Samsung Galaxy S8 fires first salvo against Apple's 'iPhone 8' with 'Infinity' display, AR...
Samsung on Wednesday confirmed a multitude of rumors by announcing its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8 -- a device with an OLED "Infinity" display and no physical home button, much like Apple's rumored "iPhone 8."
Image Credit: The Verge
Two models will be available, the S8 and the S8 Plus, Samsung said at a press event in New York City. The first has a 5.8-inch, 2960-by-1440-pixel screen, while the Plus increases screen size to 6.2 inches. The two also differ in their battery capacity, with the regular S8 using a 3,000 milliamp-hour supply and the Plus a beefier 3,500.
Both phones will have 12-megapixel rear cameras with optical image stabilization and an f/1.7 aperture, for better low-light shooting. Their front-facing cameras are rated at 8 megapixels, losing stabilization, but retaining the same aperture.
The S8 line will run Android Nougat, and include USB-C and 3.5-millimeter ports, in addition to supporting wireless charging and Bluetooth 5.0 -- the latter enabling streaming to two devices simultaneously. Security includes fingerprint, iris, and face recognition.
Another centerpiece is Bixby, Samsung new AI assistant. The technology can be triggered through a dedicated physical button, and offers contextual awareness along with more direct control of apps and hardware. Via a camera app, it even offers limited augmented reality functions, suggesting Web results based on identified objects. Samsung is currently partnering with companies like Amazon and Pinterest, but not Google.
Preorders will start March 30 with a U.S. ship date on Apr. 21, Samsung said. Pricing will be set by carriers, but should typically start at $750 for the regular S8 and $850 for the Plus. Color options will include black, gray, and silver in the U.S., and gold and blue in some other markets. Another international difference is that while most countries will get a Samsung Exynos octa-core processor, U.S. buyers will get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, also octa-core.
In addition to ditching a physical home button, the S8 also appears to be preempting the "iPhone 8" through its facial scanning and augmented reality support.
Samsung may have plenty to prove with the new phone, its first flagship since the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7. The company is working to rebuild its reputation, and will likely come under extra scrutiny for any safety incidents.
Image Credit: The Verge
Two models will be available, the S8 and the S8 Plus, Samsung said at a press event in New York City. The first has a 5.8-inch, 2960-by-1440-pixel screen, while the Plus increases screen size to 6.2 inches. The two also differ in their battery capacity, with the regular S8 using a 3,000 milliamp-hour supply and the Plus a beefier 3,500.
Both phones will have 12-megapixel rear cameras with optical image stabilization and an f/1.7 aperture, for better low-light shooting. Their front-facing cameras are rated at 8 megapixels, losing stabilization, but retaining the same aperture.
The S8 line will run Android Nougat, and include USB-C and 3.5-millimeter ports, in addition to supporting wireless charging and Bluetooth 5.0 -- the latter enabling streaming to two devices simultaneously. Security includes fingerprint, iris, and face recognition.
Another centerpiece is Bixby, Samsung new AI assistant. The technology can be triggered through a dedicated physical button, and offers contextual awareness along with more direct control of apps and hardware. Via a camera app, it even offers limited augmented reality functions, suggesting Web results based on identified objects. Samsung is currently partnering with companies like Amazon and Pinterest, but not Google.
Preorders will start March 30 with a U.S. ship date on Apr. 21, Samsung said. Pricing will be set by carriers, but should typically start at $750 for the regular S8 and $850 for the Plus. Color options will include black, gray, and silver in the U.S., and gold and blue in some other markets. Another international difference is that while most countries will get a Samsung Exynos octa-core processor, U.S. buyers will get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, also octa-core.
In addition to ditching a physical home button, the S8 also appears to be preempting the "iPhone 8" through its facial scanning and augmented reality support.
Samsung may have plenty to prove with the new phone, its first flagship since the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7. The company is working to rebuild its reputation, and will likely come under extra scrutiny for any safety incidents.
Comments
That said, looks like a solid handset with some really design put in. I am still wondering why the high screen DPI is needed even being Pentile.
If the rumors are true, the iPhone 8/X/Edition will only have 5.15 inches of usable screen space. That would be a major bummer for those of us who really like the big screen form factor.
Please guys, tell the truth. The Galaxy Note 7 had iris scanning. Further, Android phones have had iris scanning as far back as 2015 when Qualcomm first began building the capability into their chips.
Second, augmented reality support was built into Android thanks to Google and Qualcomm in Android 7. So thank Google's Project Tango for AR support, and Google announced Project Tango in 2014. The first device to fully support Project Tango was the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro released in 2016. And as Project Tango is supported at the hardware layer with the Qualcomm SOC, every Android phone that has the Snapdragon 835 and Android 7 will fully support AR, and also will fully support VR because Android 7 and the Snapdragon 835 support the Daydream VR platform too (although you will not hear Samsung mention that, as Samsung's Gear VR is on the competing Oculus platform). In fact, as the Snapdragon 821 also supports both Tango and Daydream, the LG G6 and the $499 Asus ZenFone AR - the best Android device for the money as the thing even has 8 GB of RAM! - also have AR and VR support.
So please folks, stop claiming that ideas that Samsung - and a host of other Android OEMs - implemented first, and in some cases YEARS FIRST - are attempts to copy Apple. Even the physical home button ... less an attempt to copy Apple than an attempt to maximize the screen to bezel ratio. Physical home button support was never in base Android but was added by Samsung into TouchWiz. Samsung - and LG - are adopting a design similar to 2014's Sharp Aquos Crystal. So, unless Apple emulates Samsung with a curved OLED screen, the iPhone 8 will be a derivative of this guy ... which also does not have a physical home button.
http://www.sharpusa.com/ForHome/Mobile/Models/AQUOSCRYSTAL-306SH.aspx
Interesting, that the marriage with google appears to be not a happy one.
Apart from that, every time I read the name of android versions, I just feel I cannot take something serious that's called like some chocolate.
And still iOS runs smoother with 3 GB maybe 16 GB will do the trick.
Nor do I understand why I would want the display to creep under the part of the phone that I hold with my hand.
After watching Scamsung's announcement video, they're making the testing of the phone sound like some kind of marketing ploy to make it look like they're at the top of their game.