Samsung today announced the Galaxy S8 and S8+, its flagship smartphones for 2017.
The phones marry aluminum frames to curved glass panels as they adopt what Samsung calls its Infinity Display. The Infinity Display moves from the industry standard 16:9 aspect ratio to a taller 18.5:9 ratio with 2,960 by 1,440 pixels. The devices share nearly all features other than size and battery capacity.
The S8 sports aa 5.8-inch display and 3,000mAh battery, while the S8+ boasts a massive 6.2-inch screen and 3,500mAh battery. Samsung has now finally droped the physical home button tin favor of on-screen controls and a virtual home button that’s unmarked in the area below the screen. This allowed Samsung to reduce bezels along the top, sides, and bottom edges, meaning the front is 83% display.
Galaxy S8 and S8+ feature the industry’s first 10nm processor, enabling heightened speed and efficiency. It is also gigabit LTE and gigabit Wi-Fi ready with support for up to 1 Gbps so users can quickly download files, regardless of the file size.
The phones sport 4GB RAM (LPDDR4), 64GB (UFS 2.1) memeory and MicroSD support up to 256GB.
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ unlock the new Gear VR with Controller, powered by Oculus. Enabling convenient one-handed control and navigation, the controller provides better motion interaction when accessing interactive VR content. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ will also connect to the new Gear 360 to create 4K 360-degree videos and 15MP photos.
Leveraging the processing power of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ for enhanced productivity, Samsung DeX is a unique solution that transforms your smartphone into a desktop by providing a secure desktop-like experience. With Samsung DeX, users can easily display and edit data from their phone, making working from a smartphone faster and smarter.
Samsung says the displays are mobile HDR certified and offer more room for multitasking. Core features include Snapdragon 835 processors with 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, and support for memory cards. The phones are rated IP68 for protection against water and dust. They include rear-mounted fingerprint readers, front-mounted iris scanners, as well as wireless and rapid charging.
The main camera has a 12-megapixel sensor with optical image stabilization and an aperture of f/1.7.The front camera has an 8-megapixel sensor and also an aperture of f/1.7 with autofocus and face detection.
Ports include USB-C and 3.5mm headphone jack. High-performance earphones tuned by AKG by Harman will come as an in-box accessory
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ run Android 7 Nougat with Samsung’s new Bixby voice-enabled user interface, as well as improved Samsung Health, Samsung Connect, and Samsung Knox apps.
The U.S. version will come in black, silver, or purple. The phone is expected to go on sale next month. Pricing will be set by carriers
Galaxy S8 Plus
Galaxy S8
