When I saw the Samsung Galaxy A8 was coming out, I was excited. Now before I tell you why I was excited, I have to make a confession: I’m an Apple addict.
I own a lot of Apple products, and the rest of my family call me crazy and are Samsung fans.
They say – “Samsung have a better overall product, a better operating system (Android), and better quality”.
The only thing is they can be just as expensive as an Apple – so like I said above, when I heard the Samsung Galaxy A8 was coming out, I was excited.
I got in touch with the Samsung New Zealand team, and they kindly gave me a brand new phone to test out.
I’m not technologically minded, so my review is simply based on how I found it and was it easy to use. Because let’s be honest – at the end of the day if it’s not easy to use, and can’t take a decent photo, there’s no point.
Oh and it has to be affordable.
Fortunately I think the Samsung Galaxy A8 ticks all of these boxes, with the exception of ONE thing (which I will get into below).
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FIRST THOUGHTS:
Having never had, or tried, any kind of Samsung phone before, I was very apprehensive about trying this. Plus I’m getting older, and trying new things scares me; sometimes I feel I’m technologically illiterate.
However, with the Samsung Galaxy A8 (and I’m sure other models too), it’s very easy to set up, and navigate around.
It’s similar to an Apple in the sense that you download apps from the Google Play store (just like the App Store on an Apple product), but the overall use of the phone is much more customisable than an Apple.
I can’t compare performance between my Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy A8, as the specs on my phone were higher than that of the A8 – so it’s not even a fair fight.
HOWEVER, during the week that I fully immersed myself in the phone, the phone kept up with my own one – the camera was also pretty good!
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HOW IT LOOKS / FEELS:
I loved the size of the phone – it was perfect for me. Almost identical in size to my own phone, but slightly slimmer. As I said above, the phone itself is easy to navigate through, and if you’ve used a Samsung before it’ll be an easy switch; even from an Apple to a Samsung is an easy switch IMO.
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SNAPCHAT:
My only issue with the phone was that the camera / video couldn’t keep up with Snapchat app. There was an obvious lag in the video / sound, which meant the audio was out of sync with my face. It was frustrating for myself and my audience, so I dug a little deeper and discovered that Snapchat was in fact designed to work with the Apple iOS. I’m not sure how to get around that – but it did work absolutely perfectly with Instagram.
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OVERALL:
For the price, which is RRP NZ$799 (for the A8) and RRP NZ$899 (for the A8+), you get your money’s worth. It’s everything you could want in a Samsung Galaxy but at a fraction of the cost.
I truly loved the opportunity to review this phone, and was pleasantly surprised at how good the phone was. Obviously the issue with Snapchat was a tad frustrating, however I realise not everyone uses the app. Also, given the price difference between the S series (which can be over $1000), I would be super happy with it regardless of any Snapchat issues.
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You can buy your very own Samsung Galaxy A8 (or A8+) from Spark, 2Degrees and Vodafone.
Thank you very much Samsung for kindly giving me this phone to review; it was truly a pleasure to try out a different phone from my own.
