One of the most anticipated smartphones this year will be coming from Samsung and the hype has never been this high. The Galaxy S8 has seen numerous speculations and rumours in the past six months and while everyone was expecting the smartphone to make
an appearance at the Mobile World Congress this year, the company only left us with a teaser for an ‘Unpacked event’. That is going to take place on 29 March.
The Korean tech giant is under a lot of pressure, ever since it had to deal with faulty batteries on the Galaxy Note 7 last year and eventually kill the device. This year, not only does it have to impress its loyalists but it needs to re-gain customer trust.
Now, let’s just give you all the details that we have gathered over the past few months around the Galaxy S8.
Availability and launch
First things first. Lets talk about when we would actually see the smartphone officially. As mentioned above, the flagship smartphone never made an appearance at MWC, which we expected thanks to a couple of reports. Samsung did however tease us with a short video and announced an Unpacked event dated 29 March. Which means tomorrow we will officially get to see what Samsung has in store for us. If you are interested in the launch, click here to know more on how you can follow the announcement.
The smartphone will not be available immediately as it is expected to hit markets a month later, so somewhere at the end of April is when the smartphone will be available for purchase.
Design and renders
It all started with some rumours where a bunch of sources claimed that Samsung will launch the device with a 4K display, a dual-camera setup and have support for the S-Pen, as the Note 7 was killed. Others suggested that Samsung will ditch the 3.5mm audio jack as well. Then some renders dropped in and eventually we saw the handset in a leaked image by case makers itself. Early renders suggested that Samsung will only have a curved-edged Galaxy S8 and will say goodbye to the flat design. Boo! Samsung will also add the option for users to lower down the resolution to Full-HD and HD resolutions. This would be great to save some juice.
We also saw one extra hardware key which was and is still being speculated to trigger a digital assistant just like Siri or Google Assistant by the name of Bixby. Some sources said Samsung would make the handset bigger this time around in terms of display size which could go as much as 6-inches.
One of the most anticipated smartphones this year will be coming from Samsung and the hype has never been this high. The Galaxy S8 has seen numerous speculations and rumours in the past six months and while everyone was expecting the smartphone to make an appearance at the Mobile World Congress this year, the company only left us with a teaser for an ‘Unpacked event’. That is going to take place on 29 March.
The Korean tech giant is under a lot of pressure, ever since it had to deal with faulty batteries on the Galaxy Note 7 last year and eventually kill the device. This year, not only does it have to impress its loyalists but it needs to re-gain customer trust.
Now, let’s just give you all the details that we have gathered over the past few months around the Galaxy S8.
Availability and launch
First things first. Lets talk about when we would actually see the smartphone officially. As mentioned above, the flagship smartphone never made an appearance at MWC, which we expected thanks to a couple of reports. Samsung did however tease us with a short video and announced an Unpacked event dated 29 March. Which means tomorrow we will officially get to see what Samsung has in store for us. If you are interested in the launch, click here to know more on how you can follow the announcement.
The smartphone will not be available immediately as it is expected to hit markets a month later, so somewhere at the end of April is when the smartphone will be available for purchase.
Design and renders
It all started with some rumours where a bunch of sources claimed that Samsung will launch the device with a 4K display, a dual-camera setup and have support for the S-Pen, as the Note 7 was killed. Others suggested that Samsung will ditch the 3.5mm audio jack as well. Then some renders dropped in and eventually we saw the handset in a leaked image by case makers itself. Early renders suggested that Samsung will only have a curved-edged Galaxy S8 and will say goodbye to the flat design. Boo! Samsung will also add the option for users to lower down the resolution to Full-HD and HD resolutions. This would be great to save some juice.
We also saw one extra hardware key which was and is still being speculated to trigger a digital assistant just like Siri or Google Assistant by the name of Bixby. Some sources said Samsung would make the handset bigger this time around in terms of display size which could go as much as 6-inches.
Early leaked images started to drop in where we saw the device with a display covering most of the front and no home or navigation buttons. A few days later we saw yet another leak showing the back of the device which confirmed that Samsung would not indulge in a dual-camera setup and place the fingerprint scanner right next to the camera rather than placing it below. Oh and the 3.5mm headphone jack was still intact.
Right after Samsung’s MWC (Mobile World Congress) press conference we saw famous tipster Evan Blass tweeting an image of what is believed to be the real deal.
We also saw a short glimpse of the handset in hands-on video. The video revealed the UI and both the variants, S8 and S8+ side by side.
So rounding it all up, the smartphone will be similar to the S7 Edge which means a glass and metal finish. It will have a curved display and really slim bezels on the top and bottom. Considering this, Samsung will put a 5.8-inch display but maintain a footprint of a smaller 5.2-5.5-inch device. There is speculation of an S8 Plus which will have the same design but a larger 6.2-inch display. Of course, there will be no hardware navigation keys and we could see on-screen buttons. There is going to be an extra hardware button on the right side which could be used to trigger an AI assistant. Dust and water resistance, yes please. Most importantly, the camera setup will be usual (no dual-lens) but the placement of that fingerprint scanner will be quite odd.
Specifications
Samsung was expected to fully load up the Galaxy S8 to cover up the Note 7 losses. Everything from 4K display to facial recognition scanners and even 8GB of RAM were rumoured. However the biggest news came in when Qualcomm announced its new flagship mobile SoC, the Snapdragon 835. Samsung was said to have exclusive access to the new chip plainly because it helped Qualcomm in perfecting the 10nm processor architecture. What’s more, no other smartphone maker could launch a device with the same chip until the Galaxy S8 hit markets.
As it is with almost all Galaxy S flagships, Samsung is speculated to launch an Exynos SoC variant of the S8. This is even more convincing as the company recently announced its own 10nm Exynos chip. This could be exclusive to Asian markets.
Like we mentioned above, sources suggested that Samsung will go with a larger sized display with 4K resolution. However, we have eventually come down to believe that we will see a 5.8-inchWQHD+ (2,960 x 2,400) resolution Super AMOLED curved display on the Galaxy S8 and a similar 6.2-inch one on the larger Galaxy S8 Plus.
So no 6GB or 8GB RAM, but still quite a healthy package Samsung will have this year.
Camera
With a number of smartphone makers (yes even Apple) going in for a dual-camera setup, Samsung could stick to a regular single lens setup. It will be similar to last year’s flagship with a 12MP sensor and dual-pixel technology, but if rumours are true, the camera on the S8 could feature a 1000 fps capturing capabilities thanks to the embedded DRAM. This means slow-mo videos are going to be a treat. Sony recently showcased something similar with its new flagships, the Xperia XZs and XZ Premium.
At the front we will see a feature that was seen on the Note 7 before it was sent to its grave. It is expected to pack a 3.7MP iris and facial recognition camera. Who doesn’t need added security?
Colours
This needs a special mention. The S8 was seen in multiple leaked images and in a variety of colours. From silver to golden, red to green. We have been quite confused and excited at the same time. We have our bets on the most recent leak though which mentioned three colours, ‘Black Sky’, ‘Orchid Grey’, and ‘Arctic Silver.’
Price
Samsung has slowly progressed and has made its flagship smartphone more premium year on year. This has made Samsung increase its flagship smartphone prices. The good thing though is that usually prices are slashed in a couple of months and weeks of the launch, at least in India. Just yesterday we saw UK based retailer MobileFun giving us an idea as to how much the smartphone would cost. According to the pre-order price, the S8 could cost £799 (Rs 65,000 approx) for the 64GB 5.8-inch version, and £899 for the S8 Plus (Rs 73,000 approx).
To make the deal a bit worthy, a report suggests that the S8 will launch with a 3-month unconditional refund offer. This means a user would be able to use the Galaxy S8 and return in for the refund within three months regardless the condition of the device. The company will not ask any questions or demand any explanations about the return.
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