Gadgetory

in mobile technology it's always the same old song and dance we all go crazy over the newest tech but after that initial review period we all move on to the next new hotness thing is how a gadget ages is just as important as that fresh out of the box perspective it's how we hold companies accountable we shouldn't shy away from that conversation so let's do something about that infinity displays cutting edge cameras multiple methods of biometric security we're in full-on rumor mode for Samsung's next flagship which is the perfect time to revisit a phone you can still buy today closing in on a full year how is this puppy aged what worked what has it here's our Galaxy S 8 plus after the buzz how can a manufacturer both lead the way and play it safe at the same time look no further than the Galaxy s8 Plus this is the most successful version of refining a phone line from 2017 both breaking new ground for smartphone design while wonderfully recovering from one of the biggest tech disasters a smartphone manufacturer has ever had to bear it's incredible how much pressure was heaped on this gadget and it's a testament to how good of a phone this is that it survived such intense scrutiny it's a tightrope walk on paper only a few bullet points truly separate this phone from its predecessors but one big item helps this phone feel like a significantly bigger upgrade than we found in galaxy's past we're of course talking about the screen an early example of skinnier taller displays LG beat them to the punch but Samsung delivered on a sleeker more eye-catching design which is set the new standard for all phones which followed it's still fresh enough to impress especially showing it to folks nearing the end of their current two-year old phone lease what's interesting to me while I'm still an advocate of moving up to higher resolution displays the si+ kicked off a trend of moving back to 1080p I've spent most of my time with this phone in full HD and hasn't felt like much of a compromise so much so that native 1080p panels feel just fine for the most part outside of magnified use like virtual reality samsung also nailed the new trend in security without ostracizing traditional biometric unlocking under screen fingerprint sensors weren't ready for primetime so while the location is less than ideal we still have that as an option alongside pin/password and iris scanning all screen on the front yet we didn't have to reinvent the wheel for basic control like maintaining a home pulse where a button should be there's a lot of functionality here which doesn't interrupt the form of the gadget which we can't say the same for some competitors there have of course been some changes just for the sake of change sure over the course of a year we've gotten used to Samsung's new layout in UI long pressing for shortcuts swiping in different directions for apps it's not that we aren't capable of adapting it's more why should we have to these navigational differences brought no benefit to the table and I'm still cranky about the zoom rocker on the camera app it's caused me to miss numerous shots and it's up to me to work around it again I can and I did but why should I have to revisiting Bixby I'm very happy to see how much more functional this assistant has become though I'm still not sure exactly how I'd incorporate these features into my daily use voice assistance in general still have a ways to go for improving casual interactions and commands there are some terrific ideas on display especially for easily creating macros but more often than not it still takes more work or more attention to get a good result out of Bixby then manually performing the same tasks and some of this philosophy extends to the overall hardware this phone has spent precious little time out of a case regardless of the video we show you I never use it like this and if I had purchased this phone with my own cash it would have been in a skin on day one in addition to wearing a bumper premium phones have gotten too expensive and too fragile huge surfaces of glass curved corners just begging for a good side drop to crack your day even shooting this video makes me a bit uncomfortable showing it off naked looks cool but feels a bit dishonest from an editorial standpoint in general use with the rear covered the hardware has held up well but I haven't been able to keep a screen protector on it so it's covered in fine scratches so I'm happy to report that the battery hasn't suffered any significant degradation it's still an all-day device with the little extra juice after dinner we're all a little sensitive about battery performance not just from Samsung's woes but also apples issues if you're buying an expensive phone it should have more than the bare minimum capacity to make it through the day brand new the s8 plus feels like it has enough of a battery buffer to handle another year of abuse performance wise this has been one of the most well behaved Samsung's I've ever reviewed every galaxy I've owned has gotten a bit stuttery after a stretch and this phone is no exception but the chipset manages to help minimise those twitches there's still significant custom software running on top of Android so with the full suite of apps driving this phone hard feels a bit slower than competitors that run leaner skins thankfully the worst place this manifests are in games which are poorly coded for Android anyway when they chug they chug bad but this isn't reflective of general UI performance or covering the basics it is software where I've had the most concerns though we know an Oreo update is around the corner if for no other reason then the Galaxy S nine is also right around the corner but it is a bummer to see that our review unit is still a couple months out of date on security patches not only plugging some recent holes in security this Hardware would have benefited from Android 7.1 one of the most expensive phones on the market what should we expect in terms of support for a device were increasingly living our lives out of the most difficult thing about revisiting a Samsung phone is that it never feels like we ever quite leave Samsung phones it wasn't that long ago we were reviewing the note and - a zoom sensor on the camera which I almost never use and the s-pen which I actually do enjoy the - are almost interchangeable it does some weird things to your brain like ubiquitous advertising it's like I can't ever truly escape the galaxy it makes the analysis part of this video a bit easier though one year later yes a plus is still a baller phone we know moving forward we'll see some refinement to the rear case probably double up the camera sensors and AI tech will be offloaded to a dedicated core on Qualcomm future chipset similar to the mate 10 pros keren 970 NP you some cool bleeding edge tech coming soon but if none of that is mission-critical for you then the si+ will continue to be a brutal competitor for phones launched in early 2018 especially when you can get one on sale as always thanks so much for watching subscribe to this channel and hit that Bell icon for more reviews like these and help us out with the share on your favorite social networks for pocket now I'm Juan Carlos bag now some gadget guy on Twitter and Instagram and I will catch you all on the next review