Samsung Galaxy A8+ Unboxing and First Impressions: Bridging The Flagship Gap

Samsung has launched its first A-series (2018) mobile phone, the Galaxy A8+, in India. With a price of Rs. 32,990, it’s destined to play its part as the OnePlus 5T challenger and has quite a few Note-worthy features apart from the alluring set of dual Selfie cameras, of course.

We were quite excited about the new A-series phone and have already spent some quality time with it. Let’s discuss more in our Samsung Galaxy A8+ hands-on review.

Samsung Galaxy A8+ Specifications

Samsung Galaxy A8+ Box Content

• Earphones
• Fast charger
• USB Type-C cable
• SIM-ejector tool
• Protective case

Also Read: Honor View 10 VS OnePlus 5T Comparison

Samsung Galaxy A8+ Design and build

The Galaxy A8+ is reminiscent of the Galaxy Note 8 and is indeed quite close in terms of look and feel. Just as the Note8, the Galaxy A8+ has glass on both front and rear and a color-matched metal side frame. It is also comparable to the reigning Samsung flagship in terms of heft, thickness, and overall footprint. That’s where the similarities end, though.

The Samsung Galaxy A8+ has dual selfie cameras, a more accessible fingerprint sensor placed below the rear camera and a fairly loud side-mounted speaker. Samsung also bundles a protective case in the box (which is again similar to the one we got on the Note 8). Moreover, the A8+ is among the rare few mid-range phones that are certified for water and dust resistance (IP68).

Overall, the Galaxy A8+ looks premium and is quite comfortable to handle. Unlocking the handset is quite convenient. You can either use the fingerprint sensor on the rear (that can also be used to pull down notification shade) or double tap the virtual home button at the bottom (on the Always-on display) and use Face Unlock.

Samsung Galaxy A8+ Display

Samsung’s expertise once again comes in to play and lends Galaxy A8+ a clear advantage. The phone has an enchanting AMOLED screen (Full HD+ resolution) equipped with several color-presets (we prefer the Basic mode), a blue light filter, a handy Always-on display and efficient auto-brightness control.

Samsung sticks with the 18.5:9 aspect ratio for its Infinity display which isn’t quite edge-to-edge but still manages an impressive 75.5 percent screen to body ratio.

Samsung Galaxy A8+ Performance and Software

The Samsung Galaxy A8+ is powered by Exynos 7885 octa-core chipset that includes 2x Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and 6x Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.6GHz. The chipset is paired with ample 6GB RAM and 64GB storage out of which a little more than 51GB is available on first boot. You can also add up to 256GB of secondary storage using the dedicated card slot.

This is a new chipset and we will only be sure about the performance after we have spent some time with the handset. For what it’s worth, the AnTuTu benchmark score is 87,375, which sound quite assuring. Besides, we know that the SoC is good enough to power VR experience and Samsung lists A8+ has a Gear VR compatible handset.

The phone has a 3500mAh battery and supports fast charging. Considering the hardware-software combo, we are quite optimistic about the battery mileage.

The software running on the phone is Experience UI 8.5 based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. Android Oreo upgrade is in the pipeline as well. Samsung uses a heavily skinned custom interface but it’s a well-designed and mature one that should appeal to a broad taste. Samsung Pay support is an added bonus and a unique advantage. The device has Bixby home but unfortunately, Bixby Voice didn’t make the cut.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy A8+ vs Honor View 10 Specs Comparison

Samsung Galaxy A8+ Camera expectations

A-series phones have always brandished impressive selfie camera hardware. The A8+ takes the game to the next level by integrating two selfie sensors each with wide f/1.9 aperture lens. The 16MP and 8MP sensors are together used for live autofocus or portrait selfies. The camera app also includes fun stickers that we have also seen on other Samsung phones in the past.

Based on our initial testing, the selfie camera feels very promising. The portrait mode seems to work well even in low lighting. Of course, we will need some more testing to be sure.

The 16MP rear camera has f/1.7 aperture lens and can capture plenty of details in broad daylight. We will update you with low light performance and our final verdict once we completed our testing.

Samsung Galaxy A8+ quick review

The Samsung Galaxy A8+ successfully bridges the flagship gap and has a lot to be excited about. As of now, the reason you will be choosing it over the towering flagship killer is the tier-1 branding and its selfie camera performance. Reason enough? Perhaps. We will continue testing the Galaxy A8+ further and will share our findings in our Galaxy A8+ Full review soon. Stay tuned!