PC_Advisor_Issue_264_July_2017

Reviews
Geekbench 4
GFXBench Manhattan
Samsung has been a bit
vague on the subject but, as we
suspected, the UK model has
the firm’s new Exynos 9 8895
chip rather than the Qualcomm
Snapdragon 835 that the two
companies collaborated on.
The firm’s latest eight-core
processor has clock speeds of
2.3- and 1.7GHz (four cores each)
and a Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. The
firm claims a 10 percent increase
in CPU performance and a 20
percent gain on the GPU side.
We’re very impressed with the
performance here with some of
the highest benchmark results
we’ve seen. It’s the graphics boost
that’s particularly noteworthy
considering the resolution. We
tested at default settings and
switching to the full amount of pixels
didn’t drop the frame rates much.
Memory and storage
Not a huge amount has changed
in this department. The phone has
4GB of RAM and comes with 64GB
of storage as standard. As usual,
the phone has expandable storage
so you can add up to 256GB via
the microSD card slot.
suits content such as videos much
better, so you can, depending on
the source content, watch videos
without annoying black bars.
The phone sticks to Samsung’s
preferred SuperAMOLED display
technology ensuring great contrast
and colours. The screen resolution
is WQHD+, 2960x1440 in this case
because the screen is so tall. A pixel
density of 570ppi is enough for
anyone. It’s worth noting it defaults
to Full HD+ (2220x1080), but you
can change it in the settings if you
wish. The lower resolution improves
graphics performance and also aids
battery life without a noticeable
drop in quality. If you want, you
can also drop it down to 1480x720.
Specifications aside, the Galaxy S8
also now has the well-known edge
screen as standard, so there’s no
need to buy the edge version any
longer (like the Galaxy S7 edge). The
curve is more subtle than previous
edge devices though, so you just
have the edge panels rather than
any other additional functionality.
There are some new features
to make the screen easier to use
one-handed which we’ll cover in the
software section, and the display is
always-on should you want it to be.
One last thing to mention about
the screen is that it has Mobile
HDR Premium certification by the
UHD alliance. The ability to display
HDR content sounds good but
you’ll only get it with certain titles
on Amazon Prime Video. More
partners will be announced.
Processor
Once again, the Galaxy S8 has have
a different processor for different
markets around the world.
Connectivity
As you’d expect from a flagship
Samsung phone, the Galaxy
S8 is packed with all the latest
connectivity specifications.
To this end, it has dual-band 11ac
Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0 and
LTE Cat 16. It also uses a reversible
USB-C port like recent Samsung
devices and rivals. The heart-rate
monitor also remains, but has
been moved to the other side of
the camera module.
Fingerprint and Iris scanners
As we touched upon earlier, the
fingerprint scanner has moved to
the rear in order to fit a much larger
screen. We’re all for this – LG has
been doing it since the G2 – but the
placement isn’t very ergonomic.
Samsung appears to have
prioritised the symmetry of design
over functionality here, so most
users will be making the camera
lens grubby when reaching for the
sensor. The scanner is fast when
it works, but its placement and
size make it frustrating to use,
especially with a case on.
The firm says you won’t need
the fingerprint scanner as much
July 2017 www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews 45