The all new Galaxy A8 (2018 variant) is the newest member of Samsung’s A series. It’s a set of mid-rangers that bring some flash of quality features. With so many budge options available is this year’s model worth the premium? Let’s read to find the answer.
Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 is the successor to the 2017’s A5 and like Samsung’s 2017 phones there’s a build of glass on front and back on a polished aluminum frame. The A8’s bezel and frame are rounded to lend some curviness. The A8 is a bit thicker and heavier than the Galaxy S8 and the way it gives it a sturdy feel, it’s not fragile. Galaxy A8 2018 full ip68 water and dust resistance like last year which you usually only see on flagship phones. On the back Samsung has finally found a perfect spot for its rear mounted fingerprint reader, directly below the camera, it’s decently fast and much easier to reach than on the S8.
The internal comes at either 32GB or 64GB and is expandable through MicroSD. There’s a USB type-C port at the bottom as well as 3.5mm jack for headphones and just like on the A5 the single speaker is mounted on the side which is prone to your fingers. The Samsung Galaxy A8 2018 has a 5.6-inch AMOLED display with a 1080p resolution and a pixel density of 441ppi, but unlike last year there is now a trendy 18:9 aspect ratio, Samsung call its ‘Infinity Display’.
It is slightly curved with rounded corners it’s not quite like what you see on the S8, nevertheless the display is class leading and delivers deep black, good brightness and excellent sunlight legibility. Colors are accurate and you can choose from the few different color profiles and there’s an always-on display, so if your phone’s display is off you can see the time and notifications at a glance.
Inside this phone is an Octa-Core Exynos 7885 chipset with 4GB of RAM and in the benchmarks the A8 performs well compared to it mid-range competition, but no match for its flagship cousins. Everyday use though everything feels smooth without any lag to be noticed. The A8 runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat with Samsung’s UI on top, it’s the same software that comes with Samsung’s latest flagship, the Note 8. Just like on other Galaxy phones the home screen can be customized through the Samsung’s theme store.
‘Bixby’ Samsung’s virtual assistant can be accessed through the home screen, thankfully unlike the flagships there is no dedicated Bixby button so no more accidental activations. Bixby is also active through Bixby vision which can recognize things in the camera and give you options to buy them online, it’s not perfect but it is getting better.
The Galaxy A8 2018 has a 3000mAH battery, just like last year’s model. Battery life is impressive too which last for more than a day with mid to high usage. When your battery does get low don’t worry, the fast charging feature gets you from 0% to 40% in just 30 minutes.
The single main camera is 16- Mega Pixels, this year’s model comes with brighter f/1.7 aperture, but sadly no OIS. Shots were quite good though, with low noise and plenty of detail, dynamic range is about average but colors are nice and vivid, thanks to wider aperture low-light shots come out nice too. Though the shutter speed can’t go too low because of the lack of OIS the results still have good detail and an acceptable amount of noise. The selfie setup has two cameras a first for Samsung, both with fixed focus. The primary camera sensor is 16 megapixels and the other is at 8 – megapixels, both with an f/1.9 aperture.
The 16-mp camera’s photos have plenty of captured detail, superb colors and contrast and great dynamic range. This also has one of the best selfie cams in the market, you can switch the 8-mp camera on the fly and with its wider angle lens you can take better group shots. The two cameras on the front can work together to produce a photo with a defocused background. Portrait shots look good with a gradual blur and separation, you can adjust the amount of blur later too. The video recording is at 1080p and it looks good, detail is decent with low noise and nice-looking colors.
At the end of the day the Samsung Galaxy 2018 is an excellent product, it’s not a flagship, but with its AMOLED screen, great battery and impressive camera it delivers a lot of what people are looking for in a smartphone. The trouble is the pricing, at 30,000/-Indian rupees is not a budget phone, as lot of competitive phones that go for less these days, even last year’s flagships are gowning down in price. Hopefully this happens with A8 soon.
