Samsung Galaxy S8+ review: Infinity and beyond

18 April 2017
What was once an impossible fantasy - a sketch in someone’s book, a render of an ambitious concept - is now a reality. These are just some thoughts that come to mind holding the Galaxy S8+, the big and bold next step Samsung took.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • JbI
  • 18 Apr 2017

Aspros, 18 Apr 2017What matters the most is WiFi browsing and that defintly fu... moreYet, GSMArean didn't test it (the battery life is tested in 16:9 environments) which is exactly my point. Had they tested it in a typical use case you'd get battery life in mid 70s ... quite far less than last year.

Point is that when one company makes the screen bigger they should also put a bigger battery else battery life suffers. That's exactly what happened with S8+ . Last year with the full screen lit it was 90 hours, this year with 3/4ths lit is 88h ... that's quite a step back, no two ways about it.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • mrx
    • 18 Apr 2017

    Anonymous, 18 Apr 2017It is happening only in Korea so farNot so: I've seen a pink-tinted S8+ on display in a shop in the UK, and can confirm that I couldn't eliminate it using the colour sliders or display mode, though I could make it less visible.

    Just because a report says that customers in Korea are complaining doesn't mean they are the only ones affected, just that they got the devices earlier.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • nC3
      • 18 Apr 2017

      Anonymous, 18 Apr 2017I don't get why peripheral vision is not useful though. I f... more4:3 is not a square, it is wider horizontally. And it perfectly fulfills the periphery.
      http://www.brayebrookobservatory.org/BrayObsWebSite/HOMEPAGE/PageMill_Resources/AFOV/pfov.jpg
      The 16:9 is too wide from the same standpoint, which makes it's edges useless.
      The film standard is widescreen mostly because it was inefficient to place seats to fit the 4:3 movie screen, but with widescreen, they can place more seats horizontally.

      The 16:9 monitors are nonsense anyway. For example all websites are vertically scrolling. It's much easier to read short line texts aligned vertically than long lines horizontally. That's why the text on A4 documents are vertical, not horizontal.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • mrx
        • 18 Apr 2017

        Anonymous, 18 Apr 20174:3 is much better than 16:9 in every way, because the usab... moreActually movies were always shot wider than 4:3, they just cropped them for TV.

        And would you really want to hold a 4:3 phone?

          Anonymous, 18 Apr 2017The battery is actually quite less. Keep in mind that durin... moreWhat matters the most is WiFi browsing and that defintly fully uses the entire screen estate and clearly improved as stated by all sites!

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • JbI
            • 18 Apr 2017

            AnonD-39937, 18 Apr 2017So the 835 is 95% the same as 835 in terms of performance a... moreThe battery is actually quite less. Keep in mind that during the GSMArena test only 3/4th of ths screen was lit.

            If they had made their test to have the full screen lit then S8 would get about 10 hours less battery life than S7. A definite step back.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • JbI
              • 18 Apr 2017

              Anonymous, 18 Apr 2017You're just talking about the peripheral vision. That's why... moreI don't get why peripheral vision is not useful though. I feel much more immersed in widescreen movies because my periphery is filled too. Sure the action should take place in the central 4:3 frame, but having things happening in the periphery is better than not. I welcome widescreen format for that very reason.

              Samsung of course went too far and it's mostly a parody at this point. I think 17:9 is the most you can realistically do before making the screen/scenes way too awkward looking.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • nC3
                • 18 Apr 2017

                AnonD-483897, 18 Apr 2017835 "95%" same as 835?I think he meant

                "835 is 95% the same as 820"

                  • D
                  • AnonD-483897
                  • gM$
                  • 18 Apr 2017

                  AnonD-39937, 18 Apr 2017So the 835 is 95% the same as 835 in terms of performance a... more835 "95%" same as 835?

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                    • AnonD-39937
                    • gCq
                    • 18 Apr 2017

                    So the 835 is 95% the same as 835 in terms of performance and should be more "efficient"...But the battery life is similar to last generation...This sounds like missusage of hardware...A battery which lasted 50% more would have been better than a curved screen with weird too tall screen (which is hard to handle, I used it for a day).

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • nC3
                      • 18 Apr 2017

                      Anonymous, 18 Apr 2017Problem is that people have two eyes, which means that our ... moreYou're just talking about the peripheral vision. That's why I said that the useful field of view of the human eye is the closest to the 4:3.

                        • D
                        • AnonD-483897
                        • gM$
                        • 18 Apr 2017

                        Tann Hauser, 18 Apr 2017Am I not spot on with my deleted comment in any way? Batt... moreLOL, a rare seen Sony fanboy.

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                          • AlienNextDoor
                          • JK1
                          • 18 Apr 2017

                          Anonymous, 18 Apr 20174:3 is much better than 16:9 in every way, because the usab... moreDont't give me that "human eye can only see" crap.

                          The reason why the aspect ratio sucks is black bars.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • LQw
                            • 18 Apr 2017

                            Anonymous, 18 Apr 2017Why GSMArena didn't check out the reddish tint of the S8 di... moreIt is happening only in Korea so far

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • LQw
                              • 18 Apr 2017

                              Anonymous, 18 Apr 2017Even with only 3/4th of the screen used (during the test) i... moreProfits?

                              OEMs can give same battery life while spending less money. Then they charge more for same bsttery size.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • JbI
                                • 18 Apr 2017

                                Anonymous, 18 Apr 2017Why GSMArena didn't check out the reddish tint of the S8 di... moreReviews are mostly ready days before NDA is lifted, so they didn't know about the red tint issue back then. Also bad reviews tend to stop companies from sending you samples, so they have to be mostly positive if they want to keep reviewing Samsung products.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 0Iw
                                  • 18 Apr 2017

                                  Battery test is rigged. They perform it with FULL HD screen instead of original resolution like S7 Edge. Real results are much lower.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • JbI
                                    • 18 Apr 2017

                                    Anonymous, 18 Apr 20174:3 is much better than 16:9 in every way, because the usab... moreProblem is that people have two eyes, which means that our total view is wider than it is tall.

                                    If you close one eye you can get a 4:3 screen fill your field of view, if you keep both open then you need something like 1.89:1 screen to fill your view. Which is why the film standard is right around that mark. So neither 16:9 , nor of course Samsung's ultra wide screen are ideal.

                                    Only Xiaomi came close by using 17:9.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • nC3
                                      • 18 Apr 2017

                                      Why GSMArena didn't check out the reddish tint of the S8 display? The article about red tint of S8 has appeared hours before this review.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • JbI
                                        • 18 Apr 2017

                                        monsterduc1000, 18 Apr 2017Barely better than the OnePlus 3t and actually loses out in... moreIt's actually decimated in day to day performance even if heavy encoding takes place (where the higher power cpu plays a role): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX4JucpvbJM

                                        Ram matters much more than SoC in say to day performance.