Samsung Galaxy S8 full review: at HK$5,698 it’s pricey but there’s a lot to like, from its feel to its look to its processing power
WITH VIDEO: Comfortable curves and a bezel-less, all-screen look are impressive, and an iris-scan unlock feature is no gimmick, but the rear fingerprint reader could be problematic for users
After last autumn’s exploding Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, Samsung needs the Galaxy S8 to be not just great, but stunning. After five days of using the phone, I think it has accomplished that goal – but is the phone worth its hefty price tag? Hong Kong prices have yet to be confirmed ahead of the launch of the S8 and its big brother the Galaxy S8+ on May 25, but the S8 sells for US$750 (HK$5,835) in the US and an S8+ is US$850 there.
(The 5.8-inch screen S8 has a bigger variant named the S8+ with a 6.2 inch screen. Both share the same processor, camera, software and hardware design, with the only differences the size of battery and body dimensions. For simplicity, this review will focus on the S8, but everything mentioned applies to both phones unless otherwise stated.)
Design and hardware
As recently as 2014, Samsung’s Galaxy phones were considered ugly by tech writers and Android diehards. That year’s Galaxy S5 had a tacky plastic back and a clunky build that looked dated compared to models from competitors such as HTC and LG. After the LG G3 took a chunk of the S5’s sales, Samsung went back to the drawing board and came back in 2015 with an elegant new flagship phone crafted of glass and metal, with a dual-curved screen the like of which had never before been seen.
In the two years since then, Samsung has tweaked the design language of the S6, and this year’s Galaxy S8 feels like the culmination of all that fine-tuning: this phone has probably the best designed hardware yet.