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Battery life
We talked about the quest to balance raw power and battery life earlier. To achieve that, Samsung ensures the Cortex A53 cores are used whenever possible. So, once the Facebook app is fully launched, the Cortex A73 cores will be clocked down in a hurry, leaving the Cortex A53 cores to manage to browse.
Over a day's usage, you get about 12-14 hours of battery life on each charge. While that's sufficient, it's certainly not stellar. The Galaxy A8+ supports Samsung's adaptive fast charging though, so you can get a quick top up with half an hour's worth of charge, that makes the phone last a full 24 hours. It charges from 10 to 100% in under an hour.
Camera
Reviewing the Galaxy A8+, you can almost imagine a product team jotting down consumer questions. The phone has a 16MP camera on the back with f/1.7 aperture, and it is also Samsung's first smartphone to get dual-cameras on the front, a 16MP and 8MP combination.
Rear Camera
With everything else this phone has, the Galaxy A8+ could have been perfect had its camera lived up to the specs. It has f/1.7 aperture and a 16MP sensor, but images are not as good as you may expect.
Low light images are marred by noise. The Galaxy A8+ can still create pretty scenes, but they're not as good as we expected them to be. Colour reproduction is decent, though details and sharpness are low.
On the other hand, daylight shots are quite pleasant. Colours are slightly oversaturated, but most would find that attractive. You can expect high contrast and vibrant photos, though details are soft and with visible noise. The camera works best in bright sunlight, but anything less leads to a sub-par result.
To be clear, it'll more than suffice for sharing on social media and pretty Instagram photos. It's just a sizeable step down from Samsung's flagships.
Front camera
The front camera here is reminiscent of Samsung's usual practices. The image below is clicked in low light, sitting inside a moving car. The phone practically loses every detail on the face but creates a brighter photo than most front cameras would do. In the next photo, the Galaxy A8+ uses the light from the car behind us, to create a much brighter photo.
That said, the dual-camera makes little difference other than adding the Live Focus mode. Yes, it can shoot bokeh photos on the front, but that's about all you get. Personally, we like that it doesn't soften photos aggressively, but many may not. The details aren't great, and photos don't look very attractive either.
Verdict
To sum up, the Samsung Galaxy A8+ is a consumer's phone. It doesn't target enthusiasts and it doesn't make many bold claims. It's a phone meant for people who want Samsung's brand name and can't afford its flagships. If you aren't keen on OnePlus' brand value, this is indeed an alternative. What it's not, is a replacement.
