Hi All: Flew into Chicago to attend the MAMA Spring Rally where some saw me post about the Civic Hatch's last drive, the Ioniq's first drive, and the Ioniq's drive back. My LG G4's AT&T service was discontinued and the S5 was not going to handle what I do with these phones. I picked up an S8 for my mom and an S8+ on the T-Mobile network for me through a BOGO free deal on Samsung's website. $475 ea. after tax. I wasted a day to get that back as I wanted. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Base Specs Height/Width/Thickness: 6.28 x 2.89 x 0.32 in -- Weight: 6.10 oz Corning Gorilla Glass 5 IP68 certified - dust/water proof over 5 ft and 30 minutes submerged Display: Super AMOLED cap touchscreen, 16M colors Resolution: 1440 x 2960 pixels (~529 ppi pixel density) OS: Android 7.0 (Nougat) Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 CPU: Octa-core 4x2.35 GHz Kryo GPU: Adreno 540 Memory: microSD up to 256 GB Internal Memory: 64 GB storage, 4 GB RAM operating Camera: Primary Rear - 12 MP, f/1.7, 26mm, phase detection autofocus, OIS, LED flash Camera Features: 1/2.5" sensor size, 1.4 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 9MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, Auto HDR, panorama Video: 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, HDR, dual-video rec. Secondary Front: 8 MP, f/1.7, autofocus, 1440p@30fps, dual video call, Auto HDR Sound: Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker: Yes 3.5mm jack - 32-bit/384kHz audio w/ active noise cancellation with dedicated mic Comms: WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX GPS: A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO NFC USB: 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector Sensors: Iris scanner, fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2 Messaging: SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM Battery: Non-removable 3500 mAh battery Li-Ion It is fast, the display and screen res are excellent, the battery life is easily more than double my LGs and older S5, and the camera is pretty good in all but the lowest light. I am still exploring the camera capability. I wish it were a little wider. The height and aspect are goofy with the 5.2 to 5.4" phone like width and tall 6.2" height display, The night I got back from the MAMA Spring Rally, my year and a half old Toshiba laptop failed to boot??? And I have everything on it as I am in IL at my parents home!!! A few quick searches and I found an HP 17-X116DX for just $399 and open box for $351 at BestBuy through the Memorial Day weekend. I picked up the open box for $370 incl tax which I am typing up my first post on now. Its basic specs look like this: LED backlit 1600 x 900 17.3" display 7th Gen Intel i5-7200U CPU 8GB DDR4 1TB 5400 RPM HD Intel Onboard HD Graphics 620 Wi-Fi: B, G, and N. Built-in stereo speakers Dimensions: 16.5x11.0x0.98 in and a somewhat heavy 5.84 lbs. 1 USB 3.1 port and (2) USB 2.0 ports HDMI output Built-in SD and MMC memory card inputs Built-in HD webcam with mic Non-backlit keyboard with 10-key numeric keypad DVD/CD burner incl. DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW and CD-R/RW. No BluRay however. Mic-in/headphone-out combo jack I ordered a 2.5" Laptop SATA to USB 3.0 drive converter and enclosure ($9.95 from Amazon) in order to pull off my programs, pics, and data from the Toshiba's 750 GB drive and it is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Monday, Memorial Day through Amazon Prime? We will see about that. I wish the keyboard was back lit but it is much faster reacting than my older 5th gen i3 w/ 6 GBs of RAM. In any case, once I get the Toshiba's HD data on the HP, I can get back to work. Tonight after midnight, just a few minutes from now, I am going out to collect data from the Ioniq for the steady states. Without MS Office and graphics programs until at least tomorrow, the graph(s) may have to wait a bit. Wayne
I thought of April Fool's Day as I read the cell phone specs, but it is real! Pretty amazing and great price since you needed the service anyway. Congrats and enjoy.
Hi Bill: Even crazier is that Amazon delivered the 2.5" drive to USB 3.0 box through the USPS today. I had no idea the USPS could deliver anything on the Memorial Day Holiday? The last 3 hours have seen 75 percent of a 690 GBs being transferred to the new laptop. I might be back in business by tonight. Wayne
I love the two-day fulfilment often via USPS and even Sundays, and apparently on holidays. I just hope the USPS employees are okay with it.
Congrats or condolences on the new tech. On the camera,depending on what you are shooting, the panorama feature can make it as wide as you want. Also, I think you can set the ratio to 4:3, 16:9, 1:1 if it is like my S7.
Hi Dave: While I am watching 10 years and 100s of thousands of e-mails being downloaded and synched in Outlook 2016, I will play around a bit more inside the S8+. I was so used to the manual controls of the LG G4 and it appears most are in the S8/S8+ as well. Just different locations. Oh how I wish Samsung used an LG like interface for other things. It is turning many 1 tap ops into two and three tap ops. I just have to get used it it more than likely because it is not an S5 either. Wayne
Hi All: A few shots from the S8+ yesterday. 2017 Hyundai Ioniq Short visit to a Best Buy in Milwaukee, WI as my local Best Buys were ll sold out. $371 later... Wayne
HI All: Still trying to get my laptop back to exactly the way it was before - Win10 conflicts w/ older programs - but at least Samsung supplied the BOGO rebate this morning. All in, $850 for the S8+, $750 for the S8, $100 tax, and $750 back for a grand total of $950 for two halo phones. A bit over my planned Comms budget for 2017 but hopefully worth it. Wayne
