Comparing two Galaxy Generations – Galaxy S8 vs Galaxy S7 Edge

With Galaxy S8 launch Samsung has introduced a new concept in the design of the smartphones. Well working on bezel-less screens is not something new but the way Samsung did it, proves the company’s might in the smartphone industry.

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ provides a really sleek and beautiful design and without compromising with any Galaxy features. But this raises the question that whether this mobile tends to be a worthy update to its predecessor Galaxy S7.

Design

We will first look at the design of both S8 and S7 edge. The one thing that is common to these smartphones is the ‘Edge’. S8 tends to be an upgrade of S7 edge. But this time Samsung took a step further in a conquest to provide bezel-less screens.

The bezels in S8 have been drastically reduced providing a 6.2 inch screen size as compared to 5.5 inch screen in S7 Edge. This giant screen in S8 provides a great experience and puts the screen in the center of attention.

The Home button has been removed in S8 and the fingerprint has been placed on the back beside the camera, this decision has certainly raised some eyebrows, as to get to that fingerprint sensor you will certainly have to stretch your fingers a bit.

Security

Well with the awkwardly placed fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S8, you have some other options to unlock your phone. This includes iris scanning and face recognition which were not there in S7 Edge.

The iris scanning was previously introduced in Galaxy Note 7, but we all know how that smartphone ended up as a blast. The iris scanning does add up an extra security layer, while face recognition is still a controversial feature (we will be covering this in another article).

Display

Both Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S7 Edge have a Super AMOLED display but certainly one thing that is a big change is the size of the screen. The extended screen in Galaxy S8 provides an 18.5:9 aspect ratio which makes the screen way taller and slimmer than Galaxy S7 Edge. This screen size was also seen in LG G6 – this screen size makes Galaxy S8 more manageable to handle.

This extra-large screen means they provide more pixels but it is still considered a QuadHD+ display with 570ppi on Galaxy S8 and 529ppi on Galaxy S8 Plus.

Hardware

Talking about the hardware, well it is mostly the same. If we are looking at the camera it is similar to that of Galaxy S7 Edge. It has a 12 MP camera with f/1.7 aperture with dual Pixel autofocus. The cameras on Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have been really impressive but this time Samsung says they have improved the camera software.

Samsung has taken out the microUSB port and replaced it with the USB Type-C port. Everything else is same whether it is IP68 water and dust resistance, wireless charging, expandable storage and headphone jack.

Battery

While most of the things have grown and got bigger in Galaxy S8, one thing that has got smaller is the battery. In Galaxy S7 Edge it was 3,600 mAh while on Galaxy S8 it is 3,500 mAh. Well this loss of 100 mAh will certainly affect the battery life unless they have done great optimizations in hardware and software.

Software

Samsung Galaxy S8 runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and it feels like an improved UI which feels smoother and better than the old TouchWiz skin of S7 edge.

Well one thing that Samsung introduced in S8 is the new AI assistant ‘Bixby’. This is certainly Samsung’s answer to Google Assistant.

Processor and Performance

Galaxy S7 edge houses a Snapdragon 820 and a 4 GB of RAM, but S8 being a newer device consists of an octa-core processor. According to Samsung the S8’s processor is world’s first 10nm processor. The specifications are still vague, but it is certainly going to have Snapdragon 835 or Exynos 8895.

Well with these specifications Samsung Galaxy S8 is going to feel smoother and more fluid than S7 Edge.

Final Verdict

Well time to wrap up the comparison. Samsung S8 feels more of an evolutionary upgrade of S7 edge, the upgrades will certainly bring up a beast and will provide a better experience.

But is it time to upgrade your S7 edge to S8? Well that certainly depends on users preference. If you feel you have spent enough time with your S7 edge and it is time to move on, then certainly you can go for it. But we must tell you S7 edge is certainly not going to be outdated and if you have loved using your S7 edge then you should continue using this device.