By all measures, minus price, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is the best Android smartphone you can get in 2017. Sure there are plenty of other great phones, but none can beat the Galaxy S8 in any category, especially in the premium one. Its glass and metal design make it the best looking smartphone. It also makes it a fragile phone if it is dropped. Sadly I shattered my S8+ a couple of weeks ago on the first and only drop. Luckily I already had another S8 on the way since I wanted the smaller and more holdable device than its larger sibling. I picked up the S8 in Coral Blue and this time paired it with the most premium case I could get my hands on: the Alcantara Cover by Samsung.
Design and build
The Galaxy S8 Alcantara Cover is a single piece case that is designed to protect the phone from scratches and drops. It uses the premium material Alcantara in place of last year’s Samsung premium case of leather.
Alcantara is a microfiber synthetic material that is made and manufactured by Alcantara S.p.A. It’s a premium material that is used in place of leather or suede, and is most commonly found in automobiles or high-end fashion products. Louis Vuitton uses Alcantara linings in most of its purses. The benefits of the synthetic material is it is better at stain/abrasion resistance and durability over the organic material it emulates. It also is a pleaser for those who are more environmentally aware and want to eliminate animal products from their daily lives.
Alcantara is wrapped around a solid plastic liner and offers a soft touch and premium feel that no other case I’ve used before comes close to. I grabbed the Blue Alcantara S8 Cover for my Coral Blue S8, but the case does come in other colors: Dark Grey, Mint, and Pink. Samsung also made a larger Alcantara Cover for the S8+ plus as well. The only difference between this case is the size.
The case offers a suede-like pile which removes the slippery feel of the S8, and protects the device by wrapping around the front corners. It’s a single piece cover with no cutouts for the volume rocker, Bixby button or power button. If you look close enough, you will see the slight button placements in the case which are easier to feel than to see.
With such a deep dye of blue, it is natural to think the color would wear off on your hands with extended use. Or it would be easy to think the fiber material would wear down with significant usage but I’ve seen none of those issues with my Alcantara Cover. The only downside is it does pick up pocket lint and will need to be brushed off to look clean again. The Alcantara does offer better grip and I find myself squeezing my S8 with a lot less effort with it on verses with it off. The blue cover stands out and matches the Coral Blue S8 rather well, although I’d love to see this cover on the all black S8.
Another slight benefit of this case is the cutout for the camera and fingerprint reader. It does offer a little more tactile feel on the back of the device when trying to find the proper finger placement to unlock your phone.
The Alcantara is the most premium case you can get for your S8
I have a preference for genuine Samsung cases because they seem to fit the best on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ better than any third-party products. The Alcantara Cover fits the S8 like a glove, feels great in hand and offers enough protection from scratching the corners or shattering the glass on drops. The price is a bit higher with an MSRP of $44.99, however the price has dropped a bit since the S8’s initial release. I grabbed my Alcantara Cover from Amazon for $37 which I consider to be reasonable when factoring in the premium feel and look of Alcantara.
If you’d like to learn more about the Alcantara Cover, head on over to Samsung or Amazon.
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Samsung Galaxy S8 Alcantara Cover review
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