Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
Samsung and Google made headlines last year when they announced that their flagship Android phones would both get seven years of updates. That would be a monumental achievement if they can pull it off, but will your phone even last that long?
To test this theory, I decided to go back to my seven-year-old Samsung Galaxy S8 and use it for a week. I wanted to see whether it still held up after all that time and what it felt like to use a phone that old. Here’s what I discovered and how that went.
Do you plan to keep your current phone for very long?
33 votes
Is this seven-year-old phone still ready to go in 2025?
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
One stumbling block to keeping a phone for seven years is durability. There’s a good chance your phone’s screen will be smashed or cracked long before then, and repair costs have traditionally been extremely expensive. This often results in people foregoing repairs in favor of getting a new phone (something expensive on a contract or a cheaper prepaid device). Suppose you’ve kept the Galaxy S8 as long as I have, though, and wanted to go through official channels to repair it and keep it running. You wouldn’t be able to because Samsung’s screen repair page doesn’t list any repair fees for the Galaxy S20 series or older. I’ve asked the company about this. Five years of repair support are fine now, but they would clearly become a bigger problem once phones with promises of seven years of update reach that threshold.
I had used my Galaxy S8 for about 18 months to 20 months before switching, although I had since loaned it out to friends here and there. But the good news is that my phone is still in decent condition despite taking a few case-clad tumbles. Some paint has chipped off the forehead, likely due to the case I was using at the time, and I also noticed a prominent scratch on the fingerprint-laden back. These are small cosmetic blemishes otherwise.
I initially used the Galaxy S8 for at least 18 months, and the hardware has understandably held up pretty well.
I don’t intend to immerse the phone in water any time soon, as the rubber seals and coatings associated with water resistance usually degrade over time. You can check whether your phone’s seals are still intact via the Water Resistance Tester app, which uses your phone’s barometer as well as your thumbs to check whether the seals are still intact. The app notes that my phone is still water-resistant, but it’s not something I want to put to the test with such an old device.
I also should note that I really like the form factor here. It’s not much smaller than the Pixel 9 Pro, but the compact size, thin design, and curved edges still feel really ergonomic compared to modern devices. Perhaps the biggest problem is the rear fingerprint scanner, which is in an awkward position. But hey, it supports fingerprint gestures (e.g. swipe down to activate the notification shade). I really, really miss those.
Another hardware feature I really like on my Galaxy S8 is the notification LED. I miss this light, too, and how it offered different colors for notifications from different apps — no setup needed.
Performance: Can a seven-year-old phone keep up?
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
Once I turned on the Galaxy S8 and started using it, I quickly realized that modern phones and Android skins have come a long way. The phone is extremely laggy for a while after booting up, even compared to modern mid-range phones. There’s a noticeable judder when hitting the recent apps button and a multiple-second delay when tapping the power button to turn on the screen. These issues mostly clear themselves up after 15 minutes or so, resulting in a phone that’s generally smooth. In saying so, I still spotted some lag every now and then, such as an extremely long wait when searching the settings menu and a noticeable pause when tapping the Google search bar. The phone even locked up after I uninstalled an app from the home screen.
The Galaxy S8 is currently stuck on Android 9 Pie, which is way behind the current Android 15 release. While using it, I realized that I’ve become dependent on a few new features, like notification permission and notification history. However, my biggest concern is that, sooner or later, many apps will stop working. In fact, I’m unable to use Slack as the company now insists on Android 11 as the minimum version. WhatsApp still works here, though, as well as the few Good Lock apps I tried. My banking app requires Android 8 Oreo, so it still works but I do wonder how long it’ll be before they all require a more recent version.
I experienced some lag and a few lock-ups while using the Galaxy S8, as expected.
There is a silver lining to this older version of Android, though, and that’s the fact that 32-bit apps still work here. That means my dozens of games acquired via Humble Bundles still work without a hitch. You can also still use more powerful versions of apps like the Cerberus anti-theft app, which was stymied by Google’s permission clampdown in the late 2010s. Of course, this experience will be very different for newer phones that are supposed to get Android updates through the seven years; apps should keep being supported and most newer features should be available to them.
Back in 2017, I used to struggle to get through a day of somewhat heavy usage on the Galaxy S8 without resorting to the battery-saver mode, and I only expected this to be an even bigger issue due to battery degradation. In fact, I watched the phone’s battery tick down by 20-25% while updating and installing apps over a two-hour period. A full day of typical usage is off the cards here, so you’ll either need to baby the phone or switch to battery-saver mode if you keep a phone this long. I’m sure a battery replacement would help, but this isn’t a removable battery. I’ve asked Samsung whether it still offers battery replacements for old Galaxy phones (e.g. Galaxy S7 and S8) and will update the article accordingly.
At least the phone has a USB-C port. That sounds like a no-brainer but this was actually the first Galaxy S phone with USB-C, despite the standard debuting on phones in 2015. Unfortunately, the phone takes over 90 minutes to charge via my 65W charger. Yep, the Galaxy S8 was released in an era when 15W charging was considered decent.
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
It’s not all bad, though. I liked the iris scanner at the time despite its slow scanning speed in ideal conditions and reduced effectiveness in direct sunlight. That scanner is still somewhat nifty today, especially if you’ve got wet hands. And unlike 2D face unlock, it’ll work in a dark room. I also really like the virtual home button, which followed in Apple and Meizu’s footsteps, giving you some great haptic feedback when you long-pressed the bottom of the display.
The Galaxy S8 also generally copes well with the vast majority of games. I was able to run the likes of PUBG Mobile and GRID Autosport smoothly enough. Just don’t expect the most demanding titles to run very well. Meanwhile, some emulators might be a little too advanced for the Exynos 8895 or Snapdragon 835 chip. So you shouldn’t have high hopes for demanding GameCube and PS2 titles if you’re a retro gaming enthusiast.
The initially mediocre battery life is just bad in 2025. The camera is fine in daylight, but misses on so many exciting new features.
The Galaxy S8’s 12MP rear camera can still do the job during the day, in large part due to this being the first Samsung phone with multi-frame image processing. Expect similar colors to modern Galaxy phones and a solid level of detail. I did notice increased glare, though, and you don’t have the benefit of a telephoto or ultrawide camera for increased flexibility. But I was nevertheless surprised to see how well the phone held up. The camera really shows its age in low light, with night shots being noticeably darker, blurrier, and noisier than modern camera phones. That’s in large part due to the missing night mode here. And you won’t realize how much you really need it until you use a phone without it. In addition to the missing night mode, the Galaxy S8 also skips recent additions like Single Take and Portrait Mode.
Best of all, the Galaxy S8 retains two features that have disappeared from the vast majority of flagship Android phones. Yep, we’re talking about the headphone jack and microSD card. The latter is particularly important as the device only shipped with 64GB of internal storage. Don’t expect eSIM, unfortunately, but at least there’s a nano-SIM slot here instead of the older micro-SIM standard.
Was it still usable? And will your new phone go the distance?
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
I had low expectations when returning to the Galaxy S8 after all this time. And after spending a week with the phone, I’m just glad to go back to a modern Android device. The somewhat janky system performance, aging Android version, and poor battery life are all hallmarks of old Android phones, but I’m still disappointed to see these issues pop up. Glacial wired charging and that poorly located fingerprint scanner are two cherries on this old cake.
There are still some areas that left me impressed, though. Performance is still good enough for most games, that camera still holds up okay during the day, and I really appreciate the extra hardware features that have disappeared from modern phones (microSD card, headphone jack, iris scanner).
The Galaxy S8 hasn’t aged well after all this time, but recent phones are addressing some of my long-term concerns.
On paper, Samsung and Google’s current phones should age even better than the Galaxy S8. The promise of seven years of updates means you should have the latest version of Android come 2032, for one. It also doesn’t hurt that initiatives like Project Mainline mean parts of the OS can be updated without requiring a full version upgrade. We’ve also seen Google offer battery health improvements, with the Pixel 8a and newer now hitting 80% effective capacity after 1,000 charging cycles (up from 800 cycles).
In saying so, there are still a few areas of concern when it comes to using modern phones for seven years or longer. Perhaps the biggest challenge will be whether you can get your phone repaired or at least acquire official spare parts for DIY repairs. Samsung’s screen repair website doesn’t fill me with hope, although Google told us it offers spare parts for seven years. I’m also very concerned about degraded battery life on a device like the Galaxy S25, which has a small battery to begin with.
Nevertheless, a week of using the Galaxy S8 was less of a pain than I expected, even if I had low expectations anyway. Today’s phones should do even better with their aforementioned improvements, but the biggest enemy of long-term use is the lack of user-replaceable batteries. So I can’t wait for the next wave of phones that offer this feature as part of the EU’s new law. In other words, maybe wait for the Galaxy S26 and Pixel 11 if you really want a phone that’ll go the distance.
