NZ misses out on Samsung model’s household features

Samsung’s new smartphone is hard-wired with artificial intelligence, visual reality and Internet of Things ability, but New Zealand will have to wait for some features.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus phone revealed yesterday featured a digital assistant named Bixby that can complete tasks for you with a simple voice or text command.

Bixby is the company’s first take on artificial intelligence.

Samsung head of product development Todd Selwyn said Bixby was different to Apple’s Siri because it was integrated into the phone.

It could carry out multiple tasks from one command and learnt on the job. It adapted to the tone of the owner’s voice and common background noise.

New features on the device also include an iris scanner and facial recognition in the front-facing camera.

This means users can unlock the phone by looking at it.

The screen can also be split in two allowing the use of two features at once.

The S8 retains a headphone jack as well as the curved screen and water and dust resistance.

Selwyn said Samsung kept the headphone jack, unlike Apple’s iphone 7, because consumers were still buying and using wire headphones.

All buttons on the front of the phone have disappeared to make way for the extended touch screen, a feature Selwyn called an ‘‘infinity display’’.

A fingerprint sensor is placed on the back of the phone instead. The screen covers about 20 per cent more of the phones interface, Selwyn said.

The S8 is 5.8 inches in height and costs a minimum of $1299, dependent on storage size.

The S8 Plus is 6.2 inches and costs at least $1499.

‘‘People want bigger phones,’’ Selwyn said.

Samsung has released a virtual reality headset and hand remote that can be used with the phone. It costs another $199.

An app allows the phone to connect with Samsung’s Smartthings household technology so users can remotely control and monitor household devices.

But only compatible smart televisions and fridges are currently sold in New Zealand. ‘‘It just does not work in New Zealand because we do not have the Internet of Things,’’ Selwyn said.

Selwyn said the S8 would not catch on fire like many Samsung Note 7 phones did last year which resulted in a global recall.

‘‘It is a safe device, it will not set on fire,’’ he said.

Samsung now runs its batteries through an eight-step safety process, he said.

The S8 did not charge as fast as the Note 7, minimising the fire risk, he said.

Selwyn said the global recall of the Note 7 phone did not affect sales. ‘‘We grew our market share last year,’’ he said.

The S8 becomes available for pre-order sales on April 20 and will be in stores on May 1.

The phone comes in three colours: maple gold, midnight black and orchid grey.