SPECS AT A GLANCE GALAXY S8 GALAXY S8+ SCREEN 2960×1440 5.8-inch (570ppi) AMOLED 2960×1440 6.2-inch (529ppi) AMOLED OS Android 7.0 with Touchwiz CPU Intl: Eight-core Samsung Exynos 9 8895 (4x 2.3GHz Samsung and 4x 1.7GHz Cortex-A53) US: Eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (4x 2.35GHz Kyro 280 and 4x 1.90GHz Kyro 280) MEMORY 4GB LPDDR4 GPU Intl: Mali-G71 MP20

US: Adreno 540 STORAGE 64GB UFS 2.1 storage NETWORKING 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, NFC PORTS USB 3.1 Type-C, 3.5mm headphone jack CAMERA 12MP rear camera, 8MP front camera SIZE 148.9 x 68.1 x 8 mm 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm WEIGHT 155g 173g BATTERY 3000mAh 3500mAh STARTING PRICE £690 £780 EVERYTHING ELSE Quick charging, wireless charging, fingerprint sensor, iris scanner,IP68 water and dust resistance, 32-bit DAC, Bixby button

Six months ago, Samsung phones exploded. Today, with arrival of the Samsung Galaxy S8, they are hugely desirable.

As dramatically as it fell from grace with the Note 7, Samsung has returned with a phone that rewrites the rulebook on smartphone design. The Samsung Galaxy S8 isn't the first phone to sport a near bezel-free front. Nor is it the first with a rounded display, a virtual home button, or an impossibly thin frame. But it is the first to fuse those elements together in a way that's as easy on the eye as it is practical.

The Galaxy S8 is water resistant. It has a camera that's up there with the iPhone 7 Plus and Google Pixel XL. Battery life is good for a phone of this size. For the few that care about audio as much as I do, it sounds great. The display, stretched over a uniquely wide 18.5:9 aspect ratio to 5.8-inches on the S8 and 6.2-inches on the S8+, is undeniably beautiful. It's super-fast. There's even a headphone jack.

Where the Samsung Galaxy S8 falters is where it strays from the basics and into unnecessary gimmicks: a fiddly iris scanner, confusing software tweaks, and an odd desktop dock. The much hyped Bixby, a virtual assistant designed to take on the likes of Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa, is incomplete at launch. What's left is of questionable value.

But the positives outweigh the negatives. If you can afford it—prices start at a premium £690 (order here) or £780 (order here)—the Galaxy S8 is sleek, powerful, and inescapably seductive.

Life on the edge

Indeed, the S8 is hard to resist once you see it in the flesh. Gone are the chunky top and bottom bezels, oblong home button, and gaudy Samsung logo that have defined the Galaxy series since the S3 launched in 2012. Instead, a taller AMOLED screen stretches across the front panel towards bezels that are a mere six millimetres thick on either edge. Coupled with Samsung's now ubiquitous curved glass that deftly conceals the bezels to the left and right of the screen, Samsung has produced a stunningly beautiful phone.

Mark Walton



Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

When the screen is largely black—like when using Samsung's helpful "Always On" mode to show the time, date, and important notifications in standby—the bezels almost disappear entirely, creating the illusion of a single, seamless display. Various sensors are neatly disguised under the bezel too, which is black no matter which of the five available colours you choose. When the screen is on, rounded corners mirror the curve at the edges of the phone. Unlike LG's attempt with the G6, they're pleasingly smooth.

Some may write off these design touches off as little more than aesthetic nonsense, but there's nothing wrong with a little bling for bling's sake every now and then, especially when it looks this good.

Which is not to say there aren't some ergonomic benefits to the new design. As screen sizes shoot up, usability goes down. Gripping something like an iPhone 7 Plus or a Pixel XL comfortably in one hand is a struggle, even for those of us with larger hands, while fiddly software solutions like double taps and swipes try to make reaching the top of a screen more manageable. The S8's taller screen doesn't solve the latter—and in most cases makes it more difficult—but it is undeniably comfortable to hold at just 68.1mm wide.

Mobile HDR Premium? Aside from being something of a looker, the S8's AMOLED display has been given Mobile HDR Premium certification. Similar the the UHD Premium certification in televisions, Mobile HDR Premium is a set of minimum specs that manufacturers must hit to display Aside from being something of a looker, the S8's AMOLED display has been given Mobile HDR Premium certification. Similar the the UHD Premium certification in televisions, Mobile HDR Premium is a set of minimum specs that manufacturers must hit to display HDR content from the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Those include a .0005nits to 500nits dynamic range, 90 percent of P3 colour gamut colour space, and 10-bit colour depth. HDR on mobile is similar to that on TV: there are richer colours, better contrast, and brighter highlights. Compared to simply increasing the resolution, HDR has a dramatic effect on picture quality. Once you try it, it's hard to go back to a standard picture. Be sure to check out Ars Technica's guide to HDR for more.

It helps that the S8 is symmetrical. The curved glass screen is perfectly mirrored by a curved glass back. A smooth rim that houses the power, volume, and Bixby buttons, combination SIM and SD card slot, USB Type-C port, and headphone jack joins the two halves together. The result is a phone that feels as good as it looks. Idly fondling it quickly becomes a habit.

But compromises have been made in Samsung's pursuit of prettiness. The curved glass, while shallower than in the S7, still slightly distorts apps at the edges, although I found palm rejection much improved. Meanwhile, the glass back remains perilously fragile, and impossible to keep clean. The fingerprint sensor, while fast, is in an awkward spot next to the camera instead of in the middle, which makes it a stretch to reach; I've lost count of the number times I thought I was unlocking the phone, but was instead rubbing my finger over the camera lens.

Rumour has it the rear fingerprint reader was a last-minute addition after a failed attempt at integrating it into the screen. It shows.

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

Mark Walton

In theory the 18.5:9 screen should display more content, particularly as Android is so heavily designed around lists in a portrait orientation. In practice, text often wraps onto an extra line compared to a standard 16:9 screen, negating the difference. Most games don't take advantage of the extra height either, and run pillar-boxed, as do widescreen 16:9 videos, but those can be cropped and zoomed on the fly if you wish. Only films—which are typically filmed in ultrawide 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 aspect ratios—neatly fill most of the screen.

The most egregious errors come from the superfluous extras. The retina scanner, which debuted in the Note 7, is fiddly to set up, is iffy about spectacles, and requires you to hold the phone at a perfect 30cm distance from your face in good lighting to work. The face scanner fares better, though it's easily fooled by a photo (Samsung has limited its use to phone unlocking only). The heart-rate monitor—which is as inaccurate as ever—also returns, and remains a puzzling inclusion when fitness geeks are far better served by a cheap and practical wearable.