Samsung Galaxy On8 review


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Following the launch of Galaxy On5 and Galaxy On7, the South Korean giant Samsung launched its successor dubbed as Galaxy On8 at a price of Rs. 15,900 in Black and Gold colors exclusively on Flipkart. This mid-ranger comes packed with 5.5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, Octa-core Exynos 7580 processor, 3GB RAM, 13MP/5MP camera package.
At a price of Rs. 15,900, is the Galaxy On8 worth buying? Let’s check out.

Unboxing
Earlier we unboxed the Samsung Galaxy On8. Check it out here:

Box Contents

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  • Samsung Galaxy On8 smartphone in Golden color
  • 2-pin charger (5V-1.55A)
  • Micro USB cable
  • Earphones with microphone
  • 3300mAh battery
  • User manual and warranty information

Display

Rectifying its past mistake, Samsung has finally offered a Full HD Super AMOLED display for Galaxy On8 with 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) in size translating into a pixel density of 401ppi.

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Compared to its predecessor On7 with TFT display, the Galaxy On8 jumps comfortably to the next level with pretty impressive screen contributing a good color reproduction, sharpness, viewing angles and an above average sunlight readability. Being equipped with Super AMOLED display, the power consumption will be quite efficient.

The display does attract fingerprints leaving smudges on screen sometimes, even though it shouldn’t be a big issue.

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Moreover, you can choose any one among the four screen modes — Adaptive display, AMOLED cinema, AMOLED photo, and Basic. To give a heads-up, the ‘Adaptive display’ optimizes the color range, saturation, and sharpness automatically according to your environment.

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The AMOLED Photo Mode is tailored for the content from premium digital cameras, as most of these use the Adobe RGB color gamut, while the AMOLED Cinema Mode is made for watching movies with the best possible color gamut.

The Basic mode uses the standard color gamut which is currently used for producing every consumer content including films, TV, apps, games and much more.

Considering all this, the Galaxy On8 manages to get thumbs up at this very price point. However, there is no information about the presence of Corning Gorilla Glass.

Design

While Samsung aces in design language on higher end smartphones, the mid-ranger rarely proves to be good. Talking about the form factor, the device measures 76×151.7×7.8mm thick and weigh around 169 grams, which is again a slight difference from its predecessor.

Moving on to the design, the Galaxy On8 is a doppelganger of Galaxy J7 with very few changes. This 5.5-inch smartphone fits perfectly in hand and isn’t slippery either, offering a nice grip when holding. Moreover, the company has replaced the leather back cover with a polycarbonate material with a smooth matte finish which looks and feels good.

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The sides of Galaxy On8 has a shiny chrome rim running around with round corners seen in Galaxy J7 previously. On the front top, there is a 5MP front camera with a f/1.9 aperture along with LED flash for low-light selfies. It also has a proximity sensor, ambient sensor next to ear piece. Besides, it’s disappointing that the smartphone lacks notification light, which is present in almost all mid-range smartphones nowadays.

Samsung continues to go with its traditional just below the display with metal lining around it. Further, it has two capacitive buttons as well on both the sides without backlit support.

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The volume rockers are placed on the left, while the power button is on the right. Further, the USB port, 3.5mm audio jack, and primary microphones are placed on the bottom of the device with a slightly visible antenna bands.

While there is nothing on the top, it has 13MP camera setup, single LED flash and a not-so-effective speaker grill on the back. The Samsung Galaxy On8 do come with a removable battery, with two dedicated SIM slot and microSD card slot inside the back cover.

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On the whole, the build quality and design language is definitely an improvement over its predecessor. The Samsung Galaxy On8 comes Black, Gold and White colors.

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Software

Talking about the software, the Galaxy On8 is shipped with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box with its own UI on top. The lock screen shows the times and lets you launch dialer and camera too. The drop down notification bar has several toggle options, a brightness slider and an option to change the SIM card.

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In default, it doesn’t have any extra theme, but you can purchase it through Theme store. Moreover, it has Smart Manager app that lets you manage your device on battery life, storage, RAM usage, and security all in one place. Out of 3GB RAM, you will get around 1.3GB free when all the default app is running in the background.

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The highlighted feature of On8 is the Ultra data saving mode, where it compresses cellular data across all contents such as videos, photos, media, almost all apps and websites and S Bike mode, where if someone makes a call to your number, he/she gets a voice message saying the caller is riding the bike.

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Since Motion lock is enabled by S Bike Mode, you cannot answer the call unless you stop the bike or ride it less than 10kms/hr.

Apps and Storage

Speaking of bloatware, the Samsung Galaxy On8 comes with pre-installed with Google, Microsoft office apps, and other native utility apps as well. Moreover, it doesn’t have any game and a dedicated music player as well. In this case, we opted Google Play for listening to music.

Google PlaySamsung Galaxy On8 FM radio

All things considered, the audio output on speaker turns out to be poor, yet the sound through headphones are decent. Even there are chances of missing out call in a very noisy environment unless if you choose vibration. This device does come with FM radio with a very simple interface.

On the ROM, out of 16GB, the user will get around 13.1GB storage. If you need more storage, you can also add microSD card up to 128GB.

Connectivity and Dual SIM

The Samsung Galaxy On8 supports connectivity options including 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and NFC. Nowadays, dual SIM slots are mandatory in the mid-ranger and Galaxy On8 neatly ticks the box here. It also has VoLTE (voice-over-LTE) support for Reliance Jio.

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Both the SIM slots support 4G LTE and dual standby mode, which in turn allows us to take calls from second SIM even if you are on a call from first SIM. It also has USB on-the-go (OTG) support so that you can connect OTG drives easily. In addition, we also tested the call reception and was pretty satisfied with the experience we got.

Performance and storage

The Octa-Core Exynos 7580 processor clocked at 1.6GHz combined with 3GB RAM provides a butter smooth performance without any noticeable lag or hang. The Samsung Galaxy On8 is definitely fast enough for daily usage and multitasking applications. At this price range, the phone has enough power to offer sufficient performance in the everyday task.

In 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, the Samsung Galaxy On8 placed itself at the bottom of the chart with a score of 8175.

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In Antutu Benchmark 6, the Galaxy On8 scored around 42571.

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It scored 916 points in the Basemark OS II benchmark.

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The Samsung Galaxy On8 scored 3699 at the Geekbench Multi-Core test.

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The Samsung Galaxy On8 scored 714 at Geekbench 3 Single-core test.

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Battery

The Samsung Galaxy On8 is powered by a 3300mAh battery without any quick charging technology. With average usage including calls, browsing Wi-Fi, video calls the smartphone is good for one full day.

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It also comes with Ultra power saver mode, which saves juices by applying a greyscale theme to your home screen and limiting the number of usable apps. Also, you can replace the battery very easily as it comes with the removable battery options.

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In our battery test the Galaxy On8 achieved a One Charge Rating of 13 hours and 44 minutes, better than the Galaxy On7 that scored a One Charge Rating of 12 hours and 42 minutes. Check out the complete set of battery life test results here.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy On8 comes with 13MP rear camera with f/1.9 aperture, and 5MP front camera with single LED flash on both sides.

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The user interface of the camera is the app is simple without any complications and similar to other Samsung smartphones.

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It comes with varieties of options including — mode (Auto, Pro, Panorama, Continuous shot HDR (Rich tone), Night, Beauty face, sports and sound shots), effects negative, sepia, grayscale), timer, picture size, and settings.

This smartphone lets you launch the camera app by just pressing the home button twice and use the volume rockers as a camera shutter. To our surprise, the day light shots and macro shots are impressive with fine amount of details and sharpness. The 5MP front camera also proves to be good under perfect day light conditions.

But when it comes to low light, the noises are almost present in all areas with loss of details. When turned on the flash under low light, the detailing of subject is decent without light over powering it.

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Conclusion

On the whole, the Samsung Galaxy On8 is definitely an improvement over it predecessor On7 with few refinements that doesn’t go above and beyond. Even though it doesn’t have creative ingredients, it does fares in most of the part when it comes to the mid-range segment.

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The Galaxy On8 definitely benefits from the design, display, and front facing LED flash which is the most noticeable feature here. Lack of fingerprint sensor, notification LED, and other such options make us turn our head away from Galaxy On8. To sum it up, the Samsung Galaxy On8 is a pretty neat package at Rs. 15,990, until you take a look at other alternatives/rivals.

Pros

  • Good display
  • Front selfie flash
  • Dual SIM slots with 4G LTE support
  • Decent Battery backup

Cons

  • Lacks fingerprint sensor
  • Low loudspeaker output
  • No fast charging support
  • Average camera