Overall, the looks and the build quality are second to none. Beautiful. Both the S8 and the S8+ can win beauty contests hands down, and they’re crazy quick with stunning displays and a top-end camera setup.

Smaller and fine-spun. Samsung's successor of the successful Galaxy S7 immediately catches the eye with its new design language: narrower edges and more screen. The Galaxy S8 is also a slightly more balanced product than its sister model, and its price is even lower.

excellent screen, stylish design, fast SoC, very good GPS qualities, fast Wi-Fi, Gigabit LTE, decent call quality, solid sensor configuration, USB 3.1 with DP, HDMI, and OTG, good battery life, quick-charge and wireless charging, water and dust-resistant, very good camera,...

...though not much better than in the predecessor, no dual-SIM, fingerprint scanner hard to find via touch, SoC throttling during permanent load, warranty does not cover damage due to liquids

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is superb, then. It’s a massive leap forwards in design terms compared to the S7, and is head and shoulders above every other phone in this regard. You won’t want to stop looking at it. It works brilliantly too, thanks to Samsung’s new focus on user interface design. It’s powerful, easy to use and if you like your software as stock as possible, this is Samsung’s purest Touchwiz attempt yet. The misplaced fingerprint sensor is the only mark against it, and even then it’s mitigated by the addition of iris and face scanning. And then there’s its growing ecosystem of accessories such as the Gear 360, the new Gear VR with controller, and the DeX desktop dock. All of them help make it a powerhouse that will expand your experience beyond mobile. At £689 SIM-free, the S8 is by no means cheap compared to the £650 LG G6 and £599 Apple iPhone 7. But its premium style and flawless performance are such that it doesn’t feel overpriced. Of course the elephant in the room here is the Note 7, and I’m sure there are those of you who’ll be waiting until the S8 has been in people’s hands for a few months before committing. But come on, surely Samsung isn’t going to make the same mistake again - this phone will have been tested and tested and tested again, and it’ll be truly astounding if it suffers the same fiery fate as its unfortunate smartphone sibling. I certainly didn’t experience a single problem with it in my time testing it. What you’re left with here is a brilliant smartphone experience, wrapped in one of the sleekest designs ever. If you’re looking for a smartphone that nails every aspect of everything you could want in the palm of your hand, this is it. Get the Samsung S8 (64GB) SIM free here for £689 or on contract here

It’s the most beautiful smartphone ever; Ridiculous power, put to good use with DeX; The camera is amazing, as always;

Bixby’s full talents not available at launch; Not all apps are optimised for its 18.5:9 aspect ratio; That fingerprint sensor position is not great at all;

I’m guessing that almost every review of the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+ starts out with some mention of last year’s recall of the Note 7 due to battery issues that led to the spontaneous combustion of some phones. You would think that all that drama and bad press would have hurt Samsung’s reputation.

Setting a new bar

Where to start with a Samsung Galaxy S phone launch? These phones aim to be the very best on the market and in recent years, they’ve arguably succeeded. But Samsung has always had a habit of hyping them through the roof and sending them to market laden with gimmicky features that can range from I-can’t-believe-they-invented-it to utterly terrible. And yet last year’s Samsung Galaxy S7 ended up being our Phone of the Year (once the price had dropped) and is still a great buy.

Samsung shovels in the features (as usual) but at least the important ones are good... Very good. It's not cheap but it excels where it matters and that camera is outstanding. It's the best phone you can buy.

Very pretty; Very fast; Superb camera;

Bixby virtual assistant is a joke; Average battery life;

Samsung’s latest flagship phones, the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus, are two of the most unique looking phones currently on the market. We got our hands on both of these phones at Samsung’s Unpacked 2017 event at the end of March, and now we bring you our full video review of the phone a month...

We test out the camera, Bixby AI assistant, Android software and compare it to the iPhone 7 Plus in our full review of the S8

A super-fast, frustration-free phone for everyday use; Stunning design and build quality; Sharp edge-to-edge screen puts the focus on content

Extremely low-light camera performance in auto needs improving; Iris scanner is hopelessly fiddly; Bixby is incomplete and can't compete with Google Now and Assistant

There is no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S8 is one of the most widely anticipated phones that will shape the first half of 2017, and the USA and Chinese customers are getting the Snapdragon 835 version while Europe and the rest of the world is stuck with the Exynos 8895 version.

Offering innovative design, impressive performance and one of the most powerful cameras yet mounted on a smartphone, the S8 shows that Samsung is still at the top of their game. If cash is no object, this is one of the best phones that you can currently buy.

Exquisite design, amazing curved display, blazing fast performance, one of the best rear cameras ever made

Bixby not fully implemented as yet, not cheap, Bixby button not reconfigurable