In Review: Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is the Android phone you want if you like big and tall smartphones. It has an amazing display, great camera and slick software that should make you forget about the awkwardly placed fingerprint scanner and the half-bake Bixby assistant.

What’s remarkable is that the elegantly curved screen has dramatically grown half an inch from last year’s 5.7-inch Galaxy S7 Edge, yet the phone is nearly the same size. It’s just a bit taller thanks to the elimination of needless bezel and Samsung’s familiar oval-shaped home button.

Moreover, owning this new Android means you’re upgrading to the most cutting-edge, VR-ready smartphone available. Having the absolute best camera and best display matter to you.

It’s a glimpse of the future and, in a twist of fate for Samsung vs Apple, a lot of what we expect from the iPhone 8 based on recent leaks and speculation. In 2017, Samsung continues to be the smartphone trend setter.

Obviously, the Galaxy S8 Plus isn’t the perfect phone for everyone, and for more reasons than ‘it’s too tall for people with small hands.’ Having no physical home button is going to be a deal-breaker for some Samsung fans and their muscle memory.

Ironically for such a futuristic phone, the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor on the S8 Plus is stuck in the past. Accessing this off-center scanner is impractical, and Samsung’s new face-recognition unlock feature just doesn’t work well. Meanwhile the company’s much-touted, but ultimately delayed Bixby voice assistant is no-show.

In addition to investing lot of money in the Galaxy S8 Plus you’re also going to have to invest a little trust into Samsung following all of those Galaxy Note 7 battery fires. This big phone sees a big price increase, and the Samsung brand requires you to make a leap of faith.

Samsung nails that balance (a bigger screen yet easy to hold) with its nearly bezel-less front face. It once again eliminates the left and right borders with a gently curved screen, and now nearly erases the top and bottom bezels too.

It’s a neat trick. You’re getting an ‘all-screen’ phone – or what Samsung calls its ‘Infinity Display’ – that gives you more screen real estate without significantly increasing the size of the device.

Samsung Glaxy S8 Measures

It measures 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1mm and weighs 173g. That’s taller than the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and even the Note 7, but not by much. And get this: the iPhone 7 Plus with its smaller 5.5-inch screen is just a millimeter shorter and actually wider and heavier than the S8 Plus. Touching the top corners of the display requires two hands, or extreme juggling with one hand. This phone isn’t going to be easy for anyone moving from a 4.7-inch or 5.1-inch screen.

The same goes for the now-understated rear camera design, and the S-A-M-S-U-N-G logo no longer adorning the top of the screen and staring back at you every single second you use your phone; the logo is now on the back, and everything is a lot cleaner that way.

Samsung has eliminated the ugly rear camera bump, and simply outlines the flat lens with a tiny lip. We’re in favor of this decision – a protective camera lip may save your camera if you do happen to drop it and crack the back glass. We’ve found out the hard way that the bump-free, unprotected Google Pixel XL will spiderweb when just about any part of the back glass shatters, rendering your main camera useless.

You’re once again protected against the elements, too. Samsung’s phone has an IP68 rating to make it dust- and water-resistant. It can survive 1.5m underwater for 30 minutes – you can probably take it deeper, although we don’t suggest testing your luck or your warranty.

The bottom frame of the phone has something new, something old and something ancient: Samsung has finally switched over to the fully reversible USB-C port for charging and data transfer, replacing the non-reversible micro USB port. You can now plug in your phone in the dark.

Samsung keeps the old-fashioned 3.5mm headphone jack, dismissing early rumors that its new phone would eliminate this still-widely-used port in favor of USB-C audio. The company even includes high-end AKG-branded earbuds in the box for clearer audio.

What’s ancient is the single speaker at the bottom, and we’re disappointed to see it. It’s easy to accidentally cover up the grille when watching YouTube videos in landscape mode, and really, when Apple is beating you to something with the iPhone 7, you know there’s a problem.

The bottom frame of the phone has something new, something old and something ancient: Samsung has finally switched over to the fully reversible USB-C port for charging and data transfer, replacing the non-reversible micro USB port. You can now plug in your phone in the dark.

Samsung keeps the old-fashioned 3.5mm headphone jack, dismissing early rumors that its new phone would eliminate this still-widely-used port in favor of USB-C audio. The company even includes high-end AKG-branded earbuds in the box for clearer audio.

What’s ancient is the single speaker at the bottom, and we’re disappointed to see it. It’s easy to accidentally cover up the grille when watching YouTube videos in landscape mode, and really, when Apple is beating you to something with the iPhone 7, you know there’s a problem.

Sure, on-screen buttons aren’t a big deal for non-Samsung Android owners. They’ve been used on LG, Google and Motorola phones for years, just to name a few. And now you can swap the ‘back’ and ‘recent’ keys if you’d like. You’ll get used to their disappearing and reappearing act when watching a movie that takes up the entire screen.

However, Samsung fans – and everyone else, really – will be tripped up when it comes to the oddly-placed fingerprint sensor. It’s now on the back of the phone, and in an off-center location next to the camera lens. It’s hard to reach, and you’ll often mistake the camera lens for the sensor. Smudge, smudge, smudge. “Why are my pictures so blurry?”

The biggest mistake Samsung has made here is placing this scanner to the right of the camera lens, meaning the majority right-handed users who hold their phone in their non-dominant left hand (to do other things like open doors and of course not drive) are going to have an extra-difficult time unlocking their phone.