Galaxy A8 Plus is a top-of-the-line mid-range offering from Samsung. It is a refresh of the older Galaxy A8 lineup after a long gap. We used Galaxy A8+ for over a week and we want to share our experience. Our handset was a review unit so there might be a slight difference in the retail unit though. The official Samsung Galaxy A8 Plus price in Nepal is Rs 59,990. This is the reason why it is in the upper price segment. It’s not only the price, it’s the hardware that is also in the higher-end range.
Galaxy A8 Plus is Samsung’s attempt to bring more premium and top-line features to mid-range in 2018. The phone has a beautiful design like flagship phones with a camera at the back and a fingerprint sensor just below it. The back is curved which makes it easy to hold and use. It is an implementation same as the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8 but with no curved front screen. There is a division between people who like curved screens and those who like flat screens. For now, let us start with specs.
Samsung Galaxy A8 Plus Specifications and Details
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Build and Design
Samsung Galaxy A8 Plus has an aluminum frame with a Gorilla Glass 5 curved back and a flat front. It has a dimension of 159.9 x 75.7 x 8.3 mm and 191g weight. The backside has a main camera and a fingerprint scanner just below it. The front side has a giant screen, blank chin, and forehead with earpiece, dual selfie cameras, and sensors. The volume rocker and SIM card star are on the left side while the power button and speaker grill are on the right side. The USB port and headphone jack are situated at the bottom of the phone.
The speaker is placed on the right side of the phone which is somewhat okay. It is an expensive phone and it would have been amazing to see a stereo system like Galaxy S9 or Galaxy C9 Pro. Maybe next year we will get those goodies.
Core Internal Hardware
Internally on Samsung Galaxy A8 Plus, we are getting an Exynos 7885 chipset with an octa-core processor. The processor has One is a 2.2 GHz dual-core and 1.6 GHz Hexa-core set. GPU is Mali G71 as usual in Exynos systems. Galaxy A8 Plus comes in two storage/memory variants. For RAM there are 4 GB and 6 GB editions and for storage there are 32 and 64 GB editions. We reviewed the 6 GB RAM variant with 64 GB storage. Another one is the 4/32 GB variant, which is somewhat cheaper than the 6/64 GB model of A8+.
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64 GB storage is sufficient for moderate users and with SD card support up to 256 GB, storage is no biggie. Samsung Galaxy A8 Plus is also powered by a 3.9 Volts 3500 mAh battery which can help it run for about 2 days easily on standby. In the overall assessment, Galaxy A8 Plus does have a good process, sufficient memory, and storage with a big battery.
In our benchmarks, we definitely saw huge power improvements. In Multi-core performance, Galaxy A8+ is very near to Galaxy S7. For the compute test, it wins the previous Galaxy S7 which is a very good indication. There is also large headroom due to 6 GB RAM thus tasking is flawless. Games and applications also run without any issues.
Display
Samsung Galaxy A8 Plus has a 6” Super AMOLED screen with 1080×2220 resolution and 18.5:9 aspect ratio. It has Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides and the top glass is 2.5D. The screen is beautiful and bright just like other OLEDs from Samsung. This screen is big and beautiful as it is FHD+ and SAMOLED. There are also features like Always on Display (AOD) which gives a good look when the screen is partially off. In regards to phone usage, some of our readers also reported more than 5-6 hours of screen time. AOD uses a significant battery so to save battery turning it off is better during travel.
Cameras
For the camera, we have a 16 MP sensor with f/1.7 aperture at the back which can only take videos at 1080p max. We are a bit disappointed with it because many phones in that price range and below it give 4K video recording support. For pictures, we do get great-looking, saturated, and vivid images at very high resolution. Shutter speed is very fast and there are many modes to enjoy as well. Bixby Vision is available in the camera that we saw in the last two flagship smartphones of Samsung.
In the settings of the back camera, we see HDR and Video Stabilization which is good. Also for this new tall aspect ratio, the Galaxy A8 Plus features an 18.5:9 aspect ratio video recording resolution of 2224×1080. This will look great on mobile as it covers the whole screen and on other 16:9 screens like computers, this can provide a more cinematic look. Features are good as both Pro Mode and Hyperlaspe are available but Slo-mo is missing.
The front camera on the Galaxy A8 Plus is surprisingly dual for the first time in the company’s history. Samsung is providing one 16 MP f/1.9 sensor and another 8 MP f/1.9 sensor. This set can also only record max at 1080p resolution. One of the main benefits of dual cameras is that users get Live Focus from the front camera which looks good like Galaxy Note 8’s back camera. We would have been happy to see dual cameras at the back. But it is what it is. On top of photography, the selfie camera set also helps in Facial recognition which is a plus point. It is quite fast actually, not as fast as the Iris scanner though.
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Features, Impressions, and Analysis
By far the the biggest change we see in Galaxy A8 Plus is the position of the fingerprint scanner. Before this, in all other Samsung smartphones, we had a scanner at the front but now due to the new display, it is at the back. After disliking Galaxy S8’s fingerprint scanner placement, people suggested placing the scanner below the camera instead of the side of the camera. So now the scanner is at a very reachable place below the camera.
Talking about other features, the Galaxy A8 Plus has a game mode, AOD, IP 68 rating, Samsung Pay, and many other features. In this new phone, we also get an alert notification telling the SD card/ SIM slot is not properly inserted or sealed if it is taken out. This helps to ensure that everything is tightly and securely placed. It is to make sure the seals work because Galaxy A8+ is IP68 dust/water resistant.
Overall, we are getting a great screen, powerful processor, huge memory, and storage. Just a little upgrade in the camera’s recording to 4K would have made it amazing. Performance-wise, thing phone is a powerhouse for all media lovers and mobile gamers. We are happy with newer improvements and wish to see this trend keep up with all their other phones.
