Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy handsets are typically outfitted with some of the best-performing batteries. That said, you could imagine our surprise when we learned that the battery in Samsung's flagship Galaxy S8+ performed worse than the cell powering Apple's iPhone 7 Plus, as per a new test carried out by review website PhoneArena.
Samsung's newly introduced Galaxy S8 features iris scanning and facial recognition via the front-facing camera. Both these features can be used to unlock the phone for those times when you don't feel like reaching your finger around the back and feeling for its built-in fingerprint reader alongside the rear camera. iDeviceHelp posted a hands-on video with Galaxy S8's biometrics.
They concluded that eyeballs and faces are not as secure as fingerprints because the phone could be tricked into unlocking by scanning a user's headshot.
Wednesday, Samsung fired the first salvo against Apple's upcoming iPhone 8 with the official introduction of its Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones at media events in New York's Lincoln Center and London's Olympic Park.
But the South Korean conglomerate didn't stop there: they announced a 4K-capable 360-degree camera and other accessories, including a docking station that lets you connect your new Galaxy to an external display and wireless or wired keyboard and/or mouse to use it as an Android-driven computer with a desktop-like interface.
Without further ado, here's a quick recap of everything Samsung announced today.
According to prolific smartphone leakster Evan Blass, Samsung's regular Galaxy S8 and the rumored Galaxy S8 Plus models will occupy prices between Apple's iterative iPhone 7s and a new premium iPhone 8 model that will likely cost more than $1,000 unlocked. Blass also shared genuine-looking press renderings of the next Galaxy smartphone.
Meanwhile, SamMobile is reporting that Galaxy S8's slow motion video capture mode could blow iPhone 7 out of the water with the ability to capture a thousand frames per second. Apple's camera partner Sony recently announced a new 19-megapixel CMOS sensor (IMX400), built it into the new Xperia XZ Premium, that can capture slo-mo video at 960 frames per second.
Samsung on Monday officially announced Bixby, its new personal digital assistant based on AI technologies from Viv Labs, a startup by Siri co-founders Dag Kittalus and Adam Cheyer that the South Korean company acquired last year. According to InJong Rhee, Executive Vice President and head of R&D, Software and Services at Samsung, Bixby is about completeness, context awareness and cognitive tolerance, aside from other features.
The personal assistant should launch alongside Galaxy S8 and will be “fundamentally different” than Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant and more.
Revered smartphone leakster Evan Blass yesterday leaked out what appears to be a genuine press shot depicting Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S8 flagship.
Not only does the image give us a better look at the device's extra button, said to summon Samsung's new Bixby digital assistant, it's a preview of sorts of the kind of form factor we're expecting from Apple's iPhone 8 when it launches in September.
Samsung is looking to pre-empt Apple's expected monster upgrade cycle stemming from pent-up demand for a cutting-edge iPhone with a new Plus-branded Galaxy smartphone, as was previously rumored. Likely named Galaxy S8+, it should have an iris scanner and a 6.2-inch AMOLED screen with a Quad HD+ 3,200-by-1,800 pixel resolution.
That's according to prolific leakster Evan Blass.
Among other features, iPhone 8 may support AR and 3D image capture/modeling via an improved FaceTime camera and use two-step biometric authentication combining either an iris scanner or 3D facial recognition and a Touch ID fingerprint reader embedded into the display. It's been inferred from a recent KGI report that iPhone 8's 5.8-inch 521 PPI AMOLED display should feature an active display area of about 5.1 inches with a native resolution of 2,800-by-1,242 pixels and the content area of 2,436-by-1,125 pixels.
Samsung's next Galaxy update should include a brand new Plus model thought to incorporate a huge six-inch display, putting the device in the phablet territory usually dominated by Note-branded devices, according to a sketchy report from Korea. If true, it's likely a response to the disastrous Note 7 launch that led to a global Note 7 recall and discontinuation.
Samsung's next-generation Galaxy smartphone appears to be poised to beat Apple's upcoming iPhone 8 to the punch now that Bloomberg has corroborated much of SamMobile's report saying the Galaxy S8 will be a bezel-free device with a wraparound display featuring an in-screen Home button. The phone should be unveiled in February 2018 and launch in March.
That way, the Samsung device should enjoy a six-month lead over the iPhone 8's expected fall arrival. However, the Korean giant is considering scrapping plans for a dual-camera on the Galaxy S8 due to “higher manufacturing costs”, one of the sources told the news gathering organization.
Confirming recent rumor-mill talk of a glossy black edition of its Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone, Samsung today officially announced a new Black Pearl color option in an attempt to counter what's been reported as high demand for Apple's new Black and Jet Black iPhone 7 models. The new colorway, Samsung said, “radiates quality and luxury” and was designed to be “modern and striking”.
SamMobile is reporting today that Samsung's next-generation Galaxy S8 smartphone will replace the physical Home button with a non-moving variant embedded right behind its AMOLED screen. The firm is also said to adopt USB-C for charging and data transfer and ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack to make the phone thinner and lighter.
The Galaxy S8 should be unveiled in February 2017 and could beat Apple's rumored iPhone 8 to the virtual Home button.
As we reported, Samsung last month bought Viv Labs, a San Jose startup co-founded by former Siri creators who have developed a brand new Viv artificial intelligence assistant. The Galaxy maker has now confirmed to Reuters that it will be integrating Viv technology into an advanced personal digital assistant of its own.
Samsung's Viv-based AI assistant will debut on next year's Galaxy S8. According to The Wall Street Journal, the handset should have a dedicated button to summon the new service though the Galaxy S8 may be delayed until April following the costly Note 7 debacle rather than at the Mobile World Congress trade show in February.