Dazzling display
Samsung upsizes the screen for its latest flagship smartphones, the S8 and S8+.
THE atmosphere positively crackled at the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre as a hall full of media waited with bated breath for the official unveiling of Samsung’s new flagship Android smartphones.
And what Samsung had lined up didn’t disappoint. It has re-imagined the Galaxy S8 and its bigger sibling the S8+ as the gateway to a mobile life and hub for all your IoT (Internet of Things) devices.
“The S8 ushers in a new era of smartphone design and services, opening up new ways to experience the world,” said DJ Koh, Samsung Electronics president of mobile communications business.
Let’s break that down
Although the conventional wisdom is that a bigger screen means a bigger device, Samsung realised it could upsize the screen without making the phone bigger by eliminating the bezels. The result?
“An incredible end-to-end screen that spills over the phone’s sides, providing a smooth continuous surface,” said Justin Denison, Samsung Electronics America senior vice-president for product strategy.
“The entire front of the phone is pure pristine glass which flows seamlessly into the aluminium shell, with a higher screen to body ratio than ever before, in a perfectly symmetrical object.”
Samsung has christened it the Infinity Display, giving the S8 a 5.8in screen and the S8+ a 6.2in.
Although much of what was leaked online in the weeks prior to the S8’s launch proved accurate, including the new naming convention (S8+ instead of S8 Edge) and removal of the physical Home button (which is replaced by a virtual home key with haptic feedback), what the leaks didn’t spoil was just how great the phones looked in real life.
It’s the first mobile device to earn a Mobile HDR Premium certification from the UHD Alliance – according to Denison, the smartphones will allow users to experience their favourite shows in the same vivid colours and contrasts that the filmmakers intended.
Intelligence and more
Samsung might be a little late to the bakedinto-phones AI party, but that hasn’t deterred it from aiming high for its homegrown AI, Bixby.
“When we use touch on our phones today, even simple tasks can take a lot of steps and that’s where voice technology comes in. It’s supposed to make everyday interactions easier,” said Sriram Thodhal, Samsung America senior director for services and new business.
He opined that right now voice command is an isolated feature that doesn’t quite understand what is happening on-screen. Not so for Bixby, which Thodhal says understands context. Let’s say you’re meeting a friend for lunch and you need to tell her your location. You could just pull up the Maps app, press the Bixby button at the side of the phone and say, “Capture this and send to Cindy”.
“Bixby will understand when I say ‘capture this’. That’s context awareness,” he said. And if you see something you want to buy, just point the camera at it and Bixby will find it from one of Samsung’s partners.
“With Bixby, we’ve built intelligence into the camera so it understands what we’re seeing. You can search for images, learn about landmarks, shop online and even translate languages,” said Thodhal.
Like any AI, the more Bixby learns about you, the better it becomes.
Samsung Connect
The company wants to turn the phone into a hub for all the connected devices in the Samsung ecosystem at home.
“With the Galaxy S8, we’re fulfilling the original promise of IoT – that a network of connected devices works better together – giving you access to Samsung devices in a single app called Samsung Connect. When you open it, you see a dashboard of every single connected device in your home but the real power of the app is that you can monitor and control your devices from miles away,” said Thodhal.
For example, if you find yourself at the supermarket without a shopping list but happen to own a smart fridge then you will be able you use the app to turn on the camera inside the fridge to see what you have.
Ultimately Samsung’s vision is for Bixby to use Samsung Connect to control all of the connected devices in your home with your voice, said Thodhal.
Meet the Dex
Samsung also launched an intriguing piece of hardware called the Samsung Dex to simplify the lives of mobile workers everywhere.
The Dex provides an Android-based desktop-like experience, enabling users to access apps, edit documents, surf the Web, watch videos, reply messages and more directly from the S8, just on a bigger screen.
All users have to do is plug the S8 into the Dex, connect it to a monitor, as well as a keyboard and mouse, and they’re good to go. The circular device comes with ports for two USB 2.0, Ethernet and USB type-C, as well as an Adaptive Fast Charging port for the S8.
“We developed the Dex with the highly mobile worker in mind, giving them a convenient and flexible desktop experience,” said Injong Rhee, chief technology officer of the mobile communications business at Samsung Electronics.
Users who place a premium on device security and data privacy will be happy to note that on top of the usual biometric security measures such as fingerprint and iris scanners, the S8 also boasts facial recognition, which will kick in as soon as a user taps on the virtual Home button.
The camera on the S8 will lock on your face and unlock the device as soon as it recognises you. And as it is all built on Samsung Knox, a defence-grade security platform, you can rest assured that no one will get into your phone that isn’t supposed to.
Performance wise, the S8 also comes with an industry-first 10nm (nanometer) processor for increased speed and productivity, as well as an improved 8-megapixel f/1.7 smart autofocus front camera and 12-megapixel f/1.7 Dual Pixel rear camera that, due to popular demand, now allows you to stitch together several shots to make one superior image.
Both phones have 64GB of storage and support microSD cards for adding 256GB more.
Game on
The S8 is not all work and no play though – the phone also pairs with the new Gear VR which comes with a controller so it’s easier to play games and the new Gear 360 camera for capturing 4K 360° videos and 15-megapixel photos.
The S8/S8+ will be available for pre-order in Malaysia from April 11 to 13 although the actual date for the local launch has yet to be finalised, according Lee Jui Siang, Samsung Malaysia Electronics vice-president for the Mobile and IT business unit.
Lee also confirmed that of the five colours only three (Midnight Black, Maple Gold and Arctic Silver) will be brought here for the initial launch.