May 17 2017, 09:55 AM, updated 9y ago
A little history about me, who I consider myself as one of those called - the tech geek. I ventured into this never ending smartphone game a couple of years back, where my first phone was the Blackberry Storm 2 (it was the first pressure sensitive screen in its own ways yo). And just to name a few phones I have possessed in recent history, just to sorta prove my credentials here - Iphone 5, Iphone 6s, LG Nexus 5, LG G6, LG V10, Samsung S6 Edge, Samsung S7 Edge, Samsung S8+, Huawei Nexus 6P, Google Pixel, HTC Cha Cha, HTC M7, HTC M8, HTC M9, Blackberry Bold, Blackberry Z10, Blackkberry Passport, Nokia N9, Nokia Lumia 800, Nokia Lumia 1020, Lenovo Z2 Pro, Sony Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1 Xperia Z3, Xperia Z5 Premium, Xiaomi Mi3, Xiaomi Mi4, Xiaomi Note, Xiaomi Note 2, Xiaomi Mi Mix, Motorola Droid Turbo, Moto X, Motorola Droid Maxx and of course a couple that I have missed out. An not just that, the accessories that I have invested in my phones are monstrous. Back then when tempered glass wasn't even a thing I have spent at least thousands trying out different brands around the world, your Mimo Spigen Imos bla bla bla. I even resorted to nano liquid screen protectors, only to hope to find the perfect smartphone. Anyway, the story here is about the two giants - The Iphone 7+ and the Samsung Galaxy S8+.
With no argument, the S8+ beats the Iphone in all ways aesthetics, and tahts the reason it only took me a heartbeat to pre order this beauty. I'm not gonna talk specs and functions, reviewers around the world will favour the S8+ and no one will disagree, I won't. The S8+ is stunning. So why did I fall back to my, which I would love to call it, the trustworthy Iphone 7+?
18.5 to 9 Screen Ratio
From my experience with phones, first hands on experience that leads to how big the smartphone is, is the width of the phone. Sure Samsung would have done thousands of surveys and focus groups to come to the same conclusion. Small phone, big screen, small width. Tara. So what's the problem here? If samsung, or LG, has decided to maintain the 16 to 9 screen ratio with the width of the S8 there isn't enough marketing noise. It's gonna be another 5.2" smartphone with better body ratio. So, let's increase the height! Now we get infinity display, 84% screen to body ratio, 5.7" screen in a compact body unheard of! Kudos to Samsung it bloody works, paired with 2k super AMOLED screen up to 1000 nits in brightness is amazing feat, claps.
But the thing is, aesthetics over functionality. That is when I first tried the S8, only to realize despite its marketed 5.7" screen, the narrow width makes everything seems....Iphone 5 ish?? Most especially felt during typing. So I quickly got the bigger brother, the plus. Felt much better instantly. many will argue that the transition is here, is real, accept it. 4:3 to 16:9 now 18:9, fine, I'll use it for a month to get myself used to it!
I did not, sadly. Seriously the only experience I'm gonna miss leaving this screen ratio is my e-book reading experience. That's all. Videos are just not produced in that format yet, yeah crop to fit and lose the tops and bottoms, not cool. Most of the games are rendered in 16:9, yeah force the immersion only to find many games have misaligned issues, especially in the game menus. I'm not here to argue that you have to give time for devs and video makers to start adapting the new ratio. Yes it takes time but the problem is, are they, the masses out there, are they gonna adapt? Unless I see all manufacturers start jumping into the ratio, which I don't, we might see mass adoption. On a separate case, if apple decides to trail on this, we might see that happen. And I'm taking an intellectual guess here, this ratio isn't here to stay.
The almighty bezeless display
The first name most would call upon, as a leader to this revolution, the Mi MIX, or the less known Sharp Aquos. NO! Surprise surprise, it's actually SONY. Don't believe me? Check this lil brother to the original Xperia Z, the Sony Xperia ZL. Was not heavily marketed beside his bigger brother, and guess the smartphone market back then wasn't aware of small bezels.
My argument is, are these actually practical? First of all, they are bloody fragile. with the panels so close to the frame, they are destined to crack upon impact. History proves it, and still is.
Hand gymnastics. Although the Mi Mix, or the S8+, is extremely gorgeous, I find myself having a hard time to navigate around the screen. I have very little room to grip at the bottom when I type. I have a hard time reaching for the pull down notification from the top, clear notifications, interact with notifications. I have a hard time playing games with little grip on the side (you hold your phone, but your thumbs are shrunk into an awkward position to interact with the controls - Fifa, Mobile Legend etc.).
The Operating System
It's official, the S8 packs the best of the best specs on earth. 10nm processor architecture, Bluetooth 5.1, UFS 2.1 bla bla bla. For a tech person, or a tech audience like LYN members, it means a bloody lot. It means that we feel appreciated when we know manufacturers dish out the best of the best. But to others it means crap. And to the ah lian and ah bengs they only care about screen size and mega pixels.
So you and your sweet S8+ is still probably in a romantic honey moon period, where you glance at here even when there is no notifications, or when the screen is off, to my knowledge some forumers even lick them, yes the S8 fetish. Well mine was a short vacation, honeymoon period all over after the first week. What matters to me next is the user experience. And heads up, the Apple ecosystem beats it flat flat flat.
It's not Samsung's, or Android's fault here, at least on their own. They both offer the best techs, software and hardware the world could ask for. But it's the marriage that's at fault here. I love the customization and the open ecosystem on Android. I used to customize every single detail I could possibly tweak, I own hundreds of widget packs, I browse deviantart and mycolorscreen for inspirations. I love the fact I could download torrent on my phone. I love the pirated APKs. I love the rooting and the kernel level tweaks. I love IFTTT. I love comparing SOT after knowing some guys out in XDA tweaks the CPU and GPU better than stock baked ones. I love trying out different roms. I love all that. I do also love - CONSISTENCY.
If anyone here is willing to debate that Android is more reliable, more consistent, and smoother than IOS, I'm sure you have not used one yet. Take the fanboy out of you and start dealing it like a real man. The integration in the Apple ecosystem is just better. The apps on the Appstore is just plain fluid. The apps are just more polished on IOS, even Google's own offering. I play games on Iphones with close to no frame drops. I don't care if devs optimize them better, I don't care if Samsung needs to power double the pixels, I only want a fluid experience, that's all that matters. And sadly, I experience micro stutters all around the S8+, heck it even loses out to the OP3T and the pixel. So can we conclude that Touchwiz is still culprit here?
Of course there are the minor considerations of future updates, continuity, the hardware flaws (fingerprint misplacement), single bottom firing speakers etc. These I can compensate for I know no smartphone is perfect.
And for those reasons above, I'm back to an Iphone 7+.
Why did I switch back to my IP7+ after the S8+
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