My wife and I finally gave in waiting for Moto to make a viable non-defective replacement for our Moto Droid Turbo's. Small hands that she has, she felt OK holding even the S8+; it really didn't feel wider at all then the MDT. BUT - I wouldn't let her have it without a screen protector and protective case. She got a clear case that shows off the blue back of her phone - protecting it and giving a much better grip. I got the Verizon shell and belt clip - different from other such because the phone comes out sideways, not vertically. One really nice surprise - the Verizon QI base that WON'T charge a Droid Turbo 2 in a shell does just fine on the S8. And compared to my worn out DT, the S8+ is very easy on battery. Commuting by train, about 90 minutes with music going, took my DT down at least 30%. The S8 anywhere from 3 - 10%. Huge relief - if I forget to charge at work, I'll still have enough juice to MP3 all the way home! And so far Samsung has given us 2 substantial firmware updates, including the July security fix.
I do have issues and problems. My big fingers are having a lot of trouble using the Samsung keyboards. I cannot stay connected to my cable company wifi; that was no problem on the DT and DT2. And oddly, Samsung thinks that people playing music over BlueTooth want their alarm clock to sound on the speaker - despite numerous surprised customers telling them otherwise. I had to find an app to 'fix' the problem so that if BT is working, the alarm clock goes to it also. Now I use a tool, a cache cleaner, works great on the DT; on the DT2 it not only needs a special perm, it blows away the SETTINGS tool. You can fix it temporarily by booting to safe mode, then restarting normally, but if you run the cleaner again, it will soon blow away SETTINGS again. What a fun filled bug; I'm lucky I found the temp fix posted.
I have not yet tried the camera. And I've set the fingerprint but not used it. I do have a problem with face unlock; it takes a fair amount of light to work. Not horrible, just annoying.
Another presumably Samsung oddity; same exact version of GMAIL on old and new phones. On old, the app shortcut shows the current unread count. On the S8+, nothing. It could, of course, be the newer android version; I don't know, but I really doubt it. And to me it is very annoying.
As to Bixby, I hate how easy it is to open it up by accident. If and when I feel like talking to IT, I will, but for now I want it to leave me alone.
I'm super pleased to have a headphone jack - even though I normally use BT. My BT unit is the old Sony Erickson MW600, hard to get and quirky, with FM and OLED screen built in. Meets my needs. But I also can need plug in - and it works fine. Thanks Samsung for that!
I will get used to USB C. I'm spending a pile on new cables and car chargers. And the other 2 out of 4 phones in the house use micro usb, so for now, this is a royal pain. As to quick charge, I seem to use so little battery that the qc2 charger I bought days before giving in and buying the s8+'s charges it quickly enough. And it does fine on QI wireless charging, even the older generation.
Overall, a huge phone, but no wasted frontal area. It is very responsive and MOSTLY easy to use except what seems to me Samsung induced annoyances. So far, so mostly good!
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