I’ve had the iPhone 7 for a couple of months, and I almost replaced it with Samsung galaxy S8+ Duos. The galaxy S8+ Duos has a lot of advantages over the iPhone 7 which almost made me go through with the switch.
A better design
The Galaxy S8 looks great. To be honest, Samsung seems to know how to design good looking phones. The design is awesome. The curved screen may not really add outstanding functionalities but it sure looks good and anyone would agree with this.
The design alone is enough to win me over. I absolutely love it. The jet black color variant looks good though not everyone’s gonna like it. Of course, it looks better than my iPhone 7 Plus though. But then, this design has its downsides: it’s a fingerprint magnet, and you don’t want to see this device land on the back. It’s made of glass.
A better display
The screen on the Galaxy S8 is gorgeous to look at. We all know Samsung’s Super AMOLED display is definitely one of the best displays out there. It sure looks better than what’s on the iPhone 7 Plus, but that’s not to say the IPS LCD display on the iPhone is no good. But then, it’s definitely no match for the Galaxy S8+’s Super AMOLED display.
Oversaturation is still an issue with the camera though
Talk about the camera, Samsung Galaxy S8 looked better at first. However, after testing both extensively, I’m eventually sticking with my iPhone 7 Plus camera. Here’s why: I’m a big fan of the portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus. I’ve taken great shots with the iPhone 7 Plus people thought were taken with a DSLR camera. Although shots taken with the Galaxy S8 Plus looks sharper with more contrast, in a lot of cases they look rather unnatural and sometimes oversaturated.
Sample photos taken with the Galaxy S8+
With the iPhone 7 Plus, photos look natural most times and as an amateur photographer, I prefer doing my editing in LightRoom. I don’t want the camera doing it for me, but it seems this is what the Galaxy S8 does.
Photos taken with the iPhone 7 Plus
To a regular user, the Galaxy S8+ might be the clear winner here though.
Water resistance
Samsung Galaxy S8 has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating while the iPhone 7 Plus has an IP67 rating. Of course, the Galaxy S8 looks pretty much better in this regard. I did my own little water resistance test. I sank both devices under water for 10 minutes. Of course, they should be able to survive up to 30 minutes. Both phones survived and worked fine. The camera on both devices still work; the microphones on both devices work; touch input still working perfectly; both cameras not affected. However, the speakers on both devices sound pretty bad, but the iPhone 7 Plus sound much worse. This is perfectly normal, I guess.
After about four hours, the speakers are back to normal and both sound good now. Water doesn’t seem to affect either of them. I tried charging them after leaving the phones to fully dry and well, they still charge.
24 hours later, both phones are still operating as they should without a sign of water damage.
Samsung Galaxy S8 has a better battery life
Fast charge on the Galaxy S8 lets you spend less time waiting for your phone to charge. You won’t get this on the iPhone 7 Plus. The lack of wireless charging on the iPhone 7 Plus also can’t be ignored. Based on my use pattern, the Galaxy S8 Plus also seems to have a slightly battery life than the iPhone 7 Plus.
Dual-SIM feature is a big plus
This won’t matter to some people but in Africa and some parts of Asia, a lot of us love phones with dual SIM slots. I guess it’s because you can never rely on just one network. It’s a good thing Samsung is giving us this option on their flagship device. This is something you would probably never get from Apple. And when they do in the next 10 years, they going to make you believe its an innovation.
More security options on the Galaxy S8 Plus
While the iPhone 7 Plus has just Touch ID, the Galaxy S8 packs a fingerprint sensor at the back and an iris scanner. You also have face unlock to play with. The only problem with Samsung Galaxy S8’s fingerprint sensor is the positioning. It’s just beside the camera, passing your finger over the camera lens leaves fingerprints on it. This affects your picture quality.
So, what’s making stick with the iPhone 7 Plus?
- iOS: It’s a matter of choice of choice. This doesn’t imply that it’s the superior mobile OS, but I’m very comfortable using it.
- Build: I prefer the metallic build on the back of the iPhone 7 Plus. I will eventually get used to the breakable build of the iPhone X when I finally upgrade, so this is not really an excuse.
- Apple’s ecosystem: We all know when you’re fully integrated into Apple’s prison-like ecosystem, it’s hard to get out. Little things like a universal clipboard across your device matters.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is the clear winner here but hey, I don’t know exactly when I would be using an Android device as my daily driver.
