Galaxy A8 Phone Review and Features

The Galaxy A8 phone is a sleek and feature-packed device that's sure to impress. It boasts a stunning 5.6-inch Super AMOLED display that's perfect for watching videos or browsing through your favorite apps.

One of the standout features of the Galaxy A8 is its impressive camera capabilities. With a 16MP front camera and a 16MP rear camera, you'll be able to capture high-quality photos and videos with ease.

Whether you're a casual user or a power user, the Galaxy A8 has something for everyone. Its 3000mAh battery provides all-day power, and its fast charging capabilities mean you can quickly top up your phone when you're on the go.

The Galaxy A8 also features a sleek and durable design, with a metal frame and a range of color options to choose from.

The Galaxy A8 phone has a sleek design that's hard to distinguish from its premium brother, the Galaxy S8. It's made of a combination of glass and metal, which gives it a premium feel.

The phone measures 149.2 x 70.6 x 8.4 mm, which is a bit thicker than the S8 and last year's A7. Despite its thickness, it doesn't feel chunky at all.

It's available in three colours in the UK: black, gold, and orchid grey. The glass rear cover is a bit slippery, but it's also waterproof with an IP68 rating, which means it can withstand up to 1.5 meters of fresh water for up to 30 minutes.

The phone has a fingerprint scanner on the back, which is easier to reach and use compared to being beside the camera. There's no dedicated Bixby button on the side, but that's not a major issue.

It's worth noting that the phone is not the lightest, weighing in at 172g, but it doesn't feel overly heavy.

A different take: Apple Phone Does Not Turn on

The Galaxy A8 is a powerhouse of a phone, with specs that rival its bigger brothers in the Samsung family. Its Exynos 7885 processor is a small upgrade on the 7880 found in the A7, but it still packs a punch with eight cores and higher clock speeds.

The phone's graphics department has seen a significant improvement, making it a great choice for gamers and graphics enthusiasts. In benchmarks, the Galaxy A8 performs well, with scores that rival some of the top phones on the market.

One of the standout features of the Galaxy A8 is its display. The 5.6in Full HD+ (1080×2220) SuperAMOLED Infinity Display is a treat for the eyes, offering vibrant colors and crisp details. You'll feel like you're right in the action with this display.

Here are some key specs to keep in mind:

Overall, the Galaxy A8 is a solid choice for anyone looking for a powerful and feature-packed phone without breaking the bank.

The display on the Galaxy A8 is a 5.6-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2,220x1,080, and a pixel density of 441 PPI.

It has an 18.5:9 aspect ratio thanks to its narrow bezels, making it a great choice for watching videos or browsing the web.

The display achieves a brightness of 589 cd/m² with the ambient light sensor switched, which reduces to 347 cd/m² in manual mode.

In the APL50 test, the display reached up to 684 cd/m², which is impressive for a mid-range phone.

Here's a comparison of the display's brightness with other phones:

The display has an infinite contrast ratio due to the OLED technology, which means it can produce true blacks.

However, it does use pulse width modulation (PWM) to control brightness, which may cause flicker and be noticeable to those with sensitive eyes.

The display's response times are very fast, with a response time of 4 ms for black to white transitions and 5.2 ms for 50% grey to 80% grey transitions.

This makes it well-suited for fast-paced gaming and other demanding tasks.

In terms of color accuracy, the display has a colorchecker dE 2000 of 5.8, which is relatively low and indicates good color accuracy.

The display's grayscale accuracy is also good, with a grayscale dE 2000 of 2.7.

Overall, the display on the Galaxy A8 is impressive and offers great performance in terms of brightness, contrast, and response times.

The Galaxy A8 phone has a wide range of connectivity options, including support for multiple LTE bands and Wi-Fi.

You can connect to both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks, which means fast transmission speeds. The phone achieved 269 MBit/s send and 280 MBit/s receive speeds with our reference Linksys EA8500 router.

The Galaxy A8 also supports LTE Cat. 11, with download and upload speeds of up to 600 Mbps and 50 Mbps respectively.

The phone has a USB-C port that supports 2.0 speeds, fast charging, and USB OTG. This means you can transfer files and charge your phone quickly.

A 3.5 mm jack is also included, located next to the USB-C port.

The phone supports Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and GPS for location tracking. It uses GPS, GLONASS, and BeiDou to determine location, which helps achieve a relatively precise location accuracy of up to four meters outside and nine meters inside.

Expand your knowledge: Free Phone Tracking Apps for Android

The Galaxy A8's location accuracy is impressive, often plotting a better route than a professional GPS device like the Garmin Edge 500.

Here's a comparison of the Galaxy A8's Wi-Fi speeds with other devices:

The Galaxy A8 phone has a dual-camera setup, with a 16 MP and 8 MP sensor on the front, perfect for taking stunning selfies with varying focal lengths and bokeh effects.

The front-facing camera array allows for many filters, such as beauty effects or stickers, and can record video up to 1080p and 30 FPS.

The rear camera has a 16 MP main sensor with a f 1.7 lens, 1.12µm pixel size, and 1/2.8" sensor, providing good low-light performance and fast phase detection autofocus.

In daylight scenes, the main camera captures fine details with sharp focus and vibrant color scheme, outperforming the ZenFone 4 in low-light conditions.

The camera also has a single speaker on the side of the phone, which sounds average but doesn't make a huge difference from the normal position next to the USB port.

Consider reading: Galaxy Note 8 Phone Release Date

The cameras on the Galaxy A8 are quite impressive, especially the front-facing dual-camera setup. It features 16- and 8Mp cameras, both f/1.9, which allows for a bokeh effect blurring the background.

You can adjust the amount of blur afterwards with Live Focus, a feature that's unusual to find on a front camera. The front cameras also have a "wefie" option to fit more people in, essentially a panorama with the front cameras.

The rear camera is a lone 16Mp with a Galaxy S8 matching f/1.7 aperture, offering phase detection autofocus and a single LED flash. It's a decent setup, but we'd like to see optical image stabilisation and video recording higher than 1080p at 30fps.

Picture and video quality is adequate, with both the front and rear cameras able to record video up to 1080p and 30 FPS. The 16Mp main camera has a f 1.7 lens and 1/2.8" sensor, giving it good low-light performance.

The daylight shots show that the main camera captures fine details with the sharpness of the focus enhancing the vibrant color scheme.

For your interest: Galaxy Note 7 Phone Release Date

The speaker on the Galaxy A8 is placed on the side of the phone, above the power button. This is an unusual placement, but it doesn't make a huge difference in sound quality.

The speaker itself sounds pretty average, which is a bit disappointing. I've found that average speakers can be a bit of a letdown, especially if you're used to better sound quality.

The good news is that the phone still retains the headphone port, which is a nice touch. This means you can still use your favorite headphones with the Galaxy A8.

The Galaxy A8 phone has a battery life that's above average, thanks to its low power consumption. This is evident in its performance in our realistic Wi-Fi test, where it lasted for eleven hours.

In our battery test, the Galaxy A8 (2018) outlasted its competitors in terms of battery runtime, with a -4% drop in battery level compared to the others. Here's a comparison of the battery runtime of the Galaxy A8 with its competitors:

The Galaxy A8 also performed well in our H.264 video test, lasting for fifteen hours, and in our WiFi v1.3 test, lasting for ten hours.

The battery life of the Galaxy A8 is a mixed bag. It has an average battery size of 3000mAh, which is typical for smartphones these days.

In our tests, the Galaxy A8 lasted for four hours and 30 minutes with an efficiency score of 2700, which is a bit disappointing. For context, the Moto G6 was able to go twice as long and scored 3516.

However, in a realistic Wi-Fi test, the Galaxy A8 lasted for eleven hours, which is impressive. It also lasted for fifteen hours in our H.264 video test, outperforming its competitors.

Here's a breakdown of the battery life of the Galaxy A8 compared to its competitors:

Note that the Galaxy A8's battery life varies depending on the test, but it generally performs well in realistic usage scenarios.

The Galaxy A8's software experience is a bit of a letdown, as it ships with Android 7.1 Nougat instead of the latest version. This is a shame, especially considering Samsung's reputation.

You'll still get a familiar experience, similar to the Galaxy S range, with pre-installed apps from Samsung, Microsoft, and Google. These include popular services like Microsoft Office and Google Drive.

The Galaxy A8 also comes with some useful features, such as Multi-Window mode, which allows you to use two apps at the same time. This can be really handy for multitasking.

Another notable feature is Samsung Pay, which lets you make contactless payments with your phone.

The Galaxy A8 phone comes with a range of accessories, including a modular power supply, a USB Type-A to Type-C cable, headphones, a SIM tool, and a quick start guide.

You can expect a twenty-four month warranty with the Galaxy A8, which is a reassuring feature.

Samsung shortens the warranty for the battery to twelve months, and even further to six months for parts that are more easily worn, such as headphones and the power supply.

The retailer's warranty still applies for two years, offering additional protection.

There are no official accessories listed on Samsung's website, so you won't find any additional products to purchase.

The Galaxy A8 is priced at £449 RRP, which might seem a bit steep considering it's not a flagship device.

You can buy the Galaxy A8 from retailers like Carphone Warehouse and Amazon, both in the UK and the US, where prices vary.

The Galaxy A8's price is actually quite comparable to that of the OnePlus 5T, which is a tough phone to beat in terms of value for money.

In the UK, you can find the Galaxy A8 for £449, while in the US, prices on Amazon vary.

The Galaxy A8 faces tough competition in the market, with devices like the Nokia 8 and Honor View 10 offering similar features at similar prices.

The Galaxy A8 is a good buy if you're looking for an affordable phone with decent specs. It's essentially a Galaxy S9 mini, making it an attractive option for those seeking a cheaper Samsung handset.

If you don't mind a slightly older model, the Galaxy A8 is still a viable choice. There are, however, some strong mid-range rivals to consider.