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Interface and Reliability
You can't deny the fact that Samsung has improved its user interface. Samsung Experience (as it is called now) is a more modern and smoother version of TouchWiz. Yet, our primary concern here is the sloth. UI transitions are slow, perhaps intentionally. You don't see huge lags anywhere, but the entire software makes the phone feel slower than it is. You can make the Galaxy A8+ snappier by turning off animation scales from Developer Settings.
This being Samsung's mid-ranged flagship, borrows a bunch of features from the Galaxy S and Note ranges. The A8+ has Samsung Pay, Game Launcher and Bixby, Samsung's AI assistant. It doesn't have a hardware key for Bixby though, thankfully, and the assistant is still as hamstrung as ever. You can choose which Samsung apps to install when you first set up the device, but you will still end up with some unwanted apps. For instance, Microsoft's suite of apps are pre-installed and can't be deleted. You can, however, disable them if you want.
The A8+ also supports the dual-messenger feature, which allows you to clone apps like WhatsApp and use multiple accounts on the same device. Speaking of WhatsApp accounts, the Galaxy A8+ holds two SIM cards and has a separate micro-SD slot, a much sought after feature.
The Galaxy A8+ also leverages Google's "Trusted Faces" features, to provide a Face Recognition unlock option. Like the OnePlus 5T, this isn't as secure as Apple's face unlock option or Samsung's own Iris recognition feature. Neither is it always dependable.
The biggest flaw in Samsung’s software though, is the fact that it this phone runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box. Frankly, it’s downright sad that a phone launched in 2018 still doesn’t have Android Oreo out of the box. It could be the biggest deal-breaker for the Galaxy A8+.
Specs and Performance
Samsung's Exynos 7 series chipsets are often considered slow, but the new Exynos 7885 Octa is no slouch. In fact, that's a striking difference between last year's Galaxy A7 and this phone. The 7885 sports two Cortex A73 performance cores, paired with six low power Cortex A53 cores. The idea, obviously, is to strike a balance between battery consumption and raw power.
The result is a truly balanced smartphone that can't take on the might of the OnePlus 5T. The Cortex A73 works overtime, minimising lags on UI transitions. They kick in whenever you tap on an app icon or need to launch the camera app. Yet, the brute power of the Snapdragon 835 can't be surpassed. And that pretty much sums up the this phone's story. Would you compromise on the design elements of the Galaxy A8+ for brute power? We suspect a lot of users would not.
The Galaxy A8+ also has 6GB of RAM, so you're covered for long-term usage. The specs of this phone may not jump off the page, but it's a poster boy for market research. Here are some burning consumer questions Samsung wants to answer with the Galaxy A8+.
Will it lag?
Answer: Not easily. But Android phones do lag eventually.
Will it lag out of the box?
Answer: No
Does it feel premium and expensive?
Answer: Certainly
There's more, of course, but we'll get to that in later sections. Where the Galaxy A8+ pales against a Mi Mix 2 or OnePlus 5T, is gaming prowess. It'll handle most games well, but you will notice frame drops on games like Injustice 2. Is that a huge issue? We doubt it.
