This morning, Samsung unveiled its much anticipated iPhone competitor, the Galaxy S8 and S8+. Even die-hard iOS fans will want to pay attention to these.
The 5.8-inch S8 and 6.2-inch S8+ incorporate many of the features that are rumored to be part of the next iPhone model. The most stunning of these is the Infinity Display and bezel-less design. The glass screens on both the S8 and S8+ stretch almost completely edge-to-edge (the home button is built into the screen), meaning that streaming shows is now a much more immersive experience, and it’s far easier to work from and read articles on the phone. (The split-screen display option also helps, since it allows you to watch a video on Instagram and read a text message at the same time.)
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The screen size of the S8 is 5.8-inches, which is larger than the iPhone 7’s 4.7-inch display. The same goes for the S8+, which has a 6.2-inch screen versus the 5.5-inch display on the iPhone 7-Plus. As far as weight differences, the Galaxy S8 is slightly heavier than the iPhone 7 (155 grams versus 138 grams), while the S8+ is slightly less heavy than the iPhone 7 Plus (173 grams versus 188 grams). Like the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ phones are water and dust resistant.
You can unlock your S8 or S8+ using an iris scanner equipped with face recognition, in addition to the fingerprint scanner. Hold your phone up and it will instantly unlock.
Now, for the camera. Both the Galaxy S8 and S8+ have an 8 megapixel smart autofocus front camera and a 12 megapixel dual focus rear camera built for tackling low-light situations.
For those with storage concerns, Samsung has your back. The phones come equipped with 64GB of memory.
You can pre-order the phones beginning at 12:01 a.m. on March 30, on Samsung.com. They will officially be available on April 21. Both models come in three pretty colors: Midnight Black, Arctic Silver, and, our personal favorite, Orchid Gray.
In addition to the new smartphones, Samsung also unveiled a new version of its virtual reality headset, Gear VR, with an accompanying handset. There is also a new, smaller version of the Gear 360 camera for recording 360-degree videos.
In this morning’s address at New York City’s Lincoln Center, DJ Koh, President of Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics, acknowledged that it had been a challenging year for the company, but looked ahead with excitement.
We have yet to test the new Galaxy S8 and S8+ phones, but at first glance, we’re impressed.