Samsung has hopes pinned on S8s to win buyers back
SThis is an important launch for Samsung as it tries to rebound from the disastrous release of its last phone. The company has taken a hit after the costly Note 7 recall, dropping from seventh to 49th in one year on the Harris Poll’s reputation list of the world’s 100 most visible companies. Samsung has taken steps to improve the safety of its phones but a quality phone with killer features, particularly compared to Apple’s iPhone, could convince wary customers that it’s worth returning to the brand, analysts say. Samsung hasn’t officially released details about its new phones but there are reports about what we can expect.
• The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are expected to have an “infinity screen” that takes up most of the front of the phone, according to a January report from the Guardian that cited several sources. There is no home button on the phone, according to a report from tech blog BGR, which has a strong reputation for accuracy when it comes to leaks. The home button has been replaced by a touch-sensitive control strip on the bottom of the screen. The screens on both models curve over the edges of the phones, a design we’ve seen on Samsung’s Edge phones. That fits in with the very small bit of information Samsung has released about the phone, which is found in a teaser graphic that shows an all-screen front and a screen that spills over its sides. The screen is also expected to be at pressure-sensitive, similar to the “Force Touch” and “3D Touch” capabilities of the iPhone, according to the English-language South Korean newspaper, The Investor.
• Rear fingerprint sensor: With no physical home button, the fingerprint scanner on the phone has to be somewhere else. While there were reports in past months that Samsung would be able to embed a fingerprint scanner in the screen of the phone, leaked pictures that BGR obtained from an unnamed source indicate that the sensor has been moved to the back of the phone. The new phones are expected to have the iris-scanning capabilities that debuted for Samsung on the Note 7, BGR reported. Samsung said there’s no evidence that the scanner had anything to do with Note 7 explosions.
• Desktop mode: The new phones will have a mode that will let them connect to a monitor and be used like a PC, according to an anonymous tip received by the tech blog All About Windows Phone. Users will be able to open multiple apps alongside each other, similar to the way Microsoft’s “Continuum” feature gives users a computer-like work environment using just their smartphone and a monitor.
• A new assistant: Samsung last year bought Viv, the company behind Apple’s Siri assistant. So it makes sense that the new phone would have a new assistant that performs many of the same functions as Siri, as reported by The Guardian. The assistant’s reported name, Bixby, appears to have been confirmed by Samsung itself, through an Italian-language privacy policy published online that mentions the name.
• A headphone jack: It seems funny to celebrate a phone retaining a feature as basic as a headphone jack but it is worth mentioning after Apple faced criticism over the lack of a headphone jack in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. – Washington Post