Samsung Galaxy S8+

Annie1960

I'm considering buying one of these. They are on sale for around £400 on Amazon (and are described as 'New').


They are on special offer on the Samsung website for £539 (with £100 trade-in discount for my old phone).


Are the ones on Amazon likely to be genuine? How can they sell them cheaper than Samsung in their Black Friday event?


My second question concerns the two options for the S8+. One option is to get a dual SIM version. The other option is to get a single SIM with an SD card slot. Which one would be more useful? What are the pros and cons of 2 SIMs versus one SIM and one SD card?

Inner_Zone

Annie1960 wrote: »

I'm considering buying one of these. They are on sale for around £400 on Amazon (and are described as 'New').


They are on special offer on the Samsung website for £539 (with £100 trade-in discount for my old phone).


Are the ones on Amazon likely to be genuine? How can they sell them cheaper than Samsung in their Black Friday event?


My second question concerns the two options for the S8+. One option is to get a dual SIM version. The other option is to get a single SIM with an SD card slot. Which one would be more useful? What are the pros and cons of 2 SIMs versus one SIM and one SD card?

As this is MSE, do you need a £400 phone?


For less than £200 you can get a dual SIM and SD card enabled phone, or even less if just one SIM and SD.


Do you actually need dual SIM?


Some things to think about before committing.

Annie1960

Good points, Inner Zone.


I have had my current phone for over 5 years (Galaxy S4). They are a sturdy build, and as I drop it frequently, I like to have one built like a tank that will put up with my clumsiness! It will be less than £100 per year (as I have a separate good-value SIM contract - cheaper than getting them bundled together).



That's why I'm considering another Galaxy S phone. I'm not going for the S9 as it's a lot more expensive and I don't need all the photographic tricks on there.



I'm just looking for opinions and pros and cons, so will add your point into the mix.

Inner_Zone

Consider an Otterbox case, yes they can be bulky but offer excellent protection.

pramsay13

If they are from Amazon themselves they are likely to be genuine.
If they are from an Amazon marketplace seller you should be a bit more wary and check reviews etc. although I'd still be fairly confident.
If Samsung wanted to they could sell the phone a lot cheaper but they won't. Amazon can buy in bulk and might even be selling at cost price or close to it for Black Friday as they get another customer who might buy a load of other things and it keeps people thinking about using Amazon any time they need to make a purchase.

JJ_Egan

Older models can get clearout discounts .
Manufacturer sites are rarely the cheaper option .


Builtlike a tank you would be better with a disposable £30 model .
Smartphones are not known to be that robust /

Neil49

It's a Swedish based company operating through Marketplace. Customer service is based in Sweden but it's unclear where you would send the phone back to should the need arise.

Only 36 ratings over 12 months which is a bit of a concern.

With Black Friday on a roll I would wait to see what else turns up.

JJ_Egan

Sweden is not UK firmware so possible warranty problems though may be covered under Samsungs EU warranty .
As above consumer regulations and return/ repair .

RumRat

A great phone, I've had one since launch and have now replaced it with a Note 9.
You will need to get a good case for it if you suffer from dropsy, but, that's the advice for most phones.
Whether or not it's good value for you personally is not something I can answer. I would say have a look at the A8 before committing your pennies...
Not sure about the Amazon deal....Read the sellers reviews carefully, buy with a credit card if possible.....

DoaM

To address the questions asked ...

Dual SIM allows you to basically have 2 phone numbers in the 1 phone. If you only have 1 phone number then it's rarely worthwhile. (It's often more useful for people who want to combine their work and personal mobiles into a single phone).

Depending on what built-in storage the particular S8+ model you're looking at has, a single SIM version with SD card slot is probably more useful - it means you can expand the "memory" to give you lots of storage space for apps, photos, videos, music etc.

Annie1960

RumRat wrote: »

A great phone, I've had one since launch and have now replaced it with a Note 9.
You will need to get a good case for it if you suffer from dropsy, but, that's the advice for most phones.
Whether or not it's good value for you personally is not something I can answer. I would say have a look at the A8 before committing your pennies...
Not sure about the Amazon deal....Read the sellers reviews carefully, buy with a credit card if possible.....

Great reminder to use credit card.

What case would you recommend?