Samsung A8 Plus (2018) Review

Finally purchased Samsung A8 Plus on the launch weekend on Jan 21, 2018 after getting frustrated with the need to keep rebooting my OnePlus One. As part of the launch, it was bundled with a 10,000 mAh power bank (which allows me to have two micro USB to USB-C adapter - one from the power bank and one that comes in the box) and 64 GB memory card. I planned to purchase A8 initially but bought the A8+ instead because of the additional memory (6 GB vs 4 GB) and storage. Difference between the two models are as follow:

	A8	A8+
Battery	3000 mAh	3500 mAh
Weight	172g	191g
Screen	142.0mm (5.6" full rectangle) / 140.2mm (5.5" rounded corners)	153.6mm (6.0" full rectangle) / 151.8mm (6.0" rounded corners)
RAM	4GB	6GB
Storage	32GB	64GB
Price	RM1799	RM2499

Performance

Performance is great, I did not feel any lag even with after launching multiple applications. There a Device Maintenance options that allows me to clear the memory and also residual files. I noticed that the option to clear memory will not clear the recently opened applications (left software button at the bottom). Those applications will still occupy memory unless I clear it using the recently opened application options.

Split Screen

The recent application button can also be used to convert to split screen, allowing multiple applications on the foreground. It is a nice feature but when since the keyboard takes about ⅓ of the screen, it will cover most of the screen of the bottom application.

Battery

Battery is much better on this phone. In my previous phone, I had to charge the phone in the middle of the day but with this phone (if not the battery will be below 20%), I still have about 50% battery at 6 pm (starting with 97% at 6 am).

I had better battery life by keeping the phone on mobile data only (instead of mobile data and Wifi on). The battery life will probably depend on the stability of the signal.

Dual SIM with memory slot

The phone comes with SIM 1 + SIM 2 + MicroSD slots. Using both SIMs at the same time significantly reduces the life of the battery. Both slots use nano SIM. The tray feels fragile, probably not meant for frequent swapping.

Camera

In order to access the different modes for the camera, swap to the right when the camera is on. I did not know about this for the first month. Finally found it after some trial and error. Camera is speed is pretty fast. However, occasionally it is necessary to point on the object to force the focus. Majority of my photos were clear (but encountered a few blurred photos because I failed to force the focus).

Panorama mode:



I was not able to find the beauty mode (had it in Note 3 and also OnePlus One). Here are more photos taken using the phone.

Tried to get the flowing lights here but caught the plastic instead.

For Gif, only 20 frames are allowed. Unfortunately, the animation does not carry over in blogger.

HyperLapse mode is something new to me. Unfortunately, the animation does not carry over here, but you should be able to see the animation through this link.