Over the last few years I've owned the original (Gigantic) Galaxy Note, a Motorola Droid, Nexus 4, LG G3, Galaxy S6 Edge+, GS7 and now the S8+. I had planned on getting the Note 7 instead of the GS7 but I think we all know how that turned out. I came really close to buying the LG V20 but what essentially helped make my decision was wireless charging. No matter how gimmicky you think it is, once you get used to it, you'll not want to give it up, I promise. I wasn't eligible for an upgrade until after the Note 8 is released, but I changed jobs and they gave me a S8+ and I jumped at it.

First off, it's not perfect--and I'll go into why I withdrew that last star in a bit. It may be trivial to YOU, but for me, it was enough to not give it a perfect score. Next, lets discuss the first thing you notice: that Infinity Display. I've had several iPhone die hard fans actually look at it in utter jealousy. Its hard not to. Compared to the iPhone 7 Plus with a paltry 5.5" screen and just 1920 X 1080 resolution vs Full HD Plus (2960 x 1440) is just one of the reasons why this phone beats the dated apple device hands down. The S8 and the S8+ are dramatically different from their predecessors with a completely new aspect ratio which makes the device taller and thinner. With a 6.2" screen you'll be amazed that they managed to cram that amazing display in a body only slightly taller than the iPhone 7 Plus and definitely narrower and less than a millimeter thicker. The argument that eliminating headphone jack meant giving iPhone users bigger batteries and other nifty goodies is proven categorically to be just hot air since Samsung managed a 3500 mAh battery in the S8+ AND a headphone jack. No matter how old the technology is, say what you want, but it still works better than bluetooth earbuds--at least as I write this. It won't be long before bluetooth will genuinely equal the quality of corded earbuds...but that day is not today.

The build is exceptional and very futuristic looking, easily leaving all other designs in the proverbial dust. I can't think of any other device with a screen that is as close to taking up the entire face of a phone as much as the GS8's. I keep hearing that a move to 4K displays are a foregone conclusion and not that anyone will take MY word for it, but I honestly believe that is entirely unnecessary. I would much rather phones keep the current resolution and concentrate more on battery life. Upping the screen resolution only puts more strain on the battery to illuminate all those extra pixels and I promise you, the screen tech is out-pacing battery ability right now. Samsung, leave it alone until you can make 4K at least as good as the battery life on current models with less. The front and back are Gorilla Glass 5 and while it is durable and scratch resistant, it is STILL vulnerable to breaking, even from short drops onto very hard surfaces, so do yourself a favor and buy a GOOD case to protect your investment. After all, its not a question of IF you're going to drop it, but when. Also, that glass on front and back make it a bit on the slippery side, so despite the all premium build, it ISN'T without some flaws built into that really nice exterior.

The S8 keeps the IP68 rating of the GS7 and while the speaker can get loud, its rather tinny and won't reproduce music to the degree the iPhone 7 can. If that isn't a priority for you, then don't worry, but if its a big deal, you may consider thinking of something different. I would imagine the IP68 certification has something to do with the quality of the speaker, too. I suppose you need to make some sacrifices--though if I'm being honest, the iPhone has a slightly less rating (IP67) but yet still has great speakers, so its something to consider...but remember the GS8 has a headphone jack while the iPhone doesn't. Trade one for the other I guess.

Okay, my gripes. I have two so far. On my GS7 when I hit the home key and then swiped to unlock the phone it was almost instantaneously unlocked. For some reason, once I press the power button (now on the right side of the screen) and then swipe up to unlock the screen, it doesn't work. I have to wait almost a full second before I can actually swipe. Yes, I know, First World Problems...but is it entirely unreasonable to expect a newer device to be at the very least AS fast doing this as the previous model? I don't think so. My other gripe may not be an issue for many of you at all, but I can assure you for me it truly is. One of the many advantages Android has over iOS is customizing. I like several different keyboards and while the stock Samsung keyboard is okay, it is far from what I like--in fact I don't use it at all. I prefer GBoard, Swype and Swiftkey Flow. Before, if I wanted to switch from one keyboard to another while I was texting, as long as the keyboard was visible on the screen, you just swiped down from the top and the option to switch keyboards was right there. For some reason they have left this option off of the S8. For the life of my I cannot figure out why. Again, the ability to easily customize Android has always been a huge selling point for me (and I know many of you) so now making this feature more difficult to access makes no sense and honestly, Samsung, you NEED TO FIX THIS ASAP. It pissed me off enough that I totally docked a star from my review almost entirely because of this one thing. Now, for those of you who rarely or never really change your keyboard, this won't be an issue whatsoever, but I can assure you for me it was an enormous pain in my backside.

Going from the S6 to the S7 I noticed virtually no difference in the speed of either model. I was expecting to see a bump in performance when I got the S7 but nope. However, the same cannot be said of the S8. I have noticed a very noticeable bump in performance and battery improvement, even though the S8+ has a slightly smaller battery than the S7 (from 3600 to 3500 mAh). In fact I have noticed a marked battery improvement as well. This is supposedly due to the much smaller and more efficient and faster chipset used. Not sure if that's it, but it certainly was a welcome change of pace. You can squeeze a bit more juice out of your phone by changing the screen brightness and resolution without missing out on much at all. I keep mine at the setting that came stock (which is not the highest resolution out of the box, strangely enough) because I cannot tell a difference. There are also different performance settings for gaming and whatnot that can drastically reduce battery length, so keep that in mind.

I tried playing with the Iris scanner and fingerprint reader. My honest belief is this: while its probably important to keep security on your device, I tend to have none. I know, I know, its not wise, but hey, sue me. The Iris scanner though DID seem to work pretty well and rather quick, too. I was impressed with its speed, though it does take a bit of practice to align your eyes with the forward camera before you can truly take advantage of that speed, but it doesn't take long. The placement of the fingerprint scanner was a HUGE debate leading up to the GS8's release. Will it be an issue? That is entirely up to you. The 8+ is a tall device and if you have small or short fingers, yes it'll probably will be. Wherever possible, I recommend you go into a store and hold one in your hand and see for yourself before making the purchase. It could make a world of difference for you. I didn't try using the face unlock feature at all. Androids in years past had it and I just never thought it was very secure (ha, like I care). Keep in mind a sufficiently close photo of you could unlock the phone, too.

I've noticed on the always on display that the selection of screens seems to be smaller than the GS7. Not sure if I simply cannot find the other options or whether or not that is just true--but either way, I thought I'd mention it. The basic one that is at launch works fine for me, so no complaints there.

Bixby. Honestly, I cannot figure out why they made such a stink about it when they announced the device only to launch it without 95% of its ability to do what they "claimed" it would. They even devoted a button exclusively to its use, which is a waste you cannot truly re-map it. Supposedly you could at its launch, but Samsung reportedly forwarded a patch that would make that useless (or so I've heard). The good news is that Google Now DOES come pre-installed and works as brilliant as always. There is a different way to access it, well, slightly different anyway. Before if you long pressed on the home button it'd launch, but now you just press the built-in screen home button and hold it instead. Still works and since I had always thought S-Voice was an embarrassment of a virtual assistant, I have very low expectations for Bixby, which Samsung insists WILL be arriving soon before the end of this year. If I'm wrong I'll be happy to admit it...but somehow I just doubt it. From what I hear though, Bixby was developed by the same people who did Siri for apple, so who knows, maybe it WILL be all Samsung claims it will be. Time will tell. In the meantime Google Now is my friend.

I love how the GS8 comes with standard 64 GB of memory and also includes the ability to add more, unlike apple. Great option and I have more memory available after moving all my stuff from my old phone over than my GS7 came with, now that's nice. I have an expansion card, but I doubt I'll need it, but you never know. It's nice to have either way.

The cameras are great. Where they truly shine is not only are they great front and back, but both have f1.7 aperture. So they absolutely are stellar at taking low-light photos, yes, even better than the iPhone 7 (if only slightly so). I think bumping up the front camera to 8MP was a smart move. With the popularity of selfies not slowing down, it was a wise precaution. Making it also auto focus like the unbelievably FAST back camera was utter brilliance. It may not have image stabilization like the back, but hey, better is better. The S8 is also the first mobile device certified to play HDR content, which is fancy talk for saying your viewing will be bright & crisp and virtually without equal. Now when iPhone releases their next model, I would expect it to be received as just shy of blessed from On High as the greatest this or that no matter how much of its new bells and whistles first appeared on an Android device...that doesn't mean apple is without ability to innovate (3D touch comes to mind) but I would expect the next version to have a great camera as usual and a few other bells & whistles. It remains to be seen if it'll have the in-screen thumbprint reader as it was also rumored the GS8 would have as well, but they weren't able to perfect it in time, hence the awkward placement of the thumbprint reader on back, or maybe the tech isn't capable at this point to pull it off, I don't know. Maybe the next iPhone will have it, maybe not. We'll find out one way or another soon enough. If they pull it off, good for them. I would expect then to see one on the upcoming Note 8, but nothing is certain.

One more thing, the addition of the USB Type C charger was awesome. As frustrating as it is to have to buy all new cords (I have like a bazillion of the Micro USB charging cords all over) I find the new design to be a very welcome one. Let's be honest, we've all gone to plug in one to our phones only to discover that you had it upside down, right? Gosh it was frustrating. Its nice to not have to worry about whether or not its upside down. They also came out with an adapter so you can still use an older Micro USB which was very convenient as well. The continuation of wireless charging and fast charging is always very convenient. I love plugging in my phone after my coworker has started charging their iPhone, and in less time I've topped my phone off and a few have even accused me of making it up--til I proved it. Their reaction: almost always, "Wow! That's amazing!" I think the next iPhone will probably (finally) adapt that along with possibly wireless charging. They'd be stupid not to.

Is it perfect? No. But its a good improvement over the GS7, enough so that I can happily endorse it to anyone who is looking to impress their die hard apple fanboy friends, or simply to just have a great device all the way around.

***UPDATE***

I discovered, quite by accident, how to change keyboards--my biggest complaint about the phone--just as simple as the old method. It isn't as obvious as it was before, and to be candid, I still don't know why they changed it so much, but it IS just as simple to change keyboards as it was before. For example, if you are in your messaging app and your current keyboard is displayed, at the bottom of the screen you'll see your usual options, recent, home and back on-screen buttons, but to the far right is an icon that kind of looks like a keyboard. It's not as obvious as I think it should be, but by touching that icon you'll get a drop-down menu to change your keyboard. Again, its quick, simple if not obvious. It works and works well, I just wish Samsung had made that feature a bit more easier to figure out. With that feature now available, I bump my rating to a full 4.5 stars. My apologies for not noticing it earlier.

Received this phone yesterday (as a gift same model number 955f) and have been using it with Simple Mobile and T Mobile networks here in the United States. Put my sim card in and got good connections with LTE, no problems.

If you bought a Samsung S8+, you now have Bixby, a piece of bloatware written by a group of teenagers tasked by Samsung with imitating Google Now, Alexa, Cortana, and Siri. The result is absolutely catastrophic and reminds of Word 1.0 (if you are old enough). The software still does not recognize voice – no, it’s not just because of my accent – making it perfectly useless.

The catch is that this “assistant” – which would be called Jar Jar Binks if it was from a galaxy far far away – is tied to a side button. As soon as the S8 was released, people came up with Google Play applications to remap this button or to disable the software altogether. Samsung retaliated by releasing an update to prevent the hack from working. It lasted for a week until a clever developer found a countermeasure.

One million people have downloaded one of the anti-Bixby programs on Google Play. The other Samsung S8 users are probably trying to figure how to do it, I guess. Well done, Samsung! You have released another Galaxy Note 7...

So, I will now give you a way to BOTH disable the pathetic Bixby AND remap the button.

1. Download “Package Disabler Pro”
2. Search for the Bixby software in "Package Disabler Pro" and disable all EXCEPT Bixby Home and Bixby Voice. They will be rendered harmless without the services except that they detect the button press and raise an event. You can disable the rest of the Samsung bloatware while you’re at it.
3. Install the BxAction software from Google Play
4. The BxAction software detects the raised event from step 2 and it will be able to start another app.
5. Map the button to something useful like Google Now (which is a piece of software that actually does what Samsung advertises Bixby for...)

It's awesome. I got mine two weeks ago and it's works great. I'm not lying. At first I had to ask questions to see if it works etc and it does. I have Tmoble.

Excellent Phone I place my T mobile Sim and it run with no problems, The phone came seal never opened. Excellent

Best and fastest cellphone as of now. I love it, big screen powerful yet compact and lightweight.

I have this Galaxy S8+ working under the Cricket carrier.

The fingerprint scanner on the back is a non-issue. It took me no time to become accustomed to it. Using it is even easier after putting a case on the phone.

The S8+ is noticeably better than the S7 and can handle anything you throw at it. It is a beast at multi-tasking. If only apps were as well designed as this phone, it's annoying when they crash or freeze because of imperfections in their coding. If you have problems with apps glitching or crashing, it's the app, not this powerful phone that can stand toe-to-toe with desktop computers.

UPDATE July 4, 2017:

I no longer have this phone, it went defective on me.

Exactly a month after buying it, the screen blacked out while I was laying on the couch watching a Twitter video. Everything was responsive, the screen just wouldn't light up. I ended up returning it just in time. Now I have the Galaxy S7 again. If you get this expensive phone, you should get some type of insurance on it. This expensive phone taught me that no phone is safe from defects. This one comes with a one-year warranty, but I don't know how thorough it is. When you get the phone, you have a certain amount of time to sign up with Samsung Premium Care. I think Amazon has an insurance package too so you should compare both of them before choosing either of them.

Now that I'm back on the Galaxy S7, I'm reminded of how this phone is a still a beast too.