S8 / S8+ First Impressions Thread

[scott_0]

I was unsure I was keeping my S8 after a few hours with it, but I am totally in love with this device! it is beautiful, feels great in the hand, great battery life right out of the box, better than my S7E easily, and will get better over the next few charge cycles, well done Sammy

 

[ctk4949]

I do not like that the on screen buttons are so close to the bottom. Sometimes I activate the Samsung Pay swipe up, when pressing those buttons.

 

[msm0511]

I do not like that the on screen buttons are so close to the bottom. Sometimes I activate the Samsung Pay swipe up, when pressing those buttons.

I do too. Especially the one on the right (I have that as recent apps instead of the traditional Samsung way of having back there).

 

[tasha_c]

I must've received the runt of the bunch as my phone completely froze on me last night and didn't start working again until the battery completely drained.

Here's hoping the folks at the Samsung store believe me when I come in today asking to exchange it.

 

[amyf27]

I must've received the runt of the bunch as my phone completely froze on me last night and didn't start working again until the battery completely drained.

Here's hoping the folks at the Samsung store believe me when I come in today asking to exchange it.

Oooh. Sorry to hear that.

 

[amyf27]

I must've received the runt of the bunch as my phone completely froze on me last night and didn't start working again until the battery completely drained.

Here's hoping the folks at the Samsung store believe me when I come in today asking to exchange it.

Did you do the software update before it froze?

 

[cubetop]

So far so good. I ordered the complete VR package deal and was very impressed with the packaging of everything. The AKG headphones sound amazing! (wish they were a tad louder but WOW are they impressive)

Been getting everything set up. Always takes some getting used to for me when switching phones. I'm switching from a ZTE Axon7. I'm amazed with the iris scanner. I can't get over how fast it unlocks. I thought certainly it was cheating but I handed it to 6 different co-workers and it wouldn't unlock. Color my impressed.

It'll take me a while to get used to all the new features but so far so good. The speaker sounds pretty good for a single and I haven't tried the included ear buds yet. It's so much smaller than my Axon7 so I'm getting used to that as well. I wish I could make the icons/text a bit bigger as everything seems about half the size as they were on the Axon. One thing that was really neat to me was that as I was watching TV and looking over my photos and settings, I got a popup if I'd like to stream to my Samsung 55" 4k TV. I tried it out and just WOW! It mirrors the phone and was pretty quick. Videos took a little bit but photos were snappy and displayed beautifully.

I'm pretty happy with mine. I'm running the AOD and auto screen brightness. Been off the charger since 6:30 and still 84% battery with me texting and messing around with it. (also put it in a Spigen case with kickstand. VERY good purchase.)

 

[tasha_c]

Did you do the software update before it froze?

I did. Was then fiddling around with the phone and then it just froze

 

[amyf27]

I did. Was then fiddling around with the phone and then it just froze

Hmm. I updated this a.m. no issues yet. Have you tried it again maybe factory reset? May be a one time glitch

 

[ZayMoney]

did anyone notice the screen does not have to be lit up to use the fps. when the screen is dark just rest your finger on the fps and it will unlock. thats one thing i hated about the s7e and iphone is that you have to push the home button before the fps can be used

 

[Liquid_Chaos87]

The S8+ is amazing. The screen looks so clean with it being all black and no home screen button anymore. The O. Gray is a beautiful color. I spent all of last night setting up the phone to my liking. I stayed up too late last night playing with it. I have just set up Bixby, but have't had any time to mess around with it. Is anyone else happy with Bixby?

 

[-Myk-]

I sent back my G6 and got the S8+.

Things I don't like or would change about the S8+

1. Headphone Jack should be on the top.

2. I would get rid of the Bixby button

3. Finger Print Reader: the LG Got it perfect. Round button on the back below the camera. Samsung should of done the same with theirs.

4. I like being able to double tap anywhere on the screen of the G6 to wake it.

Other than those 4 non-deal breakers I am very happy and will be keeping my S8+

 

[Liquid_Chaos87]

Also- has anyone had any issues with mobile push notifications in some apps?? I'm having issues with Discord. Worked fine on my S7E, but the S8+ is not giving me any notifications. I've made sure mobile push notifications were on on the app itself and in the phone settings, even set it to priority. Everything in the app store is up to date as well. My moto 360 is paired with the phone and even that isn't giving me any notifications from discord. Any suggestions?

 

[EMGSM]

The iris scanner is so much faster than the Note7 and now I use that instead of the FPS sometimes depending on where my fingers are. I love the iris face masks because it doesn't make me look like a moron having my eyes reflected back at me. Also, I don't have a problem with the FPS even though I hold it on my left hand. The pulling down and up of the notification bar is also great.

So far, this phone has been all positives no negatives yet.

Samsung said that there would be some improvements and I guess it's true. In my experience, I found the iris scanner, fps, and facial recognition to be pretty fast.

 

[gendo667]

Just got done setting up my GS8. Can't really find a flaw. Thrilled with the device.

 

[Gdwheel]

I really like the phone (S8+) and it is a good upgrade from prior Samsung phones. If nothing else, the speed of the phone blows away prior Sammys. There is little to no lag and everything is very snappy.

There is one thing that is driving me nuts, however, and that is how choppy scrolling is on the phone. No matter what app I am using, when I scroll vertically everything on the screen is very jittery. Is anyone else seeing this?

Otherwise, it is hard to find problems with the phone. The battery life is not as good as my Mate 9, but few phones can match the 9 (and its huge battery). So far, so good.

 

[helmutk]

Pretty much in love with this phone. Just went for a walk in the rain and it was great to use the phone while outside and not have to worry about rain falling on it.

A couple caveats, which may just be my phone:

1) the home "button" isn't turning on the phone. Yesterday, it worked perfectly, but a couple hours ago, I noticed that when pressing down on the area, it's not doing anything & I now have to use the power button to turn on the screen. Not sure if the screen protector has anything to do with it, but just seems weird that it's no longer working

2) freezing while using certain apps eg. Facebook, the Score, Messenger and chrome

I noticed on my S8+ I have to press the Home key much harder when waking the phone than when the phone is on. I do not have a screen protector. But yes, it is possible the screen protector is messing with the screen sensitivity.
I assume you tried powering the phone on and off to try to fix the freezing issues? I haven't seem any freezing of apps on my phone yet.

 

[freddyttt]

I really like the phone (S8+) and it is a good upgrade from prior Samsung phones. If nothing else, the speed of the phone blows away prior Sammys. There is little to no lag and everything is very snappy.

There is one thing that is driving me nuts, however, and that is how choppy scrolling is on the phone. No matter what app I am using, when I scroll vertically everything on the screen is very jittery. Is anyone else seeing this?

Otherwise, it is hard to find problems with the phone. The battery life is not as good as my Mate 9, but few phones can match the 9 (and its huge battery). So far, so good.

how would you compare it to the mate 9.... thanks-

 

[dlee1001]

This is my first full day of using my Galaxy S8+ on Verizon, and I must say that I'm quite impressed. I came from an LG G4, which was okay in terms of performance, but it had horrible battery life and it would do dumb things like the screen turning on by itself and having a mind of its own, scrolls registering as taps, and Bluetooth deciding not to work at times until rebooting the phone.

I'm impressed with how fast the S8+ is, and I'm loving the AOD. It's feels good in the hands too. My first impressions on battery life are excellent, probably the best I've seen in any smartphone I've used:



This is after streaming several long videos (~45 minutes), some YouTube, Facebook, and web browsing, as well as a couple short phone calls. Full HD and 30% brightness.

So far, my only negative about the phone is how easily you can muffle the sound by covering the speaker. Other than that, this phone is a beast!

 

[Gdwheel]

how would you compare it to the mate 9.... thanks-

Both are excellent phones, but also very different. I have used about every phone out there and really settled on the Mate 9. It is a great phone. It is large and will turn some people off because of its size, but it is a beast. It is extremely fast, has excellent performance and gets great battery life. It does not have all of the bells and whistles of the S8 and S8+ and the screen and camera are not up to the Samsung standards (although both are very good on the Mate 9), but it is very strong.