Galaxy s8 slow motion. Samsung GALAXY S8: How to turn photography into endless fun. New camera app

Photos in the interior

Specifications

Android 7, Samsung Experience 8.1
Display S8 - 5.8 "(146.5mm) Quad HD + (2960x1440), 570 ppi, auto dimming, SuperAMOLED, adaptive color and brightness control, 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 3000mAh (S8), 3500mAh (S8 +), built-in WPC / PMA wireless charging, 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 simultaneously listen 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 charging charger with USB Type C cable
Clip for removing the SIM card tray
AKG Wired Stereo Headset
OTG adapter for connecting 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 the situation with the Note 7, which was removed from the market, unwittingly helped them. 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 believes this positioning is 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 on the part of 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 along with the change in the ruble exchange rate.

In terms of the market, 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 out on this chassis, but the next bright device on it will be the Note 8, other models will receive only 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 just 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 change 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 be on 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 the device unlocking 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 the case it turns into flour. Another thing is that you can configure face recognition (do not 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 the initial setting. 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 does not work out very well, it does not recognize its master in you. Another problem is the dark time of day, here recognition does not always happen instantly, but even in a cap or other headgear, the phone recognizes you.

In most cases, recognition occurs instantly, although, comparing with a fingerprint sensor, I must say 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 other things being equal, these devices behave better than the same iPhone, which is distinguished by increased fragility of glass upon impact.

Just like in previous devices, the 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 combo, 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 control 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 in order 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 light 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, you almost never need them. 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 a 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 luxurious 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 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 AlwaysOn Display mode, a clock or 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 the 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 put 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 case, 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 for an average of one and a half days with 4 hours of screen operation (backlight 60%, automatic brightness), heavy data transfer load and also ran various tests that 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

RAM 4 GB (Chinese version 6 GB), built-in memory 64 GB, and memory cards are supported up to 256 GB. 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. Worldwide, 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 models on the market with UFS 2.1 (LG V20, Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design), they show very high operating speed on Android 7. That in reality reduces the loading 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 can hardly ever show me these problems in practice. This stereotype is tenacious, but 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 a smartphone has support for Bluetooth 5.0, 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 network MegaFon, the real speed that was obtained when downloading files was 430 Mbit / s (the theoretical limit is 450 Mbit / s). 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 Wi-Fi improvements, 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 your child a phone 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 other 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, 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 should be sought in the fact that the eights for the first time use 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 images, 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. The S8 / S8 Plus has one of the best mobile cameras 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 appeared. This is not just broadcasting the contents of the phone screen to an external monitor, but a redesigned interface, in particular, support for MS Office, Adobe mobile applications, for example, Adobe Lightroom Mobile, has been added here. These applications are completely redesigned for large screens, and so far it is only available for flagships from Samsung, but I am sure that later it will appear on a bunch of other devices from 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 our 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, in the current reincarnation, the performance of phones is clearly not enough, 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 conditionally 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 on 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 - you can take any kind of screenshots, record small GIFs from the screen, cut out 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, it is very similar to how the 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 one hundred dollars / euro, these are top-end plugs. Having tried these headphones, I can say that the game is reaching a new level for flagships, I wonder what Apple will answer and whether they will change their standard earPods for the new iPhones. If they ignore it, it will be sad, since AKG tears them up in quality, like Tuzik a 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 describe in detail about these devices based on my rich experience.

Impression

There are no complaints about the sound quality and the volume of the call to the device, 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.

As well as during the transition from S7 EDGE to Note 7, one could not say that these are completely different devices technically, but in life they were perceived very differently, and 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 battery charging, 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.

There is only one company on the Android market that managed to prepare its answer, but was in a hurry, of course, we are talking about the LG G6. This device is built on Snapdragon 821 (the chipset of the previous generation, not for the flagship), it has worse sound and worse headphones by default, it is rather awkward in the hand, it is not perceived as easily as S8 | S8 +, but the main thing is that for it want about the same 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 think the price is adequate. Those interested will be able to buy Galaxy S8 in May-June on the gray market, the price will differ by 10-15% in the lower direction (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 with a software update, but I recommend checking the devices 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 describing the flagships from Samsung, 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.

At the spring presentation, the Samsung Galaxy S8 camera received very little attention - it is technically almost the same as in the previous generation of the smartphone. Except that the exterior was updated by sinking the module into the back. However, image processing and software have improved, and the next flagship is back with one of the most advanced cameras on the market. What the S8 shows in practice - below with examples of photos.

Samsung Galaxy S8

Camera specifications

Shooting quality

Positioning on the official website and reality coincide: thanks to the combination of a 12 megapixel matrix with enlarged 1.4 micron pixels and a high-aperture lens F / 1.7, images are clear and detailed even in low light.

Focusing plays an important role in this. As in the S7, Dual Pixel Hybrid AF technology is supported, in which each pixel is equipped with focal sensors. The DxOMark edition recognized the autofocus of our ward as one of the fastest among the tested ones, and they test all hype smartphones. And those who compared the Galaxy S8 to the iPhone 7 Plus note the latter's unconditional surrender on AF's work.

Photos have good exposure, accurate white balance and low noise in any light. Thanks to the powerful noise reduction, the skin in the photo is smoother, but there is also a downside. Small details can be blurred, frames come out less sharp than we would like.

As a feature of the camera, multi-frame shooting is presented, combining several frames into one. There is auto HDR, but with a slight nuance: in this mode, the pictures are slightly overexposed and with insufficiently contrasting dark areas.

The video can be commended for color reproduction, improved stabilization and tenacious tracking focus, but noise is noticeable in low light.

In general, everything is cool, but not without a fly in the ointment.

Modes

There are eight preset modes: Auto, Pro, Panorama, Selective focus, Slow motion, Hyperlapse, Food, Virtual shooting. But you can download several additional add-ons from the branded application store.

As a camera chip, the selective focus mode is positioned, in which you can save a frame with a near, far or panoramic focus. However, according to reviews, it does not always work correctly, blurring the background sometimes turns out to be unnatural.

But by using manual focus in Pro mode, you can capture great shots with a shallow depth of field. Here, the blur is fine - the frames are obtained with gorgeous bokeh and a clear subject in focus.

To effectively blur the background around a beautiful food shot close by, the Food mode is highlighted separately. In it, culinary masterpieces are clearer and brighter than in Auto.

From the unusual, in comparison with cameras of smartphones of other brands, the list of modes includes Virtual shooting. The object is captured from all sides, and then it can be viewed by scrolling the resulting image. Like a circular panorama, only on the contrary - not around itself, but around the object.

The movie mode has rich settings, including manually setting the shutter speed and ISO value. But some features are limited: when shooting at Full HD 60 fps or higher, HDR and focus tracking are not available. Not all resolutions work with digital image stabilization and parallel photography.

Camera app interface

The application launches instantly: conveniently, the camera includes a double press on the power button on the body. It's very easy to use - everything is intuitive, nothing more. Swipe up on the screen to switch to the front camera. Swiping to the left brings up Shooting modes, and to the right brings up filters and new cartoon stickers.

One of the main features of the interface is that by moving the shutter button you can zoom in or out on the subject. However, in practice this option is not convenient for everyone. But what is definitely convenient is the ability to release the shutter by voice and drag the shutter button across the screen in some modes.

In full resolution, the frame is taken with an aspect ratio of 4: 3 and on an elongated 18.5: 9 screen it is obtained with thick black borders on the sides. Therefore, a choice of 16: 9 ratio or a frame according to the format of the display itself appeared, which are achieved by cropping the frame and, accordingly, reducing the resolution.

Another feature is the camera integration with the smart assistant or the Bixby Vision feature. By pointing the camera at an object, it finds similar images on the Web, but so far it works no better than giving out similar images in a Google image search. The assistant finds a lot of nonsense that matches the color and shape of what the camera sees

A little about the front camera

The front-facing camera is more seriously updated in comparison with the S7. Instead of 5 megapixels, there is now an 8 megapixel matrix, there is intelligent autofocus with face detection. What's more: Uses a wide f / 1.7 aperture lens, supports panning wide-angle selfies, and Snapchat-like masks.

The quality of shooting with the front camera can be described as normal: no complaints, no enthusiasm.

Total

Samsung has made its strong point what the competitors are weak in: fast and tenacious autofocus, bokeh (even without an additional module), excellent photo quality with minimal noise in poor light. The main thing to find fault with the Samsung Galaxy S8 camera is that it has improved slightly compared to last year's model. You will find a comparison of S7 and S8. But, despite this and small flaws, the device can be considered one of the best in 2017 for shooting in any light.

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, one 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!

For the rest - 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 operating speed. Because we don't have to talk about it for a while - due to a shortage in the supply of Snapdragon 835 and some bureaucracy, the XZ Premium will only go on sale 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”, they “nailed” it to a separate key and replaced 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 model, Samsung for the first time introduced the stupid, as time has shown, voice assistant S-Voice and multiple windows to resemble a computer (and in the S8 "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 is 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 size of the case, and even in the quality of 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 up to 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?

Hello! Today we're taking a look at the Samsung Galaxy S8. Samsung has special attention to the flagships this year, the Note 7 managed to tarnish its reputation, but despite this, the company remains one of the market leaders. Or maybe it was the story with the Note 7 that led to a keen desire to do something impressive. When you look at the Galaxy S8, you can't get rid of emotions.

Screen

The screen is the main feature of the flagship, it occupies a little less than 84% of the front of the smartphone and you can safely be sure that this is the near future of the entire industry. Samsung themselves call it an infinite display, I must say to the point, although the same Xiaomi Mi Mix has the same 84% screen. Manufacturers are positioning this as a revolution or a breakthrough. Looks really good in fact, the idea of \u200b\u200bcurved displays is brought to mind.

Technical part

Matrix proprietary Super AMOLED, with support for premium HDR technology, with a resolution of 2960x1440 pixels, and an aspect ratio of 18.5 by 9.

The screen is very juicy, you can customize it for yourself. It is clear that this is, if not the best display on the market, then at least one of the.

Protection

Gorilla Glass 5, and display sizes 5.8 or 6.2 inches. The two flagships differ only in diagonal and battery capacity, in all other respects, complete equality.

Naturally, the most curious thing here is that with a diagonal of 6.2, the Galaxy S8 plus is smaller than the iPhone 7 plus, which has a 5.5-inch screen, except that the Samsung smartphone is slightly higher.

Another innovation for Samsung is the onscreen buttons. At the same time, the "home" key remained, it is located directly under the screen, and a real-press simulation technology was added for it, similar to the Taptic Engine in the iPhone 7.

Why would you ask to press the home button by pressing hard on the touchscreen? First, in this way you can exit any application without pulling out the on-screen buttons. Second, this is how you can turn on the screen when it is off. Third, a double click opens the camera.

Where is the fingerprint scanner?

Where is the fingerprint scanner? He moved to the back of the camera, it is not at all convenient to use it, and on the S8 plus it is completely impossible, the fingers simply do not reach. And if you are also left-handed ... In general, it is extremely awkwardly done. But Samsung says that the fingerprint scanner has been replaced by a retina scanner and face recognition. In the first case, it is reliable, but it does not work too fast. And in the second, you can easily get around, for example with your photo. Therefore, the fingerprint scanner remains the best solution so far.

What else is there on the case? At the top, there is a hybrid tray. The power key remains on the right side. On the left is the volume rocker and suddenly another button that is responsible for launching Samsung's own voice assistant. There is no point in talking about it today, since it does not work in Russian and you cannot reassign the application to the button.

At the bottom, the USB Type-C connector, 3.5 mm headphone jack and speaker are located asymmetrically.

Sound

The sound here is not stereo, but quite loud and clear, in a word the speaker is good. Many will say thank you for the headphone jack; not everyone supports the trend of abandoning the mini-jack. On the other hand, the display is something of the future and the music of the past.

What's in the box?

The phone even comes with fairly high-quality headphones from AKG, since Samsung recently bought Harman Kardon. But such a promotion does not seem logical, it was necessary to put wireless headphones in the kit right away. Well, the location of the Type-C is not in the center, clearly will not please perfectionists.

The back glass is also Gorilla Glass 5, but the side frame is aluminum.

It is glossy in all versions of the device, which in a gray copy gives the effect of cheapness. Onyx black looks good in color though. But in our case it was necessary to make a matte finish.

Processor and memory

The S8 failed to become the first flagship on Snapdragon 835, the first were Sony. In this version, the S8 will be sold in the United States, Japan and China. But for Europe and Asia, Samsung Exynos 8895 is provided. This option will not be appreciated by everyone, since Samsung often had shortcomings in proprietary processors.

Samsung stopped chasing after the amount of memory, so both models received 4 gigabytes of RAM, which seems to be enough. But the phone runs on par with the Galaxy S7, or even a little slower. Although you need to watch.

Tests

At the same time, synthetics show probably the best results on the market, 174,964 AnTuTu points and 6617/2110 in Geekbench 4.

As for the built-in memory, they saved here, there is only a 64 gigabyte version. But the slot for memory cards was left, you can always expand.

Camera

The Korean company did not spend this year on cameras either, leaving a 12 megapixel sensor on both models. There is no option with a dual main camera, and it's a pity, because it is from Samsung that we usually expect breakthroughs, although is this a breakthrough in the iPhone, the question is?

The photos are on the same level as the Galaxy S7, with two nice but! No distortion that everyone complained about and no serious oversharping. Now the picture is obtained quite clearly and at the same time not too tightly compressed.

The front camera is 8 megapixels, everything is fine, improvements and additions have appeared in the application. For example masks, as well as the integration of the Bigsby voice assistant.

Samsung Galaxy S8 sample photos

Samsung Galaxy S8 HDR Mode Example (Off / Auto / On)

Battery

Despite the huge display, the battery is not large at all, 3000mAh for the S8 and 3500mAh for the S8 plus. There is fast wireless charging. By the way, you will have to buy additional equipment for wireless separately.

When it comes to battery reliability, Samsung now has a whole department testing them, something that other brands clearly cannot boast of. But others have not yet exploded smartphones so massively. Although here it is worth paying tribute to the engineers, the S8 has about 5 hours of screen time, while the S8 plus has about 6, quite a result.

operating system

Galaxy S8 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with a proprietary shell. Until the end of May, they promise an update to Android 7.1.1, where instead of Bigsby it will be possible to enable Google Assistant.

What's interesting about the system? The launcher is now similar to what we saw in the Google Pixel, you can open all applications with a swipe up or down. It's great that you can also swap the navigation bar buttons. Otherwise, this is the familiar Grace UX.

The phone is protected from water and dust according to the IP68 standard. If it suddenly lights up, you can always put it out by throwing it into the toilet or bathroom, for example.

Bluetooth 5.0

Another cool thing about the Galaxy S8 is the first smartphone with bluetooth 5.0. What can you do about it? You can connect two headsets or speakers at the same time, this is really cool.

Are there phantom clicks?

And the last thing. Are there phantom clicks? This is important! It's clear that Samsung has done some work on the curved display, once again so that such problems will no longer exist. And it really got better, but there are still phantom clicks, albeit quite rarely.

Prices in Russia

Galaxy S8: 54,990 rubles. Galaxy S8 plus: 59,990 rubles.

Colors

Colors: black diamond, mystical amethyst and yellow topaz. In the USA, for example, there will be additionally blue and silver.

How does the S8 impress you?

How does the S8 impress you? Quite twofold, in fact. The screen is certainly very good, it looks cool, there is no other word for it. After S8, you take any phone in your hand and think: what kind of old stuff ?! This is roughly how the iPhone 4 felt when I already held the iPhone 5.

On the other hand, no revolution in the cell. We did not receive a metal case, and the fingerprint scanner, a separate topic, is inconvenient for everyone. In addition, the Galaxy S8 is far from Pure Android, which Google installs in its device. It works well, but not perfect, not fast, although it is absolutely necessary to wait for updates. And again, you need to wait for something. Despite everything, the number of pre-orders in Russia beats last year's records, almost by an order of magnitude!

Eventually

The S8 will remain the main event of 2017 unless Google and Apple retaliate. And knowing Apple, we can expect a new iPhone with the S prefix, with minor changes.

Samsung, with its typical Korean vision, is once again becoming a trendsetter.

I have been using the Samsung Galaxy S8 as my main smartphone for two weeks now. In addition to a bunch of new chips in it, they updated the front camera.

And they updated it very strongly - so much so that it is worthy of a separate article.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and its awesome front camera

The front camera in the Samsung Galaxy S8 evolved from the Samsung Galaxy S7 camera: it was good, it became just fine. But first about what has not changed.

Used by wide angle lens, which seems to move you away from the camera and makes group selfies much easier than on an iPhone. The aperture, as before, is f / 1.7 instead of f / 2.2 in the iPhone 7 Plus, that is, much more light is passed into the sensor.

Because of this, pictures in the dark come out clear, noticeably less noise and artifacts. See for yourself.

Well, now to the upgrades.

In the front of the Galaxy S8 added pixels - 8 megapixels versus 5 megapixels in the Galaxy S7. From a purely technical point of view, this gives sharper pictures in the same conditions, and even allows you to crop the photo more, keeping its quality high.

Portraits of Samsung Galaxy S8 makes cool, agree. Even if you don't believe me, the pictures will say everything for me. The complexion is natural, the teeth are white, the hair is well developed - there is no emphasis on the yellowness that the iPhone loves so much. The pictures are rich and sharp, the latter can be adjusted: for example, soften the skin tone!

Photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S8

But the main trump card of the front-facing Samsung Galaxy S8 is autofocus .

It works as fast as on the main camera. Automatically focuses on all faces in the frame, so you almost never need to press the display.

It's straight bomb... Autofocus oh, how not enough on the iPhone, because of this, almost all selfies are blurry from a more or less close distance. I think optical stabilization will appear in the next generation - and happiness will come.

The selfie camera in the Samsung Galaxy S8 has some other tricks.

For example, you can take pictures using a heart rate monitor... Just turn on the camera and touch the sensor with your finger - it's on the back, near the camera. This is if it is inconvenient to poke at the screen. The method has one minus - the finger gets on the camera and stains it. We'll have to periodically wipe it.

As with the iPhone, I do not advise you to take pictures with the volume button - pictures often come out blurry.

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Photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S8

In addition, all selfies are retouched while shooting. Before you take a picture, you can "photoshop" yourself in advance: for the sake of a joke, make huge eyes, well, and correct your face tone.

Photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S8

There is a super-wide mode here, a la panorama. While shooting, you tilt your smartphone left and right, you get a panoramic self-portrait. Selective focus lets you take selfies with cool bokeh - similar to Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus.

And the last thing. Appeared mask stickers: animated, with and without sound. You can apply text, filters, effects to the picture.

Post from site (@ site) May 30 2017 at 9:46 PDT

We naturally check it out... But alas, we are not so pretty. Although we tried very hard.

Stickers really rule, especially in the hands of other people. You give them a Samsung Galaxy S8, they snap themselves with funny faces, then all this is saved in memory. And you, of course, do not post this to your instagram, marking them so that it was discouraging;))
Total. The Samsung Galaxy S8 has a front camera that:
shoots brighter and sharper than iPhone 7

perfectly shoots in even in the dark

super wide selfies rule, especially with a crowd

mask stickers blow up any party)

Now iPhone 7 Plus. And his 3 year old cell

The front camera in the iPhone 7 Plus hasn't changed much from previous generations. The lens angle is still small, you look close in the photo. You must either have long arms or carry a selfie stick with you. Especially if you decide to take a joint photo with your friends.

The number of megapixels in the iPhone 7 Plus has grown from 5 to 7 megapixels. The aperture remains the same - f / 2.2. The pictures are good in good lighting, but in the evening noises come out, the background turns to mush.

This is no longer an outstanding result, and its lacks in any restaurant: the now fashionable yellow decorative lamps and dim light from a pretty photo make a set of pixels, each of which can be counted on the fingers.

Photo taken with iPhone 7 Plus

To somehow iron out this jamb, Apple offered Retina Flash. It adjusts to ambient light to reproduce natural skin tones. With her, the photos are bright, perhaps slightly blurry. Well, not everyone likes the flash itself.
Reality: Selfies on the iPhone 7 Plus are not far from the 6s Plus and are merged into the Samsung Galaxy S8.
The pictures became clearer, but the problems of the predecessor remained. It's weird that Apple is missing out on the front camera. But while they are thinking, Samsung is doing it. And other competitors do not sleep.

Rumor has it that the iPhone 8 is waiting for dramatic changes, but it seems that it will just catch up with the competitor.

What is the bottom line. Although stop, you already know everything

I'll have to confess. If you are into the topic of modern mobile cameras, then you knew the result of this article in advance. Apple has remained on the sidelines of advances in camera quality, and another example is above.