The release of the latest Galaxy S phone is always a major event, with good reason. Samsung’s premium flagship practically defines our expectations for high-end, high-price Android phones for the year to come. The Galaxy S8 S8+ deliver a smorgasbord of features, top-tier hardware, a great camera, bleeding-edge design. This, together with Samsung’s marketing muscle, make them the most popular premium Android phones. 

From early unboxings hs-on impressions, to reviews, tips, how-tos, more. And we’ll collect it all here, making this your hub for everything you need to know about Samsung’s latest superphone.

Specs

Size

Galaxy S8: 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0 mm, 155 g
Galaxy S8+: 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm, 173 g

Display

Galaxy S8: 5.8-inch Super AMOD, 2960×1440, 570ppi
Galaxy S8: 6.2-inch Super AMOD, 2960×1440, 529ppi
Screen aspect ratio 18.5:9
Screen-to-body ratio 83.6%

System on Chip

U.S. market has 10nm Snapdragon 835
Other markets have 10nm Exynos 8895 Octa
Up to 2.35GHz (Snapdragon) or 2.3GHz (Exynos)
4GB RAM
Adreno 540 G (Snapdragon 540 model)
Mali G-71 M0 (Exynos model)

Storage

64GB UFS 2.1 storage
microSD card support

Connectivity Networking

E Cat.16
-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz),VHT80 MU-MIMO,1024QAM
Bluetooth 5
B Type-C
NFC
cation (G, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)

Battery

Galaxy S8: 3,000 mAh
Galaxy S8+: 3,500 mAh

Camera

Rear camera: 12 megapixels, dual pixel autofocus, f/1.7 aperture, optical image stabilization, 1.4 micron pixels, 1/2.55-inch sensor size
Front camera: 8 megapixel, autofocus, f/1.7 aperture, 1.22 micron pixels, 1/3.6-inch sensor size
4K video at 30fps, 1080p up to 60fps, 720p up to 240fps

Other features

Fingerprint sensor
Iris scanner
32-bit DAC
Miracast up to 1080p at 30fps
I8 water dust resistance
Fast wireless charging (A
NFC
Samsung y with MST support
Bixby AI assistant
ways-on display
ge panels lighting

ice release date

The phones were released on April 21st, 2017.

ices start at around $720 for the Galaxy S8, $850 for the Galaxy S8+. 

Currently, the Galaxy S8 is only available in the U.S. through carriers, though we have been told an unlocked carrier-free version will be available in the future. As such, pricing varies by carrier, every carrier has its own little incentives deals. Some of these carry a lot of fine print; you may be required to surrender your current phone, transfer a line, or be locked into a particular service for several years.

Reviews

Outside of their physical size battery capacity, the Galaxy S8 S8+ are identical. Our general consensus is that, despite a few annoyances, these are currently the finest premium-tier phones you can buy. There’s a lot to say about these phones, so be sure to read our full reviews.

Read our review of the Samsung Galaxy S8

Read our review of the Samsung Galaxy S8+

DeX

The Galaxy S8 S8+ support a unique new feature called Samsung DeX (short for “Desktop Experience”). en placed in the DeX docking station ($149), you can hook up a keyboard, mouse, HDMI monitor or TV, ethernet to use your phone in a new desktop computing environment.

Masaoka/

Read our full review of Samsung DeX

Our video coverage

‘ve produced more than a few great videos of the Galaxy S8 its accessories. You can find them all right here.

Tips tricks

Samsung’s software in the Galaxy S8 provides a ton of features, just as many options. You can tune the way the home screen works, customize Bixby, change the order of the navigation buttons, enable or disable the edge display, optimize for better battery life, get rid of the app drawer, so much more.

’re currently gathering together all our best tips into a single article. en it’s published, you’ll find the link here.

GearVR other accessories

The Galaxy S8 launched together with a new version of the GearVR ($129). It’s nearly identical to past iterations, only with support for B-C (to support the new phones) micro-B (to support older phones). But it also includes a motion-sensitive controller, which should greatly increase the immersion of VR titles that support it.

Samsung

It’s not exclusive to the Galaxy S8: the Galaxy S7 Note 5 will support the motion controller as well, you can buy it separately if you already have a GearVR.

are preparing a list of some of our favorite new apps games to support the motion controller. In the meantime, you might want to check out our previous list of the best GearVR titles. 

Have further questions about the Galaxy S8? Be sure to jump to the next page for our FAQ.

FAQ

at are the differences between the Galaxy S8 Galaxy S8+?

The Galaxy S8 has a 5.8-inch display, while the S8+ has a 6.2-inch display. The Galaxy S8 has a 3,000 mAh battery, while the S8+ has a 3,500 mAh battery. Outside of those two differences, the phones are identical.

Do the various carrier versions differ?

For the most part, no. Here in the U.S., all four major carriers carry both the S8 S8+, prices are roughly comparable, though each carrier offers its own promotions deals with their own special caveats. Once fully purchased unlocked by the carrier, the phones should support the necessary frequency bs to work properly on any other U.S. carrier. 

However, the Verizon version does have one noticeable difference: The Bixby AI assistant can not deliver shopping suggestions using the Bixby Vision feature.

Each carrier also adheres to its own software update schedule, bundles its own set of apps that can’t be deleted, only disabled. 

at’s up with that Bixby feature?

talk about it at length in our reviews. Bixby is Samsung’s new AI assistant, it’s not quite ready for the spotlight. At the last minute, Samsung decided that the Bixby voice recognition is not working well enough for English, so the ability to talk to Bixby is completely disabled in some markets, including the U.S. That leaves you with a “personalized cards” home screen interface that is unremarkable, really spotty image recognition called Bixby Vision.

For now at least, Bixby does not even remotely approach the usefulness or sophistication of Siri, Cortana, or Assistant. 

Does the Galaxy S8 support B-C charging?

You can charge the phone using any regular B-C charger. However, the phone uses its own fast charging technology, so you won’t get fast charging with B-C chargers that use the B-C wer Delivery stard (like the chargers that come with the xel, for example). Charging quickly is best done with Samsung’s included charger.

How about wireless charging?

The phones support both major wireless charging stards: (which usually goes by the Qi br name) A. It also supports the “fast charging” stard, which is used on Samsung’s own wireless charging accessories. It charges the phone roughly twice as fast as typical wireless charging, but still slower than plugging it in.

at colors do they come in?

In the U.S., we get black, silver, grey. Samsung calls these “Midnight Black, Arctic Silver Orchid Gray,” we might get other colors in the future.

Do the phones support Daydream?

Daydream support is part of Android 7.1, the phones only ship with Android 7.0, so there’s no Daydream support. Though Samsung has given no official comment on the matter, it is not expected that Samsung will support ‘s VR platform even after updating the phones to 7.1 or later, preferring to push its own GearVR platform in partnership with Oculus. 

at’s this about AKG headphones?

st year, Samsung bought the Harmon group for about $8 billion. One of Harmon’s brs is AKG, a name well-known for quality headphones. Samsung’s making good use of the acquisition by packing in a pair of AKG dual-driver earbuds in every Galaxy S8 box. Samsung says they’re a $99 value, we find that to be a reasonable approximation of their value. They’re not the best earbuds, but they’re miles beyond what you normally get in the box with a new phone.