Remember the Samsung Note7 debacle? There were battery fires, a massive recall, and an airplane ban. Eventually Samsung pulled the smartphone from the market, but now it’s trying to get back in the game with the launch of the Galaxy S8. The new smartphone just hit store shelves, and Consumer Reports reveals how it stacks up against the competition.
Consumer Reports is testing eight of Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones. It’s the company’s first significant phone launch since the massive recall of the Note7 last summer.
Samsung’s Galaxy line has always done well in Consumer Reports’ tests so they are interested to see if the S8 can knock its predecessor, the S7, out of the top spot in the ratings.
Consumer Reports checked out complaints about reddish displays on the S8s and found the issue on 4 out of the 8 phones they purchased and tested. In a statement to CR, Samsung did not directly address the red tint issue, but says it will release an update as early as next week which will provide users the ability to further adjust the color settings on the S8s.
In the meantime, if your display looks red and you would like to adjust it, go to settings, display, screen mode, color balance and change the red level.
Consumer Reports put the smartphone’s camera through its rigorous testing and found the S8s did well. The camera is one of the best Consumer Reports has ever tested. Samsung toned down the oversharpening so pictures now look more realistic and natural.
The S8s passed Consumer Reports’ dunk test, validating Samsung’s claim that the phones could withstand 5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. And in CR’s labs, they found with the damage-resistant Gorilla Glass 5, the S8s are more scratch-resistant than the S7s.
Consumer Reports will complete its testing of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ and update its smartphone ratings in the next few weeks.
