Performance Benchmarks
Buyers of a flagship phone deserve a flagship SoC, and in North America the GS8+ is powered by the latest Snapdragon 835. This is the return of Qualcomm to octa-core processors and offers what promise to be their most powerful Adreno graphics to date. Let’s see how the Galaxy S8+ stacks up against some of the competition, beginning with CPU performance. To this end I wanted to test the phone in a 'native' state, and the 'performance' setting sets the screen to its full 1440×2960 resolution. Benchmarking with the default ‘balanced’ profile produces slightly higher numbers in a few comparison tests, as the screen is running at a lower resolution. The disparity in resolution is mitigated by the use of 'off-screen' graphics tests, which are always run at 1920×1080.
First up is Geekbench 4:
This overall result is indicative of the CPU performance similarities between stock ARM Cortex (the Kirin 960) and the custom Kryo cores of the Snapdragon 835. It seems we are pushing the limit of the current-gen ARM core design here.
Memory performance is lower with the Galaxy S8+, which offers both a 4GB and 6GB LPDDR4 option. Our review unit had the base 4GB RAM/64GB storage configuration. Single-threaded memory performance was much higher compared to the previous Snapdragon 821, but no close to the Kirin 960. Meanwhile, Apple is in another universe with single-threaded CPU performance accross the board. As usual for Apple, a custom CPU with a proprietary and heavily optimized OS is unbeatable.
We move on to graphics benchmarks, and here the latest Adreno GPU dominates other handsets. Apple might have an advantage in the occasional test, but for the most part if you have the Snapdragon 835 you will enjoy the highest GPU performance on a phone.
As much of an improvement over prior ARM Mali graphics the Kirin 960's Mali-G71 MP8 is, the Adreno 540 is in a class by itself, currently. It would be interesting to see the performance of the international version of the GS8/GS8+, as the Samsung Exynos 8995 Octa features a Mali-G71 MP20 GPU (20 shader cores vs. 8 from the Kirin 960).
ALU offscreen is the first test where Apple comes out ahead with GFXBench, but the Adreno graphics in the GS8+ are still ahead of the 8-core Mali-G71.
Finally, we will look at results using 3DMark's Sling Shot and Sling Shot Extreme benchmarks. The first of these uses OpenGL ES 3.0, and is fully cross-platform as Apple supports up to ES 3.0 with iOS. For the 'Extreme' result I Apple uses their proprietary Metal API, rather than OpenGL ES 3.1, so there is no way to see a true apples-to-apples (get it?) comparison. I leave the iPhone off of the second result for this reason.
Certainly, the Snapdragon 835 offers some compelling performance, befitting a top-tier Android phone. Apple operates on a different plane of existence as they are the only phone maker to fully control the entire experience, but the Galaxy S8+ is as fast as any Android phone available today.
Next we will see the result of the battery test (you'll want to see this).
Apparently the 128 Gb phone
Apparently the 128 Gb phone is only being sold in Asia. They will have to pry my 128 Gb nexus 6P from my cold dead hands to go back to 64 Gbs.
I own this phone, the sim
I own this phone, the sim card holder also has a slot for a micro sd and mine currently is housing a Kingston SDCA3/128GB.
So have fun being stuck with 64gb?
He literally just told you he
He literally just told you he has a 128GB phone. Was his two sentences too verbose for you?
Hurr Durr, reading is hard.
Hurr Durr, reading is hard.
Still loving this one! really
Still loving this one! really affordable; Sadly is no more convenient anymore Right now there is some models with waaay better specs on the market for a little extra… the agm a8; as example ( the guy below inspired me xD ) the x1 is my next target, tho.
14400×2960 AMOLED
Really?
Really? These 5:1 aspect ratio phones are getting insane.
😀
Fixed!
😀
Fixed!
What’s an “occational test”?
What’s an “occational test”?
Fixed!
Fixed!
I occasionally proof-read my
I occasionally proof-read my reviews…
Phones are the biggest waste
Phones are the biggest waste of money make them faster just to overheat quicker. Make a phone that can sustain performance for prolong periods then ill be interested.
unlike previous phones I’ve
unlike previous phones I’ve had, my S8+ is the least hot to the touch after extensive use.
Take it for what you will.
Not about being hot to touch
Not about being hot to touch its about thermal throttle. You cant play demanding game on these for more than min or two without thermal throttling kicking in you go from smooth 60fps down to 30 its really annoying.
I know what you mean. Devices
I know what you mean. Devices that throttle are annoying, but do that many people play demanding games on their phones? I haven’t played a game on my phone in over a year. I guess I just never “got” phone gaming.
http://www.fujitsu.com/global
http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2015/0312-01.html
Samsung should license that tech and put it in their phones.
They could also brag about their phones’ liquid cooling!
“offers a fantastic larger
“offers a fantastic larger phone experience with my favorite”
i must be misreading it because it seems to me “large” would be more correct
thanks for the great review as usual
i’m very happy they compared
i’m very happy they compared this phone to the last generation S7/S7 edge in every test…….oh wait….do i have to go back and look at the S7 review from last year to see how it actually compares? good job, guys.
“The Galaxy S8+ offers a
“The Galaxy S8+ offers a smooth, sleek exterior, which is comprised entirely of glass (front and back) with a metal band around the perimeter of the phone. This glass sandwiched construction was the basis of the iPhone 4, and like that design this one does trade some durability for aesthetics.”
Is it possible for someone to review a phone without bringing up the iPhone for no reason other to mention the iPhone? The Nexus 4 had front/back glass 2 years before the iphone 4 did. Not to say you should mention in the review because it’s irrelevant.
Well said. And note the part
Well said. And note the part where the reviewer stated Samsung did a good job making the menus look “iOS like.” Please. This is not an iPhone. Stop giving compliments to Samsung for butchering Android to make iphone users feel more at home.
Ask anyone who owns a Samsung phone how they like it after 6 months and it’s usually the same “it got slow” response. Meanwhile a year old Nexus with plain old unmolested Android runs great. The bloated Touchwiz UI ALWAYS stuns the phone’s performance months down the road, and yes, that will include the S8 too even with it’s super fast release day performance. This is quite unfortunate too, as this phone is a real beauty.
The parenthetical “iOS like”
The parenthetical "iOS like" remark was a jab at unoriginal UI design. I dislike the trend to emulate Apple design, and if you read my recent Google Pixel review you will find a similar negative tone for the very iPhone-inspired design of that handset from HTC. I like originality, and have previously scorned Android makers for "emulating even Apple's mistakes".
For the record, every Nexus I've owned feels slower over time. I think it must be the storage, but who knows. I experienced this with my Nexus 4, 5, and 6. Even when I go back now and manually install the lowest version of Android on these they feel so much slower than I remember. It's a strange phenomenon. Perhaps I'm imagining things. In any case, as UI skins go, this version of Samsung's is pretty light – and looks ok (even if they did just copy the look of iOS).
“The Nexus 4 had front/back
"The Nexus 4 had front/back glass 2 years before the iphone 4 did."
I mentioned the glass sandwiched construction in historical context, largely due to the amount of negative attention focused on that design choice (and the iPhone 4's durability) back in 2010.
"Is it possible for someone to review a phone without bringing up the iPhone for no reason other to mention the iPhone"
Is it possible to be objective, and mention things of historical significance even if that involves the iPhone? Why, yes! It is. So I do.
I’m actually in the market
I’m actually in the market for a new phone ’cause my iPhone 5S is ready to finally kick the bucket. With my line of work i wanna hold out and see what the S8 active variant is like.
950XL here, and I’m up for
950XL here, and I’m up for switching to the iPhone or android. I’ve tried both, and I’m not thrilled with either. There are way too many people that complain about the long-term android experience for me to feel comfortable with it, but at the same time, I really don’t like the IOS UI…The S8 is a beautiful phone, but the android experience frustrates me.
Hate that curved screen.
Hate that curved screen.
The rugged phones: falls,
The rugged phones: falls, waterproof, dust, etc, are becoming increasingly frequent devices: and the agm are the best ones fir the PPR ( at least to me) ,,, and the quality in specs too is becaming something really to count on .. No more “dumbphones” apparently. Btw: have you seen the x1 18k gold edition?
I have that same kind of
I have that same kind of begonia in my yard. Cant remember its name.
I do have S8, but i get
I do have S8, but i get jealous with iphone accessories, iphone have beautiful covers to put more beauty to their phones