Some of you have noticed the Apple Watch on my wrist recently, and
It's true i got so frustrated with Android's...
Craptastic power management for background tasks, that when i reformatted my Android
daily driver Galaxy S7, and started carrying the iPhone 7 as a stopgap solution, along with
a Lightning-to-three and a half millimeter adapter...
I never went back.
But the iPhone is far from flawless.
Sure, symmetry is beauty but the ergonomics leave a lot to be desired, and iOS works damn
well these days even for heavy, Google service users like me. But it still has
"redonkulous" limitations like not being able to move icons around at will.
So then... Will the Galaxy S8 be enough to bring me back?
Let's find out.
HP's new Omen X lineup comes equipped with Intel's 7th generation, Core i7 processor.
Check it out at the link in the video description.
Meet the Galaxy S8.
Samsung may have lacked the courage to remove the three-and-a-half millimeter
jack, but other than that, it's got almost everything you'd expect from a 2017
flagship, with top-of-the-line specs and modern features like USB Type-C,
wireless charging and IP68 water resistance. This is
Indisputably the finest design work ever from Samsung's mobile division. And i remember like it was yesterday,
Being blown away by the quantum leap forward that they took with the S6 Edge, but that
was nothing compared to this. I already
Liked the curved front and rear glass from the Note 7, so I was amped to see that return, but
When I first heard about some of the other changes, like the taller than usual 18-and-a-half by 9 aspect ratio, and
the decision to remove the hardware home-button that's been a Galaxy staple since they first
blatantly ripped off the iPhone 7 years ago...
I was pretty skeptical.
But what Samsung has done here is amazing for reasons that probably aren't immediately apparent.
Let's get back to the whole "ripping off the iPhone" conversation. Whether they actually did that all those years
ago, and to what degree,
Still hasn't been resolved. But that's what's different with this phone. No objective person can
make that argument today.
Both of the S8 and S8+ are significant steps forward
From an aging iPhone design that's been with us for nearly three years now.
The curved front and rear shape that made the Note 7 the most "holdable" phablet ever
work just as well on the S8+, and then even better on a Linus-size
device like the S8, and this together with the tight integration of biometric authentication
has managed to change long time phone use habits of mine in a matter of hours, an impressive feat.
First is the way I access apps.
I've dismissed Samsung's previous efforts to make the curved screen, useful as "contrived".
But as someone with only a handful of frequently used apps and basically no friends, I can now
do over 90% of what I would do on my phone, including capturing screenshots, with a simple swipe from the right.
Second is the way I unlock my phone. I don't recommend Samsung's, uh...
"facial" method, could get a little messy for you if someone uses a picture to unlock your phone.
But there's lots of other options, and between Google's own smart-locking based on location and sensor data.
Samsung's retina unlock that picks me up a good 60+ percent of the time during normal use and
the rear fingerprint sensor, it's finally gotten to the point where nobody else can
pick up, my device and just start using it. But for me, I'm not thinking about security
while I try to use it, which is the holy grail of biometric security.
Though with that said, I still would have
very much preferred the rumored fingerprint sensor under the on-screen home button.
Which leads us then, into big change number three. The way I interact with the phone's home, back and
multitasking buttons, which by the way, can be rearranged if you want now! Yes!
I never missed my precious dedicated buttons once.
Unlike other Android phones that require an extra press to unhide the buttons that then cover up
valuable vertical scrolling real estate or whatever content it is you're trying to enjoy.
Samsung's unique aspect ratio leaves enough room that it never feels like
they're in the way, and even when they're hidden, you can still access the home button with
a hard press from anywhere. It is so intuitive. Which isn't to say that there's nothing
about the S8 that falls behind the iPhone. Apple's 3D touch pressure-sensitive screen is just...
So much better.
Aside from the obvious "it covers the whole screen" aspect,
the quality of the haptic feedback is an area that Samsung could definitely stand to improve, and
while I'm whining, now that Apple's fixed it, that single bottom speaker without
stereo backup from the earpiece speaker, that's already there just use it please! Is so...
2015. And furthermore, while the 2960 by 1440 AMOLED display has
impressive specs like HDR support,
Even with video enhancement off and the cinema profile selected, it still cranks color saturation in a way that might appeal to
average consumers but that looks very unnatural next to the iPhone.
The non-existent improvements to the camera are a sore spot for some people, but honestly for me, I'm not that surprised,
that in spite of this sensor hardware change,
not much has been done to image quality or features here. If you were happy with the lightning-fast, if slightly
processing-heavy rear camera and wide-angle selfie lens from before, then
you'll be happy with them on the S8. And if you weren't,
Then man come on, it must be hard being so damn difficult to please. Do you have
Any idea how hard it is to build a 4k video camera that's smaller than your fingernail?!
Sorry, oops, I actually didn't mean to put that right over top of the sensor, I was trying to unlock the phone. Or maybe I
was trying to touch the heart rate sensor.
Okay, so that is one fair complaint. To Samsung's credit, the oleophobic coating on the camera glass is
really good, but you will end up with janky pictures from time to time due to the unfortunate
placement of those sensors on either side.
Let's talk software now.
The Nougat flavor of TouchWiz(or is it Samsung Experience now?) whatever they're calling it, is still a mixed bag. It's lighter and higher performance than ever, with
some fantastic new innovations to app and icon management, better multitasking,
a gorgeous new theme that makes the screen feel even more spacious than it is, a crop
mode for the extra wide screen that already works on YouTube, and
enough great little customizations, that I honestly think Apple
Finally has to respond with some customizations of their
own in the next version of iOS. There is some bullcrap though. That thing where it installs
bloatware and locks to the first carrier sim you insert? Well that's back for another round of me hating it. The always-on display...
is in my mind pretty useless without a more detailed preview,
Like what Motorola does when you press on the notifications,
Swiping up and swiping down from anywhere bringing up the app tray feels like a waste of a gesture to me.
Down should bring down your notifications. The ambient light sensor algorithm needs
Some serious work, it was all over the place in my use, and the mobile hotspot
button has been removed as an option from the quick settings for some reason that is as inexplicable as it is infuriating to me.
Furthermore, Samsung's decision to disallow
remapping of the Bixby button is a purely stubborn move that I hope they reverse
sooner rather than later. Without being offensive, I hope, I feel a little bad for people whose lives are so predictable,
that their digital assistant manages to do anything more useful than pop up a card from time to time with some recent news.
I don't personally care about digital assistants beyond
setting a reminder or an alarm and neither do a lot of people. And if I did, I would just long press
the home button and use google's
So final answer time. Will I switch?
This phone's overall usability is wonderful.
Almost every objection, like the way that the bezel-less design makes edge keys
A little more difficult to reach, while typing can be overcome with a pretty simple habit change.
But, my main issue with Android...
battery management remains. i mean look at this random notification that popped up, informing me that Gmail was sucking back battery, what?
I even went out of my way on this phone to only sync up two of my Google accounts.
a pretty typical loadout, rather than the 5+ that are required to manage all of our YouTube channels.
And making matters worse than that, when I go to investigate further, all I get is a black hole.
What kind of broken math is this?
Then the next day, having changed nothing
about the way I'm using the phone, I've got 30% left at the end of the day with a more normal battery life
Decreasing curve here but equally opaque numbers. How is this not fixed by now?
Yes there are power saving modes, but you know what kind of a solution that is?
That's designing a crummy antenna and telling your users they're holding the phone wrong.
I understand that Google and Samsung can't control the entire app ecosystem, but at the very least, what I'm asking for is
functioning tools so i can diagnose the issue myself.
So then... Yes, I am switching to it. It's really gorgeous.
But, the first time this is the hottest thing in my pants, when
my wife walks into the room, I'm going back to the iPhone.
WHOA, how'd I get over here? I guess I must be filming an ad pickup for, you guessed
it, D-Brand! D-Brand is the place to go if you want a wicked awesome looking
vinyl skin that fits your device and just plain feels great. They use high-quality
authentic, true-textured 3M vinyl on every product, they've got unrivaled precision, they ship
worldwide on the cheap, and if you guys were impressed
by the dragonskin skin that I had on this phone during this video, you're
not the only one. This has got to be their best skin yet, it looks
fantastic. I don't know what it is, is it scales, is it burnt wood, Is it freaking- It doesn't matter, it looks fantastic and
dramatically improves the grippiness of the phone at the same time. So check it out at the link in the video description,
You can use their configurator to see exactly what your device will look like before you
buy, and I guess I've really run out of talking points here. They're nice people, or robots as it were.
So thanks for watching guys, if you dislike this video you can hit that button,
but if you liked it, hit the like button, get subscribed, maybe consider checking out
where to buy the stuff we featured at the link in the video description.
Also down there is our merch store which has cool shirts like this one, and our community forum, where you can
join up and talk tech, it's a pretty cool place to hang out.