Display: 4.26 Million Pixels of Awesome

The display of the Galaxy S8+ carries the trademark curved edges of the Galaxy ‘S’ phones beginning with the S6 edge/edge+, but what is new here is the ultra-tall display with minimal bezels.

Sporting the unusual resolution of 1440×2960 (yes, 2960) the S8+ display is 400 pixels taller than a standard QHD display and allows for a 6.2-inch display in a phone that is barely any wider than the 5.5-inch QHD S7 Edge (2.89 vs. 2.86 inches). The result is phone that seems to be all display when looked at from the front, and it nearly is with an 84% screen-to-body ratio. How does it look? In a word, stunning.

Though a diamond PenTile matrix, there is enough resolution to keep text looking crisp

Beyond the extra height (or width, depending on how you’re holding it) of the display, or its curved edges, what you will likely see when you look at games, movies, and other content on the phone is a level of contrast that is almost three-dimensional. iPhone may offer P3 color, but it is limited in its use of IPS LCD technology and produces a “black” that is nowhere near what OLED technologies can muster. In short, the S8+ display looks stunning.

Now, for my one complaint about the display: while I did get used to it after a couple of days, I still dislike the amount of curve there is to the edges of the display. The edges of text can wrap around at times, and while I do appreciate how much nicer the phone feels in the hand because of the curved sides, I would rather not deal with (however slightly) distorted text. We can't have everything, I suppose.

One aspect of the screen that I will really miss is the always-on display feature. This might sound like a battery drain, but I was very surprised by how little power was required to keep the display on at all times, displaying the current time and any recent notifications.

It looks cool, it’s eminently useful, and I saw minimal impact to battery life throughout the day with the feature enabled – with single-digit battery percentage loss after hours of standby with the display powered up. This is thanks to OLED’s emissive properties, as it is only the pixels required to display color that are ever actually ‘on’, with the majority of the (black) screen here actually powered off.

« PreviousNext »