The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have been the hottest devices among the rumors mills from the last few months. Though these devices should launch at the MWC 2017, somehow the launch event is postponed until today. With the Galaxy Note 7 explosion, the company missed continuing the charm of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones. However, looking at the design and specifications of the new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones, we think the company will get the record number of pre-orders. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ come with a 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch screen sizes respectively which are huge considering the last year’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge came with a 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes.
However, the devices as a whole measure almost same as their predecessors, thanks to almost bezel-less Infinity display. The long Infinity displays come with 18.5:9 aspect ratio and uses Super AMOLED panels offering Quad HD+ (2960 x 1440 pixels) resolution. On the front and back of the devices is the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 to protect against the scratches and also the drops from shorter heights. The Galaxy S8 devices in the U.S and Canada are powered by the Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 SoC coupled with Adreno 540 GPU. All the other countries will get the in-house Exynos 8895 powered variant with Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. Both these chipsets are built using the revolutionary 10nm FinFET process.
They pack 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage that can be expanded up to 256GB. It comes with a new virtual assistant from Samsung called as Bixby and it further categories into Bixby Voice, Bixby Vision, and Bixby Home. The company claims the Bixby to do all the activities that can be done with a touch. However, this functionality is only limited to Samsung’s own apps. On the specs sheet, the camera is one area where there aren’t big upgrades. The 12MP dual pixel camera that is first used with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones is now continued to latest Galaxy S smartphones. For the selfies, the company replaced the 5MP sensor with an 8MP autofocus sensor and offers the same f/1.7 aperture as seen on the primary camera.
After the Galaxy Note 7 disaster, it looks like the company hasn’t chosen to added bigger capacity batteries. The smaller Galaxy S8 packs a 3,000mAh non-removable battery, whereas the Galaxy S8+ is backed by a slightly bigger 3,500mAh battery. Interestingly, the battery on the Galaxy S8 Plus is smaller than the 3,600mAh battery on the Galaxy S7 Edge. The device also packs Microsoft apps like Skype, Excel, and others. Since the devices miss the physical hardware button, the fingerprint sensor is now shifted to the rear. The bottom part of the display is said to come with force touch support. Since the devices also pack NFC, the Galaxy S8 & Galaxy S8+ smartphones can be used for Samsung Pay mobile payment service.
With the inclusion of Gigabit LTE modem, these devices also support 1Gbps connections. Apart from the regular wired charging, even the wireless charging now supports fast charging on these devices. Samsung DeX is another innovative product from the company that can offer PC-like experience when connected the DeX dock to a monitor, keyboard, and a mouse. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.0, ANT+, NFC, GPS, Galileo, Glonass, and USB Type-C. The 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 measures 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0 mm and weighs 155 grams, whereas the Galaxy S8+ measures 159.5 x 73.4 x 8.1 mm and is slightly on a heavier side by weighing 173 grams. They are also water and dust resistant with the IP68 certification.
Talking about the pricing, the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ are priced at $750 and $850 off-contract in the U.S. Coming to the European countries, the devices cost €799 and €899 respectively. Both the devices are now available to pre-order, and Samsung is offering the new Gear VR headset with the motion controller and Oculus content for free as an introductory bonus. The users can also a get the Experience Box that includes Harman Kardon headphones and a 256GB MicroSD card by paying additional $99. Also, note that these freebies are varied by markets and carriers. The devices are now available to pre-order in selected markets, and the shipping starts from April 21st in the Western markets.
