What is the body of the Samsung Galaxy s8 made of? Samsung Galaxy S8 - Review of a near-perfect smartphone with an increased price tag. Fingerprint scanner, face recognition and iris unlock

I am writing this material for people who really want to know the explanations galaxy characteristics S8, about how they work in practice, and my personal opinion on this or that moment in the device. And for this, just a 10-minute video and beautiful pictures not enough. Therefore, if you are 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, who will tell you brightly, 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 interest, I converted all these prices into dollars and plotted 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 body, materials and dimensions of the smartphone

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

By thickness smartphone 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. Samsung calls this "Edge Design". By width The S8 is quite narrow - 68 mm, which is 1.5 mm narrower than the Galaxy S7. Samsung smartphones have always stood out for their compact body / display ratio. Heightthe device has become 6.5 mm higher than its predecessor and is 149 mm. Weight 155 g, and as for me this is the best indicator that you want to feel in your hand.

Despite the fact that the screen size of the S8 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 how it should be and I don't understand why smartphones were different before.

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

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

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

On the back panel we have a protective glass that is subject to scratches and does not have an oleophobic coating. Just above the center is the Samsung logo, which does not shine in shiny chrome, but has a modest gray color. Above the logo in the center there is a camera, to the left of which a heart rate sensor and a single-LED flash. I can't say that the flash is bright and has a warm hue. To the right of the camera is a fingerprint scanner, which is inconvenient for me and I do not use it.

At the top 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 bit frustrating, although it doesn't really matter. The metal frame at the top and bottom ends is wider than the side faces, since the adjacent glasses have no rounding there. Above, we also have a microphone for noise cancellation and two plastic dividers for antennas, which are practically invisible.


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

On the left side, there is a volume rocker and a button that calls the interface of the virtual assistant Bixby, 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-end 2017 self-produced Exynos 8895 chipset (analog). 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 produced according to Samsung's own Exynos M1 (Mongoose) architecture. It works with complex tasks at a maximum frequency of 2314 MHz.

The biggest feature of the processor is its 10 nanometer (nm) process 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 faded into the background, 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, he is gaining 173 thousand points and is inferior to the iPhone 7 Plus. At maximum graphics settings in tanks, the frame rate per second of the Galaxy S8 does not reach 60. An average of 50 frames per second shows. But this is not critical, since the human eye can capture a maximum of 30 frames per second.

The smartphone in summer, in very hot weather, heats up a little and it is very uncomfortable to hold it in your hands. Heating was noticed not only in games at maximum loads, but this problem can be much more noticeable in other smartphones with a similar powerful chip.

Considering that the chipset is made according to the most delicate technical process, the heating is not clear to me. Nevertheless, 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 a commercial one (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

RAM in the device is 4 GB. This is quite enough for all tasks and I did not feel the lack. The AIDA64 application shows a decent 3.5 GB of RAM. Permanent memory 64 GB, and other versions were not found. Available for use 54 GB. There is the possibility of expanding the memory using a microSD card up to 256 GB, and a slot for a picture is separate from the SIM card.

The memory speed is at its best and reaches 787 MB / s when reading and 195 MB / s when transferring. This is the fastest indicator at the moment in smartphones.

Autonomy

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

For an hour of playing, the battery ran out by 20%, that is, you can play without interruption for 5 hours at maximum resolution. Plays video over Wi-Fi - 7.5 hours. But the work of a GPS navigator with a rarely active display will drain the battery in 20 hours. All the same, the high resolution of the display makes itself felt (by the way, you can lower it, which will have a positive effect on autonomy).

The Korean flagship is infected from 0 to 100% in 1 hour 15 minutes. The complete 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 fast charging in the first minutes.

If you are not a hardcore multimedia user, then the smartphone will last 2 days with 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 with Super Amoled technology. The diagonal of the screen, with such a compact size, is 5.8 inches. The compactness is achieved thanks to all the same narrow frames mentioned earlier. This means that it is more elongated in length, and all this is due to a decrease in 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.

Noticeable only when comparing "point-blank".

It's hard to find fault with the display - it is large, clear, frameless and very bright (1000 nits). However, there is also a minus, when the color is white, 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 fix this defect, but at the time of the review, this update had not yet reached my sample.

The screen has an "Always on display" function, when the clock and date, notifications and battery percentage are shown on the display when the device is locked.

Sound

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

The flagship's external speaker also plays well, but there are no stereo speakers. The sound comes from a single speaker on the bottom, it is loud and moderately saturated, like for a smartphone. The volume reaches 70.3 dB.

Perhaps the sound was influenced by the collaboration with the top audio device manufacturer Harman / Kardon. Headphones under the AKG brand 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 am listening to the Samsung Galaxy S8 through headphones and I can’t remember what cons I mentioned earlier ... I don’t know how I’ll live now without such a sound.

The device supports two Nano-SIM cards. Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, dual-channel data transmission at 5000 MHz is supported. Bluetooth has a surprise too, it is. 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 by 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 you need a headset that supports this format to use it.

GPS navigation works flawlessly.

Software

The Samsung S8 runs on the latest Android 7 operating system at the time of release, of course. A proprietary shell samsung Experience, I currently have version 8.1. Everything works smartly, 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 the standard "pinch" can install widgets, application icons and add screens that you can navigate to the right with a swipe. With a swipe from bottom to top or vice versa, the "application box" is called. If you slide your finger from the right edge to the left, then the EDGE panel will be called up with the ability to quickly access selected applications, contacts and various options for taking screenshots.

The GPU performs the interface without braking at the maximum frame rate. No lags in third-party applications was also not noticed.

Bixby

By swiping from left to right on the home screen, as well as a separate button on the end, you can open the Bixby interface, where you can find cards that you can customize yourself. I have this alarm, Gallery for today, the number of steps taken, the weather and the summary latest news... At the moment, the capabilities of the assistant are limited. In addition to the listed possibilities, the assistant can do nothing else, does not react to the voice in any way (neither to Russian, nor to English, nor even to Korean). It is not known when the Russian-speaking audience will be able to fully use Bixby.

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

For now, Bixby only has a name.

Camera

The main camera in the Galaxy S8 captures 12MP photos. The aperture is open to F / 1.7, which allows the sensor to capture more light in low light. This is the widest smartphone aperture in my memory. There is phase detection autofocus and optical stabilization. If the smartphone is unable to focus (which happens very rarely with a photo), for example, when shooting video in 4K resolution, then tapping on the display sensor can help the camera. Autofocus works by technology, it is very fast and in most cases trouble-free.

Sensor in the main camera 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 the Samsung S8 with different matrices. In the S7, there was a situation where the Sony sensor took pictures in warmer colors. The size of S5K2L2 is quite large - 1 / 2.5 ". The pixel is also not small - 1.4 microns.

I would like to note that the camera does not protrude from the body for all the parameters.

The main camera of the Galaxy S8 from the Galaxy S7 is practically the same in photography. In the video, I think the S8 dominates.

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

For comparison, I will give another example of a snapshot in the same conditions on the Galaxy S8 and Xiaomi Note 4x, in order to clearly show the quality of flagships and state employees.

Below is a gorgeous bokeh shot on the Galaxy S8. When taking photos in good lighting, the smartphone focuses at lightning speed (I don't get tired of writing this).

Another macro shot:

Shooting under the blinding sun in automatic mode not impressed. But there are many manual adjustments in Pro mode: ISO adjustment, iris adjustment effect, presets, manual focus, and so on.

Snapshot at night with and without flash. The algorithm works well with the flash, there are no flares and in some cases it is difficult to say that the photo was taken with a flash.

Selfie camera

The selfie camera, a first for smartphones, has autofocus. This is an 8MP ISOCELL S5K3H1 sensor with an aperture of F / 1.7. Shoots for a selfie camera perfectly, there is nothing more to say.

Filming

Samsung shoots video in resolutions from VGA to 4K (UHD) resolution. When recording Full HD at 30fps, HDR video is available. There is optical and electronic stabilization. I was amazed at the color reproduction, focusing and stabilization capabilities. You don't need many words here, you just need to see:

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

Features:

The features of the smartphone include the ability to connect to a monitor using the DeX docking station. You can also connect a mouse with a keyboard to it. The monitor displays operating system from Samsung based on Android, external similar to Windows. Standard Microsoft applications and office solutions are sharpened for it. I have not been 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-fledged 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 with a printed photo, but it's not so easy and who will bother with it? If the options above do not always work quickly, especially if you walk, then everything happens with a finger scanner at lightning speed, but it is not located in a very convenient place does not recognize a wet finger.

The third feature 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 summarize all of the above.

pros

• thin bezels around the display;
• crisp, bright and elongated display with adjustable resolution;
• user-friendly design and well-assembled body;
• good cameras in all respects;
• user-friendly interface;
• supporting promising bluetooth version 5;
• great sound in headphones;
• loud external speaker;
• notification indicator;
• moisture and dust protection.

Minuses

• easily soiled back glass, which is prone to scratches;
• sharp edges of the USB connector rub your finger while playing;
• due to this premium design, the smartphone can be fragile, you need to put on a case;
• sometimes it heats up quite a lot under load (maybe this is a problem with my sample or raw software, this should be corrected with an update and optimization of games for a new kernel);
• all unlocking tools are inconvenient.

My review of the Galaxy S8

The smartphone came out on 5 points. Many talk about him as the emperor among smartphones. For me personally, the camera is important, and here it is very decent. Is it the best? This is questionable, and when compared to the Galaxy S7, they are very similar. The Galaxy S8's video footage is impressive though.

And now I have a question in my head, is it worth buying a Galaxy S8 for the sake of the camera's photo capabilities, if the Galaxy S7 is the same level for more affordable money? I would consider buying a Galaxy S8 for the sake of great sound in headphones and a cool display, for the sake of video and good design. Although the design is secondary, and I would rather show off cool photos than a cool glass rectangle design (as you can see, the WOW effect from my design has gradually faded away, 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
Huawei P10 Plus smartphone review: thin flagship phablet

It will not soon lose its relevance. As long as it continues to be an expensive flagship, then the price for it will begin to fall and for some it will become more attractive than before.

Good news

As is often the case with modern expensive smartphones, they have more advantages than. The fundamentals of the Galaxy S8 remain intact after 10 months. In today's world of huge smartphones, the standard Galaxy S8 is quite compact for one-handed operation. The 18.5: 9 aspect ratio makes it long and narrow. It is easy to handle and has no problem with curved screen edges.

Concerns about the relative fragility of the case aside, the design is still luxurious. Smooth edges and the perfect integration of metal and glass give the smartphone a great feel, although this is no longer surprising. This review examines the black version of the smartphone, which has a classic appearance devices with excellent proportions.

With experience with other smartphones, you value the choice of the Galaxy S8's core components. 64 GB of flash memory is quite a significant amount, those who wish can expand it with a microSD memory card. Lovers of listening to music or other audio will appreciate the presence of a jack for wired headphones.

The main thing is the screen itself. Although it was surpassed by its own in terms of brightness and color saturation, it remains excellent after a year. It is bright enough to work in the sun, while being able to darken enough so as not to burden the eyes in the dark. The colors are rich, there are no problems with viewing angles. Samsung's screens have been good for so long that the quality of the OLED panels on their smartphones has been taken for granted. You need to work with other devices to really appreciate this screen.

The last positive point is the quality of the cameras. Strictly speaking, cameras are better, this applies to simple shots, HDR, panoramas, video recording. This does not mean that the cameras on the Galaxy S8 are bad, they still take great pictures. Colors in images and videos are rich, and HDR does its job. The Samsung camera is very easy to use, small enhancements like using the shutter button as a slider to zoom in and holding the video recording button to preview photos improve the experience.

Bad news

Performance and software on the Galaxy S8 are not the strongest points. After about three months of operation, the device became very slow and only resetting the settings to the factory ones helped. The same thing happened three months later. The second time, the speed lasted a little longer, but slowdowns were still observed. While a factory reset is not required, the issue is disappointing.

Switching from Pixel 2 to reminded how much worse it has autonomous work, although there is no such problem. Without any particular load and with less than three hours of screen on, about 15% of the charge remains by the end of the evening. If you listen to music, connect to, etc., you may need to recharge by lunchtime. This is the weakest country in the Galaxy S8's performance.

The software also has disadvantages other than speed. You can get used to everything, and after 10 months of working with this smartphone and having experience with other Samsung devices, you can find workarounds. There are many options, settings, pop-ups, quirks and hidden features to get used to. Users will find what they need, but they will stumble upon a lot of unnecessary things.

Also, do not forget about duplicate applications that cannot be removed, and this is only a small part of the frustrations about the required applications and services. Some programs need to be updated through the store Google playothers via Samsung Galaxy Apps, there are strange quirks with photos when using Google Photos as a gallery.

There is also a virtual assistant Bixby. The Bixby button has been disabled, just like Bixby Home, and there is no reason to enable them back. Many people simply do not want to talk to their smartphone, for the same reason they do not use Google Assistant. Plus, Samsung's assistant isn't nearly as helpful as Google Assistant, and the Bixby button is often accidentally pressed.

Let's finish the description of the disadvantages with hardware things. The glass on the back of the case is constantly getting dirty. The bottom edge of the glass is all scratched, but the top is not much better. There are some deep scratches at the top that are easy to see. At the same time, the smartphone was not dropped and was handled carefully, but still, most of the scratches appeared in the first two months of operation, after which an ultra-thin cover was installed for protection. The glass is beautiful and allows the smartphone to be light, and also to use wireless charging, but without a cover it won't be beautiful for long.

Many people don't like the location of the fingerprint scanner on this device. It is difficult to reach it and the camera gets dirty. Samsung is aware of this and has changed the location of the scanners in the Galaxy S9.

Conclusion: Samsung Galaxy S8 10 months later

Samsung flagships are considered the first choice for all high-end smartphone buyers who don't want to buy an iPhone. The Galaxy S8 was challenged to offer more options than other devices. Samsung has provided high hardware specs, lots of functionalities and software features in an effort to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible. After 10 months, for the most part, this task remains completed.

From the perspective of someone looking to buy a smartphone in early 2018, the Galaxy S8 is still pretty good. It is beautiful and easy to operate with one hand, the performance meets the requirements of everyday tasks, the screen is beautiful, the functionality is attractive, the camera takes great photos and videos.

The same cannot be said for battery life, especially considering the battery life of smartphones like the Pixel 2, which have a smaller battery. The glass on the back is scratched, the fingerprint scanner is difficult to use, and the software slows down over time, which is the biggest drawback. This did not stop tens of millions of people from buying this device and the Galaxy S9 should become even better.

Sony has been installing excellent IPS displays in smartphones for a long time, so choosing between the XZ Premium and the S8 + based on image quality will be a matter of taste. In comparison with Samsung, the fingerprint scanner of the Japanese flagship can already be used without abusive vocabulary, and by the quality of the photo, you can preliminarily decide that Sony takes slightly less bright, but clearer pictures with natural color rendition, and Samsung blurs the frame more, but produces a wider dynamic range ... And judging by the preliminary comparisons with the iPhone 7 Plus, Sony still straddled its photo algorithms properly. It is high time!

Otherwise - no, excuse my English, know-how: no voice assistants, no exotic camera modes, no edges, etc. But this is not important - the main thing is that the smartphone has a high-quality camera, display, sound and there are no problems with autonomy and speed. Because we don't have to talk about it for sure - due to a shortage in the supply of Snapdragon 835 and some bureaucracy, the XZ Premium will go on sale only in the summer, a few months after the start of sales of the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8.

conclusions

Most of the complaints about the S8 / S8 + are related to ergonomics. Samsung hasn't removed the fingerprint scanner like Apple removed the audio jack, but it has made the scanner inconvenient to use. And so that Bixby, into which the Koreans poured a lot of money, did not "drown", it was "nailed" to a separate key and replaced with the volume down buttons. Whether you want it or not, you will periodically use it.

I will repeat once again: Galaxy S8 / S8 + is not S7 "under new sauce", it is, in some way, a return to the origins. Because five years ago, passers-by similarly rolled their necks onto the "huge" 4.7-inch HD display inside the Galaxy S3's sleek, sleek body. In the same samsung models for the first time he introduced the stupid, as time has shown, voice assistant S-Voice and multiple windows to resemble a computer (and in S8 he "reinvented" Windows Continuum). And even "childhood illnesses" with the display were also typical for the S3 and S8.

I don't like the soapy design of the Galaxy S8 +, and not I like the way of blocking inconveniences for old uses, to courageously overcome them with new ones (be it a voice assistant or a face / iris scanner). I don't like the "bland" sound in the headphones and last year's rear camera. I don't like the autonomy under load compared to the S7 edge. Logically, now I have to say “for the same money it’s better to buy% smartphone_name%!” ... but there is no such smartphone.

The Sony flagship will appear only in the "bright future" and it is not known whether it will be better in all respects, LG offers a relatively slow smartphone for a price comparable to the S8, which has a screen, optical stabilization, and a front camera worse. Huawei also did not stand next to either in performance, or in the ratio of the display diagonal to the dimensions of the case, and even in the quality of the cameras it almost jumped to last year's Samsung camera.

The "godlike" Xiaomi, as practice has shown, is not strong enough to compete with the flagships of 2017. Therefore, the Chinese simply wrapped the Snapdragon 835 in an inexpensive case and installed cameras "slightly better than the iPhone 7 Plus." Everyone was waiting for a miracle, but got another powerful "Chinese".

What a miracle there is when no one (even LG, the giant in the production of OLED matrices) is still unable to build an equally bright, colorful and correctly calibrated display, even if not curved? How did it happen that Samsung, which before the S7 edge even sculpted cores for "hardware" according to a ready-made recipe, built the most powerful processor in the world, better than the "craft" chip of the most experienced Qualcomm?

Photos in the interior

Specifications

• Android 7, Samsung Experience 8.1
• Display S8 - 5.8 "(146.5mm) Quad HD + (2960x1440), 570 ppi, automatic brightness control, SuperAMOLED, adaptive color and brightness adjustment, color correction, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
• S8 + display - 6.2 ”(158.1 mm) Quad HD + (2960x1440), 529 ppi, auto dimming, SuperAMOLED, adaptive color and brightness control, 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, models available in some markets with Snapdragon 835
• 4 GB of RAM (LPDDR4), 64 GB of internal (UFS 2.1), memory cards up to 256 GB, combo slot
• nanoSIM, up to two cards, one radio module
• Battery Li-Ion 3000 mAh (S8), 3500 mAh (S8 +), built-in wireless charger WPC / PMA, fast charge 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 (on the back)
• 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 listen simultaneously to sound from different programs on different accessories
• LTE cat.16 (depends on operator support)
• IP68 water resistant
• 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
• A clip to remove the SIM card tray
• AKG Wired Stereo Headset
• OTG adapter for connection external devices
• USB Type C to microUSB adapter
• Instructions

Positioning

Since the Galaxy S4, the most successful Galaxy smartphones have turned out to be 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 suddenly it turned out that their potential is far from being exhausted. Moreover, these devices are selling well today, while practically all over the world S7 EDGE is sold better, the ratio to the regular, flat version is 2 to 1. In 2017, the S7 / S7 EDGE will become the most massive devices in the entire history of the Galaxy line. will most likely happen in the third or fourth quarters. What does this mean for the S8 | S8 +? And this means a simple thing that the new flagships will need to be diluted with the previous generation, and this will be achieved primarily at the expense of the 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 S8 + takes the place of Note 7, and regular S8 stands up as S7 EDGE a year ago.

Samsung considers such positioning to be justified, since there is no goal of achieving maximum sales for S8 | S8 + in the first two quarters, these devices will be in a small shortage (which does not mean that there will not be an opportunity to buy them calmly, just the demand will be high from the operators and distributors, there will be a fight for them, but it has already begun). All this suggests that the officially delivered devices will not fall in price quickly, however, the Russian consumer was convinced of this by the example of S7 / S7 EDGE, that they remained at the same price level for an unusually long time, and fell in price only together 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 opportunities for maximum value. 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 come on this chassis, but the next bright device on it will be the Note 8, other models will receive only a part of the functions that are in the S8 | S8 +.

The emphasis in promoting these models is largely placed on design, it is emphasized more than the stuffing of devices and their capabilities. For part of the potential audience, this is important and looks justified. Let's see together what kind of flagship Samsung has got.

Design, dimensions, controls

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

Since the stake in the eighth generation is made on the screen, which occupies most of the surface of the devices, we see only it, as well as small inserts at the top and bottom. The upper insert contains the front camera, speaker, retina 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 back surface, placed next to the camera. In fact, the bottom insert was created for symmetry with the top one, but nothing was placed in it, and what can be inserted here?

The curvature of the screen resembles that of the Note 7, it is small, but the devices fit into the hand like a glove. S8 dimensions - 148.9x68.1x8 mm, weight - 152 grams, S8 + - 159.5x73.4x8.1 mm, weight - 173 grams. The usual S8 does not feel large, it is more typical for models with 5-inch screens, slightly elongated compared to their height. With the S8 + the situation is about the same, but it is similar to the models with 5.5-inch screens, for example, the dimensions of the iPhone 7 Plus - 158.2x77.9x7.3 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 loses its ease of use. And simply without a cover or with a silicone cover that fits snugly around the body, you will get a compact device for such a screen. The phone does not slip out of hands, it is balanced, you can work with one hand in basic applications, for example, dial a number, it is not difficult, plus you can alter the interface for one-handed control, then all the keys are reduced and will be available. It is impossible to reach the upper edge in the S8 + with one hand, you don't even need to try, you will drop the device. But the need for this never arises, including on devices with a smaller diagonal, most of the operations on the screen, for example, during the game, we carry out with the fingers of two hands.

The absence of a mechanical key does not at all mean that there is no button as such, it is on the screen, and in the settings you can specify that it burns in AlwaysOn Display mode, or turn it off completely. The beauty of this touch key is that it has a special pressure sensor located under the screen. Press a button with your finger and it works, albeit with a slight delay. In the same iPhone, pressing the touch button and the 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 the easiest way is to set up unlocking the device by 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 worried about the location of the button on the back of the camera in absentia. Having tried it, I can say that on the S8 this arrangement is plus or minus comfortable, the finger finds the sensor (this is a sensor pad with bumpers), but on the S8 + it is difficult to reach it, in a case it turns into flour. Another thing is that you can set up face recognition (don't confuse it with an iris scanner!), Then the smartphone will unlock automatically when it sees you. As usual, I have some news, I'll start with a good one. Recognition works perfectly almost always in bright rooms, the quality depends on initial setup... 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 horizontally at the phone screen, it turns out not very well, it does not recognize its owner in you. Another problem is the dark time of the day, here recognition does not always happen instantly, but even in a cap or other headdress the phone will recognize you.

In most cases, recognition occurs instantly, although, comparing with a fingerprint sensor, it must be said that it is safer and always works the same, 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 trying to trick the face scanner. If you substitute a photograph for his face, he might work. Is this a security issue? Yes and no. For ordinary people, imagining that someone breaks into a phone, substituting your face in a photo, is akin to believing that someone made your fingerprints, this is also not difficult to do today. I don't think anyone will bother with this. For those who care 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 usual, it is a matter of choice and possibilities, a face scanner for most will be quite sufficient in everyday life.

S8 | S8 + has several color solutions (let's not repeat both model numbers for simplicity, since they are the same, I will say S8, meaning both devices), there are new colors. Will all colors be available in all markets? I think not, some colors in Russia will not be initially available.

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

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

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

On the back surface we see the camera, it protrudes from the body, but now the bezel doesn't stick out so much, this is a noticeable difference. To the left of the camera is the heart rate sensor, it has not disappeared anywhere.

On the front, above the screen, you can see an 8MP camera, as well as a 3.7MP IRIS scanner and IR illumination for face lighting. The resolution of the IRIS scanner has grown, as well as the accuracy and recognition speed compared to Note 7. There is also a light sensor (aka RGB color sensor).

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 for launching the Bixbi assistant, we will talk about it 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 a while. This moment confuses me, in the future I will try to simulate wear and tear to see what happens and what scratches the case will receive.

There is only one loudspeaker in the device, at the bottom end, it is loud and clear, it is well heard in all situations.

In the bottom line, I want to say the following - from the point of view of design, materials used, this is a flagship without any discounts, and it does not have many direct competitors, more precisely, it is one - iPhone 8, which will appear in the fall, the current generation of iPhone is in many ways inferior and looks weaker ...

Display

Samsung has coined a marketing term for new, vertically elongated screens - Infinity Display, or infinite screen. It does not occupy the entire front surface at all, but the feeling from the first use and then is such that you are changing from a small TV in the kitchen to a large, comfortable panel. Considering that the size of the devices has practically not changed, the larger size of the screens hits the mind very much. At QHD + resolution (2960x1440 pixels, 570/529 ppi), the screens are of high quality, there are 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 the brightness depending on the ambient lighting conditions has changed, the AlwaysOn Display mode has expanded - the devices have become even a little better in this aspect. On-screen buttons are hidden in applications, they are almost never needed. The younger device has a diagonal of 5.8 inches, the older one - 6.2 inches.

For the S8 | S8 +, they 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, not only a light indicator has been added, but an RGB color indicator that 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 felt that Samsung engineers had done the impossible, this is the most technologically advanced screen in mobile phone... The full study can be found here, below are the highlights:

• In automatic mode, the maximum screen brightness is up to 1000 nits, it is readable in any sun;
• The color gamut DCI-P3 Color is applied, it is also used in 4K TVs (in the DCI-P3 test tests, coverage is 113%, which means displaying bright, colorful and realistic colors under any lighting conditions);
• The function of improving the picture on the screen, which turns content that did not have an HDR component into an HDR picture;
• Two light sensors - both on the front and on the back of the phone, for better detection of lighting conditions and color correction on the screen;
• Night mode with a blue filter, which allows you not to excite the psyche, improve sleep;
• Separate chip to control AlwaysOn screen, which allows to obtain less power consumption;
• Improved automatic screen adjustment for personal preferences, your smartphone learns from examples of how you like to watch movies, web pages, what are your addictions in games.

This is only half of the features detailed in DisplayMate's test, and the screen is outstanding. As much as I liked the screen in the S7 EDGE, it dimmed so much next to the S8, just see how the white display differs in the menu.

On the S7 EDGE, the white color fades into yellow, but you can only see this in direct comparison. In life, it seems that sevens, like other smartphones, do not have any problems with displaying colors. But this is exactly until you compare them with eights, they have gorgeous screens by any measure.

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? Certainly, since more useful information is placed on the screen.

When watching videos on YouTube, the picture adjusts to the screen, you can stretch it either to full screen or by leaving insignificant stripes on the sides, there is no picture distortion.

There are no modes of operation in which screen space is wasted, the large screen is comfortable for viewing maps, films and any visual information. It's a big screen, and it's silly to deny its benefits.

In the AlwaysOn Display mode, a clock or a picture can be displayed on the screen, notifications from applications, there are no special changes compared to previous models, this mode works well. Competitors have nothing like this 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, this is a separate chip for controlling the AlwaysOn Display), as a result, power consumption has decreased. Look at how many mAh battery the screen has consumed, this is a record.

As well as in sevens, it is possible to change the screen resolution, the default is FHD +, but the difference with QHD + in everyday tasks is not striking. I advise you to use QHD + for games or VR glasses.

In the sun, in any conditions, the screen remains readable, if there is an automatic brightness control, then you are guaranteed to see a colorful picture, the colors remain unchanged. In glasses, everything also works with a bang, you see a bright picture.

Battery

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

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

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

Chipset, memory, performance

Random access memory 4GB (Chinese version 6GB), built-in memory 64GB, and memory cards are supported up to 256GB. For the American market, the devices come with Snapdragon 835, to some extent this is an exclusive Samsung, competitors on this chipset will appear later. All over the world S8 is coming to Exynos 8895, it 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, for which I have never had any complaints about the speed of work, 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 the current flagships, which is already excellent.

In terms of memory, we see a clear improvement in the form of a move from UFS 2.0 to UFS 2.1. There are already a number of UFS 2.1 models on the market (LG V20, Huawei mate 9 Porsche Design), they show very high performance on Android 7. Which in reality reduces the boot time of the smartphone, as well as the time for switching between applications. In the lineup from Samsung, it is the eight that become the first devices with UFS 2.1.

With great interest every year I read fairy tales about how Samsung flagships slow down in the interface, in everyday operations, unfortunately, they almost never show me these problems in practice. This stereotype is tenacious, but it has nothing to do with devices, rather a certain curvature of the hands of users who install a ton of left-handed software or remove "unnecessary" system components, and then begin to experience problems.

Communication capabilities

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

There is an 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 speed from the theoretically possible (2x2 MU-MIMO). On the Moscow MegaFon network, the real speed that was obtained when downloading files was 430 Mbps (theoretical limit is 450 Mbps). To demonstrate this speed, common tests are not suitable, 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 load it properly in such programs).

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

Of the features of the implementation of Bluetooth 5.0, I will note the possibility of simultaneous connection of two headsets or other audio devices, that is, you can listen to the same music or watch a movie with another person. It's just a gorgeous feature that was definitely missing, although few will need it.

Another point that I liked was the ability to choose applications and in which connected Bluetooth devices the sound will be played. That is, you can choose that the sound from the video player is broadcast to an external speaker, and messages are read out only in the headset. Cool? Definitely yes, but you have to spend time to customize everything for yourself. Or such a scenario: you give the phone to the child so that he watches a movie and the sound goes through a wireless speaker or wireless headphones, while you yourself listen to music or a podcast in others 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 is fast (f / 1.7), which allows you to take good pictures, including in semi-dark rooms. As well as for the main camera, there are different effects when inserts from bows, mustaches and the like can be attached to the face. This is a nice feature that makes the camera use more varied.

At first glance, the main camera remained 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 performance of the system, the fact that the camera module received its own memory, a comfortable Burst Mode appeared, when you can take several dozen pictures in a row. The camera focuses on objects faster, it handles complex scenes better than the Galaxy S7 / S7 EDGE, which I could see in practice. But we cannot say that this is a fundamentally different camera, it is comparable in most situations with 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 the pictures with the S7 EDGE, all of them were taken in automatic mode. But before that, here's what the camera interface looks like.

And now a comparison of pictures with Galaxy S7 EDGE.

Galaxy S8	Galaxy S7 EDGE

Take a look at the enlarged parts of the images from the S7 EDGE and S8 Plus to understand the difference in cameras.

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

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

However, the camera does a good job with specific shots.

In the dark, the camera works much better than the S7 EDGE, it works faster and works out scenes more correctly.

As for me, the camera on the S7 EDGE is formally the same, in fact the new image processing algorithms turned out to be more interesting and better, plus the yield of good photos is noticeably higher. On the S8 / S8 Plus one of best cameras in mobile devices of those that are 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, 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 a gift along with pre-orders for the S8 | S8 +. Separately, it will cost 149 euros.

In addition to the fact that you get the opportunity to connect your phone via HDMI to an external monitor and control it using a mouse and keyboard, the DeX mode has appeared. This is not just broadcasting the contents of the phone screen to an external monitor, but a redesigned interface, in particular, they added support for MS Office here, mobile applications Adobe such as Adobe Lightroom Mobile. These apps are 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 different manufacturers... The most direct analogy is a similar mode from Microsoft, which was on Windows Phone smartphones... But the death of the platform put an end to the Continuum, and the fallen banner was picked up by DeX, Microsoft engineers took part in its development, we can consider this a kind of Continuum on Android.

First of all, this is a solution for corporate users, it is unlikely that it will 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 of your own and nothing new. In principle, these services are already available 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, the windows are drawn slowly, they twitch, in a word, everything is not as beautiful as on paper.

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

Bixby Assistant - Ideology and Practical Implementation

The idea behind Bixby is directly borrowed from Google Now, it is an assistant that combines voice functions, for example, voice recognition to perform commands (legacy of S Voice), but at the same time it analyzes what is displayed on your screen, that is, it conventionally understands the context in which you speak. 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 a certain number at this time, and offers to do so. It is impossible to call the current functions of Bixby intelligent, at the presentation it was cut down to the point of impossibility, so, there is no voice input, it will appear only at the end of the month. And the prediction system is clearly stupid, to train it, you need millions of people to start using Bixby, in such systems it does not happen otherwise - the more they use it, the better they become.

The full version of Bixby with voice commands, prompts and more will be released only in December 2017, along with the update of 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 slightly redesigned the Clean UI, now it has become even more airy, it is perceived more simply, the designations of the three touch-sensitive 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, here the interface is slightly different, but very simple and straightforward, 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 it seems to me nonsense - everything is done smartly and conveniently 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 GIFs from the screen, cut not just rectangles, but also ovals, and immediately draw whatever you want with your finger. But what I liked the most was saving the URL when you take a screenshot in Chrome.

In terms of sound, we see about the same as in the Tab S3, there are improvements from AKG, plus AKG headphones are included. The Snapdragon 835 models have regular sound, they use the Aqstic audio DSP, which is designed for this chip. It is noticeably better than the one 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 managed to listen to both versions of the smartphone with AKG headphones, on Exynos the volume margin is slightly higher, the sound seemed a little different. But the sound has definitely changed, very much like the way HTC 10 plays, which has its own separate DSP (this is not a solution from Qualcomm, as the market thinks). The changes in sound quality are noticeable compared to the sevens.

Finally, a nice little thing, separately AKG headphones will cost about a hundred dollars / euro, these are top-end plugs. Having tried these headphones, I can say that the game comes out on new level for flagships, I wonder what Apple will answer and if they will change their standard earPods for new iPhones... If they ignore it, it will be sad, since AKG tears them up in quality, like Tuzik heating pad, these are just products from different price niches, and they differ very much.

The software contains a lot of "little things" that greatly diversify your user experience, many functions were on the previous devices, but it will not be superfluous to repeat briefly about the most noticeable of them. For example, it can 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 is simple and clear in it, and most importantly, clearly.

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

Impression

The device has no complaints about the sound quality and the volume of the call, the volume is above average, the melodies have been reworked, they have become more interesting, and they can be recognized in any situation. The vibration alert can be customized for yourself, which is important. The quality of the phone's work in Russian networks is good, there are slight improvements compared to the sevens.

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

Just as in the transition from S7 EDGE to Note 7, it was impossible to say that these are completely different devices technically, but in real 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 usability, I cannot name a single device that would come 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 narrowed the gap in the seventh generation. Perhaps there are two direct competitors on the market, these are Apple and Samsung, all other companies are catching up.

The S8 | S8 + has advantages over the seventh generation Apple and a small cart:

• Face scanner, iris scanner
• Screens with much larger diagonal and resolution in the same case size
• Fast charging batteries, wireless charging
• Better sound, complete headphones are a cut above, as created by AKG
• 64GB of internal storage plus memory cards - more than standard iPhone storage
• DeX mode, work on a large monitor (suddenly someone will like it)
• Support for VR glasses, which the iPhone does not have as a class

It is possible to list these "little things" for a long time, but in fact they are very different, the product from Apple is much inferior not only technologically, but also in perception, which was not so noticeable before. With the advent of eights, it is the perception of phones that becomes different, they look a cut above their closest competitors.

On android market devices there is only one company that managed to prepare its answer, but was in a hurry, of course, it comes about LG G6. This device is built on Snapdragon 821 (the previous generation chipset, not for the flagship), it has worse sound by default and worse headphones from the kit, it is rather awkward in the hand, it is not perceived as easily as the S8 | S8 +, but the main thing is that they want about as much for it as for the younger model from Samsung. For what?

The cost of the 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 also exhibited at the level of the upcoming iPhone 8, which comes out in the fall, I see the price as adequate. Those who wish will be able to buy Galaxy S8 in May-June on the gray market, the price will differ by 10-15% downward (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 numbers, they are devices ideologically redesigned from scratch, they have a large number of advantages - a screen, operating time, performance, sound, security system and so on. But for those who consider them exactly the same as S7 / S7 EDGE, the previous models will always remain, they have not lost their relevance, since they are much cheaper and have become more affordable. I am sure that in parallel they will be able to exist 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 they have very limited opportunities for this, and the resulting "flagships" will resemble the story of 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 closest model in time to the S8, the one that the company calls the flagship, and it has an approximately comparable approach, which they could not fully implement.

In S8 | S8 +, the fact that these devices are devilishly beautiful in appearance comes to the fore, although there are no comrades in taste and color, everyone has their own ideas about beauty. The success of these models has already taken place, during the pre-order in Russia, they were sold in a volume of more than 15,000 units worth a billion rubles. In the future, we can expect stable sales of eights, since they have high potential.

Of the childhood diseases S8 | S8 +, I will note the red screens, which is easy to check, just go to the settings menu, and the white color in them will turn red. The company may fix this. software update, but I recommend checking the machines 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 children's ailments have yet been identified in the models, for a month my devices have shown themselves from the best side.

Every year, when I describe Samsung's flagships, I say standard phrases that they have become even a little faster, they have no direct competitors. And every year this is so, 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 life, spin in the store to see how good they are. I am sure that most will like them, and then the question of availability due to cost comes into play.

- along with the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, these are arguably the most eagerly anticipated Android smartphones of the year, so when the pre-ordered smartphone finally arrives at your doorstep, you'll want to get it right away.

And we're not just talking about its features, like the expansive, 5.8-inch edge-to-edge display, or the brilliant 12MP camera. The S8 offers a treasure trove of impressive features, some of which are somewhat more useful than others.

Yes, the smartphone's 8-core chipset offers a headroom of performance, the smartphone uses an innovative new biometric security system, but this is window dressing, dig deeper and you will unlock the capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S8 that are waiting for their users.
These are exactly the traits that will make you feel like a master of technology that will transform you from a smartphone user to a Galaxy S8 connoisseur. The following Galaxy S8 tips, tricks and tricks every user should know.

1. Tab "Notifications" using the fingerprint scanner

The overall size of the phone isn't huge, but the Samsung Galaxy S8 offers a noticeable screen real estate. There are so many panels that it will be difficult for you to reach the top of the screen when you hold your smartphone with one hand. This does not mean that the drop-down "Notifications" tab is out of reach, however.

Instead, you can enable gesture control on the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. This allows you to slide down the notification window by swiping down on the biometric sensor without having to drag across the screen.

To activate this function, you need to go to Settings - Additional functions - Fingerprint scanner and enable the option of the same name.

2. Customize the Edge panel

Those curved edges of the stunning Super AMOLED display on the Samsung Galaxy S8 are more than just eye-catching features. They hide a ton of features and functions, as well as shortcuts to all your favorite apps and contacts.

To access them, drag the tab on the right edge of the screen. It will open shortcuts to the most frequently used applications. Swipe again to see your favorite contacts, while another swipe reveals a selection of smart features such as taking a screenshot.

On any of these tabs, you can click the settings icon at the bottom of the screen, which allows you to customize the type and amount of content displayed on the tab.

There are over a dozen pre-formed Edge panels to choose from, ranging from traditional weather to sports results, the phone's calendar and compass, and there's also a flashlight function. For those looking for something more, additional panels can be downloaded from the net.

3. Split screen multitasking

Thanks to the new Infinity Display, you have a lot of real estate on the Samsung Galaxy S8, so you'd like to use that real estate for its intended purpose, right? One way is split-screen multitasking, which allows you to run two applications side by side.

Some applications will not work in split screen mode - games will work better in full screen mode - but if you want to view the page in social networkWhether you're working in an email or checking a recipe while measuring out ingredients, you can achieve this with minimal effort.

In order to open applications in this mode, you must first press the "Recent" button at the bottom of the screen. Now open the multitasking tab you will find at already open applications (it looks like two rectangles) this will expand the application to half the screen. After opening the application, you can move or resize it, or you can return to full-screen format.

4. Make unlocking your smartphone more fun

If you're using the Iris iris scanner to automatically unlock your smartphone at the first glance, but that's not enough to make you feel like Iron Man, the following fun S8 feature will help you. You can enable additional overlays on the Iris scanner preview screen to replace the electronic eye circles with graphics that look a little more interesting.

To access this feature, you need to go to Settings - Lock Screen - Security - Iris Scanner - Preview Window Masks. Here you can choose how you want to decorate your eyes, be it the face of a cute bunny, the head of an owl or the Iron Man mask style goggles.

We know what the majority will choose and this is not a cute rabbit.

5. Use Google Assistant

Just because Samsung's assistant is not yet ready for voice control in Russia, you shouldn't lose voice control. Thanks to the new Android, the Samsung Galaxy S8 gets Google Assistant right out of the box.

It allows you to perform tasks, access some functions, search online, requiring only voice commands, Google Assistant is available with a long press on the home button of your smartphone.

You must set up the assistant before using it for the first time to teach it your voice, but when you're done, you can execute any voice commands with a simple “Ok, Google” prefix.

Fingerprint scanner, iris scanner, face scanner. The Samsung Galaxy S8 is chock full of biometric security measures. There is also a traditional PIN, pattern and password option to help you unlock your smartphone. But what if the smartphone is smart enough to automatically unlock the device when it realizes it is in a safe place?

This is where the Smart Lock feature on the S8 comes into play, which lets you set your phone to unlock automatically in certain situations, such as when you're at home or on your home Wi-Fi network.

To activate, you need to go to Settings - Lock screen and security - Smart Lock. Here you can select the criteria based on which the smartphone will unlock itself, for example, when it is in the vicinity of smart samsung watch Gear S3 or in a car.

7. Take advantage of the Pro camera features

The 12MP camera on the Samsung Galaxy S8 is brilliant. The f / 1.7 aperture, phase-detection auto focus and optical image stabilization are all great for capturing stunning shots when you shoot in auto.

But the capabilities of this camera go much deeper, and you can customize everything based on your individual needs in Pro mode.
In the Camera app, swipe from the left side of the screen to open shooting modes, including Panorama, Rapid, and even Hyperlapse. Choosing the “Pro” option, however, will give you complete control over the built-in functions of your phone.

This is where you can tweak everything from passport settings for OIS to camera shutter speed, exposure, and white balance. You can also adjust the camera exposure levels to find a specific shot, ensuring a balanced shot regardless of the surrounding conditions.

8. Make the screen friendly to one hand

The large screen area is a great feature from a visual point of view. But it can become unnecessarily cumbersome when attempting to operate with one hand. Fortunately, Samsung has thought about this and gave the Galaxy S8 some one-handed operation.
You can make the content of the screen more compact by activating the one-handed operation mode by swiping up diagonally from any (bottom) corner of the phone, or you can press the Home button three times, quickly.

However, in order to invoke the mode in any of the above ways, you must first activate the function. You can do this by going to Settings\u003e Advanced Features\u003e One-handed Mode.

9. Turn on phone rescue mode

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is not just a phone that all your mates will want to look at once you get it out of your pocket, it is also a device that could ultimately save your life. To do this, you need to enable the SOS Messages function.
To enable this feature, you need to go to Settings\u003e Advanced Features\u003e Send SOS Messages, then toggle the option to On.

After you set up an emergency contact, triple-pressing the phone's power button at any time will automatically send an SOS message to that contact, alerting you of the incident and requesting help.

You can improve this option, which is not limited to the standard alert, for example by attaching a GPS location.

You can also choose, for example, to connect images to the message, which are received from the front and main cameras of the phone, or you can send 5 seconds of sound recording.

10. Reconfigure the programmable keys

Android softkeys are a subjective decision. Some love them, others hate them, and while many argue that the Back button should be on the left instead of the Multitasking (Recents) button, others believe that it should be on the right. Well, luckily, the Galaxy S8 lets you make your own choices.

Regardless of your preferred settings, be it "Recents - Home - Back" or "Back - Home - Recent", you can customize the layout of the phone keys according to your needs, just go to Settings - Display - Navigation bar - Button layout and then make your choice.

Among other things, you can adjust the sensitivity of the control keys and even assign a new background color to the soft buttons to make them stand out better, fit into the theme, and so on. Do you like pink buttons?