Tech giant Samsung’s smartphone portfolio has many tiers – there’s the ‘Note’ and ‘S’ ranges, followed by the mid-range ‘A’, ‘E’ and ‘J’, and finally, the Grand, Core and Star lineup. Even though the ‘A’ series is priced significantly lower than the ‘S’ range, the smartphones still pack a punch and offer features that are mostly on par with the ‘S’ range. Recently, we put the hero of the ‘A’ range – Samsung Galaxy A8 – to the test. Find out what we thought below!
Design – Featuring a full metal unibody design, the Samsung Galaxy A8, which has a thickness of 5.9mm, looks very sleek and classy even though the battery isn’t user-removable. Its slim body has rounded off corners, and weighs at 141 grams, making it very light. We like the ultra thin side bezels, but the device can be a little slippery because of the smooth metal body.
Besides the signature Samsung home button on the front, the power button is placed on the right, together with the 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB port at the bottom. On the left, there is the volume rocker and the dual-SIM card slot – the second of which doubles as a microSD card slot.
Display and software – The massive screen is a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD, but it only has a 1080p resolution at 386ppi. Having said that, we really enjoyed the sharp and vibrant display for doing just about anything, like watching videos, playing games or browsing.
The Samsung Galaxy A8 comes with the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS and the TouchWiz user interface. With TouchWiz, you also get the pre-installed apps, which we generally don’t care for. However, we were impressed with the theme store, which featured a wide array of trendy designs that will appeal to the millennials and younger users.
Hardware – The device comes with a 32 GB built-in storage, and it is expandable by up to 128 GB with a microSD card. However, users would have choose between using the second SIM slot for dual SIM, or the expandable storage.
When it comes to connectivity, the Samsung Galaxy A8 offers 4G LTE support, Wi-Fi, GPS, GLONASS and Bluetooth 4.1. There is no NFC, so S Beam Share cannot operate, which is a shame because it’s a feature we adore for transferring files across Samsung devices.
The device can be secured via fingerprint and the scanner integrated into the home button on the device. It’s pretty nifty as it’s accurate, swift and easy to set up, and utilise. You also have the option to store up to four fingerprints on the device.
In terms of sound, there are no stereo speakers and the rear mounted speaker doesn’t give the best audio quality. Entertainment-wise, it can be a letdown, but it also isn’t terrible.
Nitpicking aside, the large 3,050 mAh battery on the Samsung Galaxy A8 provides amazing battery life. With a fully charged device, we were able to get a full day of use out of the Galaxy A8, even with watching tons of videos on YouTube, taking photos endlessly for assignments, and playing games.
Performance – With an Octa-Core CPU speed clocked at 1.8GHz, 1.3GHz, and RAM size of 2GB, the device performs relatively smoothly, even with multi-tasking, or playing graphic-heavy games. With that being said, we did encounter a little lagginess and unusual crashes with some apps like Facebook. It could very well be a bug with the app though. Aside from that, we’re pretty impressed with the performance of the Samsung Galaxy A8.
Camera – Featuring a rear CMOS 16 MP camera with LED flash and auto focus, as well as a front CMOS 5 MP camera with wide angle lens, the picture quality is superb. Both the cameras feature an f 1.9 aperture, so the camera still takes vivid photos even in low-light conditions. There’s also a HDR function for even more optimal photos.
The ‘A’ series is mostly marketed to the selfie and wefie generation. With the A8 and its front camera Wide Selfie function, it allows users a 120° view view and lets you get more into your snaps. The rear camera also has a beautifying function that allows you to take flawless selfies. We also really liked being able to control the brightness before photos are being taken.
As for its video capabilities, the Samsung Galaxy A8 shoots in Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 30 frames per second. We tried recording some clips in Full HD and they came out crisp and clear. However, there is no 4K video.
Final Thoughts – Samsung’s Galaxy A8 retails for RM1,888 and it is available in three colours – White, Black and Gold. Other than the lack of NFC and stereo speakers, as well as the non-replaceable battery and slight bumps here and there, it’s a pretty good phablet-feel smartphone. We absolutely love the premium feel of the phone, its camera capabilities, and battery life. For a mid-range smartphone, we’d say that the price is a little steep though. It’d be great if the A8 retailed around the RM1,500 mark.
Check out the Samsung Galaxy A8 via Samsung Malaysia’s official website for more specs and features.
