Gadgetory

when I think galaxy active phone I pretty much think a tougher meteor or all-around sturdier version of the Galaxy S phone and when you look at the Galaxy f8 active that's basically what you have at least on the surface level they actually have very similar specs from the excellent camera and even that button on the spy basically if the f8 active seems like a more expensive version of the s8 with a built in case so what do you really get and couldn't I achieve it all by just putting a touch cape on this Galaxy s8 well from a drop test to a dunk test I decided to find out first test the look compared to the thick f8 active the Galaxy s8 is sleek and small instead of a glass back you've got plastic that's easy to grip it'll still charge wirelessly to the s8 active has thicker sides that come with their own bumpers that's good but these screws on the side purely ornamental we know because we unscrewed them one thing that set the past active phones apart were all the buttons that were easy to press with wet or gloved hands but this year's s made active loses those three physical navigation buttons under the screen and the button on that side that used to open up a health app or any other app you wanted is now programmed to fix P voice and that's it phurba s8 in a good case and really there's no real design advantage on the s8 active second test water-resistant both the Galaxy s8 and s8 active are water-resistant but after last year's galaxy s7 active drowned in our pool because of a design flaw that affected some units one that Samsung later fixed of course we had to see if this year's phone faced the same issues it did it both Galaxy s8 survived 28 minutes in the bucket third test freezer burn for a third test we pop the phones in the freezer for 30 minutes in addition to being water resistant the phones are rated to withstand dust and extreme temperatures they both came out again chilly but fully functional fourth test beware of sudden drops the SI two actives real claim to fame is that you don't have to worry about it when you fumble the phone from your pocket or while taking a photo so we dropped the encased s8 and the s8 active side by side on both the front and back and peered at the phone for cracks they both got three or four very short hairline scrapes from their spills but no major cracks or splinters phones fall and break all the time so that's expected and even with the case if it falls screen slide down on an uneven surface you could be out of luck with your screen so what did we learn from all this about a $35 protector like the spigen tough armor case can probably shield your regular s8 from life's major messes and spills without you having to pay $100 more for the same hardware gun