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ToolsDesign, Durability, and Display
The S8 Active is built like a tank car. The second of the phone consists of a harden grey or aureate polycarbonate plate. Along the sides, there is metal, reinforced by hard rubber ridges on each recess for better shock resistance. This shell wraps around the sides of the call, doing off with the curves that make the S8 so attractive, but besides indeed delicate .
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Reading: Samsung Galaxy S8 Active Review
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I subjected the S8 Active to a series of anguish tests, including six-foot drops to wood, tile, and concrete floors. It survived without any visible damage. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that while the screen may be more durable due to the reinforced sides and a shatterproof layer not found on the the regular S8, it ‘s still susceptible to being scratched .
Like the S8, the Active is rated IP68, so it can survive in 6 feet of water for at least 30 minutes. It worked finely after a exhaustive rinse and handled immersion without a problem, equitable make certain you do n’t try to charge it until the port is dry .
Of course, this increased lastingness comes at the cost of lend size and bulk. The S8 Active measures 6.0 by 3.0 by 0.4 inches ( HWD ) and weighs a goodly 7.3 ounces, a luminary increase from the regular S8 ( 5.8 by 2.7 by 0.3 inches, 5.5 ounces ). It ‘s besides heavier than the S8+ ( 6.1 ounces ) and the note 8 ( 6.9 ounces ). But compared with early rugged phones like the Kyocera DuraForce Pro ( 5.8 by 2.9 by 0.5 inches, 8.1 ounces ), it ‘s about average .
Along the sides, you have all the lapp buttons and ports as the S8. A office push button is on the right and a volume rocking chair on the left, with a Bixby button below it replacing the customizable Active clitoris on former Active models. The bed has a 3.5mm earphone jack, USB-C charging port, and speaker. The SIM/microSD card slot is located at the top and worked very well with a 256GB card. The fingerprint detector on the back is even set to the right of the television camera, making it besides easy to incidentally smudge the lens .
On the front you ‘ll find a tall-and-narrow 5.8-inch, 2,560-by-1,440 Super AMOLED expose. Because it does n’t wrap around the sides, it ‘s technically not an “ eternity ” screen, but is otherwise very similar to the panel in the regular S8. Its resolution is a sharp 506 pixels per inch ( ppi ), which is actually a little less sharp than the 2,960-by-1,440 S8 ( 570ppi ), but the deviation is scantily detectable. The Super AMOLED panel gives you rich, saturated colors, ink-black blacks that help save exponent by alone lighting pixels as needed, and excellent watch angles. The screen gets very bright and remains visible even in direct sunlight .
Network Performance and Connectivity
We tested the Galaxy S8 Active on AT & T, and that mannequin supports LTE bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/20/28/29/30/38/39/40/41/66. This is standard do for a top-tier telephone ; the entirely noteworthy inclusion is band 66, which gives carriers more room to combine spectrum and improve downlink. During discipline testing in midtown Manhattan, network performance was decent, with 9.3Mbps down and 15.3Mbps up. Lopsided download and upload speeds like this normally indicates network congestion, and overall results are in cable with what we ‘ve seen on other AT & T phones in the same area .
If you get the T-Mobile model, the call besides supports the aircraft carrier ‘s new Band 71, its 600MHz spectrum for covering rural areas. It plans to roll out this new coverage starting in 2018. For now, the lone other call with Band 71 is the LG V30, so if you ‘re interested in that potential extra coverage, you truly want to look arduous at the Galaxy S8 Active .
Because it has a Snapdragon 835 central processing unit, the S8 Active will be compatible with gigabit networks once they start rolling out. early connectivity protocols include dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1 ( which improves range and lets you stream to two devices at the same prison term ), and NFC, letting you use android Pay. Samsung Pay comes preinstalled and works with closely all calling card reader terminals .
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Call choice is bang-up. Transmissions have clear, lifelike tones and are easily audible on both ends. Noise cancellation is excellent at blotting out about all background noise including weave and traffic. Earpiece volume is forte, and we had no worry taking a margin call in a noisy environment. The bottom-facing speaker gets sanely brassy, if a bit bum. Wi-Fi calling and HD voice are both supported .
Processor, Battery, and Camera
As mentioned above, the S8 Active is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor clocked at 2.35GHz and has 4GB of RAM. operation is about identical to the standard Galaxy S8, so see our review for a complete summation. In shortstop, the S8 Active is a fast, mighty telephone that can handle anything you throw at it. generally speaking it ‘s much more adequate to than most early rugged phones like the LG X Venture .
The S8 Active besides has the same 12-megapixel rear television camera and 8-megapixel front camera as the Galaxy S8. Its performance is alone, and remains the best television camera phone we ‘ve tested. See our original inspection for an in-depth look at performance and sample images .
aside from design, battery is the biggest dispute between the S8 Active and the standard S8. The Active houses a 4,000mAh battery, for a nice bump in capacity over the S8 ‘s 3,000mAh cell. In our summation test, in which we stream full-screen video over LTE at maximal screen brightness, that translated to 8 hour, 54 minutes of runtime, which is good batch longer than the S8, ( 5 hours, 45 minutes ) and DuraForce Pro ( 5 hours, 39 minutes ). That should get you well over a day ‘s worth of use, and you can take advantage of fast charging with the admit arranger. Samsung ‘s proprietorship fast radio charge is besides supported, though you ‘ll need to buy the charging puck individually .
Software
The Active runs Android 7.0 Nougat with Samsung ‘s heavy TouchWiz UI layer on peak. once again, it ‘s identical to what you ‘ll find on the S8. The one extra feature you get on the Active series is the preloaded Activity Zone app. Launching it gives you quick access to a barometer, scope, flashlight, health trailing, a stopwatch, and weather information .
Left to right : Galaxy S8 Active, Galaxy S8
As with all carrier phones, you ‘ll find some bloatware, but it ‘s more minimal than you might expect. There were nine AT & T apps, a few of which can be uninstalled. When you first base set up the phone you ‘re given the option if you want to install apps like Samsung Pay and Samsung Health. Surprisingly, Google apps you normally ca n’t delete like Android Pay, Google Drive, and Google Photos, can all be removed if you desire .
Out of the total home repositing of 64GB, the S8 Active leaves you with 49.56GB available. That ‘s a good measure of outer space for apps and photograph, and you can supplement it with a microSD menu.
Conclusions
For a $ 100 premium over the standard S8, the Galaxy S8 Active gets you more battery liveliness and increase lastingness. If you ‘re looking for a telephone that can stand up to abuse and does n’t compromise on performance, it ‘s your best option and our Editors ‘ Choice. The Band 71 support on the T-Mobile adaptation is precisely a cherry on top. Of class, you can besides buy a regular Galaxy S8 and wrap it up in a protective case .
Samsung Galaxy S8 Active
4.5
Editors ‘ option
See It
$ 849.99
at AT&T Internet
MSRP $ 849.99
Pros
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Cons
The Bottom Line
The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active takes the best telephone of the class, makes it tougher, and packs in a bigger battery. It ‘s the ultimate rugged earphone .
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