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Here’s everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S8
Samsung finally unveiled the Galaxy S8 and S8+ at an impressive and sometimes weird event in New York yesterday (March 29).
The pressure was on Samsung to deliver something special after the unprecedented Galaxy Note 7 recall last year. Did they succeed? Let’s find out…
The incredible Infinity Display
The first thing you’ll notice about the S8 is the expansive screen, which wraps around both sides of the device and is pretty much bezel-less at the top and bottom.
It looks amazing, delivering vivid content without the distraction of pesky bezels. It also helps the S8 stand out in the hugely crowded smartphone market, a point Samsung were keen to emphasize.
The Infinity Display is included on both models, albeit with a slight size difference: the S8’s screen is 5.8”, with the S8+ a massive 6.2”!
No more home button
To accommodate the Infinity Display, Samsung have removed an iconic part of the Galaxy design: the home button.
Instead, the S8 will use the virtual buttons favored by pretty much every other Android manufacturer. There is a slight twist though; the S8 will have a pressure sensitive area at the bottom of the screen that can be, among other things, long pressed to access the home screen.
The iris scanner
Welcome to the future, everyone. The Galaxy S8 has an iris scanner which allows you to unlock your device using your eye, which sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Samsung describe it as “the most advanced form of security out there”, and it’s probably the coolest too.
If eyeball scanning ain’t your bag, you can also unlock the S8 using facial recognition or the good old fashioned fingerprint scanner (which now sits at the back of the device next to the camera).
The cameras
Both of the Galaxy S8’s cameras are an improvement on last year’s S7, with the 12MP rear-facing camera now boasting a dual pixel sensor and a multi-frame processor capable of combining multiple images to form the best possible photo.
The front-facing camera has been bumped up to 8MP and now includes face-detecting autofocus for Instagram-breaking selfies.
The battery
Batteries are normally a pretty unimportant part of a launch event, but last year’s Note 7 disaster meant they received special attention this year.
Samsung used the event to promote their new 8 point battery check, which they claim is more extensive than the industry standard. With that in place, hopefully the S8 and S8+’s batteries (3000mAh and 3500mAh respectively) won’t suffer from the same problems as the Note 7.
Colors
If you’re a fan of primary colors, you might want to look away now. The S8 will be available in just three colors and they’re all pretty conservative: Midnight Black, Arctic Silver and Orchid Gray. You can always put a colorful case on it, we guess.
Bixby
Say hello to the world’s latest personal assistant, Bixby. Remarkably, this is the first time Samsung have attempted to launch their own AI assistant but Bixby sounds impressive; as well as doing all the standard PA stuff, it can use the S8’s camera to ‘see’ landmarks, languages and restaurants to provide more information.
It can also understand context. So, if you ask Bixby to send something to a friend, it’ll understand that you want to send whatever is on your screen via email or message. Pretty cool, huh?
Samsung Galaxy S8 release date
The S8’s release date is set for April 28, although you’ll get it a week earlier (April 21) if you pre-order.
Samsung Galaxy S8 pricing
Take a deep breath. The Samsung Galaxy S8 will cost $720, while the S8+ will cost $840!
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