At an event in New York recently, Samsung took to the stage to unveil the Samsung S8 and S8+. The delay in revealing them is solely due to the Note 7 batteries exploding and becoming a huge hazard. The company is now taking steps to remotely disable charging on the remaining Note 7 devices out in the wild that have yet to be returned.
The biggest and most noticeable change in the new series is the near bezel-less display curving around the edges on both devices. Dubbed ‘infinity display’, the increase in screen real estate has pushed out the physical home button which has been replaced with a pressure sensitive selection. The fingerprint sensor has also been moved to the rear because of this reason. This change has led to Samsung having crammed a larger screen in the S8 while maintaining almost the same size as its predecessor. The S8+ on the other hand, is even larger than the infamous Note 7. The S8 and S8+ are the first mobile phones to be rated as Mobile HDR Premium which certifies them as meeting a particular standard for displaying HDR content.
The rear camera is equipped with Dual Pixel AutoFocus (AF), Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) and F/1.7 aperture while the front camera has the same aperture. The cameras are more of a refinement rather than a complete overhaul from their predecessor. A face scanner which can unlock the device using your face is situated next to the fingerprint scanner on the rear. Hardware between the two devices is virtually the same with the exception of the larger screen size and battery in the S8+.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Ert5yjMV4
Samsung also showed off their new ecosystem to support the new Galaxy S8 Series. The new Gear VR headset that has been built in collaboration with Facebook benefits from wireless gesture based remote control. The Gear 360 camera isn’t far behind either as it gains the ability to live stream 360 degree video. Bixby, the company’s new multimodal virtual assistant (similar to Google Assistant and Apple Siri) will only be available initially in Korea and USA. However, other countries will still be able to benefit from a part of it governing the camera and text aspects. Samsung Dex (Desktop Experience) was also demonstrated live onstage allowing users to dock their device and use it as a proper desktop computer with keyboard and mouse controls. A virtual desktop service provides access to productivity tools like Office and Autodesk.
The device is expected to hit Indian shores in May with no mention of price.
Samsung Galaxy S8 Specifications:
Display: 5.8″ Quad HD+ Super AMOLED
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835/Exynos 8895
GPU: Adreno 540/TBD
Memory: 4GB RAM
Storage: 64GB (expandable upto 256GB via microSD)
Operating System: Android Nougat
Colour: Maple Gold, Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue
Size: 148.9×68.1x8mm
Weight: 155 g
Camera: 12MP rear, 8MP front
Battery: 3000mAh
Samsung Galaxy S8+ Specifications:
Display: 6.2″ Quad HD+ Super AMOLED
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835/Exynos 8895
GPU: Adreno 540/TBD
Memory: 4GB RAM
Storage: 64GB (expandable upto 256GB via microSD)
Operating System:
Colour: Maple Gold, Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue
Size: 159.5×73.4×8.1mm
Weight: 173 g
Camera: 12MP rear, 8MP front
Battery: 3500mAh