Friends+Design
- Solid build quality
- A bit on the bulky side
Display
- The Samsung Galaxy A8 Star sports a tall, 6.28-inch FHD+ (1080×2220 pixels) Super AMOLED Infinity display- the display is bright, the text looks sharp and sunlight legibility looks good too (viewing angles could be better though)
- Additional options like a Blue light filter, and customisable font size and style, are good to have - you can also choose which apps you want to run in the 'full-screen' mode
Software
- Samsung Experience UI is one of the better Android UIs - it's not too heavy - and comes with useful software add-ons like 'Smart stay' (to keep the screen on while you are looking at it), Games Launcher, one-handed operation mode, Multi Window mode, 'Smart capture' (to capture the current screen and scrollable area), 'direct call' (to make a voice call by picking up and holding the device near your ear while viewing call, message, or contact details), 'Smart alert' (to set the device to alert you if you have missed calls or new messages when you pick up the device), 'Easy mute' (to mute incoming calls or alarms by using palm motions or facing the device’s screen downwards), 'Samsung Secure Folder' (that lets you save your personal data and information), and Bixby Assistant
Performance
- Good, solid, snappy performance powered by Octa Core Snapdragon 660 - it never misses a beat, whatever you throw at it - having said that, it's still a notch below the Snapdragon 845 powered OnePlus 6
Camera
- Decent dual rear camera setup - daylight shots are good and the camera captures a good amount of detail, creates really well-exposed photos with good dynamic range - the autofocus speeds are fast and accurate too - and macro shots are good as well - Dual-camera Live focus mode clearly blurs out the background - low light performance is ok too, though not exceptional
- The 24MP front camera is decent too, and can also do software bokeh effects
Audio
- Decent loudspeaker
- Good call quality
Battery
- Very good battery life - powered by a huge 3700mAh battery - in regular use, you can get approximately two days on a single charge
- Fast charging support: it can charge from 0 to 50% in just 44 minutes and 0 to 100% takes 1 hour and 44 minutes using the bundled adaptive fast charger
More
- In absolute terms, the Samsung Galaxy A8 Star is a good all-round device, but it may find it difficult to compete against the reigning champions of this price range - OnePlus 6, and Asus Zenfone 5Z - that offer even better performance (with the Snapdragon 845), and better software
