The Samsung Galaxy is a phone that's unlike anything you'll have seen on the market. It's just stunning.
It's incredibly expensive in a world where mid-range phones are more than good enough to handle most tasks people like... but the second you pick it up it's easy to see why.
The screen is just brilliant - the clearest, sharpest and offers lovely color reproduction to make movie watching a dream, and that's before you've even got to the fact it's wrapped into the chassis so hugely that it has a screen larger than the iPhone 7 Plus in a chassis that feels more like the iPhone 7.
The Galaxy S8 isn't perfect - in the search to squeeze the screen in so completely, other factors were overlooked: namely, the placement of the fingerprint reader. If you want this phone, you'll need to answer this question: are you OK using an iris scanner?
And if you're looking for something even bigger, and with a much-improved battery life to boot, then the Galaxy S8 Plus is easily the way to go - check out our review of that to see if that's the phone for you.
But the Galaxy S8 is firmly a phone that rises above those points to combine everything into a handset that really impresses in the hand, fitting seamlessly into day-to-day life (as long as you can get over the dizzying price).
Samsung Galaxy S8 price
- Between £40-£45 on contract, £689 SIM-free
- $30 to $31.25 on US carriers, $724.99 SIM-free
- AU$1200 to get the S8 SIM-free
- Ordering early can get you priority access and gifts
The Samsung Galaxy S8 isn’t the cheapest phone on the market by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, it’s one of the most expensive. You’re really paying for that screen.
In the UK, you’re going to be looking at between £40-£45 per month to get this phone without an upfront cost and with a few gigabytes of data, or you can purchase it SIM-free for a whopping £689.
In the US you're going to pay between $30 to $31.25 a month for this phone with a 24-month contract through American carriers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. Their contract pricing isn't cheap.
For $724.99, there will be an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S8 in the US that's now available for pre-order from Samsung and set to deliver (in black) on May 31. If you want to go SIM-free right away or want any other unlocked color, you'll have to pay off one of the carriers first.
In Australia, you’re looking at a shade under AU$1,200 to get your hands on this phone.
The slightly good news is that you’re at least getting a 64GB version of this phone in all territories; the presence of a microSD slot means Samsung won’t be launching multiple variants of the phone in different regions, instead offering a decent amount of storage as standard and giving users the option to add to that if they so wish.
Samsung Galaxy S8 release date
The Galaxy S8 launch is being staggered around the world, with the US getting its hands on the phone on April 21.
Officially the UK and Australia will get the S8 from April 28, but multiple retailers are offering pre-order deals that will enable you to get it from April 20 (with some throwing in gifts such as a free Gear VR) so check your local retailer to see what’s happening there.
We spent a week thoroughly testing the new Samsung Galaxy S8 - watch our video below to see how we got on.
Not seeing eye to eye
- Biometrics add time to unlocking the phone
- Fingerprint scanner in a poor place
- Facial recognition infuriating
Right, let’s get down to business – and we’ll start with the thing that’s concerning us most about the Galaxy S8.
The main issue we have with this phone centers around how you’ll get into it – most smartphones users now expect to use a fingerprint to unlock their device, making it secure and meaning you don’t have to peck in your PIN a billion times a day.
It’s a good idea, it’s safe enough for most people, and it just works – we’re all in agreement there.
With the Galaxy S6, Samsung got biometric unlocking right, but annoyingly with the Galaxy S8 things have become difficult and confusing.
You can unlock this phone with your face, a fingerprint or an iris scan, in increasing order of security level, making the S8 one of the most secure phones around (assuming nobody knows your PIN, of course, which is the backup method of entry).
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