Samsung's Galaxy A series has been quite successful in finding the balance between an affordable budget and quality phones. However, with a move that has left everyone surprised, Samsung has made the Galaxy A8 2018 and A8+ 2018 this year's successors to the Galaxy A5 2017 and A7 2017 respectively. Priced at roughly Rs. 45,000, the Galaxy A8 2018 is a great buy.

Beautifully Crafted and Durable

The Galaxy A8 2018 is a solid phone. Utilizing the tried, tested and highly successful design pattern of front and back glass panels with aluminum frames, the Galaxy A8 2018 won't do you wrong in giving you the premium feel. Weighing in at a rather hefty 172g, the phone feels a bit heavier than we'd like, but not something we can't get used to. Even though the A8 2018 is a bit bulky in weight, we're glad to see that IP68 dust and water protection is present; a feature that was only present on the 2 years prior A series.

Looks wise, the Galaxy A8 2018 resembles the Galaxy S8, similar to all A series phones each year. The front of the phone has an 18.5:9 display just like the S8 except the bezels are a bit thicker. The top bezel is home to the front facing cameras and sensors + LED notification light. The back of the phone is where the main camera resides and the fingerprint scanner. Thankfully, the placement is unlike the S8, which was just terrible. Now it's situated right below the camera towards the middle, the universal sweet spot.

Infinity Display makes its way to A series

The critically acclaimed Infinity Display that set the new standard for mobile phone screens now blesses the A8 2018. With a diagonal length of 5.6-inches and a resolution of 2220*1080, the Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy A8 2018 does nothing but impress. With a pixel density of 441ppi, there's nothing you can miss on this beautiful display. Although the screen is an 18.5:9 one, it has thicker bezels compared to the S8 Infinity Display that it's inspired from. Just like recent Samsung phones, the Galaxy A8 2018 has a curved display that just bleeds off the edge a bit giving a very premium look to the phone.

Dual Cameras on board......but not on the back??

Samsung made sure not to miss out on the dual camera train that all smartphone manufacturers are riding. However, it seems they've gotten on backwards. Instead of gracing the main camera with a dual setup, they've given that upgrade to the selfie camera. Not to sound like we're complaining, but it's definitely unorthodox.

The front setup sports a 16MP camera coupled with an 8MP sensor with an aperture of f/1.9 and 1080p video recording. The main camera is a 16MP one with an aperture of f/1.7 for wide angle shots and it even has phase detection autofocus. No 4k video recording however, as some were expecting.

Midrange Hardware, nothing special

Getting right to the chase, the Galaxy A8 2018 comes with 4GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage with the option to upgrade to 256GB via a dedicated microSD card slot. The processor is an Exynos 7885 which is an octa core chipset. The battery in the A8 2018 is a 3000mAh cell, nothing that impressive but it should get you through a day of usage. Unfortunately, the A8 2018 ships with Android Nougat with an upgrade to Oreo coming later in the year.

Galaxy A8 2018 pros:

• It has a beautiful display
• Lots of RAM and storage
• Dual Seflie cameras
• IP68 certification

Galaxy A8 2018 cons:

• Relatively small battery compared to competition
• No rear dual cameras
• Launches with Android Nougat