Samsung Galaxy On8 unboxing and first impressions: an affordable phone trying to balance price and performance

“We take the newly-launched Samsung Galaxy On8 for a quick spin”

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Samsung has launched more smartphones than a person can count with one hand in the past couple of months and besides the Galaxy Note7 which failed miserably, all the other smartphones catered to audiences in the budget or affordable segment. Recently, the company launched the Samsung Galaxy On Nxt (first impressions) and its cheaper cousin, the Galaxy On8 and here’s our first impressions on the latter.  

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Inside the box, users will find the standard set of accessories which include the standard documentation, a pair of earphones and a wall charger.

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Talking about the design of the smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy On8 features a blend of plastic and metal unlike the unibody metal design found on its bigger brother, the On Nxt. The brushed plastic back of the smartphone does come off, giving users access to the removable battery, two nano-SIM card slots and a microSD card slot. The plastic back plate and the metallic sides work in unison to give the smartphone a great grip and in-hand feel. The display of the phone is a 5.5-inch full HD affair putting the pixel density at 401ppi. For port placement, users will find the volume rockers to the left and the power button on the right. The microUSB port and the headphone jack can be found at the bottom.

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Shedding light on the technical specifications of the smartphone, users will find an Exynos 7 octa-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz under the hood of the Samsung Galaxy On8 with 3GB of RAM provided for multitasking. The device is fuelled by a 3,300mAh battery and comes with 16GB of internal storage with room for expansion up to 128GB via a dedicated microSD card slot. For selfies, buyers will be looking at a 5MP front facing camera which also comes with an LED flash. The primary camera of the phone comes with a 13MP sensor.

The 1080p panel on the On8 is a huge upgrade over the 720p display of its predecessor, the Galaxy On7. The Super AMOLED display was bright enough when we used it indoors, but the colour tone of the screen was on the cooler side. We’ll be able to tell you more about its quality after we have spent some more time with the smartphone. At first glance, opening apps and switching between home screens felt smooth and we didn’t face any lags or stutters. The device rendered all the transition animations properly, however, we’ll be giving our final word on the performance of the smartphone in our full review so stay tuned for that.

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Users migrating from a Samsung device will find the software on this handset a familiar sight. The Samsung Galaxy On8 runs Android Marshmallow with a layer of TouchWiz UI on top. The camera UI of the smartphone is pretty standard too and comes with the usual shooting modes like Panorama, Beauty, HDR etc. For connectivity, users will find the standard options along with support for 4G VoLTE.

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The battery inside the smartphone is a 3,300mAh unit and should last an average user the entire day. There are some battery management modes present to prolong the battery life as well. Retailing for Rs 15,900, the phone will be competing against devices like the Moto G4 Plus (review) and OPPO F1s (review) which come with better specifications. For more info on the smartphone, make sure to check out our first impressions video linked below.