Samsung Galaxy S8 unboxing and first look
The Samsung Galaxy S8 has dropped by to say hello and - first things first - it's time for an unboxing.
The Galaxy S8 ships in a stylish all-black box with nothing, but the letters 'S8' in luscious, glossy blue at the front. Open the box and inside we find one of the most comprehensive and richest sets of mobile gear available. No wonder, this is one truly premium flagship (with a truly premium price).
The first thing that you see when you open the box of the Galaxy S8 is the phone itself. We have the Midnight Black version and it looks stunning, with a thin, elegant profile and a much taller and narrower body and display. It's surprising how its 5.8-inch display in this taller body results in a phone that is not as wide as traditional phablets, and is still easy to hold in one hand and to use.
We take the foil off and start up the phone, but while we wait, let's take a look at what is inside the box...
- Pair of AKG ear-buds with 2 additional silicon pads (L and M size)
- Samsung 'Adaptive Fast Charging' wall charger (9V at 1.67A, or 5V at 2A)
- USB-C to USB-A cable
- microUSB to USB-C adapter
- USB-A to USB-C adapter
- SIM ejector tool
- User manuals
A cool new detail with the Galaxy S8 is that everything inside the box is black: you have a black wall charger, black cables, even black adapters (it's a glossy black, not matte, in case you are wondering). This is a change from earlier Samsung devices where all these accessories were white.
Of course, the coolest new accessory in the Galaxy S8 box is the pair of AKG ear buds, a much higher quality set of headphones than the ones that usually come with phones. You get two additional rubber silicone pads with a large and a smaller size to better fit your ear. The buds have a weird, alien-like form and fit comfortably in the ear, and you also have a controller on the chord with a mic. We will take a separate look at these headphones in a separate post, but we're definitely happy to find them in the box.
Samsung also include a handy USB-C to traditional USB-A adapter that is useful if you want to transfer data from a flash drive to your phone, and you get a microUSB to USB-C adapter that ensures that you can use an older microUSB cable or an older power bank with a microUSB cable.
The 'Adaptive Fast Charging' wall brick is conveniently small and powerful. It starts by delivering 15 watts of power to your phone (9V at 1.67A), and towards the end of the charge switches to a 10-watt output (5V at 2A). Using this charger you will be able to top up your battery quicker than with a regular charger.
The rest is manuals and other technical literature that you probably won't even open, but for what it is the Galaxy S8 is a very comprehensive package and comes with all the necessary accessories that we can think of. Great job, Samsung.
Things that are NOT allowed: