Samsung Galaxy A08 4G Is Finally Here, and It’s Mostly Familiar
After covering the leaks of the Samsung Galaxy A08 for a while now, Samsung has silently unveiled the device with minimal physical changes and meaningful endurance and longevity improvements, including a bigger battery, better ingress protection, and longer software support, and that’s it for the main upgrades. Should you upgrade or get the A07 instead? Let’s find out.
The Core Changes at a Glance
The display of the A08 is exactly the same as that on the A07; we get the same 6.7 inches, 90Hz IPS LCD panel with 720p resolution; also, the performance is still the same. Samsung still uses the MediaTek Helio G99 (6nm); it seems Samsung has a lot of stock of this chip because it is the same chip that was in the Galaxy A16, A17, A07, and now the A08.
The camera is also exactly the same, with a 50MP main and an 8MP ultrawide, and records 1080p videos.
The A08, however, comes with Android 17 out of the box, with One UI 9 skinned on top of it, and Samsung promises six years of software support, so one more year than the A07, which, in my opinion, is not a major breaking factor.
However, I noticed that the storage has been trimmed down this time around, and especially the RAM, compared to last year on the A07, where we had RAM configs up to 8GB. This time around, the RAM on the A08 is only up to 4GB, which is out of this world, but we can blame this on the RAM apocalypse that is hitting every device manufacturer right now.
What worries me the most is whether the hardware will be able to keep up with six years of software updates, especially the RAM, but I think that, along the way, Samsung might decide to drop a few features in future Android generations and the One UI skins just to keep the phone running smoothly.
Daily Practicality: What the 6,000 mAh Battery and IP64 Rating Mean
Perhaps the biggest upgrade on the A08 is its huge 6,000 mAh battery, up from the 5,000 mAh on the A07. This huge battery will be particularly helpful for Kenyans who use smartphones for the whole day, especially boda boda riders, cab-hailing drivers, and field workers, and it should last them the whole day, depending on usage, given the lower-resolution display and the efficient chipset.
The bigger battery bumps up the weight from 184g on the A07 to now 197g on the A08, and the thickness also slightly increased from 7.6mm thick to 8 mm thick.
The battery is paired with a 25W fast charger, with no charger inside the box; however, given that this time we have a bigger battery, the phone should take slightly longer to fully juice it up. I noticed something very strange: the A08 doesn’t come with a cable inside the box.
I was watching an unboxing video of the A08 by a YouTuber called izzieboye, and while unboxing, he was surprised that there was no cable inside the box. I hope this was a review unit and that the actual phones will have a cable inside the box. Have a look:
The A08 has an IP 64 rating, up from an IP54 rating against dust tightness and water splashes, which again will come in handy in Kenya because the rainy season is already upon us.
Software Longevity: One UI 9 and Extended Updates
As usual, we get six major OS upgrades, which no other manufacturer offers for their budget, which is good for those who keep their phones around for a long time. However, there isn’t a huge difference from the A07, which has 5 years left, which is quite a lot.
Pricing Context: What Should You Pay in Kenya?
The phone hasn’t been launched in Kenya as of publishing this article, but we expect the Samsung Galaxy A08 to start at around KES 15,000 - KES 19,000, depending on the storage configuration
The A07 is currently selling at KES 16,500 for the 4GB RAM, 64GB; 4GB RAM 128GB goes for KES 20,000, and the 6GB RAM 128GB goes for KES 21,500
The Final Verdict: Upgrade, Buy New, or Wait?
If you have the A07 in Kenya, I don’t see the need to upgrade to the A08 because the differences are just very minimal, apart from the bigger battery, which, if you use your phone a lot, you should definitely pick the A08.
If you are coming from the Galaxy A04, A05, or worn-out budget phones, then you can consider the A08 for its modern durability and longer software support.
On the other hand, if you are strict on budget, check out the Galaxy A07, especially the 6GB and 8GB RAM versions, because the A08 might miss out on both of these RAM configurations.
