Samsung Galaxy S8: An opportunity for Nokia flagship

After months of accidental or deliberate leaks, skipping the MWC and taking all the Snapdragon 835 chipsets, Samsung has finally unveiled its flagship phone, the Galaxy S8. Even though we have seen the design pattern already with LG’s G6, Galaxy S8 did it even better. But, now is the time for every Nokia aficionado to scan this flagship and see where can HMD Global do better with its Nokia flagship. At first, Galaxy S8 is a beautifully designed phone, with clear lines, nicely done finish and strikingly big screen to body ratio. Not as radical as Xiaomi Mi Mix’s screen, but equally good or a little better than LG G6. Everything looks great, but there are some things that could’ve been better.

Let’s start with the battery, which was the biggest problem with their latest flagship model, the Note 7. The Note 7 was a perfect phone by any standards, but a design flaw made it one of the biggest flops in the mobile phone history. That was probably the main reason why Samsung used a battery with smaller capacity (3000 mAh) for its S8 which, by the way, has a 5.8-inch screen. With the Plus version, you get a 3500 mAh battery, but also a bigger screen (6.2 inch), which won’t(?) be enough to push this phone through the day without charging it once. HMD can beat S8 here buy simply installing a bigger battery, let’s say a 4000 mAh one, or even bigger one that can last for at least a day and a half without charging. Like Samsung, flagship Nokia model should also have wireless (fast?) charging just to quickly refresh the battery. It will be interesting to see if Samsung somehow optimized the S8, or better to say if the S8 is optimized enough to last for a day on a single charge with its battery capacity, that’s the same as on the Nokia 6 or 5, by the way.

And we come to the second area where Samsung obviously thought that it is superior and doesn’t need to change anything. For years, Samsung was catching up Nokia Lumia phones in regard of camera quality, and in the past two years they came side by side with the PureView technology that got many Nokia models famous. Samsung did an excellent job with its last model’s (S7, S7 Edge, and Note 7, in fact) 12 MP main camera, so it left the same sensor in the new phone. I need to mention that lots of things were improved in the S8’s camera by software, but this gives Nokia’s flagship another chance to beat Samsung. All that top model with Nokia logo needs right now is a supreme camera with a touch of ZEISS lenses and Nokia Technologies algorithms for processing the photos, videos and sound.

And if the rumors of a Nokia dual-camera with ZEISS optics device are true, HMD could be on a good path to take away some photocentric customers from Samsung.

Nokia phones were always known for their unique and smart industrial design. Phones are beautiful and various elements nicely placed around the phone’s body. I am sure that HMD can find a better place for fingerprint scanner than next to the camera where Samsung placed it on its S8. This could be irrelevant to the whole idea of the article, but if you owned the Nokia Lumia 920, you probably remember the need of wiping the greasy smudges of the camera glass, since those tangled with the quality of the photos. The same thing is probably going to happen to the SGS8 since the fingerprint scanner is placed too close to the camera.

And finally, the last thing where Nokia flagship can be better thenthe SGS8 is the software. Samsung evidently filled up Android 7.0 with its own software that can slow the phone down in time. It is strange that the S8 didn’t come with the latest version of the Android which is treating the battery better than 7.0. Even Nokia 6 has the latest Android version and can brag with its pureness which guaranties smoothness of the software. We know that Nokia phones will get monthly security patches and latest Android versions which makes the flagship with the Nokia logo even more desirable that let’s say Samsung Galaxy S8?

Samsung today also introduced their second generation VR camera, the Gear 360. If Nokia every does an OZO Mini, the Gear 360 and other similar VR cameras from Huawei and LG would be the main competitors. Their VR camera’s are priced for the mass market, with Samsung’s being able to record video in 4K resolution, while Nokia OZO is a professional VR camera with a price tag of €40,000.

But, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is soon going to be available for the general population and Nokia flagship is still in the domain of rumours, untrusty leaks and concept videos. If we would see it in the next month or so, maybe there would be a lot of people willing to skip SGS8, LG G6 or Xiaomi Mi Mix and go for Nokia ultimate phone!

Overall, Samsung introduced a great device that will sell in tens of millions, but it’s not perfect. Samsung left room, especially in the camera segments (at least on the paper), for others, and we hope that HMD will take that opportunity and introduce a great flagship.

What do you think about the S8? Tell us in the comment section down below. 🙂

 

Photo from GSMArena