The ultimate selfie phone
> There’s much to laud about the new Samsung Galaxy A8+, including its camera
THE Samsung Galaxy A8+ is Samsung Electronics Malaysia’s first smartphone for 2018. The A8+ has a dual frontfacing camera and an IP68 rating. To the user, this means that the phone’s camera can do that fancy background blurring effect on a selfie taken 1.5m under water.
On paper, the camera specifications are really impressive.
The front camera system is made up of a 16MP sensor and an 8MP sensor, both fitted with a relatively bright F1.9 lens.
On the back is a relatively larger 16MP sensor with a brighter F1.7 lens.
This means it can produce beautiful pictures, both selfies and photographs, in certain situations, namely outdoors and during the day.
Indoor photos, lowlight images, and photos shot during an overcast do not pop as much, but it does not matter to those who use filters and adjust their photos.
For me, the real selling point of the A8+ is its design, display, and performance. The A8+ shares the same basic look as its more premium siblings, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Note8.
Despite its large 6in screen and pronounced bezel, it fits small hands well, thanks to its 2:1 ratio display.
Though lacking that premium feel, the A8+ can be easily customised with cases. Then again, with a case, which is also included in the box, the feel does not matter.
The screen itself is a treat to behold, and truly gorgeous. It is a Super Amoled panel capable of full high definition plus (FHD+) resolutions.
The display was such a pleasure to use, that I made the A8+ my ebook reader, long article aggregator, and video player in the two weeks I had the device for review.
While ebooks – which are usually formatted for a 4:3 display – are still very readable on the A8+, it is lengthy articles and social media feeds which gain the most advantage from the elongated screen.
It will be up to you how you want to watch videos on the A8+, be it full screen with cutoffs at the top and bottom, or with black bars on the side.
Either way, I like how the speaker on the side of the phone works.
In landscape mode, it functions as a centre speaker, and while in portrait mode, it can be quickly muffled using a finger or a thumb, an unofficial feature that I found useful in certain situations where I forgot to put the phone on silent.
There is also an audio port if you prefer headphones, and a USB Type-C port for charging and data transfers.
The brains of the A8+ is an octa-core processor that is paired with 6GB of memory and 64GB of expandable memory.
It is more than powerful enough to run everyday apps, and most demanding games.
I did not find any memory management issues using the A8+ to stream podcasts during long drives, and as navigator when going places.
It doesn’t boast about how much memory it is saving for me, nor does it nag me to clear it of miscellaneous files.
Samsung’s user interface, which is based on Android 8.0 Oreo, also feels very mature and refined.
More importantly, the processing and memory power of the A8+ is more than enough to run Samsung’s suite of exclusive apps, such as Samsung Pay and Samsung Health.
This effectively makes the A8+ one of the best ways to get into Samsung’s technology ecosystem.
As my primary driver, the Samsung Galaxy A8+ did not disappoint.
Its 3,500mAh battery did not last as long as I thought it would, but it held out for a full day of heavy use like a champion.
I did not shoot many photos with it. Nevertheless, I did read more because of it.
If you are someone who is looking for a premium and new Samsung experience, while being affordable at the same time, the A8+ comes highly recommended at RM2,499.
However, if you want to save more money at the expense of a smaller screen, RAM, and storage, perhaps you should take a look at the Samsung Galaxy A8, priced at RM1,799.