Huawei GR5 review

In many ways, Huawei is a brand without an identity in Canada, though the company has invested fairly heavily in the country, particularly in selling network equipment to the carriers. Its best phones under the Mate and P lines never see the light of day, so a mid-ranger in the GR5 is essentially the only option.

Technically, the Nexus 6P is Huawei’s premium device in the Great White North, since it is manufactured under Google’s auspices, except it doesn’t promote it as such. And so, we’re left with an unproven entry into a tight mid-range market.

Specs

• Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with EMUI 3.1
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 616, 1.5GHz + 1.2Ghz Octa-core, 64-bit processor
• 5.5-inch, 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels, 401ppi) IPS LCD
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB internal storage, MicroSD expandable up to 128GB
• 13MP LED flash, 1080p video recording
• 5MP front-facing camera
• Fingerprint sensor, Gyroscope, Proximity, Ambient Light
• Bluetooth 4.1
• 3000 mAh battery with Quick Charging
• 151.3mm x 76.3mm x 8.15mm
• Colour options: Grey
• Weight: 158 grams/li>
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz)
• LTE: 2,4,5,7,12,17. GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

Scratching the surface

It’s not often that a mid-range phone comes in a metal body, though there’s more than meets the eye on that with the GR5. This phone is essentially a repackaged Honor 5X that was previously released in other markets, save for some tweaking under the hood to give it a little differentiation. Or to cut corners, depending on how you look at it.

The GR5 has 2GB of RAM instead of 3GB on the Chinese variant of the Honor 5X. It uses the Snapdragon 616 processor when it probably could have gone with the 617 or better, which likely wouldn’t have cost as much to deploy. It runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop – though more egregiously – it has an aged UI overlay in Huawei’s own Emotion UI (EMUI 3.1) that messes with Android a great deal.

All this on display on a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS screen that is fairly vibrant, coupled with a fingerprint sensor in the back, which is very much in vogue these days. Despite the size and metal body, the GR5 never felt heavy or overly unwieldy for me. The protruding lens on the rear camera is noticeable, but not outlandish in an otherwise smooth surface that looks nice and classy.

The lack of NFC is not a surprise, given the metal body, and its absence basically means mobile payments aren’t an option here. The dual SIM tray, which would be a boon for users who travel and don’t want to keep swapping cards, is unfortunately disabled in the GR5.

The 16GB of internal storage is offset by microSD expansion up to 128GB, and it may prove to be necessary because of how weighted Huawei’s EMUI truly is. Almost 6GB is taken up by the system out of the box. To me, that was an unacceptable scale for a flagship Samsung device, much less for a mid-range handset from a company still trying to gain some credibility.

Software woes

It’s unclear whether Huawei’s intent was for simplicity, or that this UI is its interpretation of what it thinks users will feel is simple to use. The lack of an app drawer will surely vex some, but that’s an easy fix through Google Play. The unusual lockscreen that includes the notification shade and a control shade from the bottom (called Magazine), both of which need styling help, is at least laid out with some nice stock photos.

The notification shade, in particular, is a significant miscalculation in design language. Why Huawei would spurn a dependable layout from stock Android and replace it with something that borders on a test at the optometrist is difficult to comprehend. White text on a dark background makes sense, but light grey? Or even worse, Gmail notifications also using black text?

In trying to utilize a notification setup that was focused on specific time and app, Huawei bungled the style to the point where it becomes a significant downgrade from the best stock Android has to offer. It also handed off other settings shortcuts to the Magazine shade at the bottom on the lockscreen when it really didn’t need to. This is the sort of thing other manufacturers have already realized, resulting in far more restrained interfaces on those devices.

Once on the home screen, the layout is pretty barebones, though I was puzzled to see Rogers apps take up space in lieu of more important ones like the Camera and Calendar. Of course, icons can easily be moved around, but some foresight in that regard is always appreciated.

The custom icons Huawei uses seem to be cutesy in that they are like pencil drawings, but they aren’t really well thought out. Again, there are always ways to customize such things on Android, but customization should be a choice of personalization, not a necessity to right a wrong committed by the manufacturer.

Granted, these are visual gripes, for the most part, but they have tangible consequences. When the operating system doesn’t feel intuitive, it can permeate the full breadth of the device, which is exacerbated in this instance because the phone runs on Android.

Navigating around the phone was easy enough, and it started out smoothly, but I do wonder how a taxing interface like EMUI might weigh on the 2GB of RAM. There’s a reason the Honor 5X had 3GB of RAM. The processor is also not the most battery-friendly. Once I started streaming video or playing games, the drop was noticeable. The Quick Charger that comes with the device can help offset that loss, but I suspect that battery life will be affected more significantly as the GR5 is tasked with doing more.

Surprising camera

Not knowing what to expect with the rear camera, I came away pleasantly surprised at the overall composition of the images I shot. Now if only Huawei can figure out how to do auto white balancing properly under certain lighting.

With a reasonably fast focus and quick shutter, the GR5 is capable of better shots than some other mid-range phones I’ve tested in the last 12 months. It doesn’t have a manual mode, but at least keeps the gimmicky nonsense at bay, for the most part. An aptly titled mode called “Good Food” is aimed at shooting whatever dish you’re about to inhale, though I wasn’t sold on its merits. Same with Beauty, which softens tones and removes blemishes using a slider.

All Focus is a depth of field mode using software trickery. Best Photo snaps a burst and automatically chooses the best one, which it mostly gets right. Audio Note lets you record up to 10 seconds of audio after snapping an image.

The other modes, notwithstanding, the camera’s overall performance is mostly good, with even low-light shots not turning into a noisy mess. The problem is in white balancing, particularly when shooting indoors. The GR5 struggles to adapt, and when it settles on a setting, it usually overcompensates, leading to a dreary desaturated image that has little life in it.

Outdoors, it fares much better, tending to be more balanced in how it applies white balancing and shutter speed. Shooting action will get you nowhere with this phone, but at least you can capture most outdoor moments with little know-how.

Wrap up

The Huawei GR5 is a classic case of a pretty exterior that is a heavy mixed bag on the inside. The EMUI overlay strips too much out of Android, leading me to ponder what this phone might have been like if Huawei had opted to make the experience a little more stock.

The concern I came away with in using this device is its longevity. Storage will be an issue without a microSD card. RAM could be a problem once the device is populated with apps and data.

Then there’s the price. Rogers is offering the GR5 for $0 on a two-year contract or $375 outright. That’s expensive, considering the Moto G4 Plus is $400 unlocked and offers both Android 6.0 Marshmallow (including a clearer path to future updates from Google) and a more vanilla version of the OS. I’ve also found the camera to be better all-around on that device in my testing so far. The upcoming Sony Xperia mid-range phones may also prove to be better choices than what Huawei has presented here.

If the GR5 launched in a less crowded segment of the market, it might have garnered some attention, but when you’re trying to stand out from the rest, it’s best to get the overall user experience right.

Pros

• Pretty unibody exterior

Cons

• Underpowered processor
• Better mid-range devices out there
• No stock Android

ELEPHONE P9000 review

WHAT IS THE ELEPHONE P9000?

The P9000 is the latest Android-based smartphone from Chinese manufacturer Elephone, which is gaining a solid reputation for its cheap yet cheerful mobile tech.

It sports a 5.5-inch LG-made LCD screen, a true Octa-core MediaTek chipset, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, fast charging, wireless charging, NFC, a Sony-made 13-megapixel camera and a fingerprint scanner on the rear.

The Elephone also runs Android 6.0, the latest version of Google's operating system. Despite these incredible specs, it costs less than £200.

ELEPHONE P9000 – DESIGN AND BUILD

Elephone's previous efforts have been a little inconsistent when it comes to general build and design.

The Elephone M2 looked and felt like a premium phone but offered middle-of-the-road performance, while the more recent Vowney had power to spare – as well as 4GB of RAM – but was saddled with a mostly plastic casing that felt a little cheap. With the P9000, however, the company finally seems to have struck the perfect balance between power and design.

The P9000 follows the current trend in the Android arena for metal-bodied handsets, boasting a metal chassis that's backed by a plastic panel.

Around the edges of the phone you'll discover a subtle chamfered effect, as well as the usual buttons and inputs. On the right-hand side sit the power key and volume rocker, while on the opposite side there's a button that can be configured to be a one-press shortcut to open pretty much any application you desire. Handily, a long-press of this button also puts the handset into silent mode, not entirely unlike the "mute" switch found on iPhone models.

On the top of the handset you'll find the ubiquitous 3.5mm headphone jack, while on the bottom resides the reversible USB Type-C data and charging socket – a future-proof element that even the recently released Samsung Galaxy S7 doesn't include. Flanking this port are two grilles, one housing a speaker, the other the in-call microphone.

Spinning the P9000 around reveals a plastic rear panel, which has a texture that takes some getting used to. It's a matte-effect surface, which at first glance looks like it should be soft – but it isn't; to describe it as very fine-grain sandpaper wouldn't be a million miles from the truth. I actually quite like it since it increases grip, but it also picks up marks and scratches a little too easily.

On the back you'll find the Sony-made 21-megapixel camera – complete with LED flash and laser auto-focus – and the fingerprint scanner.

Strange choice of back panel texture aside, the P9000 looks and feels like a phone that should cost much more than £200, and it arguably gives the likes of HTC, Samsung and LG a run for their money in terms of overall design.

Dual-SIM functionality is a mainstay of the Chinese mobile market, and the P9000 offers support for two micro-SIM cards.

However, if you'd rather expand your available storage you can use one of those SIM slots for a microSD card, neatly augmenting the amount of space available for photos, music and other data.

Fingerprint scanners are becoming fairly commonplace on budget Android devices – the Elephone Vowney and Elephone M2 each had one – but it's clear that companies such as Elephone are perhaps struggling to implement the tech as effectively as their larger rivals.

The scanner on the P9000 often requires a second or even third tap to register your fingerprint and unlock the device, but at least it can be used to wake the phone even when the screen is off. You can also use it to verify payments on the Google Play Store, thanks to the fact that the phone has Android 6.0 installed; when Android Pay hits the UK, you'll be able to team it up with the NFC chip to make contactless payments in shops.

Buy Now: Elephone P9000 at Amazon.com from $209.99

ELEPHONE P9000 – DISPLAY

Elephone proudly states that the P9000 has a 5.5-inch Full HD, LG LTPS LCD on the device's Apple-like plastic packaging, and it has good reason to to shout about it – this screen is absolutely superb, even by upper-tier standards.

Colours are incredibly punchy, contrast is excellent and viewing angles are rock-solid. When the adaptive brightness setting is enabled, things can get a little dim, but at mid-to-full brightness this display positively sings. It's easy to view in directly sunlight, too.

The manufacturer is also keen to point out that the phone has incredibly slim bezels – 1.6mm, in fact – on the left and right sides of the screen, which ensure that it isn't too wide, even for a phablet-class handset. It's still pretty sizeable in the hand, but it certainly feels easier to handle than some of its big-screen rivals. In fact, placed alongside the Galaxy S7 – which has a 5.1-inch screen – the P9000 is only marginally taller.

Like previous Elephone handsets, the P9000 comes with touchscreen gesture commands that allow you to open apps while the display is off.

For example, tracing a "C" shape on the sleeping screen will automatically boot up the camera. These shortcuts are simple enough to memorise and have the potential to be incredibly useful – provided you don't use any kind of screen-lock security. Doing so means that even when you input the gesture, you have to unlock your device to get to the app, which kind of defeats the purpose. Still, it's neat all the same.

ELEPHONE P9000 – SOFTWARE

Unusually for such a low-cost handset, the P9000 ships with Android 6.0. The presence of Marshmallow means you get features such as Google Now On Tap and the battery-saving Doze mode. However, Elephone has confused matters somewhat by including its own granular app permissions system from its Android 5.1 phones, and this clashes with the built-in version that ships with 6.0 as standard. Thankfully, you can switch off Elephone's manager to avoid any conflicts.

Elsewhere, Elephone has taken the same approach that it did with the M2 and Vowney, by presenting an almost stock version of Google's mobile OS.

There's a one-tap option in the Recent Apps menu that shuts down all running processes, and the Settings menu has a few new entries such as gestures and button shortcut customisation, but on the whole this is similar to the software that ships on the Nexus 5X and 6P.

Elephone has even been quite restrained with the apps it preinstalls; you get a flashlight, FM Radio, backup program, pedometer, sound recorder and Elephone Service app – and that's about it. In fact, the phone itself is somewhat barebones the first time you switch it on – a blank canvas ready for your own personal preferences.

Elephone's Turbo Download feature is an interesting addition to Android – it allows you to combine your network and Wi-Fi signals to boost the speed of downloads. If you're in an area where the 4G signal is strong and you have access to a wireless hotspot it really makes a difference, but I forgot to switch if off on a few occasions and my data allowance took a bit of a beating.

The way the P9000 handles the usual Android commands of back, home and multi-tasking is worth a mention, too. By default, these icons don't appear on-screen – instead, the single capacitive button found below the screen covers the three main commands.

A single tap on this button will take you back, while double-tapping brings you back to the home menu. A long press, on the other hand, opens the multi-tasking menu. It's an elegant solution, but one that feels a little pointless – after all, there is space either side of this button for the back and multi-tasking commands, so why not include them?

Also, it's impossible to activate Google Now (usually done with a longpress on the home button) via this interface. Thankfully, you can switch to the traditional on-screen icon bar that sits at the bottom of the display, just like on the Nexus 5X and 6P. This can be collapsed if you so wish, and reinstated with an upwards swipe from the bottom of the screen.

Despite the phone's Chinese origins, I had absolutely no issues in setting up the P9000 in the UK. It connected to my provider's network without any problems and, for all intents and purposes, behaved exactly like a phone purchased from a British high-street store. Given that rival Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi's phones often require additional legwork to get them operating correctly here in the UK, that's a pleasant surprise.

ELEPHONE P9000 – PERFORMANCE, SPEAKERS & CALL QUALITY

The P9000's Helio P10 processor is unique in that it's a "true" Octa-core chipset. This means that its eight Cortex-A53 cores are running at the same level of performance, rather than using the "big.LITTLE" architecture where smaller, weaker cores are paired with more powerful ones.

As a result, performance dips found in other phones due to the presence of slower cores aren't really a feature on the P9000. It's an incredibly fast device, and the roomy 4GB of RAM included means that switching between apps is rarely anything but buttery-smooth.

In terms of pure processing grunt, however, the Helio P10 isn't in quite the same league as the leading silicon from the likes of Qualcomm and Samsung.

In real-world performance the handset rarely feels like it is lacking power. The only time I found it struggled was with detailed 3D games, which, while perfectly playable, don't run as smoothly as on cutting-edge Android devices. Again, it's perhaps foolish to expect this, since the P9000 costs less than £200.

In AnTuTu Benchmark, the device scored 47,864, which places it way behind the likes of the Galaxy S6 (81,087) and HTC One M9 (79,965) – two phones which, it should be pointed out, cost substantially more than Elephone offering.

Geekbench 3 returns a single-score rating of 810 and a multi-core score of 3,056. Again, these are behind the very best Android phones, but by no means disastrous – in fact, the P9000 scores better than the Google Nexus 6, OnePlus One and Galaxy S5 in the multi-core test.

The Elephone includes 32GB of storage space, which again bucks the trend for this end of the market. Of that total, around 24.5GB is available to the end user once preinstalled files and OS data is taken into account, and using the aforementioned microSD support, you can add to that total if you so wish.

ELEPHONE P9000 – CAMERA

The Sony IMX258 sensor on the rear of the P9000 is capable of snapping 13-megapixel shots and is aided by laser auto-focus and a two-tone LED flash.

4K video recording is supported, and it's also possible to snap images in the low-compression RAW format – something that purists will be pleased to learn. The camera software comes with the usual array of settings and shooting modes, allowing you to have a pretty deep level of control over your shots.

Colours are bright

The app is quick to boot up from the cold start, and the sensor captures photos with impressive speed. However, the resultant shots suffer from a lot of noise when viewed up-close.

There's quite a lot of overexposing going on here

The phone's somewhat sluggish HDR mode also seems to overexpose images, washing them out with too much light as a result. To be honest, I stopped using HDR after the first few shots.

Elephone has told me that the camera software that currently ships with the P9000 isn't the finished article though, so this may well be rectified with a future OTA update. For selfies there's an 8-megapixel camera, which was more than up to the job of taking vanity shots and holding video calls.

ELEPHONE P9000 – BATTERY

Surprisingly for such a slim handset, the P9000 is packing a 3,000mAh power cell, which gives the phone impressive real-world staying power. Stamina of this kind is welcome in such a cheap phone, but what's even more remarkable is the inclusion of both quick charging and wireless charging. For the former, the P9000 takes advantage of MediaTek's Pump Express technology, which is similar to Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 standard.

We were able to entirely fill the battery in just over an hour, but it's worth noting that you'll need a compatible quick charger to do this – and amazingly, there isn't one bundled with the phone as standard. Instead, you just get the reversible USB Type-C cable and are obviously expected to slum it with standard charging via one of the many compatible wall chargers you'll inevitably have lying all over the house.

The official Elephone quick charger is available for purchase separately, and is actually pretty cheap. I was sent one along with the review phone, and had to use it with a UK travel plug adapter. I was also sent a rather fetching, official faux-leather flip-case, which can be purchased with other items in a special accessory bundle.

Wireless charging is a real bonus, especially in a phone of this price; Google couldn't even stretch to fit it in the Nexus 5X or the 6P. Any Qi charger will do the job – I used an old Nokia one from a couple of years back and it worked flawlessly, although it's worth noting that it doesn't charge anywhere near as fast as when using a wall charger or fast charger.

Stamina-wise, that 3,000mAh battery will get you through an entire day of use without much trouble. If you're playing games, watching films or generally taking part in activities that require the screen to be on for long periods, however, you'll notice a sharp drop-off in longevity. During my video test – where I streamed an HD movie from Netflix for an hour – around 20% of the battery was consumed.

Buy Now: Elephone P9000 at Amazon.com from $209.99

SHOULD I BUY THE ELEPHONE P9000?

In the past there have always been a few niggles that have held me back from wholeheartedly recommending Elephone's products. However, the P9000 manages to get pretty much everything right, with the possible exception of its inconsistent fingerprint scanner and unfinished camera software.

Practically every other element of the device is exemplary: the pin-sharp screen, the surprisingly nippy performance and the impressive build quality. Not to mention the inclusion of features such as fast charging, wireless charging, NFC and Android 6.0 out of the box.

When you consider that all of these elements are featured in a handset that costs less than £200 – albeit one that has to be imported from China, and therefore risks possible import duties – then the P9000 becomes even more remarkable.

It's powerful, runs the latest version of Android and comes with a checklist of features one would normally associate with a flagship handset from the likes of Samsung or LG. If you're not concerned about having a phone manufactured by a brand nobody in the UK is likely to have heard of, then this should be a serious contender for your cash.

VERDICT

The Elephone P9000 offers cutting-edge features and performance at a superb price.

Infinix zero review

Not too long ago, Infinix was a brand you could easily underestimate. A new brand literally out of nowhere comes into the market and after a couple of years it completely takes it over. I’m sure you have seen this at the back of cars on Kenyan roads “The car in front of you is always a Toyota”, well I think it’s safe to assume wherever you are there will be an Infinix in someone’s hand

Forget how popular it has become. Infinix has become innovative as well. I am not saying that they have come up with anything new, no. What they have done however, is bring features and services thought to be of premium smartphones to their super affordable devices. Now they have brought down the premium design as well. Here enters the all new Infinix Zero 4.

I’ve used a number of Infinix smartphones but by far the best line for me is the Zero line. I find them fresh and innovative. I was very fond of the Zero 2. The Zero 3 on the other hand wasn’t a huge hit for me, I wasn’t crazy about the edges (too ambitious I thought) but the Zero 4 has to be by far the best looking Infinix ever!! I know I said that not too long ago about the Hot S but that has been clearly overshadowed by the Zero 4.

It’s the chamfered edges, the Unibody metal design, the big camera bump which I actually like, the wonderful omission of the normal capacitive buttons and instead the addition of dots to take their place. Now most of the time when I talk about the screen, I usually refer to its resolution and brightness. All those are good here but there is one very notable thing too. The screen is smooth. Like silky smooth to the touch, lending to an awesome experience scrolling on this device. Everyone who has used it agrees with me. This phone feels and looks exceptional and premium. I am impressed.

It comes with some top notch specs as well. This base version comes with a MT6753 chip with an octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB Internal storage with an expandable microSD slot and a super sharp Full HD 5.5-inch screen. It runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0 with their custom XOS Chameleon. I’ve talked about XOS a number of times and nothing much has changed with that on the Infinix Zero 4.

Using this device is a joy, (most of the time), I’ll get to that in a minute. The display is bright and crisp. Browsing the internet and reading on the Zero 4 is a pleasant experience. Everything looks colourful and bright, so do games and videos. The HD screen with a smooth curved finish offers some great viewing experiences, something that could satisfy most users.

The other thing that stood out for me was performance. I have used this device solely for the past month and I can say that it has only lagged twice or thrice, and this happened when I was low on battery. It easily handles your tasks and changing from one application to another doesn’t grind the phone’s performance to a halt.

The Zero 4 comes with a 3200mAH power battery, which isn’t the highest number I have seen or used. Its performance however is different from others. I could go through a whole day, sleep and only charge it in the morning to repeat this whole day to day process. The only reason I am able to be this relaxed with the battery is because of what Infinix calls XCHARGE. This is basically fast charging and on this, it is brilliant and extremely useful.

You could get 100% of battery charge in an hour and a half! Good bye all night charging, you could just plug it in the morning when you wake up, prepare and eat breakfast then get your fully charged device (if you take an hour and a half that is). This is extremely useful when you have a long day ahead of you, just carry the charger and even 15 mins of charge gives you a lot of juice. No phone in this day and age should come with anything less. Not only that, I found that it used the battery quite well. At the end of the day, it is not completely drained with at least 30% of charge left.

The other good thing about the Zero 4 is the camera. We have a pretty decent camera here, given how big the camera bump is. At the rear, we have a 16MP camera, with an LED flash and laser auto-focus. At the front, we have an 8MP wide selfie camera with flash of course. The pictures taken are quite good, in the right settings of course. If you are shooting on a bright sunny day, your pictures will look quite gorgeous. When darkens comes, it does struggle a bit but still manages to produce some amazing shots. I love the focus on this. It makes the subject look better and stand out more in the foreground. The only drawback here is how over processed the images may feel. It can look over sharpened. On the bright side, we do have manual mode here meaning that those who like to play around with shutter speed and ISO can use it to shoot creatively.

Like I said, using this device is a joy most of the time. Sometimes, it does fall back a bit. On two occasions while I was browsing on just one tab, the device got overly hot. It was hot all over and woe unto you if someone decides to call you at that moment. Being of metal build, the heat produced is very uncomfortable to the touch. Luckily this happens occasionally therefore for the most part, it shouldn’t bother you.

Other things that didn’t impress me much were small bugs or failure in hardware. For example, GPS tracking can become very frustrating. It takes a while to get your location, it seems inaccurate when it does that. The other use case where you see this is when you are hailing a cab. You can’t really trust on the location displayed, even during the trip, I could see my location jumping haphazardly across different streets, but given time it gets back to its senses. For a frequent user of maps, this can get very frustrating.

The last headache is in terms of syncing. I am not completely sure if this is a universal problem or just unique to me, some apps like Telegram are not completely synced. What I mean is that sometimes, I get notifications of new messages but most times I do not, therefore when I get into the app, all the messages suddenly come in at the same time. This is not the best user experience.

All in all, this is a solid device that I could recommend for myself and anyone in the market for a good smartphone. It’s beautiful, performs well and still manages to remain affordable. The best part about it is that there is a pro mode of this. It is called the Infinix Zero 4 Plus, which has better specifications and since this is already quite good, I’ll be curious to find out how much better the Plus actually is.

For 18,500/= you cannot go wrong with this device.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Review

The Samsung Galaxy S8 has finally been launched and… well, it's entirely as we expected thanks to the myriad leaks that sprung up all over the internet in the preceding months.

But the good news is that it's a rather nifty phone, and you can check it out in some rather sumptuous depth in our hands-on: Samsung Galaxy S8 review to get all the information you could want on Samsung's new flagship. 

• Fancy something bigger? You'll want the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

The brand has been very careful with this device, telling TechRadar directly that it's taken a more cautious approach to the battery sizes to ensure there's absolutely no repeat of the Note 7 farce of last year.

What the Galaxy S8 will do is impress you with the large display, faster innards and all-round improvements throughout the user interface – so if you're not going to check out our thorough and filled-with-beautiful-photos Samsung Galaxy S8 hands-on (the plugs will only get more shameless) we've rounded up all the salient information here.

Samsung Galaxy S8 release date  

SAMSUNG GALAXY S8 SPECS

Want to know the specs? We've got them all here:

Dimensions: 148.9 x 68 x 8mm
Screen size: 5.8 inches
Resolution: 1440 x 2960 (QHD+)
Processor: Exynos 8895
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 64GB
Rear camera: 12MP
Front camera: 8MP
Battery: 3,000mAh
- Rear fingerprint scanner
- Water- and dust-resistant (IP68)
- No physical home button
- Iris scanner
- Bixby AI assistant
- Headphone jack

• Galaxy S8 release date US: April 21
• Galaxy S8 release date UK: April 28

Samsung has now confirmed the Galaxy S8 release date: April 21 for the US, and April 28 for the rest of the world (including the UK) - although it hasn't given specific information on territories such as Australia.

You can pre-order the phone already and if you do so before April 19 you'll get the Samsung Galaxy S8 delivered to your door as soon as the April 20 if you're in the UK (but no word on a free Gear VR... boo).

Samsung Galaxy S8 price

• Galaxy S8 price: $720, £689, AU$1,199

The SIM-free Samsung Galaxy S8 price is $720 (£689, AU$1,199) - which certainly makes it one of the most expensive phones on the market. 

On contract in the US, it'll cost you anywhere from $28 to $35 a month, depending on your carrier.

In the UK you'll be able to pick up the Galaxy S8 for around £40 per month on a two year deal - put you'll have to part with some cash upfront too.

However, for that money you do get more storage than before, as the phone will land with 64GB on board, rather than the 32GB of last year – plus there's a microSD card slot and some decent AKG headphones in the bundle too.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 price: how much does it cost?
• You can find the best Samsung Galaxy S8 deals here

 Key new features 

• Rear-mounted fingerprint sensor
• Bixby AI assistant with dedicated button
• Massive Infinity Display on the front
• Refined user interface

In our eyes there are three major upgrades that Samsung fans will be most drawn to on the new Galaxy S8, beyond the impressive upgrades to power and performance throughout the phone. 

The first is the new Infinity Display that adorns the front of the Galaxy S8, a massive 5.8-inch screen that wraps its way around most of the phone. 

Yes, that's right: it wraps, as this is a curved screen by default. There's no flat version this year as Samsung saw how well-received the Galaxy S7 Edge was last year and decided to make that the flagship experience. 

It's a QHD resolution, but longer – just like the LG G6, the screen is in the longer 18.5:9 aspect ratio - which means some apps will initially display with bars left and right. 

It's also a pretty special display in terms of quality, having taken the "best smartphone screen" crown in a recent DisplayMate shootout.The screen on the S8 is also HDR-enabled, so if you're paying extra on Netflix (or just using Amazon Prime Video) you'll be able to get the superbly bright and colorful experience on your mobile - although we're still waiting to see that experience filter through.

The Galaxy S8 took the title by supporting more colors than rivals, an unhindered contrast ratio and the first screen certified by the UHD alliance. In short, the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S8 looks fantastic.

The second big change is the addition of another key on the phone, which will take you to the Bixby assistant. This is Samsung's big play in the smartphone AI stakes, a contextual assistant that can work out what you need through voice, touch or the camera. 

• Find out more about Samsung's Bixby AI assistant

We'll be honest: it's not that impressive yet. Samsung has announced that the voice functionality won't be available until Spring for the US, with no details for other regions, and it can only do a very limited number of things – essentially this is Siri, but a few years back when it comes to voice. 

The big play from Samsung here is that it, eventually, wants Bixby to take on Alexa by being the AI that's coded into every app. However, Bixby Vision in the camera can do more, working out places and products that it's seeing, as well as matching certain items on Pinterest. 

However, right now it's not even in all the default Samsung apps – only the camera and phone systems at the moment, with more rolling out in the future as well as a toolkit for third-party developers. 

In short: Bixby currently isn't as good as Google Assistant, which is thankfully also on the phone. 

The final big change is to the UI – and some people still won't be happy, while others will. The reason for this divide of opinion is that the Samsung Galaxy series TouchWiz overlay, which sits atop Android, has been maligned for years as too overbearing. 

Well, for years Samsung has been refining the experience, making it lighter to use and look at, and this year it's cleaner than ever without losing the Samsung 'look' that many of its users will be accustomed to. 

This means the fonts are smoother, the menus more clean and natural-looking (with little recommendations of other things you might be looking for in the settings menu – a nice touch), and even the symbols for navigating through the phone have been altered to offer a more premium look. 

(Well, we say premium – they look more like ancient runes or hieroglyphics. But hey, that's what's there). 

• Samsung Galaxy S8 colors: what options will you have?

 Design 

The screen covers most of the front of the phone, but we didn't experience any accidental taps of the display simply by holding the Galaxy S8 – there are obviously some smarts coded into the handset to stop that happening.Right, that's the big changes out of the way – so let's get on to how this thing looks. The design is covered in more depth through our Samsung Galaxy S8 hands-on (we told you there would be more plugs) but here are the main points:

The home button is gone now – there's nothing visible on the front of the phone any more. There is a pressure-sensitive button at the bottom of the phone, in a similar vein to that on the iPhone 7, where you can press where the home key WOULD have been and you'll get a pleasant buzz. 

The fingerprint scanner is now on the back of the phone, next to the camera, and it's a bit too high up for our liking, meaning we're more inclined to use the facial recognition or even the iris scanner to open the phone.

The outer rim is a fusion of metal and glass, with everything rolling attractively together in the hand, and very few hard edges to find under the finger. 

In short, it's a very well made phone from Samsung, and with the headphone jack still present and correct, it's going to please a fair few users looking to get a top-end phone with beautiful lines.

Camera

• Single, 12MP rear facing camera
• 8MP front facing camera

Well, if we're being fair there might be some internal tweaks that mean you're getting a better picture thanks to improved software – we'll need to test to be sure, but in our initial look (which you can read here) we didn't see too much different. The Samsung Galaxy S8 camera hasn't really been given much of an upgrade compared to the Galaxy S7, which will be a bit of a disappointment for some. The Galaxy S6 had a good snapper and yet Samsung still decided to upgrade it – but no such luck this year. 

However, the 12MP sensor on the back is still one of the best around, offering speedy snaps and great performance in low light. This year Samsung has added in something called multi-frame image, which takes three snaps and finds the sharpest, so the quality should be improved in terms of what you're looking at, at least. 

The front-facing camera has been boosted to 8MP, and there's also a fun new effects button which you can use to give yourself a range of augmented reality makeovers to entertain your friends, as they wonder why you've not just decided to use Snapchat instead.There's also the same impressive range of modes and options from Samsung within the Galaxy S8, from the clever auto mode, which manages to pick out a great picture nearly every time, to the professional mode, which offers the chance to really tweak the settings and shoot in raw too. 

There's also autofocus on the front-facing camera to make it easier to take half-decent selfies of you and your chums, so that's a pleasant upgrade for those that like to see the pics they're taking.

Battery

• 3,000mAh, non-removable power pack
• Fast and wireless charging support

The new chipset inside has been improved to offer 10% more CPU power and 21% better management on the GPU, so everything should fly along faster and with more efficiency. Samsung hasn't really done much to the battery either with the Galaxy S8, which does raise our eyebrows a touch. 

However, there's only a 3000mAh battery in the Samsung Galaxy S8, which is the same as last year – and with more pixels to power on the front of the phone (thanks to the longer aspect ratio and display) that's something to think about. 

It could explain why Samsung has limited the screen resolution on the Galaxy S8 to Full HD by default, with users needing to delve into the settings and boost the sharpness manually. 

On top of that there's also a full suite of wireless charging compatibility – in short, if there's a wireless charging point where you are, it can charge your Galaxy S8. That said, the Galaxy S7 Edge was one of the best phones we had on test for battery life last year, so there's every chance Samsung has done more than enough to deliver a phone that can last well over a day. 

Fast charging is also enabled, although Samsung hasn't given exact numbers on how quickly the handset will power up just yet. 

We'd estimate about 15 minutes of charge giving you a third of your power back, but we'll await confirmation from Samsung on that one.

Power and operating system

• 4GB of RAM
• Android 7 with TouchWiz interface
• Use two sets of wireless headphones at the same time

Samsung has split its processor strategy with the Galaxy S8, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 at the heart of the phone in the US and the Exynos 8895 doing the grunt work throughout the rest of the world. 

That's a lot of power whichever phone you plump for, meaning the Galaxy S8 is very likely to destroy some of the phone benchmarking tests out there. 

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There's 4GB of RAM in the Galaxy S8 too. Asian markets will be getting more (and Samsung has cryptically said the specs will vary throughout the world); however, 4GB is more than enough, and in our tests (you can read about them in our in-depth hands-on Samsung Galaxy S8 review... you know you want to) we found the phone to be lightning fast.

As mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is running Android Nougat, with the latest version of the operating system offering things like Google Assistant to the user, as well as improved battery management.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 also packs in Bluetooth 5.0, the latest version of the wireless standard and one of its party pieces lets you use two sets of wireless headphones at the same time.

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs Galaxy S8 Plus

The Samsung Galaxy S8 isn't alone, it arrived alongside its bigger brother the Galaxy S8 Plus - but what's the difference between Samsung's two flagship phones?

In truth, not a lot. The Galaxy S8+ boasts a larger 6.2-inch display and 3500mAh battery, but the rest of the spec sheet is identical to the Galaxy S8.

Check out our versus video below to get the full run-down of the two new Galaxy phones.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 vs Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs Sony Xperia XZ Premium vs iPhone 7

We can't round up our Samsung Galaxy S8 coverage without taking a quick look at how the new smartphone weighs up against the other two most popular handsets on our YouTube channel.

We've put the new Galaxy S8 up against the stylish iPhone 7 and the eye-popping Sony XZ Premium smartphone - check out our video below to see how they compare.

Samsung Galaxy S8 vs LG G6

Both South Korean giants have now launched their 2017 flagship phones, so we've put them head-to-head to find out how they compare - and more importantly, which is best.

Will it be the dual-camera LG G6 or and all-screen Samsung Galaxy S8 - read our in depth versus to find out.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 vs LG G6: which Android phone is better?

Wrap up

In short, we'd urge you to read our Samsung Galaxy S8 hands-on review – it's the place to be if you want a really in-depth look at this phone. 

However, if you can't manage to imbibe such a heady brew, then here's the summary…

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is a really, really good-looking phone, with lots of key features that users want – as well as some new additions in the shape of Bixby, although that's not really offering much at the moment. 

Some will be worried by the fact that the camera and battery haven't been given an obvious boost, and that's something that does need to be checked out when we get the phone in for a full review.

However, this is a phone that's far more impressive than the sum of its parts: while a wrap-around screen doesn't sound like enough to warrant buying a phone, it's an incredibly impressive look, and one that will lure in many buyers.

The camera and battery life are likely to be good enough, and the raw power of this phone will see it shine through nearly every task. 

The Galaxy S8 is a great phone at its heart, and we'll now be waiting with much intrigue to see how Apple responds.