Unboxing The Samsung Galaxy A8+

Samsung has officially launched the Galaxy A8+ in India at a price of Rs. 32990. The device is an Amazon-exclusive and will go on sale in India from the 20th of January. At this price point, the Samsung Galaxy A8+ will compete with the likes of Honor View10 and the OnePlus 5T. The Samsung Galaxy A8+ has a display that is reminiscent of Samsung’s 2017 flagship lineup with thin bezels and is also the first smartphone from the company that has a front-facing dual-camera setup.

Let’s unbox the Samsung Galaxy A8+ and see what we get inside the box:

• Samsung Galaxy A8+
• Documentation
• Sim Ejector Tool
• Wall Charger
• USB Type C Cable
• Clear Case
• Earphones

Initial Impressions

Right off the bat, the first thing you notice about the phone is that display and the thin bezels around it. It is nowhere near the screen-to-body ratio of the Galaxy S8 but, it is a refreshing change to Samsung’s mid-range lineup. The next big difference is the position of the fingerprint sensor. Unlike its 2017 flagship smartphones, Samsung has placed the fingerprint sensor below the camera, which is a much more comfortable position, until the in-display sensors become the norm.

The Samsung UX has come a long way since its inception and looks cleaner and feels much more snappy than the previous gen Galaxy A devices. The home button doesn’t have the same haptic feedback like the Galaxy S8 devices or the Note8. There is a single speaker which is oddly placed on the top right edge of the device, this will definitely prevent the muffling of sound which usually happens with rear-facing speakers.

Specifications

The Samsung Galaxy A8+ has a 6-inch Super AMOLED display with a 2220 x 1080 px resolution which translates to an 18.5:9 aspect ratio.

Under the hood, it has an Exynos 7885 chipset, an octa-core (2.2GHz Dual + 1.6GHz Hexa) processor and Mali-G71 GPU. The Galaxy A8+ has been launched in only one variant in India, which has 6GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. Just like every other smartphone from Samsung, the onboard storage can be expanded up to 256GB via microSD card. The smartphone has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance and supports Samsung Pay for contactless mobile payment.

Powering the Galaxy A8+ is a 3500 mAh battery which is charged via USB Type-C port.

One thing that might come as a surprise, especially for phones launching in 2018 is the OS. The Galaxy A8+ will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box with Samsung’s own custom skin on top.

The Galaxy A8+ is also the first of Samsung phone to have a dual-camera setup on the front. The Galaxy A8+ has a 16MP + 8MP camera setup with an f/1.9 aperture on the front. The Live Focus feature lets users chose whether the background should be in focus or blurred to a soft bokeh. The phone will switch between the two front cameras to get the effect the user needs. To the back of the phone is a 16MP camera with an f/1.7 aperture and digital stabilisation.

We will be putting the Galaxy A8+ through its paces and if there is something specific you would like us to cover, let us know in the comments!