Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus - Full phone specifications - Review
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| Samsung galaxy s8 |
The best-looking phone, ever
The Galaxy S8 isn't just a gorgeous Samsung phone — it's the best-looking phone ever built.Most of that is because of the curved display, which covers over 80% of the phone's face. The curve is supposed to give the impression that there are no borders on the screen, which Samsung calls the Infinity Display. (That's a misnomer, though. You can totally see bezels on this thing.)
It's an impressive feat of engineering. At 5.8 inches, the Galaxy S8's screen is larger than the iPhone 7 Plus' screen but packed on a slimmer and more attractive body. The iPhone looks chunky and outdated by comparison. We're getting closer and closer to the dream of having a phone that's all display on the front.
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| The S8 has a bigger screen than the iPhone 7 Plus |
| LAUNCH | Announced | 2017, March |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Available. Released 2017, April |
| BODY | Dimensions | 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm (6.28 x 2.89 x 0.32 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 173 g (6.10 oz) | |
| Build | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 back panel | |
| SIM | Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | |
| - Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified) - IP68 certified - dust/water proof over 1.5 meter and 30 minutes |
| DISPLAY | Type | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 6.2 inches (~84.0% screen-to-body ratio) | |
| Resolution | 1440 x 2960 pixels (~529 ppi pixel density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes | |
| Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | |
| - 3D Touch (home button only) - Always-on display - TouchWiz UI |
| PLATFORM | OS | Android 7.0 (Nougat) |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Exynos 8895 Octa - EMEA Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 - USA & China | |
| CPU | Octa-core (4x2.3 GHz & 4x1.7 GHz) - EMEA Octa-core (4x2.35 GHz Kryo & 4x1.9 GHz Kryo) - USA & China | |
| GPU | Mali-G71 MP20 - EMEA Adreno 540 - USA & China |
| MEMORY | Card slot | microSD, up to 256 GB (dedicated slot) - single-SIM model microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) - dual-SIM model |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | 64 GB, 4 GB RAM or 128 GB, 6 GB RAM |
| CAMERA | Primary | 12 MP, f/1.7, 26mm, phase detection autofocus, OIS, LED flash, check quality |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 1/2.5" sensor size, 1.4 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 9MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, Auto HDR, panorama | |
| Video | 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, HDR, dual-video rec., check quality | |
| Secondary | 8 MP, f/1.7, autofocus, 1440p@30fps, dual video call, Auto HDR |
| SOUND | Alert types | Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones |
|---|---|---|
| Loudspeaker | Yes | |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes | |
| - 32-bit/384kHz audio - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic |
| COMMS | WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
|---|---|---|
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | |
| NFC | Yes | |
| Radio | No | |
| USB | 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector |
| FEATURES | Sensors | Iris scanner, fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2 |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM | |
| Browser | HTML5 | |
| Java | No | |
| - Samsung DeX (desktop experience support) - Fast battery charging (Quick Charge 2.0) - Qi/PMA wireless charging (market dependent) - ANT+ support - S-Voice natural language commands and dictation - MP4/DivX/XviD/H.265 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/FLAC player - Photo/video editor - Document editor |
| BATTERY | Non-removable Li-Ion 3500 mAh battery |
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| MISC | Colors | Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue, Maple Gold, Rose Pink |
|---|---|---|
| SAR | 0.67 W/kg (head) 0.97 W/kg (body) | |
| SAR EU | 0.27 W/kg (head) 1.00 W/kg (body) | |
| Price | About 700 EUR |
Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.
Software flubs
My big problem with the Galaxy S8 is the same problem I've had with the last few Samsung phones. Although Samsung continues to perfect its hardware and design, it still misfires when it comes to software. Samsung's modifications to Android are too noisy compared with the "clean" version that ships on Google's Pixel phones.Things get even more complicated with the introduction of Bixby, a new Siri/Alexa/Google Assistant rival developed in-house by Samsung. Samsung's ultimate vision for Bixby is for it to control everything on your phone with your voice. Want to adjust the brightness? Ask Bixby. Want to send an email? Connect to a Bluetooth speaker? Beam video to your smart TV? Bixby, in theory, should be able to handle all of it.
But after a disappointing demo of an early version of Bixby, Samsung delayed the voice control features until a software update later this spring. Bixby was clearly too limited and flawed to make a public debut. That's nothing short of an embarrassment, considering Samsung hyped Bixby before announcing the Galaxy S8 and added a dedicated button that launches the assistant to the side of the phone. Now that button does nothing.
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| Bixby vision can identify objects in the real world |
Security snafu
One of the newest ways Samsung is pitching to unlock your phone is also one of the least secure: facial recognition.
Although it works every time and is faster than the fingerprint sensor, it's not as secure as it should be. In fact, someone already was able to fool it with a photo, and the S8 even tells you that it's not foolproof when you activate it.
However, Samsung tells me it has since improved the facial recognition feature with new software. That seems true. I couldn't fool it with an 8x10 photo of myself no matter how hard I tried.
And Samsung says facial recognition was never meant to be totally secure. It's just another way to "open" your device, like the standard swipe-to-unlock feature. But that's not the way Samsung has been pitching it. In fact, it's the first option to "protect your phone" when you set up the device for the first time. This is nothing short of a security blunder. You shouldn't use the facial recognition feature, and Samsung should remove it.
Although it works every time and is faster than the fingerprint sensor, it's not as secure as it should be. In fact, someone already was able to fool it with a photo, and the S8 even tells you that it's not foolproof when you activate it.
However, Samsung tells me it has since improved the facial recognition feature with new software. That seems true. I couldn't fool it with an 8x10 photo of myself no matter how hard I tried.
And Samsung says facial recognition was never meant to be totally secure. It's just another way to "open" your device, like the standard swipe-to-unlock feature. But that's not the way Samsung has been pitching it. In fact, it's the first option to "protect your phone" when you set up the device for the first time. This is nothing short of a security blunder. You shouldn't use the facial recognition feature, and Samsung should remove it.
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