Galaxy S8 Vs Galaxy S8 Plus Review: 

Design & Display – Bigger Without Being Bigger

Usually I like to talk about a smartphone’s design and display separately, but with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus that’s impossible. The role of their groundbreaking displays is too closely intertwined with their design.

How? Because Samsung managed to fit 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch displays into these dimensions:

• Galaxy S8 – 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0 mm (5.86 x 2.68 x 0.31-inch), 155g (5.36oz)
• Galaxy S8 Plus – 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm (6.00 x 3.09 x 0.31-inch), 173g (6.10oz)

For comparison, here are the dimensions of their 5.1-inch and 5.7-inch predecessors:

• Galaxy S7: 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9 mm (5.61 x 2.74 x 0.31-inch), 152g (5.36oz)
• Galaxy S7 Edge – 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7 mm (5.94 x 2.86 x 0.30-inch), 157g (5.54 oz)

It’s a stunning achievement. Perhaps highlighted even more by the fact the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 is only 14g heavier than the 4.7-inch iPhone 7, while the 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus is 15g lighter than the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.

How Samsung has achieved this is through a perfectly crafted blend of minimalism and elegance. The top and bottom bezels are almost entirely shaved away and a longer, thinner 18.5:9 aspect ratio to their displays means they feel comfortable to hold in one hand and deceptively small.

If there is a flaw, it’s that the new aspect ratio makes them very long and with the 6.2-inch model in particular it’s almost impossible to reach the top of the phone one-handed to check notifications. Personally I think Samsung should’ve gone with the same 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes as last year which would’ve made them incredibly compact.

Wait for the next review ... 😇

Intro :

How big of an impact can a small change have? The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge has only the extra screen curves compared to the vanilla Galaxy S6, but these two phones couldn't feel any more different - it's a difference that you can readily feel when you hold them in your hand.

Different, and yet the same, the two Galaxy S6 phones share some of the best components available, tied together with software built on new philosophy to match the new hardware ideology.

Samsung spun off a whole new Galaxy line, the A (or Alpha) series, to practice making phones with proper metal frame and then got back to the drawing board and came out with the new design language of the Galaxy S6 family. Combining the metal frame with a dual-glass build (front and back) is certainly not the most novel design solution but it's one that works well and it's a first for Samsung's smartphones.

And despite being their first attempt at this design approach, the Galaxy S6 came out borderline perfect - perhaps lacking on novelty, but excelling in implementation. The Galaxy S6 edge however takes it even further for those who want something that much more special. It comes with an off-the-chart novelty factor and is rightfully priced higher than the regular Galaxy S6.

Here's the recap of the key specs ...

Key features

• Curved screen, thin (7mm) profile, premium dual-glass design reinforced by a metal frame
• 5.1" Super AMOLED of QHD (1440 x 2560) resolution, class-leading ~577ppi, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• Exynos 7420 64-bit chipset, octa core processor with four 2.1GHz Cortex-A57's and four 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 cores, Mali-T760 MP8 GPU, 3GB of RAM
• Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with TouchWiz and Samsung Pay
• 16MP camera, f/1.9 aperture, 4K video recording, LED flash, optical image stabilization
• 5MP front-facing camera, f/1.9 aperture, 1440p QHD video, HDR
• 32/64/128 GB of built-in storage (64GB comes as standard issue on some markets)
• Active noise cancellation via dedicated mic
• New generation of fingerprint scanner
• LTE Cat.6, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, NFC, IR port, Bluetooth 4.1, ANT+
• Heart-rate sensor, barometer, SpO2
• Built-in wireless charging (Qi/PMA)
• 2,600mAh battery

A very portable, reliable solution for digital file storage.

When I look at digital file storage these days I can’t help but think back to the times I was using thumb drives that were limited to the Megabyte size. Each year, more and more flash drives would enter the market and it was almost a competition to see who could have the biggest storage capacity with the lowest price. I was in awe of the larger sizes – 12GB, 16GB, even 32GB file sizes. I remember the first 64 GB drive I picked up. It was massive in size and price. Those days are long gone, though. Now, we have companies like Kingston developing super small drives like the DataTraveler Micro that is only about the size of a dime.

The DataTraveler Micro 3.1 is super small. It was designed as a capless flash drive and is very lightweight. The USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) connection provides a very fast data transfer rate with 100MB/s read and 15MB/s write time. The case is made out of metal and features a small loop on the end for attachment to a key ring or other carrying case. Kingston designed this micro USB drive to be small enough to leave on your laptop when you move from place to place. I wouldn’t recommend that as a permanent location to store your DataTraveler Micro, but when you are moving between classes throughout a long day, or simply changing mobile working locations, it’s nice to know that the drive won’t fall off of your computer.

The DataTraveler Micro actually comes in several different size capacities including 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB. I have the 64GB version and it’s plenty large to store just about anything on it. I transferred a couple of Blu-ray quality movies to the drive and they played flawlessly off of it. I also used it as an emergency file backup option. My fiance has a smaller capacity hard drive on her computer and so, she frequently has to dump files since it’s a working computer. This flash drive is an ideal option for people like her who simply need a quick, portable solution to digital file storage.

The Kingston DataTraveler Micro is a great option for anyone who wants to expand their file storage. It’s very fast when transferring files and is built very well. I also feel that it’s very reasonably priced. You can purchase it between $8 – $50 depending on the size you want.