Samsung Galaxy S8 Review: Ultimate Smartphone

In the past, we've reviewed tons of smartphones. At the time of our reviews, there have been times when one phone had the best display and the other had the best camera and then came the another with the best battery and the like. That way, we had different phones excelling in different aspects.

Samsung Galaxy S8 : Pure beauty in smartphone form review

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is superb, then. It’s a massive leap forwards in design terms compared to the S7, and is head and shoulders above every other phone in this regard. You won’t want to stop looking at it. It works brilliantly too, thanks to Samsung’s new focus on user interface design. It’s powerful, easy to use and if you like your software as stock as possible, this is Samsung’s purest Touchwiz attempt yet. The misplaced fingerprint sensor is the only mark against it, and even then it’s mitigated by the addition of iris and face scanning. And then there’s its growing ecosystem of accessories such as the Gear 360, the new Gear VR with controller, and the DeX desktop dock. All of them help make it a powerhouse that will expand your experience beyond mobile. At £689 SIM-free, the S8 is by no means cheap compared to the £650 LG G6 and £599 Apple iPhone 7. But its premium style and flawless performance are such that it doesn’t feel overpriced. Of course the elephant in the room here is the Note 7, and I’m sure there are those of you who’ll be waiting until the S8 has been in people’s hands for a few months before committing. But come on, surely Samsung isn’t going to make the same mistake again - this phone will have been tested and tested and tested again, and it’ll be truly astounding if it suffers the same fiery fate as its unfortunate smartphone sibling. I certainly didn’t experience a single problem with it in my time testing it. What you’re left with here is a brilliant smartphone experience, wrapped in one of the sleekest designs ever. If you’re looking for a smartphone that nails every aspect of everything you could want in the palm of your hand, this is it. Get the Samsung S8 (64GB) SIM free here for £689 or on contract here

It’s the most beautiful smartphone ever; Ridiculous power, put to good use with DeX; The camera is amazing, as always;

Bixby’s full talents not available at launch; Not all apps are optimised for its 18.5:9 aspect ratio; That fingerprint sensor position is not great at all;

Samsung Galaxy S8 review: The most beautiful phone ever has one wildly annoying issue

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is without a doubt the most beautiful, polished phone I've ever held. These words were true when I first reviewed it in April, and are still true a month on. I do have some additional insights since then -- scroll down a bit for those.

The Samsung Galaxy S8's fast speeds and fantastic curved screen make it a top phone for 2017, but the annoying fingerprint reader could sour your experience.

The best-looking phone around crushes it in performance, battery life, water-resistance and wireless charging; An external storage slot lets you keep more photos, videos and music.

Its awkwardly placed fingerprint reader leads to camera smears and longer unlock times; which is aggravating when you use it to unlock your phone dozens of times a day.

Samsung Galaxy S8 phone: full, in-depth review

Where to start with a Samsung Galaxy S phone launch? These phones aim to be the very best on the market and in recent years, they’ve arguably succeeded. But Samsung has always had a habit of hyping them through the roof and sending them to market laden with gimmicky features that can range from I-can’t-believe-they-invented-it to utterly terrible. And yet last year’s Samsung Galaxy S7 ended up being our Phone of the Year (once the price had dropped) and is still a great buy.

Samsung shovels in the features (as usual) but at least the important ones are good... Very good. It's not cheap but it excels where it matters and that camera is outstanding. It's the best phone you can buy.

Very pretty; Very fast; Superb camera;

Bixby virtual assistant is a joke; Average battery life;