Should You Upgrade To The Galaxy S8 Or S8+?

Should You Upgrade To The Galaxy S8 Or S8+?

Stay with your phone, or go with Samsung’s new hotness?

Samsung’s officially released the Galaxy S8 and its bigger brother, the S8+ a few days ago, and many of you are already facing the heart-wrenching decision of upgrading to Samsung’s newest star in its Galaxy. Samsung’s new flagships certainly have a lot of new features that will make you fall in love with it, but are they really worth ditching your current phone?

WHY YOU SHOULD BITE THE BULLET AND SWIPE THAT CARD

That amazing design is worth every penny

Samsung’s new phones are gorgeous. There’s really nothing quite them in the market today – the S8 and S8+’s WQHD Super AMOLED panel will mesmerize you the minute you see them in person. While Samsung doesn’t have the monopoly on phones with curved screens, the competition doesn’t even come close to what the Korean company has achieved with the new phones. And that bigger than average display doesn’t come at the cost of one-handed usability either, since the Galaxy S8 is the size of a typical 5.1-inch smartphone, while the Galaxy S8+ is just the size of your typical 5.5-inch display.

Faster than most phones out in the market today

Samsung’s managed to cut a deal with Qualcomm for their Galaxy S8 and S8+, since both phones will be the first devices to use their flagship Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor. While people on this side of the world won’t be able to enjoy that particular slice of silicon, all signs point to Samsung’s Exynos 8895 being even better than Qualcomm’s top-tier chip. Both phones are built on the 10nm process, which should make both devices pretty energy efficient despite their superior number crunching capabilities.

Loaded with all the flagship features you’ll ever need

Aside from that amazing display, both phones are chock-full of all the features you’d expect from a flagship phone. That WQHD display makes watching movies and consuming content so much better compared to any other phone in the market today. There’s also IP68 water resistance, so you won’t be shoving either phone in rice if they accidentally get dropped in the toilet, hi-res audio along with a nice set of premium AKG headphones, one of the best cameras in the market today as well as a full suite of security tools that make your phone almost impenetrable from the outside (although that changes if you intentionally download malware).

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Newer, faster processor isn’t for everyone

Yes, Samsung’s new phones have the best piece of silicon powering it currently, but that doesn’t really amount to much nowadays. Most flagship devices released last year are pretty capable in the grand scheme of things when it comes to running apps and games smoothly, and if you have a Galaxy S7 Edge (or even a plain ol’ Galaxy S7) you’re really not missing much. Hell, even the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are still pretty capable flagships when compared to the Galaxy S8 and S8+. Sure, they’ll need to be charged sooner than Samsung’s new phones, but if you’ve had them for a while, you’re probably used to their charging cycle by now and know when to whip out your powerbank. If you bought a flagship phone last year, our recommendation is to skip the S8 and S8+ and wait for the S9 (or Note 8).

Camera isn’t a huge upgrade

While the design and display of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ received a massive overhaul, Samsung’s kept the rear snapper on the flagships pretty much on par with last year’s flagships. No dual-camera gimmicks here, just that solid 12-megapixel, Dual-Pixel packing f/1.7 shooter that’s wowed many a customer the world over. That’s not really such a bad thing, considering that the same camera managed to score 88 points on camera benchmarking site DxO mark, second only to Google’s Pixel smartphone.

We were expecting something meatier from Samsung though, and in all honesty that new 8-megapixel front camera wasn’t scratching our photography itch. Oh well.

They cost a fair bit of money (and a kidney if you’re really out of luck)

The most obvious thing that’s going to hold you back (or give you pause if you’re Mr. Moneybags) is the price. At Php 39,990 for the S8 and Php 45,990 for the S8+ they’re the most expensive smartphones Samsung has ever released in recent memory. That’s already iPhone pricing, and the fact that both phones only have 64GB of expandable storage is rubbing salt on the wound.

Should you upgrade to the S8 and S8+? Well, if you bought a Galaxy S7, S7 Edge or any other flagship phone last year, the answer is no. Those curved screens are nice, but the new phones’ sky-high price tag will certainly give many people pause. If you’re due for a retention phone from your telco or have a flagship phone from two years ago, go for it, but be prepared for the high prices that the two phones demand.

Read:
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ Initial Review: Samsung’s Back
Samsung Goes Big Screen With The Galaxy S8 and S8+
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ Accessory Round-up
Head-to-Head: Samsung Galaxy S8 VS Huawei P10
Head-to-Head: Samsung Galaxy S8 VS LG G6
Head-to-Head: Samsung Galaxy S8 VS OnePlus 3T

 

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