery from 0 to 50% in 40 minutes. This means that there is fast charging, but the S8 does not focus on quickly recharging the charge in the first minutes.

If you are not a hardcore multimedia user, then the smartphone will last 2 days under gentle loads. Especially if you lower the display resolution.

Display

But the screen here is quite interesting. It has an unusual aspect ratio of 18.5:9 and is made using Super Amoled technology. The screen diagonal, with such compact dimensions, is 5.8 inches. Compactness is achieved thanks to the same narrow frames mentioned earlier. This means that it is more elongated in length, and all this is due to the reduction of the upper and lower frames. The maximum display resolution is WQHD (2950x1440), but it can be reduced in the settings to FullHD or even HD. Reducing the resolution will have a positive effect on autonomy.

It is noticeable only when compared point-blank.

It’s hard to find fault with the display – it’s large, clear, frameless and very bright (1000 nits). However, there is a minus: with a white color, the picture turns a little red at a direct viewing angle. This moment is visible only if you put another smartphone next to it.

The company is already sending out an update that will correct this shortcoming, but at the time of review, this update had not yet reached my sample.

The screen has an "Always on Display" feature, where when the device is locked, the display shows the clock and date, notifications and battery percentage.

Sound

I'm not a music lover, but with the Samsung S8 I wanted to become one. The sound in the headphones is simply stunning. Perhaps I just hadn’t heard high-quality sound before, but I downloaded the track in flac format and, in comparison with the Galaxy A5, I realized that the S8 sounds like a god. Complete immersion in music. My A-5, compared to the 2017 flagship, sounds like a leprechaun drowned in a toilet.

The external speaker of the flagship also plays well, but there are no stereo speakers. The sound comes from one speaker at the bottom end, it is loud and moderately rich, like for a smartphone. The volume reaches 70.3 dB.

Perhaps the sound was influenced by collaboration with the top audio device manufacturer Harman/Kardon. AKG branded headphones are included. They can be purchased separately for $100. At the presentation, Samsung said that the S8 has a 32-bit digital-to-analog converter.

I listen to the Samsung Galaxy S8 through headphones and I can’t remember what disadvantages I talked about earlier... I don’t know how I’ll live without such sound now.

The device supports two Nano-SIM cards. Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, supports dual-channel data transmission at 5000 MHz. Bluetooth also has a surprise, it . This means you can play your favorite tracks through Bluetooth headphones and go to the other side of the house or even go out into the yard without a signal source. The range is increased 4 times compared to Bluetooth 4.2. You can also connect two headsets at once (two speakers or two pairs of headphones). These are not all the advantages of the fifth version of Bluetooth, but to use it you need a headset that supports this format.

GPS navigation works flawlessly.

Software

The Samsung S8 runs on the latest Android 7 operating system at the time of release, of course. The Samsung Experience shell is installed on top; I currently have version 8.1. Everything works quickly, but with a certain proprietary animation, which is similar to the effect of minimizing windows in Windows. The main desktop displays the clock, weather, and Google search bar by default, but by default, you can pinch to install widgets, app icons, and add screens that you can swipe right to. By swiping from bottom to top or vice versa, the “app drawer” is called up. If you swipe your finger from the right edge to the left, the EDGE panel will be called up with the ability to quickly access selected applications, contacts and various opportunities to take screenshots.

The GPU processes the interface without slowdowns at maximum frame rates. No lags were noticed in third-party applications either.

Bixby

By swiping from left to right on the main screen, as well as a separate button on the end, you can open the Bixby interface, in which you can find cards that you can configure yourself. I have an alarm clock, Gallery for today, the number of steps taken, the weather and a summary of the latest news. At the moment, the assistant's capabilities are limited. Apart from the listed capabilities, the assistant can’t do anything else; it doesn’t react to voices in any way (neither Russian, nor English, nor even Korean). It is unknown when the Russian-speaking audience will be able to fully use Bixby.

However, the intentions of his work were noticed; a recommendation appeared in the notification shade to listen to music in good quality with a link to a recommended site (I had previously downloaded music on another site). I look forward to all the capabilities of Bixby's artificial intelligence and his destruction of the human race the moment he acquires it.

For now, Bixby only has a name.

Camera

The main camera on the Galaxy S8 takes 12 MP photos. The aperture is widened to F/1.7, which allows the sensor to capture more light in low light conditions. This is the widest aperture in a smartphone in my memory. There is phase detection autofocus and optical stabilization. If the smartphone cannot focus (which happens very rarely when taking photos), for example when shooting video in 4K resolution, then tapping on the display sensor can help the camera. Autofocus works using technology, it is very fast and in most cases trouble-free.

The matrix in the main camera is manufactured by ISOCELL, model S5K2L2. I assume that the American and Korean versions use a Sony sensor, model IMX333 (or another name IMX260 Pro). They say that there is no difference in the quality of pictures of the Samsung S8 with different matrices. In the S7 there was a situation where the Sony sensor took photographs in warmer tones. The size of the S5K2L2 is quite large - 1/2.5". The pixel is also not small - 1.4 microns.

I would like to note that despite all the indicators, the camera does not protrude from the body.

The main camera of the Galaxy S8 is practically no different from the Galaxy S7 in photography. In the video I think the S8 dominates.

Below is an example of shooting on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S7 in HDR modes. Last year's flagship did better.

For comparison, I’ll give another example of a photo taken under the same conditions on the Galaxy S8 and Xiaomi Note 4x to clearly show the quality of flagships and budget phones.

Below is a gorgeous shot with bokeh effect on the Galaxy S8. When taking photographs in good lighting, the smartphone focuses at lightning speed (I never tire of writing this).

Another macro shot:

Shooting in the blinding sun in automatic mode was not impressive. But there are many manual settings in the "Pro" mode: ISO adjustment, aperture effect, presets, manual focus, etc.

Night shot with and without flash. When using a flash, the algorithm works well, there are no highlights and in some cases it is difficult to tell that the photo was taken with a flash.

Selfie camera

The selfie camera, a first for smartphones, has autofocus. This is an 8 megapixel ISOCELL S5K3H1 matrix with an F/1.7 aperture. It takes excellent pictures for a selfie camera, nothing more to say.

Video shooting

Samsung shoots video in resolutions from VGA to 4K (UHD) resolution. When recording Full HD at 30 frames per second, video shooting in HDR mode is available. There is optical and electronic stabilization. I was amazed by the color reproduction, focusing and stabilization capabilities. You don’t need a lot of words here, you just have to see:

Youtube decided to cut the resolution down to 2k over time.

Peculiarities

Among the features of the smartphone is the ability to connect to a monitor using the DeX docking station. You can also connect a mouse and keyboard to it. The monitor displays Samsung's operating system based on Android, externally similar to Windows. Standard Microsoft applications and office solutions are designed for it. I was not able to use this gadget for a long time, but the reviews about it are not bad.

With DeX, you can open a browser, work in office applications, view and even edit photos. Applications open in full windows. Even Instagram and others are launching, but few applications have yet been adapted for this platform.

The second feature is the ability to unlock the device using the iris of the eye or face. They say that a face scanner can be fooled by a printed photo, but it’s not so simple and who would bother with this? If the options above do not always work quickly, especially if you are walking, then with the finger scanner everything happens at lightning speed, but it is not located in a very convenient place and does not recognize a wet finger.

The third feature I would like to note is the presence of a heartbeat scanner.

The fourth feature, which I did not mention earlier, is the presence of moisture and dust protection according to the IP68 standard.

Pros and cons of Samsung Galaxy S8

It's time to sum up all of the above.

pros

• thin frames around the display;
• clear, bright and elongated display, with the ability to adjust the resolution;
• convenient design and well-assembled body;
• good cameras in all respects;
• user-friendly interface;
• support for the upcoming version of Bluetooth 5;
• great sound in headphones;
• loud external speaker;
• notification indicator;
• moisture and dust protection.

Minuses

• staining the rear glass, which is prone to scratches;
• the sharp edges of the USB connector rub your finger while playing;
• Due to such a premium design, the smartphone can be fragile, you need to wear a case;
• sometimes it gets quite hot under load (perhaps this is a problem with my sample or raw software, this should be fixed by updating and optimizing games for the new kernel);
• All unlocking means are inconvenient.

My review of the Galaxy S8

The smartphone scored 5 points. Many people talk about it as the emperor of smartphones. Personally, the camera is important to me, and here it is very decent. Is it the best? This is questionable, and when compared with the Galaxy S7, they are very similar. Although the Galaxy S8's video recording is impressive.

And so the question hung in my head: is it worth buying a Galaxy S8 for the photo capabilities of the camera, if the Galaxy S7 has the same level for more affordable money? I would consider buying a Galaxy S8 for the excellent sound in the headphones and cool display, for the sake of video recording and good design. Although the design is secondary, and I would rather show off cool photographs than the cool design of a glass rectangle (as you can see, the WOW effect from the design gradually faded away for me, you get used to good things very quickly).

Review of the thin metal smartphone Samsung Galaxy A5 A500H/DS Review of the second generation smartphone Samsung Galaxy A7 SM-A710F 2016
Review of the Huawei P10 Plus smartphone: a thin flagship phablet

In this article you will learn about the release date of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, and you will also learn about the characteristics, prices and capabilities of the new flagships.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will be released this spring. However, the fewer days left before the announcement of the flagships, the more information about them appears on the Internet. Thus, based on the latest information leak, we learned more about the details of the Guard S8 program and the release of a new "blue" smartphone colors.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: price, color and configuration

Korean news site ET News reports that to meet early demand for the S8 flagships, 12.5 million units will be produced in March and April. Of those 12.5 million, 7.1 million will be the 5.8-inch version, and 5.4 million will be the 6.2-inch version. These numbers, if true, show that the smaller device is projected to be more popular among consumers. Moreover, these figures also show that the S8 is expected to be much more attractive to consumers than its predecessor S7, which sold around 10 million units in its first 20 days.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: memory options

IHS Research Director Kevin Wang claims that the 6GB RAM version of the S8 will only be available for sale in China, and that it will only be sold with 4GB RAM everywhere else. Samsung hasn't confirmed this, so we'll have to wait and see what happens after the announcement.

Prices for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus

According to numerous leaks, Samsung Galaxy S8 will cost 799 euros (about 849 dollars), and 48,345 in rubles, A S8 Plus will cost 899 euros (about 948 dollars), and 53,983 in rubles when it will be released. Thus, the price difference was 100 euros, as was the case with its predecessors - the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: blue version of the flagships

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: release date, sales date

Evan Blass announced on Twitter that the release of the Samsung Galaxy S8 has been delayed by a week, until April 28th.

Typically, Samsung unveils new additions to the S-series on the Sunday before MWC Barcelona. But this year, Samsung confirmed that it will unveil the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus on March 29 with its own launch event.

Also, if you are interested, you can find out the latest information about the release of the famous series of smartphones, the release date and characteristics of the future smartphone.

Pre-order Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus

According to the Dutch site Androidworld, pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 and S8 will be available in the Netherlands on the day of the official launch (which will take place on March 29), giving European customers the opportunity to get their hands on the device much earlier than others.

Other sites have also reported that pre-orders will be available much earlier than in stores, giving fans even more incentive to pre-order the S8. There's no word yet on when pre-orders will be available for Russian smartphone consumers, although we should expect them to be available for pre-order around the same time as in Korea.

Korean news site Investor reports that Samsung will introduce subsidy plans earlier than usual during the pre-order period, which will be from April 7 to 17. Pre-ordered devices can be available from as early as April 18 until the official release on April 21.

However, other rumors suggest that the devices could be released on April 21, not to mention the pre-order situation.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: technical specifications at a glance

Rumors about the technical characteristics of the S8 and S8 Plus are quite consistent and do not have much controversy. Thus, we have summarized them in the following table to give you an overview of the device.

Since the above information is based on rumors and leaks, the actual specifications can only be confirmed after the official release of the S8 and S8 Plus.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: camera

For generations, Samsung Galaxy S smartphones have had good cameras. The camera became a highlight in 2016, but the competition has since caught up. Samsung should make more modifications to the camera of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. The camera needs improvement, especially in low light conditions. However, Samsung won't be making any big steps forward or jumping two heads higher in camera specs for the S8 or S8 Plus.

Recent rumors indicate that the rear camera is 12MP. A report on Korean news site Naver states that the camera will be able to shoot video at 1000 fps by adding a camera to the sensor DRAM (buffer memory). Their source said it can capture a frame eight times faster than the iPhone 7 (120 frames per second).

An 8-megapixel front camera will also be available for high-quality selfie shots. This will be a nice upgrade from the previous 5-megapixel ones on the S6, S7 and Note 5. There are also rumors that the front camera will feature autofocus. For the rear cameras on both smartphones, Samsung has come up with a way to make them small enough that they don't protrude from the smartphone by mounting the actuator on the side of the lens rather than in the middle.

The competition is fierce and camera improvements are urgently needed. Most importantly, there should be improvements in low light and JPEG compression artifacts. A dual camera isn't necessary, but unless major improvements happen, the S8's camera will be one of 2017's weaker cameras.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: display

The two flagships are likely to feature Egde displays, and in terms of inches, the S8 will have a 5.8-inch screen, while the S8 Plus will have a 6.2-inch screen. The resolution on both smartphones will be 2960x1440.

There are rumors that both smartphones will have AMOLED screens, but this is a rumor, as they say, the latest, and it is unlikely to be true.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: Software

Up until this point, we didn't know much about possible software changes or changes that the Galaxy S8 might bring with it. While we've heard that the S8 will have some common features - such as IP86 protection technology (which makes the device waterproof) and a fingerprint scanner - we haven't spotted any leaks related to the interface or icon design. Thanks to the new screenshots, we've got a good look at what the Galaxy S8's launcher and app icons look like.

The screenshots below were taken by "Durim"— and originally appeared on SamMobile, which we discovered in the APK of the latest version of Samsung's Smart Switch app. The overall look is simple and minimalist with rounded and stylized icons, a trend we've seen adopted more and more over the years.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: audio and other interfaces

Apple ditched the headphone jack with the iPhone 7, but Samsung won't go that route. Although the Galaxy S8 will have a USB Type-C port, and therefore the 3.5 mm port will not disappear anywhere and will not be replaced by another.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: battery, processor and RAM

The new Snapdragon 835 chipset will be manufactured on Samsung's 10nm FinFET processing technology, and it is highly likely that this processor will be used in the US version of the Galaxy S8. The Snapdragon 835 processor will be much more efficient in terms of performance and system capabilities than the previous Snapdragon 820 model. The 835 processor contains 4 cores that operate at 2.45 GHz and 4 efficiency cores that operate up to 1.9 GHz. In addition, there will be an integrated Adreno 540 graphics adapter, which promises 25 percent improved performance and HDR support.

As for the Galaxy S8 smartphones sold in other markets, they are rumored to come with an Exynos processor, which was previously dubbed as the 8895 model. It is now suspected to be called the Exynos 9810 (from the Exynos 9 series). The use of a different processor in the smartphone market does not come as a surprise as producing devices with different chipsets is not something new for the Korean smartphone giant.

The SoC in question will do better than the 8890 that powers the S7 and Note 7. An Exynos processor that is said to be capable of up to 4GHz speeds, which would provide a 30% performance improvement on the Exynos 8890 found in the Galaxy S7 (in some regions) , if the rumored claims are accurate. The chipset uses the latest ARM Mali-G71 GPU, which is rumored to be 1.8 times faster than the MPI Mali-T880 MP12 GPU found in the Galaxy S7.

The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will have 64GB of internal storage linked to a fast UFS 2.1 interface. The MicroSD slot remains. There may also be a variant that has 128GB of storage.

The Note 7 battery has put the South Korean smartphone giant at risk. You can expect Samsung to endure all the shutdowns to ensure the Galaxy S8 shuts down without a hitch. Thus, the Galaxy S8 will most likely have a 3000 mAh battery, and the S8 Plus will have a 3.6 thousand mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: design

The specifications are mostly known, and thanks to a series of leaks, the design of the device is close to being confirmed.

With just hearing sizes in mind, it's hard to imagine how the size of the S8 and S8 Plus will compare to other devices. But now we know what the size differences are between the S8 and S8 Plus, and we've also compared them to other phones, including the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. At 159x74mm, the S8 Plus will be slightly larger than the iPhone 7 Plus, but also slightly smaller.

Here are some of the latest images to emerge from the Samsung Galaxy S8, clearly showing the home screen and the dimensions of the new flagship device.

New features and functions on S8 and S8 Plus

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: S Pen and possible PC mode

Samsung may introduce the S8 with some accessories. Sammobile says the device may have an S Pen, but it won't have its own storage slot in the device for connectivity. It's also possible that Samsung could ship new wireless headphones with the device.

Samsung may also be working on a competitor to Microsoft's Continuum, according to AllAboutWindowsPhone.com. This technology will allow the smartphone to extend to the external display and use peripherals such as keyboard and mouse. So it will function just like a desktop computer and in the picture we can see that it looks similar to Chrome OS.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: iris scanner

The Galaxy S8 will likely come with an iris scanner.

The Iris scanner offers an additional layer of security that cannot be tampered with, and the API will allow third-party applications to use the Iris scanner to allow users to unlock sensitive files.

A leading Korean advertising portal has released a new teaser video that seems to hint at an iris scanner. The video contains a maze and an eyeball, and there is no other explanation for it other than a hint from the iris scanner. You can watch it, but please note that Adobe Flash Player is required to view it.

According to a report by Korean news site Naver, an official said the S8 will come with a 3.7MP front-facing camera for iris scanning.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: facial recognition

In addition to the aperture scanner, Korea Economic Daily reported that the S8 will feature facial recognition. This additional security feature is also meant to improve convenience as it will take less than 0.01 seconds to unlock the phone according to their source, which was an unnamed Samsung official. Apparently prototypes are already being tested.

However, facial recognition will serve more than just unlocking your phone. According to a Bloomberg report, facial recognition will also be used for Samsung Pay in addition to fingerprint and iris scanning. Their source also says Samsung is working with banks to help them implement the technology in the coming months.

Conclusion: Almost all details are known by the end

Samsung has put security in place to prevent leaks, but it apparently doesn't work very well. Currently, almost all the details of the S8 and S8 Plus are known. There is some uncertainty hanging around the software features, but everything has been said about the hardware specifications.

What do you expect to see on the Galaxy S8? Do you like the specs and design so far? Let us know about it in the comments!

Video: Samsung S8 "Presentation announcement"

Video: Samsung Galaxy S8 review

Photos in the interior

Specifications

• Android 7, Samsung Experience 8.1
• S8 display - 5.8” (146.5mm) Quad HD+ (2960x1440), 570 ppi, automatic brightness control, SuperAMOLED, adaptive color and brightness adjustment, color correction, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
• Display S8+ - 6.2” (158.1 mm) Quad HD+ (2960x1440), 529 ppi, automatic brightness control, SuperAMOLED, adaptive color and brightness adjustment, color correction, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
• Exynos 8895 chipset, 8 cores (4 cores up to 2.35 GHz, 4 cores up to 1.9 GHz), 64 bit, 10 nm, in some markets models available with Snapdragon 835
• 4 GB RAM (LPDDR4), 64 GB internal (UFS 2.1), memory cards up to 256 GB, combo slot
• nanoSIM, up to two cards, one radio module
• Li-Ion battery 3000 mAh (S8), 3500 mAh (S8+), built-in wireless charging WPC/PMA, fast charging in 75 minutes to 100 percent
• Front camera, 8 megapixels, autofocus, f/1.7
• Main camera, 12 megapixels, DualPixel, f/1.7, OIS, LED flash, 4K video recording, multiframe
• Samsung Pay (NFC, MST)
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), VHT80 MU-MIMO, 1024QAM, Bluetooth® v 5.0 (LE up to 2Mbps), ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC
• GPS, GLONASS, Galileo
• Fingerprint sensor (rear)
• Iris scanner, face scanner
• Accelerometer, Barometer, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor, Pressure Sensor
• Two simultaneous connections of Bluetooth devices, the ability to simultaneously listen to sound from different programs on different accessories
• LTE cat.16 (depending on operator support)
• Water protection IP68
• Dimensions: S8 – 148.9x68.1x8 mm, weight 152 grams; S8+ – 159.5x73.4x8.1 mm, weight 173 grams

Contents of delivery

• Smartphone
• Fast charger with USB Type C cable
• SIM tray eject tool
• Wired stereo headset AKG
• OTG adapter for connecting external devices
• USB Type C to microUSB adapter
• Instructions

Positioning

Since the Galaxy S4, the most successful smartphones in the Galaxy line have been the S7/S7 EDGE, and in this they were unwittingly helped by the situation with the Note 7, which was removed from the market. At the end of 2016, instead of Note 7, all advertising campaigns were focused on the “old” S7/S7 EDGE, and unexpectedly it turned out that their potential was far from exhausted. Moreover, these devices are selling well today, while almost all over the world the S7 EDGE is selling better, the ratio to the regular, flat version is 2 to 1. In 2017, the S7/S7 EDGE will become the most popular devices in the entire history of the Galaxy line, this will most likely happen in the third or fourth quarters. What does this mean for S8|S8+? This means a simple thing: the new flagships will need to be separated from the previous generation, and this will be achieved primarily due to price. If in 2016 the difference in cost between the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 was typical, then in 2017 the S7 and S8 will differ much more noticeably. Samsung's pricing strategy is changing, formally the S8+ takes the place of the Note 7, and the regular S8 stands like the S7 EDGE a year ago.

Samsung considers this positioning justified, since there is no goal to achieve maximum sales for the S8|S8+ in the first two quarters, these devices will be in slight shortage (which does not mean that there will be no opportunity to buy them, just that the demand will be high from operators and distributors, there will be a fight for them, and it has already begun). All this suggests that officially delivered devices will not fall in price quickly, however, the Russian consumer was convinced of this by the example of the S7/S7 EDGE, that they remained at the same price level for an unusually long time, and only fell in price along with the change in the ruble exchange rate.

From a market point of view, Samsung has not changed the positioning of its flagships in any way; these are the most technologically advanced devices that can be found. Maximum possibilities for maximum cost. It should be noted that the eights are built on a completely new chassis, it was developed from scratch and takes into account all the latest developments of the company. Now most of the models will be released on this chassis, but the next bright device on it will be Note 8, other models will receive only part of the functions that are in the S8|S8+.

The emphasis in promoting these models is largely on design; it is emphasized more than the hardware of the devices and their capabilities. For some of the potential audience, this is important and seems justified. Let's figure out together what kind of flagship Samsung has turned out to be.

Design, dimensions, control elements

The first thing that catches your eye is the absence of the Samsung inscription on the front panel; there was simply no place for it. For those who were very worried about the fact that such an inscription exists, now there is freedom, the device does not have any identifying marks on the front. On the other hand, no model on the market looks like it in appearance, which already makes it stand out.

Since the eighth generation relies on the screen, which occupies most of the surface of the devices, we only see it, as well as small inserts at the top and bottom. The top insert contains the front camera, speaker, retinal scanner, light sensor and RGB color sensor. The bottom insert is empty, there are no controls in it, in particular, there is no fingerprint sensor; it was moved to the rear surface, placed next to the camera. Essentially, the lower insert was created to be symmetrical with the upper one, but nothing was placed in it, and what could be inserted here?

The curve of the screen resembles that of the Note 7; it is small, but the devices fit into the hand like a glove. Dimensions S8 – 148.9x68.1x8 mm, weight – 152 grams, S8+ – 159.5x73.4x8.1 mm, weight – 173 grams. The regular S8 doesn't feel big; it's more typical of models with 5-inch screens, being slightly elongated in height compared to them. With the S8+ the situation is approximately the same, but it is similar to models with 5.5-inch screens, for example, the dimensions of the iPhone 7 Plus are 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm, as you can see, they are very close. Since my main phone is S7 EDGE, I compared the new device with it, they are very similar in size.

I liked using the S8+ without a case; it becomes too bulky, uncomfortable, and makes it less easy to use. But simply without a case or with a silicone case that fits the body tightly, you will get a device that is compact for such a screen. The phone does not slip out of your hands, it is balanced, you can work with one hand in basic applications, for example, dialing a number, this is not difficult, plus you can change the interface to be controlled with one hand, then all the keys will be smaller and will be accessible. It’s impossible to reach the top edge of the S8+ with the fingers of one hand; you don’t even have to try, you’ll drop the device. But there is never a need for this, even on devices with a smaller diagonal; we carry out most of the operations on the screen, for example, during a game, with the fingers of both hands.

The absence of a mechanical key does not mean that there is no button as such, it is on the screen, and in the settings you can specify that it lights up in AlwaysOn Display mode, or turn it off completely. The beauty of this touch key is that it has a special pressure sensor, it is located under the screen. You press the button with your finger and it works, albeit with a slight delay. In the same iPhone, pressing the touch button and vibration response are configured differently, it seems that everything happens instantly, here the manufacturer should work on this point. On the other hand, there is no need for a central button in standby mode, since it is easiest to set up unlocking the device using face recognition. Since the keys are touch sensitive, they can be swapped; the Back button can be either to the left or to the right of the central key.

I was particularly concerned about the location of the button on the back surface of the camera. Having tried it, I can say that on the S8 this arrangement is comfortable, plus or minus, the finger finds the sensor (this is a touch pad with sides), but on the S8+ it’s difficult to reach it, in the case it turns into flour. Another thing is that you can set up facial recognition (do not confuse it with the iris scanner!), then the smartphone will unlock automatically when it sees you. As usual, I have some news, let's start with the good. Recognition works perfectly almost always in bright rooms; the quality depends on the initial settings. Unfortunately, you can only customize one face image. Why "Unfortunately? The answer lies in the fact that, for example, when you, swollen from sleep, try to look at the phone screen in a horizontal position, it does not work very well; it does not recognize its owner in you. Another problem is in the dark, here recognition does not always occur instantly, but even in a cap or other headdress the phone recognizes you.

In most cases, recognition occurs instantly, although, when compared with a fingerprint sensor, it must be said that it is safer and always works the same way, at the same speed. Here the unlocking speed may differ, which is noticeable, but it is always up to one second. Absolutists will be upset because they would like to get the same speed always and everywhere.

The first thing many people will try is to try to trick the face scanner. If you substitute a photograph for his face, it might work. Is this a security issue? Yes and no. For ordinary people, imagining that someone is hacking into your phone and putting your face in a photo is akin to thinking that someone has made your fingerprints, which is also not difficult to do today. I don't think anyone would bother with something like that. For those who are concerned about their safety, I can advise you to turn on the iris scanner, then recognition will take a little longer, but the level of protection will increase (it also works in complete darkness; for people wearing glasses, recognition takes a little longer). As always, it's a matter of choice and opportunity; a face scanner will be quite sufficient for most in everyday life.

The S8|S8+ (let's say, for simplicity, I won't repeat both model numbers, since they are the same, I'll say S8, meaning both devices) has several color options, and new colors have appeared. Will all colors be available in all markets? I think no, some colors will not be initially available in Russia.

Which color should I choose? I like regular black, it looks very nice in real life, however, light colors are also good, they play in the sun. The fact that Corning Gorilla Glass 5 glass panels were used here can be considered an advantage of the device. One of the complaints about the big screen and the reasons for absentee complaints was that, in the opinion of the mass unconscious, such phones would easily break. This is not the case, as proven by the same S7/S7 EDGE and previous models that survive falls from waist height. It is clear that everything depends on your luck, but all other things being equal, these devices behave better than the same iPhone, which is distinguished by increased fragility of glass upon impact.

Just like in previous devices, the 3.5 mm connector is retained here, but the main connector is USB Type C. Among other features, I would like to note IP68 water protection. The SIM card slot is a combo one, meaning you get either two SIM cards or one SIM card and a microSD memory card. SIM card format is nanoSIM.

The device has two microphones, they are located at the ends, the noise reduction system works perfectly, on a noisy street during the rain the interlocutor heard me well.

On the back surface we see the camera, it protrudes from the body, but now the bezel does not protrude so much, this is a noticeable difference. To the left of the camera is a heartbeat sensor, it has not disappeared anywhere.

On the front side above the screen you can see an 8-megapixel camera, as well as a 3.7-megapixel IRIS scanner and IR illuminator for illuminating the face. The resolution of the IRIS scanner has increased, as well as the accuracy and recognition speed compared to Note 7. A light sensor (also known as an RGB color sensor) is also located here.

On the right side surface there is an on/off key, on the left side there is a paired volume key, and just below there is a separate button to launch the Bixbi assistant, which we will talk about separately.

The metal chassis of the device is made of 7000 series aluminum, unlike the sevens, it has a glossy finish, and it is not clear how it will behave after some time. This moment confuses me, in the future I will try to simulate wear to see what happens and what scratches the case gets.

There is only one speaker in the device, on the bottom end, it is loud and clear, you can hear it well in all situations.

The bottom line is that I want to say the following - in terms of design and materials used, this is a flagship without any discounts, and it does not have many direct competitors, or rather, it has only one - the iPhone 8, which will appear in the fall, the current generation of iPhone is in many ways inferior and looks weaker .

Display

Samsung came up with a marketing term for the new vertically elongated screens - Infinity Display, or endless screen. It does not occupy the entire front surface, but the feeling from the first use and then is that you are moving from a small TV in the kitchen to a large, comfortable panel. Considering that the size of the devices has remained virtually unchanged, the larger size of the screens is very damaging to consciousness. With QHD+ resolution (2960x1440 pixels, 570/529 ppi), the screens are of high quality, no individual dots or other roughness. These are SuperAMOLED matrices of the latest generation, the technology has been improved compared to Note 7, it has become even more advanced. The algorithm for adjusting brightness depending on external lighting conditions has changed, the AlwaysOn Display operating mode has expanded - the devices have become even a little better in this aspect. On-screen buttons are hidden in applications; there is almost never a need for them. The younger device has a diagonal of 5.8 inches, the older one has a diagonal of 6.2 inches.

For S8|S8+ we used technologies that were first used in the company's TVs. In addition to the fact that the phone analyzes the picture on the screen, it has added not just a lighting indicator, but an RGB color indicator, which adjusts the picture to the external conditions. The devices also support the Mobile HDR Premium standard, which appeared only at the beginning of this year for 4K devices.

DisplayMate analyzed the screen in the S8 and once again considered that Samsung engineers did the impossible; this is the most technologically advanced screen in a mobile phone. The full study can be found at the link, below are the main points:

• In automatic mode, the maximum screen brightness is up to 1000 nits, it is readable in any sun;
• The DCI-P3 Color color gamut is used, which is also used in 4K TVs (in tests, DCI-P3 coverage was 113%, which means displaying bright, colorful and realistic colors under any lighting conditions);
• A screen image enhancement function that turns content that did not have an HDR component into an HDR image;
• Two light sensors - both on the front and back of the phone, to better determine lighting conditions and adjust colors on the screen;
• Night mode with a blue filter, which allows you not to excite the psyche and improve sleep;
• A separate chip for controlling the AlwaysOn screen, which allows for lower power consumption;
• The automatic adjustment of the screen to personal preferences has been improved; your smartphone learns from examples how you like to watch movies, pages on the Internet, and what your preferences are in games.

This is only half of what is detailed in DisplayMate's test, and the screen is simply outstanding. As much as I liked the screen on the S7 Edge, it's so dull next to the S8, just look at how different the white color display is in the menus.

On the S7 EDGE, the white color turns yellow, but you only see this with a direct comparison. In real life, it seems that the 7s, as well as other smartphones, have no problems displaying colors. But this is only until you compare them with eights; they have luxurious screens by any standards.

The screen geometry is 18.5 to 9, which is unusual and raises questions about how the interface has changed. An additional row of icons has been added to the regular menu. Is it convenient? Of course, since more useful information fits on the screen.

When watching videos on YouTube, the picture adjusts to the screen, you can stretch it either to fill the entire screen or leave minor stripes on the sides, but there is no distortion of the picture.

There are no operating modes in which screen space is wasted; the large screen is comfortable for viewing maps, movies and any visual information. This is a big screen, and it’s stupid to deny its advantages.

In AlwaysOn Display mode, the screen can display a clock or a picture, notifications from applications, there are no special changes compared to previous models, this mode works well. Our competitors don't have anything like it yet.

And the last cherry on the cake, since the phone's chassis has been completely redesigned, the screen has been integrated more deeply with other components of the device (for example, it is a separate chip for controlling the AlwaysOn Display), as a result, power consumption has decreased. Look at how many mAh of battery the screen consumed, this is a record.

Just like in the sevens, it is possible to change the screen resolution, the default is FHD+, but the difference with QHD+ in everyday tasks is not noticeable. I advise you to install QHD+ for games or VR glasses.

In the sun, and in any conditions, the screen remains readable; if the brightness is automatically adjusted, then you are guaranteed to see a colorful picture, the colors remain unchanged. With glasses, everything also works great, you see a bright picture.

Battery

The built-in battery has a capacity of 3500 mAh, there is wireless charging built into the case, fast charging. Everything is typical for the company’s flagships, I’ll note the new energy-saving operating modes, in some ways they are more aggressive, which results in a slightly longer operating time. For example, video playback time is about 18-19 hours at maximum brightness. On average, the devices will work for one to two days, depending on your settings and what you use. There is no particular breakthrough, but certain improvements are observed.

In my case, the S8+ worked on average for a day and a half with 4 hours of screen operation (backlight at 60%, automatic brightness), a heavy data transfer load and also ran various tests, which heavily load the processor and eat up energy.

In normal mode, 5-8 hours of screen operation are easily achievable with two days of operation.

Chipset, memory, performance

RAM 4 GB (in the Chinese version 6 GB), internal memory 64 GB, and memory cards are supported up to 256 GB. For the American market, devices are coming out with Snapdragon 835, to some extent this is exclusive to Samsung; competitors based on this chipset will appear later. Worldwide, the S8 comes with Exynos 8895, which is one of the fastest processors. In synthetic tests it produces high numbers.

Synthetic tests do not show how fast the device is, but I note that even in comparison with the S7 EDGE or Note 7, which I never had any complaints about in terms of speed, the difference is noticeable, there is no gap between pressing and opening the application, the response is almost instantaneous. These devices are very, very fast. In Balanced Performance mode, the response is the same as on current flagships, which is already excellent.

From a memory perspective, we see a clear improvement with the move from UFS 2.0 to UFS 2.1. There are already a number of models on the market on UFS 2.1 (LG V20, Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design), they show very high speed on Android 7. Which in reality reduces the loading time of the smartphone, as well as the time of switching between applications. In the line from Samsung, it is the eights that become the first devices with UFS 2.1.

Every year I read with great interest tales about how Samsung’s flagships slow down in the interface and in everyday operations; unfortunately, these problems are almost never shown to me in practice. This stereotype is tenacious, but has nothing to do with the devices, rather a certain curvature of the hands of users who install a ton of left-field software or remove “unnecessary” system components, and then begin to experience problems.

Communication capabilities

USB 3.0 (Type C) is supported, Bluetooth 5.0 support appears for the first time in a smartphone, aptX and other audio codecs are available.

There is LTE cat. 13/16 depending on the chipset supplier, but frequency aggregation will only be supported with software updates for specific countries and operators. In the LTE Advanced network, it shows the maximum theoretically possible speed (2x2 MU-MIMO). On the Moscow MegaFon network, the actual speed that was achieved when downloading files was 430 Mbit/s (theoretical limit is 450 Mbit/s). Common tests are not suitable for demonstrating this speed; they are simply not designed for such networks and fail (even the size of the test file is so small that it is impossible to properly load it in such programs).

From the point of view of wireless interfaces, there are Wi-Fi improvements and new algorithms are used. As usual, Samsung adapted everything that appeared during this time. The WiFi repeater function has not disappeared; it is present in this device.

Among the features of the implementation of Bluetooth 5.0, I note the ability to simultaneously connect two headsets or other audio devices, that is, you can listen to the same music or watch a movie with another person. This is just a great feature that was definitely missing, although few will need it.

Another thing I liked was the ability to select apps and which connected Bluetooth devices play audio. That is, you can choose to have the sound from the video player broadcast to an external speaker, and messages read only in the headset. Cool? Definitely yes, but you will have to spend time setting everything up for yourself. Or this scenario: you give the phone to your child so that he can watch a movie and the sound comes through a wireless speaker or wireless headphones, while you listen to music or a podcast in other wireless headphones. This function works perfectly, and it is very convenient, I tried it in practice several times, I regret that it did not exist several years ago.

Cameras

The front camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels, as well as autofocus; it has a fast aperture (f/1.7), which allows you to take good pictures, including in dimly lit rooms. Just like for the main camera, there are different effects when you can attach inserts of bows, mustaches, and the like to your face. A good feature that diversifies the use of the camera.

At first glance, the main camera remains the same, that is, it is 12 megapixels, DualPixel technology. The supplier of the camera module is, as before, Samsung itself, as well as Sony (S5K2L2 and IMX333).

Due to the increased system performance and the fact that the camera module has its own memory, a comfortable Burst Mode has appeared, when you can take several dozen pictures in a row. The camera focuses on objects faster and handles complex scenes better compared to the Galaxy S7/S7 EDGE, which I was able to verify in practice. But it is impossible to say that this is a fundamentally different camera, it is comparable in most situations to the previous generation, it works better in difficult conditions, but most of these differences will not be noticed, they are insignificant. However, look at the comparison of pictures with the S7 EDGE, they were all taken in automatic mode. But before that, here's what the camera interface looks like.

And now a comparison of pictures from the Galaxy S7 EDGE.

Galaxy S8	Galaxy S7 EDGE

Take a look at the zoomed-in portions of the S7 Edge and S8 Plus photos to see the camera differences.

It feels like the pictures from the S7 are a little blurry, they are not so sharp. The explanation for this should be sought in the fact that the eights use multiframe technology for the first time, which is familiar to us from Google Pixel. The phone takes three frames, automatically selects the best one, and can also select parts of the frame that came out better in one of the pictures, and then stitches it all together into a single picture. The result is sharper and brighter than on the S7/S7 EDGE.

Over the past month, I have accumulated a lot of photos from the Galaxy S8/S8 Plus, so let me show you some of them, for example, photographs of flowers in the garden, as well as all living creatures, macro photography, pay attention to the blurring of the background and the accuracy of the details.

However, the camera also copes well with landscape shots.

In the dark, the camera works noticeably better than the S7 EDGE; it responds faster and handles scenes more correctly.

As for me, formally the camera on the S7 EDGE is the same, in fact, the new image processing algorithms turned out to be more interesting and better, plus the yield of usable photos is noticeably higher. The S8/S8 Plus has one of the best mobile cameras on the market today.

There are no complaints about video recording, there is support for 4K, in FullHD you can choose a frequency of 60 or 30 frames per second.

And a few more videos from the last trip.

DeX Desktop Mode - Similar to Microsoft's Continuum

For these devices, an accessory such as the DeX docking station appears; it has its own cooling and allows you to connect up to two USB devices, for example, a keyboard and mouse (USB 2.0). In some countries, this dock will be given as a gift with pre-orders of the S8|S8+. Separately, it will cost 149 euros.

In addition to the fact that you get the opportunity to connect your phone to an external monitor via HDMI and control it with a mouse and keyboard, DeX mode has appeared. This is not just a broadcast of the contents of the phone screen to an external monitor, but a redesigned interface, in particular, support for MS Office and Adobe mobile applications, for example, Adobe Lightroom Mobile, has been added here. These applications have been completely redesigned for large screens, and so far this is only available for flagships from Samsung, but I am sure that later it will appear on a bunch of other devices from different manufacturers. The most direct analogy is a similar mode from Microsoft that was on Windows Phone smartphones. But the death of the platform put an end to Continuum, and the fallen banner was picked up by DeX; Microsoft engineers took part in its development; it can be considered a kind of Continuum on Android.

First of all, this is a solution for corporate users; it is unlikely to be popular from the start, but this is an interesting direction for development. DeX has implemented support for remote access to your desktops; these are Citrix, VMware and Amazon Web Services, that is, nothing original and nothing new. In principle, you can already use these services on Android.

My impressions of DeX are mixed. On the one hand, this is definitely the future of mobile platforms, on the other hand, the current reincarnation clearly lacks the performance of phones, windows are drawn slowly, they twitch, in a word, everything is not as beautiful as on paper.

However, you already now get a full set of applications and all your data in the semblance of a desktop system, I think there will be technology lovers who will praise DeX, but the mass consumer will not rush to use it yet, everything works too slowly.

Bixby Assistant - ideology and practical implementation

The idea of ​​Bixby is directly borrowed from Google Now, it is an assistant that combines voice functions, such as voice recognition to perform commands (a legacy of S Voice), but at the same time it analyzes what is displayed on your screen, that is, it understands the context, in which you are talking about. With a separate key you call up Bixby cards (again an analogy with Google Now), you can edit them, add and remove applications and information from them. For example, the assistant knows that you usually call such and such a number at this time, and suggests doing so. The current functions of Bixby cannot be called intelligent; at the presentation it was cut down to the point of impossibility; for example, there is no voice input, it will appear only at the end of the month. And the prediction system is obviously stupid; in order to train it, you need millions of people to start using Bixby, in such systems it doesn’t happen otherwise - the more they use it, the better they become.

A full-fledged version of Bixby with voice commands, prompts, and more will be released only in December 2017, along with updating the device to Android 8. At the moment, instead of Bixby, we have its camera with image recognition, as well as software for planning the day.

Multimedia capabilities, software features

Samsung has redesigned the Clean UI a little more, now it has become even more airy, easier to perceive, the designations of the three touch keys have changed, the icons have changed, however, look at the picture. Also now in the settings you can see the version of Samsung Experience, in this device it is 8.1.

In general, I like the way Android 7 looks on the Galaxy S7/S7 EDGE; the interface here is a little different, but very simple and understandable, and most importantly, convenient. Although there is a whole cohort of people who, by default, do not like any add-ons over pure Android, and this seems nonsense to me - everything here is done wisely and is convenient for everyday life. For example, to scroll through large lists, a button has appeared that allows you to jump to the very beginning of the list.

Another interesting point is that you can take any kind of screenshots, record small GIF files from the screen, cut out not just rectangles, but also ovals, and immediately draw whatever you want with your finger. But what I liked the most is the ability to save the URL of the page when you take a screenshot in Chrome.

In terms of sound, we see approximately the same as in the Tab S3, there are improvements from AKG, plus AKG headphones are included. Models based on Snapdragon 835 have normal sound; they use the Aqstic sound DSP, which is designed for this chip. It is noticeably better than what is used in the Snapdragon 820/821, but worse than the DSP from Cirrus Logic, which is used in the Exynos version of the smartphone (Cirrus Logic SC43130). I was able to listen to both versions of the smartphone with AKG headphones; the volume margin on the Exynos was a little higher, and the sound seemed a little different. But the sound has definitely changed, it is very reminiscent of how the HTC 10 plays, which has its own separate DSP (this is not a solution from Qualcomm, as is believed on the market). The changes in sound quality are noticeable compared to the sevens.

Finally, a nice little thing, AKG headphones separately will cost about a hundred dollars/euro, these are top-end earplugs. Having tried these headphones, I can say that the game is reaching a new level for flagships, I wonder how Apple will respond and whether they will change their standard earPods for the new iPhones. If they ignore it, it will be sad, since AKG tears them apart in quality, like Tuzik’s heating pad, these are just products from different price niches, and they differ very much.

There are a lot of “little things” in the software that greatly diversify your user experience; many of the functions were present on previous devices, but it wouldn’t hurt to briefly repeat the most noticeable ones. For example, this could be an emergency message (three presses on the power button), the phone sends an SOS message, also records a sound for 5 seconds and a photo from the front camera.

Comparison with Galaxy S7/S7 EDGE

Samsung has prepared an infographic that shows the differences between the models; everything in it is simple and clear, and most importantly, clearly.

But you can also watch a separate video in which I talk in detail about these devices based on my extensive experience.

Impression

There are no complaints about the sound quality and call volume of the device, the volume is above average, the melodies have been reworked, they have become more interesting, and you can recognize them in any situation. The vibration alert can be customized to suit you, which is important. The quality of the device’s operation in Russian networks is good, there are minor improvements compared to the sevens.

There are no issues with Samsung Pay; everything is exactly the same as in previous models.

Just as during the transition from S7 EDGE to Note 7, it was impossible to say that these were completely different devices technically, but in life they were perceived very differently, so here too - the eights turned out to be very worthy and interesting. In terms of the combination of characteristics and ease of use, I cannot name a single device that comes close to them. As before, these are the main flagships on the market; devices from Apple are interesting from an image point of view, but technically they are still catching up, although they have narrowed the gap in the seventh generation. Perhaps there are two direct competitors on the market, Apple and Samsung, all other companies are catching up.

The S8|S8+ has a lot of advantages compared to the seventh generation Apple:

• Face scanner, iris scanner
• In the same body size, screens with a much larger diagonal and resolution
• Fast battery charging, wireless charging
• Better sound, the included headphones are a cut above, as they were created by AKG
• 64 GB of internal memory plus memory cards - more than the standard storage capacity in an iPhone
• DeX mode, working on a large monitor (in case someone likes it)
• Support for VR glasses, which the iPhone does not have as a class

It would take a long time to list these “little things,” but in fact they are very different; Apple’s product is much inferior not only technologically, but also in perception, which was not so noticeable before. With the advent of eights, the perception of phones becomes different; they look head and shoulders above their closest competitors.

There is only one company on the Android device market that managed to prepare its answer, but it was somewhat hasty; of course, we are talking about the LG G6. This device is built on the Snapdragon 821 (previous generation chipset, not for a flagship), it has worse sound by default and worse headphones included in the package, it is quite awkward in the hand, it is not as easy to perceive as S8|S8+, but the main thing is that it is they want about the same as for the younger model from Samsung. For what?

The cost of S8 in Russia is 54,990 rubles, the older model costs 59,990 rubles. Considering that these prices are comparable to the current cost of the iPhone 7, which looks weaker in many aspects, and are also set at the level of the upcoming iPhone 8, which comes out in the fall, the price seems adequate to me. Those interested will be able to buy the Galaxy S8 in May-June on the gray market, the price will differ by 10-15% downwards (the younger model already costs about 42 thousand rubles with delivery from Germany). These smartphones belong to a new generation, and not only due to the numbers, these are devices ideologically redesigned from scratch, they have a large number of advantages - screen, operating time, performance, sound, security system, and so on. But for those who consider them exactly the same as the S7/S7 EDGE, the previous models will always remain; they have not lost their relevance, since they are noticeably cheaper and have become more accessible. I am sure that they will be able to exist in parallel for a long time. For the market, the release of S8|S8+ is a benchmark for the coming years; all companies will try to create similar solutions, including Apple. Another thing is that their capabilities for this are very limited, and the resulting “flagships” will resemble the story with the LG G6, one thing will be worse, then another, and the price will be comparable. In this aspect, the LG G6 is interesting only as the model closest in time to the S8, the one that the company calls the flagship, and it has a roughly comparable approach, which they could not fully implement.

In S8|S8+, what comes to the fore is that these devices are damn beautiful in appearance, although there are no comrades in taste and color, everyone has their own ideas of beauty. These models have already been a success; during pre-order in Russia, they sold more than 15,000 units worth a billion rubles. In the future, we can expect stable sales of eights, as they have high potential.

Among the childhood diseases of S8|S8+, I will note red screens, which is easy to check, just go to the settings menu, and the white color in them will turn red. The company will probably fix this with a software update, but I recommend checking the devices in the store to avoid the tedious exchange or return procedure. Moreover, it takes less than a minute, you just need to look at the screen. No other childhood ailments have been identified in the models yet; within a month, my devices showed their best performance.

Every year, when describing Samsung's flagships, I say standard phrases about how they have become even a little faster and have no direct competitors. And every year this is true, but with the release of S8|S8+ we can say that competitors, to put it mildly, are not just lagging behind, the gap between them and Samsung has just widened. Try these smartphones in real life, twirl them in a store to evaluate how good they are. I am sure that most will like them, and then the issue of accessibility comes into play due to cost.