Samsung is on the move again with the expected release of their next flagship smartphone in the Galaxy series titled the S8 and S8+ on April 21. Coming on the heels of the Note 7 disaster where some phones caught on fire from a faulty battery, the top of the line smartphone looks promising. Samsung added a myriad of new features, some of which include a bezel-less display, iris scanner and a new personal assistant, Bixby. For those who are concerned, they went against the grain with Apple and kept the headphone jack.
Known as the Infinity Display, the front screen no longer has buttons. They appear as one would normally need them on prior phones, but allow for an unobstructed full-screen view. The fingerprint scanner was moved to the back. To unlock the phone one can use the fingerprint scanner, or opt to utilize the iris scanner, face recognition,or traditional passcode. The S8 and S8+ vary in screen size, 5.8” compared with 6.2”, and battery capacity. The camera did not receive any hardware updates compared to its predecessor, rather software enhancements improve photo quality. The device still boasts a 12 MP, F1.7, 4K capable rear camera with an 8 MP front-facing camera. Samsung claims it shoots excellent photos in low light and has added a food mode that optimizes the conditions to show off the perfect meal to friends.
On the software side, Samsung added another personal assistant to the already existing Google Assistant. They call it Bixby, and even gave the phone a shortcut button to use it on the side of the phone. The Siri-like feature allows one to find a review of an item by just taking a picture of it, or the location of an image can be found using Bixby. Similar images can be searched of a current image taken.
One can even take a picture of an item and find it for sale online. However, in the words of Techradar, “it’s not that impressive yet…. it can only do a very limited number of things – essentially this is Siri, but a few years back when it comes to voice.” To top off the features, it’s water resistant up to 1.5 m and offers expandable storage, wireless charging, USB type C connection, 4 GB of RAM and a first of its kind 10 nm chip.
