review on the Samsung Galaxy S8

Positives

Incredible & comfortable design
Outstanding Super AMOLED display
Fast performance
Good all-round camera
Bixby Voice Assistant has potential
Best in class in-box headphones
Acceptable battery life
Front-facing camera has autofocus
Plenty of customization options

Negatives

Odd fingerprint sensor location
Bixby is limited and needs work
No major improvements to the camera
Iris recognition is hit and miss
Bottom-firing speaker is average at best

Rating

Battery

8.5

Display

9.5

Camera

9.0

Performance

8.5

Software

8.8

Design

9.3

Bottom Line

8.9

Galaxy S8

by Samsung

Samsung's latest flagship has all the hallmarks of being one of the best phones of 2017, with its excellent design and outstanding display. However, its voice assistant needs a lot of polish to leave its current beta state. It might not be the absolute best phone, but as with previous years, it's likely to be the best phone for most users.

Buy now from Samsung.com

Update (2/16): With the Samsung Galaxy S9 just around the corner, we thought this would be a fun time to take a look back at our review for the current S8 family. After all, soon this will be a highly discounted model making it a potential purchase for those looking for a great phone but wishing to same some serious cash in the process. 
The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge might have been two of the best phones of 2017, but the well-documented issues faced by the Galaxy Note 7 have cast a shadow over Samsung’s mobile efforts. From two fantastic smartphones to a phone that would have been near-perfect had it not spontaneously caught fire, 2016 was a year to remember and forget for Samsung, and its next flagship was always going to come under intense scrutiny.

Don’t miss: Where to buy the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus

Ahead of its Unpacked event last month, Samsung flooded media with advertising designed to begin the painstaking process of rebuilding the customer faith that took years to accumulate. Then came the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, two phones that push the boundaries further than ever before, but do they offer enough?
In previous years, Samsung’s Galaxy S flagship(s) would almost certainly be the best phones of the year, but this year LG, Huawei, and Sony have all bought their very best to the market, and Samsung’s issues have presented a rare chink in its armor. Do the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus continue past trends of being the best Android smartphones? Find out in our Samsung Galaxy S8 review!

About this Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S8 review: To bring our readers, and viewers, the most comprehensive review experience possible, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus were reviewed by two different members of Android Authority. While Joshua Vergara put together the video linked above, I, Nirave Gondhia, put together the in-depth written Samsung Galaxy S8 review encompassing both of our opinions to provide the definitive Android Authority view on Samsung’s latest flagship.
We have both been testing international versions of the Galaxy S8 with model number G950F on build number ending 1AQC9 running Android 7.0.1, with the March 2017 security updates. Our usage with the Galaxy S8 Plus (model number G955U on build number ending 1AQD9) was limited to only a few days and we’ll be following up this review with additional testing around the battery, display, and performance in the coming days.

Design

Over the past few years, Samsung has transitioned away from its plastic past to a refinement of its glass and metal build, and the Galaxy S8 presents the future of this design language. There’s two sizes to the Galaxy S8 but neither comes with an Edge moniker, with Samsung calling its taller curved screens the Infinity Display. The focus with this year’s phones isn’t the curved display however, but more so how Samsung has managed to squeeze so much screen real estate into the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. Thanks to the switch to a 18.5:9 format and the removal of the home button and Samsung branding on the front, we have phones that feel a lot smaller than they should.