Samsung recently launched the Galaxy A8 Star in India, and the smartphone has today gone on sale on Amazon priced at Rs. 34,990. At that price, the phone competes against the OnePlus 6’s base variant that comes in at Rs. 34,999. So, we decided to pit the two phones against each other and see how they stack up.
Design and Build
Speaking of the design and build quality of both these phones, the Galaxy A8 Star opts to go for an edge-to-edge display without a notch, preserving the 18:9 aspect ratio on the front. The OnePlus 6, on the other hand features a notched display with a 19:9 aspect ratio.
Other than that, the OnePlus 6 comes with a metal and glass build that looks really good and while the glass is obviously prone to fingerprints, it feels extremely premium. That holds same for the A8 star which also comes in a metal and glass design. 
Both the phones feature a rear mounted fingerprint scanner, a USB-C port for charging and data transfer, and a headphone jack, so things look pretty good here on both fronts.
However, while neither of the phones come with any IP rating, the OnePlus 6 does come with ‘daily water resistance’ which means it’s perfectly safe to use in the rain. The Galaxy A8 Star on the other hand, doesn’t have any such guarantees.
Display
On the display front, the Galaxy A8 Star comes with a 6.3-inch SuperAMOLED display boasting a resolution of 1080×2220 pixels. The OnePlus 6 comes with a 6.28-inch OpticAMOLED display with a resolution of 1080×2280 pixels.
Since both of these are AMOLED panels with almost similar specs, it’s hard to choose a winner. After all, Samsung makes some of the best AMOLED displays out there, but the OnePlus 6’s display is no joke either.
Cameras
In terms of cameras, the Galaxy A8 Star comes with a dual 24MP f/1.7 + 16MP f/1.7 rear camera that the company says is optimised for taking great shots in both daylight and lowlight. The OnePlus 6 on the other hand comes with a 16MP f/1.7 + 20MP f/1.7 dual rear camera.
On the front, the Galaxy A8 Star comes with a 20MP f/2.0 shooter while the OnePlus 6 comes with a 16MP f/2.0 camera.
Both phones are capable of shooting 4K videos at 30FPS, but while the OnePlus 6 comes with OIS+EIS on the rear camera, the Galaxy A8 Star doesn’t have OIS on the rear cameras and there’s no mention of EIS either so it’s probably missing as well.
Also, the OnePlus 6 comes with support for Portrait Mode on both the front and the back, but the Galaxy A8 Star only comes with Portrait Mode on the back.
Performance
If there is one place where both the phones have a huge gaping difference, it’s the performance.
While both the Galaxy A8 Star and the base model of the OnePlus 6 come with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage, the Galaxy A8 Star comes with a Snapdragon 660 processor, whereas the OnePlus 6 comes with Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 845. This will definitely have a huge impact on the performance difference of the two phones; not to mention with Samsung’s Experience UI the A8 Star will be even more sluggish.
The Snapdragon 660 is by no means an underpowered processor, but it’s not anywhere close to the Snapdragon 845 in terms of performance.
Software
On the software front, the OnePlus 6 comes with OxygenOS running on Android 8.1 Oreo, whereas the Galaxy A8 Star comes with Samsung’s Experience UI running on Android 8.0 Oreo.
OxygenOS is a very close approximation of stock Android with some useful tricks up its sleeve including things like gesture navigation, face unlock, hidden apps, dual apps and more. Samsung’s Experience UI also brings a ton of features, however, it is infamous for being slow and sluggish even on the best of hardware.
Battery
The Galaxy A8 Star comes with a 3,700 mAh battery to keep things running, which is definitely better than the 3,300 mAh battery you’d find inside the OnePlus 6. However, the OnePlus 6 comes with support for Dash Charge which is on of the fastest charging technology out there (right alongside Huawei’s Super Charge technology).
The Galaxy A8 Star doesn’t mention fast charging, but I think there must be fast charging support on it. However, Samsung still uses Quick Charge 2.0 chargers even on the Note 9, so there’s no doubt the A8 Star won’t even come close to the charging speeds enjoyed by the OnePlus 6.
Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, the OnePlus 6 comes with a dual SIM tray that does not support external microSD cards. However, the Galaxy A8 Star comes with a 3-choose-2 hybrid SIM tray that can either hold two SIM cards, or a single SIM card along with a microSD card of up to 400GB capacity.
Both the OnePlus 6 and the Galaxy A8 Star support WiFi b/g/n/ac standards and 2.4GHz + 5GHz WiFi networks, along with Bluetooth 5.0. There’s also a headphone jack on both the phones so you won’t have to use dongles with your beloved wired headphones.
Galaxy A8 Star vs OnePlus 6: The Samsung Phone Falls Short
So while the Samsung Galaxy A8 Star comes with a pretty great build, all the connectivity you may need, and a great battery, it falls short in comparison to the OnePlus 6 in severral ways. It has a Snapdragon 660 as compared to the OnePlus 6’s Snapdragon 845, it doesn’t have OIS on its main camera, it’s fast charging (if it’s present) won’t come close to Dash Charge on the OnePlus 6, and it’s running Samsung’s Experience UI which in my experience (pardon the pun) is pretty bad.
If you’re looking for a phone in the Rs. 35,000 price range, the OnePlus 6 (starts at Rs. 34,999) is definitely the best one out there.
However, if you’re hell-bent on buying the Galaxy A8 Star, the phone is now available on Amazon for Rs. 34,990. Once again though, I’d advise against it.
Abubakar Mohammed
