The day has come, for the phone many have been waiting for. Rumors were already cleared, and the Galaxy S8 and S8+ has been finally unveiled.
Before we do a full review (I don’t think we need to, either) – let’s talk about the features that surely make you want to get the Samsung’s latest gem.
Seeing the new flagship phones personally from the local press event last March 30 at the City of Dreams in Manila, the phone constantly reminds me of Samsung’s position when it comes to making smartphones. (Fun fact: I’m still using my old school Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 as one of my daily drivers).
Now, let’s figure out the winning features of the new Galaxy S8 and why (for us, and many tech-minds out there) said that this is the phone to beat for this year.
SEE ALSO: Everything we know about Samsung Galaxy S8 – in one post
- Operating System – No, the Samsung Galaxy S8 still don’t sport pure stock Android Nougat out of the box, but their new software on top of the said variant of Android looks pretty sleek, and lightweight – meaning that the elements are optimized for smoother performance and good design rather than these heavily skinned or modified Android OS like the ones from Oppo (Color OS) and others.
Why we find it a winning feature? We see that Samsung really learned a lot when it comes to user feedback here, and it seems that Samsung optimized the UI to be more responsive as well as simple-looking to make it more user-friendly. We know that before many users of Samsung phones have criticized its software backend rather than its hardware (though we attest to the fact that bloatware is still present), so our say to that is you must check out the Galaxy S8, and your opinion might change about how Samsung brings the experience to its users.
- Bluetooth 5.0 – Bluetooth 5.0 is a pretty new standard of Bluetooth technology (recently launched), and the Galaxy S8 is the first phone to bring it on the market. Being the first means so many things, and for sure, it will be followed by more flagship phones that are scheduled to launch this year.
However, what does it mean for average users? Of course, it has support for multiple Bluetooth Devices to be connected and used at the same time (i.e. use 2 Bluetooth headsets at once) and other possible applications. It also means extended range and more power efficiency than ever.
SEE ALSO: Bluetooth 5.0 launched
- Glamourous Design and Sexy Back – Seeing the leaks of this phone as early as February, we all know that the Galaxy S8 have so many design changes aside from the removal of the home button. Its stylish and elegant look might resemble a little with the HTC 10 Ultra (the shiny one) and the LG G6, however, it has a unique glass back and front panel that looks sexy that is, very premium looking and might be enough to justify its selling price. By ditching the ‘flat’ variants of the phone, both the Galaxy S8 and S8+ now sport an edge-to-edge screen design, and that’s one of what we loved when we speak about Samsung flagships.
- DeX – Ever thought of your phone as your computer? With the Desktop Dock provided by Samsung, the thought of making you smartphone as a computer is already possible. Though not the first smartphone to do so (HP Elite x3 was the first one, actually), the Galaxy S8 brings the said feature of the Elite x3 to the premium consumers. Just plug the phone into the provided dock, and then connect the dock into a monitor. After that, just enjoy.
- Infinity Display – We mentioned earlier the design of the Galaxy S8 as a winning feature, now, to specify it, the display is absolutely one of the killer features out there. Sporting a 2960×1440 screen resolution on both phones and an edge-to-edge almost bezel-less display, the screen is fully stretched that you can almost utilize all the pixels from that Super AMOLED panel. Though the screen ratio is absolutely weird, you will learn to adapt to it soon as apps will soon start to be optimized for the said screen ratio. It works well with multi-tasking screen, tho.
- Gigabit LTE – Equipped with Snapdragon 835 (the only SoC for now that supports it), the Galaxy S8 can reach LTE speeds theoretically of up to 1Gbps. However, you may not be able to utilize this feature until sometime as the said technology is only starting to roll out on various countries. It doesn’t exist yet even on Samsung’s homeland, either.
Now, having the Galaxy S8 announced, let’s just wait until we get our hands in a unit for the full review.
SEE ALSO: Samsung Note 7 return, a marketing strategy or a marketing tragedy?
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ will be available on the market worldwide on April 21st, and on the country at April 30th and pricing details are here as follows:
- Samsung Galaxy S8 – Php39,990
- Samsung Galaxy S8+ – Php 45,990
For the specifications, refer to the following details below (for me, the specs and features are quite enough to justify its “kidney-selling” price tag):
As I’ve said before, this is the phone to beat this year. Also, we hope that this doesn’t explode, too. We like the Galaxy S8 so much, but let us not forget the other flagships this year such as the LG G6 and the others. Also, we’re following this article with more things as we get a unit to play with.
What do you think of Samsung’s latest flagship? Let us know down in the comments below.
