Galaxy S8 Reviews: Full-Front Display Scores Top Marks, But Rear Fingerprint Scanner is Awkwardly Positioned

[grkm3]

It's good to know that the iris and facial scanning technology work well in case Apple has to resort to that. Still hoping for under the screen though. What are some of the other features of the new S8? Maybe I am naive and just missing it.

yes I'm going to call BS on him not getting the facial and iris working. A coworker brought his gs8 to work last night and it was lighting fast unlocking using facial unlock.i even went on his Facebook and tried 3 pictures of his face and zoomed his face up and could not trick the phone to unlock.

less then a second by him taking the phone away and looking at it the phone unlocked.

I was so impressed I went to best buy after work and pre ordered the phone!

 

[DNichter]

yes I'm going to call BS on him not getting the facial and iris working. A coworker brought his gs8 to work last night and it was lighting fast unlocking using facial unlock.i even went on his Facebook and tried 3 pictures of his face and zoomed his face up and could not trick the phone to unlock.

less then a second by him taking the phone away and looking at it the phone unlocked.

I was so impressed I went to best buy after work and pre ordered the phone!

Who knows, maybe he is just old? Not sure why he would make it up. Anyway, seems like a quality phone if you are an Android fan. Hoping Apple can improve on a bezel-less design.

 

[LordVic]

Who knows, maybe he is just old? Not sure why he would make it up. Anyway, seems like a quality phone if you are an Android fan. Hoping Apple can improve on a bezel-less design.

I bet I could get it working with just his photo


Mossberg likely didn't make it up. But he also likely didn't spend a whole lot of time trying.

The man has an unfortunate history of bias and having double standards. All I'm saying is that he's not a great example to use due to his long history of Apple centric bias. He comes across like a crony here. As I said either his comment is hyperbolic and he didn't really fail, or even try, or he's lying . Doubt he's lying, but the first option actually is similar to his previous history's

Mossberg is just a terrible person to reference to prove any point, for or against anything

 

[DNichter]

I bet I could get it working with just his photo


Mossberg likely didn't make it up. But he also likely didn't spend a whole lot of time trying.

The man has an unfortunate history of bias and having double standards. All I'm saying is that he's not a great example to use due to his long history of Apple centric bias. He comes across like a crony here. As I said either his comment is hyperbolic and he didn't really fail, or even try, or he's lying . Doubt he's lying, but the first option actually is similar to his previous history's

Mossberg is just a terrible person to reference to prove any point, for or against anything

I can't say I agree, but that's okay. I'd think every reviewer has some sort of bias as I am sure they have a preferred platform. Either way, ultimately all phones will look the same and it will come down to software, core technologies, and support.

 

[LordVic]

I can't say I agree, but that's okay. I'd think every reviewer has some sort of bias as I am sure they have a preferred platform. Either way, ultimately all phones will look the same and it will come down to software, core technologies, and support.

We've all got bias. I do to. But I'm also not writing tech journalism.

I expect someone who calls themselves a journalist to be able to acknowledge their bias and distance themselves from it. Especially when there's a potential conflict of interest. This is my beef wit him

He was nearly best friends with Jobs. Often spending evenings together. Mossberg was often invited as jobs guest to shows and awards.

I think it's very telling when very shortly after Jobs death, his contract was no longer renewed for the first time in his career and he was forced to go on his own. To me, that's pretty telling that he was unable to carry his weight anymore as a journalist and was riding the Apple wave as long as he had inside contact. Once his friend on the inside was gone, he was no longer really valuable. He ended up going to another editorialized blog site (Vox/the verge) with otherlike minded bloggers. (Him and Nilay seem made for each other)


Being super close friends to the CEO of a company you're supposed to report on and apply journalistic criticism to is "hinky". And while he's allowed bias, he let that bias turn him into a glorified salesperson hiding behind the title of journalism and that imho is extremely disrespectful to all of us who are consumers looking to spend our money wisely.

 

[koigirl]

I walked in Best Buy to check out the new Samsung phones last night and wow, these are beautiful, next-level devices. My 6s Plus looked very dated and dowdy next to the 8+. I had thought I would be more interested in the 8 but I was surprised to gravitate immediately to the 8+ which is about the same height as my 6s Plus but narrower. It feels super easy and right to hold in my hand. Much more comfortable to hold than my Plus. The phones feel and look very premium, the screens are beautiful, and they feel great in the hand, excepting for the annoying BB security dongles. Even the rear Touch ID didn't seem too awkward, although I think I would use face and iris recognition for most purposes.

I played with the software and it seemed very smooth although somewhat awkward for me as an iOS user. This switch would take some major adjustment for me as I've been using iPhone and iPad exclusively since 2010 when I received the original iPad as a birthday gift and then immediately upgraded my Blackberry for an iPhone 4. At the time, I was just enamored with iOS and Apple mobile hardware and was already a loyal Mac user. I am tempted to try the 8+ for a few weeks and see what I think or maybe even wait for the Note 8 which should be even better. Last year I was ramping up to try the Note 7 when all the battery issues erupted. Last year was also the first year I chose not to update to the latest Apple model as I just didn't see any compelling reason (and it doesn't take much to compel me!) to upgrade to iPhone 7 Plus.

I am thinking I may try Samsung for a few hundred less for this year and wait for next year to see what Apple does with another year's time. The iPhone 8 sounds like it will cost well north of $1K and have a good 3-4 month waitlist. This would indicate I could be waiting until next February to receive a new phone! I may end up hating Android but I think I'm going to at least give it a try. I will keep my 6s Plus just in case I don't like it.

 

[ECB]

where can I get that wallpaper though?

 

[mib1800]

Placing finger print scanner at the rear even at awkward position is still better than in the front. I would have said ludicrous a year ago if someone had said this.

But having used one with fps at the back I am all for it. You can unlock at same time when taking the out from your pocket or picking up the phone.

 

[Smellmet]

lol you're joking right? Xioami are complete junk haha. Yet another company that rips off apple down to software look a like. The components in those phones are garbage. Again, I see a scanner on the back. Unable to move forward like samsung so they copy what Samsung put out. Their next phones will look like what ever apple puts out at a cheaper price point because they use crappy build methods and components. Kia can build a car that looks exactly like a BMW but it feels and drives like a kia and in a month it will be on the service lift. I can't even believe you'd post a picture of an Xioami phone and compare it to apple. Their CEO dresses like Steve Jobs and delivers identical Key Notes lol. They are a joke!

Oh pur-lease. I'm on my second Kia and they've been the most reliable cars I've ever owned in 26 years of driving.

 

[LordVic]

Oh pur-lease. I'm on my second Kia and they've been the most reliable cars I've ever owned in 26 years of driving.

is it really a surprise that people who are phone snobs, who think that being #1 in phones means everything else is ****, also behave the same way with automobiles?

don't be shocked. move on from them. They're generally not very intelligent peeople who continuously believe that everything is a zero sum game and if you're not first, you're last. these are ignorant and dangerous ideas they have.

Glad you've enjoyed your Kia, Both Kia and Hyundai have come a tremendous way in the last decade. they're no longer dirty cheep fall apart cars. some of them actually are very nice

 

[DNichter]

We've all got bias. I do to. But I'm also not writing tech journalism.

I expect someone who calls themselves a journalist to be able to acknowledge their bias and distance themselves from it. Especially when there's a potential conflict of interest. This is my beef wit him

He was nearly best friends with Jobs. Often spending evenings together. Mossberg was often invited as jobs guest to shows and awards.

I think it's very telling when very shortly after Jobs death, his contract was no longer renewed for the first time in his career and he was forced to go on his own. To me, that's pretty telling that he was unable to carry his weight anymore as a journalist and was riding the Apple wave as long as he had inside contact. Once his friend on the inside was gone, he was no longer really valuable. He ended up going to another editorialized blog site (Vox/the verge) with otherlike minded bloggers. (Him and Nilay seem made for each other)


Being super close friends to the CEO of a company you're supposed to report on and apply journalistic criticism to is "hinky". And while he's allowed bias, he let that bias turn him into a glorified salesperson hiding behind the title of journalism and that imho is extremely disrespectful to all of us who are consumers looking to spend our money wisely.

You're not wrong with everything you mention, but I have seen him be critical of things Apple has put out. I just don't think he would lie about the bio-metrics not working well, but who knows.

 

[Well]

Reviews of Samsung's new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ hit the web today, and given each smartphone's potential similarities to Apple's rumored iPhone with an OLED display, we have rounded up some of the impressions below.

Galaxy S8's Infinity Display (Image: The Verge)​

The vast majority of reviews praised Samsung's so-called Infinity Display, which takes up over 80 percent of the front of the smartphones. The design results in smartphones with large 5.8-inch or 6.2-inch screens that are still easy to hold in one hand or put in your pocket, according to reviews.

Dan Seifert, reporting for The Verge:Brian Heater, reporting for TechCrunch:Steve Kovach, reporting for Business Insider:Lance Ulanoff, reporting for Mashable:Walt Mossberg, reporting for Recode:In order to achieve the larger display without significantly increasing the physical size of the smartphone, Samsung removed the home button from the front of the Galaxy S8. Samsung then relocated the fingerprint scanner to the back of the phone, positioning it next to the camera.

Galaxy S8's rear fingerprint sensor (Image: The Verge)​

Unfortunately, many reviews found the fingerprint scanner to be hard to reach and awkwardly positioned next to the camera.

Nicole Nguyen, reporting for BuzzFeed Newsan Seifert, reporting for The Verge:Apple is rumored to be working on a completely overhauled iPhone, and a display taking up nearly the entire front of the smartphone is a widely expected feature. Apple is also expected to remove the Home button, so it may too relocate Touch ID to the rear if it can't integrate it under the display.

Article Link: Galaxy S8 Reviews: Full-Front Display Scores Top Marks, But Rear Fingerprint Scanner is Awkwardly Positioned

[doublepost=1492704024][/doublepost]How long before a fire! Wait I'll get some marshmallows.

 

[S14Drvr]

is it really a surprise that people who are phone snobs, who think that being #1 in phones means everything else is ****, also behave the same way with automobiles?

don't be shocked. move on from them. They're generally not very intelligent peeople who continuously believe that everything is a zero sum game and if you're not first, you're last. these are ignorant and dangerous ideas they have.

Glad you've enjoyed your Kia, Both Kia and Hyundai have come a tremendous way in the last decade. they're no longer dirty cheep fall apart cars. some of them actually are very nice

you must drive a Kia or Hyundai yourself...it's ok. Like you said they have become nice cars but I couldn't own one. Thats just me though...stigma attached with them. Bottom line the person is pluggin xiamoi lol. They are the equivalent to the feeder fish that attach themselves to a shark to eat the scraps. They are junk, bloat ware phones made with cheap components. Their CEO idolizes Jobs and its sad. They are making a lot of money and good for them but they are blood suckers who exist solely due to others hard work

 

[kis]

Got an S8+ today. Got it at a 10% discount so decided to give it a try and sell it if I don't like it - probably won't make a loss. Needless to say: I'll auction it off again (no sich thing as a return period here).

- screen: big, beautiful, even works with the tempered glass protector I put on it (which couldn't be said for previous galaxys with curved displays). However, it has a purple tint on the edges of the screen, something lots of people are reporting. Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. Adjusting the display colors didn't help at all.

- speed: this thing isn't as fast as expected. It lags quite a bit, especially when opening or re-opening apps but also when just navigating the menus. I have the Exynos version. Perhaps the 835 is better. But in any case: it's way slower than my iPhone 7 Plus in pretty much everything it does.

- fingerprint reader: a big no-go. The placement makes it almost unusable and the other unlocking features are clunky and slow.

- Android: holy crap are some of the apps fugly.

- bloat: to my own surprise I was able to uninstall some of Samsung's bloat. Samsung Internet, email, the fitness thingy - that's new. But some of it is still uninstallable (s-calendar, the clock etc).

- Bixby: Oh my gosh this thing is sh***y. It's a really lousy google Now clone, completely useless and superfluous. I was able to remove it from the home screen but it's permanently assigned to a hardware button that's directly beneath the volume down button, so you basically push it about 10 times a day accidentally.

This whole phone is a half-a***d product. Typically Android and typically Samsung. Good looking unless you actually look closely. Fast on paper but pretty slow in real life. Interesting feature but lousy execution.

Man am I looking forward to the iPhone 8 now.

 

[grkm3]

Got an S8+ today. Got it at a 10% discount so decided to give it a try and sell it if I don't like it - probably won't make a loss. Needless to say: I'll auction it off again (no sich thing as a return period here).

- screen: big, beautiful, even works with the tempered glass protector I put on it (which couldn't be said for previous galaxys with curved displays). However, it has a purple tint on the edges of the screen, something lots of people are reporting. Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. Adjusting the display colors didn't help at all.

- speed: this thing isn't as fast as expected. It lags quite a bit, especially when opening or re-opening apps but also when just navigating the menus. I have the Exynos version. Perhaps the 835 is better. But in any case: it's way slower than my iPhone 7 Plus in pretty much everything it does.

- fingerprint reader: a big no-go. The placement makes it almost unusable and the other unlocking features are clunky and slow.

- Android: holy crap are some of the apps fugly.

- bloat: to my own surprise I was able to uninstall some of Samsung's bloat. Samsung Internet, email, the fitness thingy - that's new. But some of it is still uninstallable (s-calendar, the clock etc).

- Bixby: Oh my gosh this thing is sh***y. It's a really lousy google Now clone, completely useless and superfluous. I was able to remove it from the home screen but it's permanently assigned to a hardware button that's directly beneath the volume down button, so you basically push it about 10 times a day accidentally.

This whole phone is a half-a***d product. Typically Android and typically Samsung. Good looking unless you actually look closely. Fast on paper but pretty slow in real life. Interesting feature but lousy execution.

Man am I looking forward to the iPhone 8 now.

thanks for your non biased review!

 

[The Game 161]

thanks for your non biased review!

Amazing what people try to tell themselves to make them feel better about their own device hey

 

[DNichter]

Got an S8+ today. Got it at a 10% discount so decided to give it a try and sell it if I don't like it - probably won't make a loss. Needless to say: I'll auction it off again (no sich thing as a return period here).

- screen: big, beautiful, even works with the tempered glass protector I put on it (which couldn't be said for previous galaxys with curved displays). However, it has a purple tint on the edges of the screen, something lots of people are reporting. Once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. Adjusting the display colors didn't help at all.

- speed: this thing isn't as fast as expected. It lags quite a bit, especially when opening or re-opening apps but also when just navigating the menus. I have the Exynos version. Perhaps the 835 is better. But in any case: it's way slower than my iPhone 7 Plus in pretty much everything it does.

- fingerprint reader: a big no-go. The placement makes it almost unusable and the other unlocking features are clunky and slow.

- Android: holy crap are some of the apps fugly.

- bloat: to my own surprise I was able to uninstall some of Samsung's bloat. Samsung Internet, email, the fitness thingy - that's new. But some of it is still uninstallable (s-calendar, the clock etc).

- Bixby: Oh my gosh this thing is sh***y. It's a really lousy google Now clone, completely useless and superfluous. I was able to remove it from the home screen but it's permanently assigned to a hardware button that's directly beneath the volume down button, so you basically push it about 10 times a day accidentally.

This whole phone is a half-a***d product. Typically Android and typically Samsung. Good looking unless you actually look closely. Fast on paper but pretty slow in real life. Interesting feature but lousy execution.

Man am I looking forward to the iPhone 8 now.

Sounds about right. Thanks for the update.

 

[RodoBobJon]

Unless Mossberg is wrong here, I'm not sure why anyone would want this phone:

In my tests, the Galaxy S8 had the least reliable, most frustrating, biometric security measures I’ve ever tested. The fingerprint sensor has been moved to a high, awkward position on the rear of the phone, and I found that it constantly failed to recognize either of my two index fingers. Even enrolling the fingers was slow and jerky.

Facial recognition, in addition to being relatively insecure according to Samsung, also failed almost all the time for me. And the same was true for a more secure method, Iris recognition, which was slow even in the minority of times it worked.

The result: I wound up typing in a pin almost all the time.

That is a complete deal-breaker. The average smartphone user unlocks their phone 80 times per day. Apple made reliable fingerprint sensing non-negotiable almost four years ago. I understand that engineering and design is about trade-offs, but this is an insane thing to compromise on, and I really hope Apple doesn't follow suit with their next design.

 

[DNichter]

Unless Mossberg is wrong here, I'm not sure why anyone would want this phone:


That is a complete deal-breaker. The average smartphone user unlocks their phone 80 times per day. Apple made reliable fingerprint sensing non-negotiable almost four years ago. I understand that engineering and design is about trade-offs, but this is an insane thing to compromise on, and I really hope Apple doesn't follow suit with their next design.

I mentioned it yesterday. Apparently everyone just thinks hes lying or too old? I don't know why he would do that, but I saw it is as a big red flag also. Crazy how it can be overlooked.

 

[grkm3]

I mentioned it yesterday. Apparently everyone just thinks hes lying or too old? I don't know why he would do that, but I saw it is as a big red flag also. Crazy how it can be overlooked.

guys I have seen the phone first hand and actually on my way to get one now the face unlocks so fast you question even if the phone has a lock screen.im serious I had to try and unlock it looking away to see if there was a lock screen.

 

[RodoBobJon]

guys I have seen the phone first hand and actually on my way to get one now the face unlocks so fast you question even if the phone has a lock screen.im serious I had to try and unlock it looking away to see if there was a lock screen.

I'm glad you've had better luck than Mossberg. That said, facial recognition isn't secure enough for many people (including myself). The biggest problem with the S8 is that the fingerprint scanner is in a terrible location. Pretty much every reviewer agrees with Mossberg on this point.

I could maybe forgive putting in on the rear of the phone (though I use my phone flat on my desk enough for that to possibly be a deal-breaker). But putting it too high up to easily reach even when holding the device? Baffling and unforgiveable.

 

[lazard]

I mentioned it yesterday. Apparently everyone just thinks hes lying or too old? I don't know why he would do that, but I saw it is as a big red flag also. Crazy how it can be overlooked.

Because one reviewer had issues? Vlad and Dan had no problems getting it to work.

 

[DNichter]

Because one reviewer had issues? Vlad and Dan had no problems getting it to work.

No, many reviewers. You can see all over the interwebs. Samsung botched this one.

 

[mi7chy]

I'm glad you've had better luck than Mossberg. That said, facial recognition isn't secure enough for many people (including myself). The biggest problem with the S8 is that the fingerprint scanner is in a terrible location. Pretty much every reviewer agrees with Mossberg on this point.

I could maybe forgive putting in on the rear of the phone (though I use my phone flat on my desk enough for that to possibly be a deal-breaker). But putting it too high up to easily reach even when holding the device? Baffling and unforgiveable.

Don't know why people are so stuck on dinosaur technology like fingerprint. It's about as insecure as leaving a sticky note of your password on the screen because you leave a liftable fingerprint every time you use it which can be turned into a passable fake. With iris scanner there's no liftable print plus it uses about 30x more identifiers, 400 from both eyes vs 13 for one fingerprint, making it much more secure.

http://www.businessinsider.com/sams...bi-fingerprint-tech-princeton-identity-2017-4

 

[DNichter]

Don't know why people are so stuck on dinosaur technology like fingerprint. It's about as insecure as leaving a sticky note of your password on the screen because you leave a liftable fingerprint every time you use it which can be turned into a passable fake. With iris scanner there's no liftable print plus it uses about 30x more identifiers, 400 from both eyes vs 13 for one fingerprint, making it much more secure.

http://www.businessinsider.com/sams...bi-fingerprint-tech-princeton-identity-2017-4

Would be great if it worked. For now, we use touch ID.