T-Mobile shipped their pre-orders of the new Samsung Galaxy S8 yesterday, so T-Mobile customers received their new phone 2 days before the official release and some have even had it for a few days now. My Galaxy S8 was shipped to my house yesterday and was waiting for me at my door after school. It was like having Christmas 8 months early. The Galaxy S8 is the first step towards the future when it comes to smartphones. It features a screen with almost no bezels. The front of the phone is a whopping 83% screen. It’s a flagship phone so it has the latest and greatest in terms of specs. I’m not going to bore you with numbers. Just know that it’s fast… really fast. The camera is in the top three smartphone cameras available right now. It comes in only 3 colors for launch: Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, and Silver. The entirety of the phone is glass, so it looks sleek and amazing but the downside is that it’s more susceptible to breaking if you drop it, even with the latest Gorilla Glass 5 surrounding the whole phone. I highly recommend a case for this phone, even if it means covering the amazing design of the phone. I ordered a skin for the phone instead of a case but it has yet to arrive. My last phone was the Samsung Galaxy S6 and that phone was great, but this new S8 is on a whole different level. My only gripe with the phone is the placement of the fingerprint scanner. Rumor has it that Samsung was and still is working on embedding the fingerprint scanner inside the display, but they were not able to perfect the technology in time for mass production so at the very last minute they switched it over the back of phone. Fingerprint scanners on the back of phones isn’t a big deal. In fact it feels quite natural on a phone like the Google Pixel or LG G6, but Samsung put it beside the camera. You can get used to the placement, but the huge issue here is that you’ll smudge your camera lens every time you try to unlock your phone with your fingerprint.

Thankfully, Samsung offered some great alternatives. First and foremost is the iris scanner that was introduced on the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7. Unlocking your phone with your eyes is pretty cool. It’s also very accurate and secure. Next is facial recognition, which while less secure than the iris scanner, is still very accurate. Then you have your typical unlock options of a PIN or password. Even though I’ve had only a small amount of time with the Galaxy S8, I’m confident when I say this is the best phone the world has ever seen. Samsung will release the Galaxy Note 8 around August, which is supposed to fix any “issues” the S8 has, such as the placement of the fingerprint scanner. Keep a look out for that phone as it will compete with the highly rumored iPhone 8 that will sport a brand new design in celebration of 10 years since the very first iPhone was released.