-Imagine if the note 7 and the S7 edge hooked up and had a love baby. that offspring would be the Samsung Galaxy S8 +. Without the battery issue of course. At least that’s what they’ve promised us. Without further Ado I give you my initial thoughts and first impressions.
-Included is the Note 7’s iris scanner technology, a minority report esque feature for high tech security.
-Speaking of security, the fingerprint sensor is in a very odd place in my opinion. It is located on the back next to the camera. You can expect smudges on the protective glass, covering the camera lens, while trying to locate the fingerprint scanner.
If ever there was a bells and whistles kind of company.. Samsung’s it. I’m not going to lie, this phone feels great in the hand. I know that’s become a sort of trendy catch phrase for phone reviewers but it’s true.
-Samsung has outdone themselves this time. With the S8+ version you have a 6.2 inch screen that feels smaller than it is, this is most definitely a sight to behold, an amazing design feat no doubt. The same holds true with the smaller of the 2 weighing in at 5.8″ diagonally.
-The fact that both phones have such small footprints, with the screen sizes they have, is a design beauty. They have over an 84% screen to body ratio, with symmetry all around. As far as overall design and aesthetics, in my opinion, this is one sexy phone. (I had touched the S8 screen below as I placed it against the wall, hence the notifications tray and navigation buttons)
-The next category I’d like to give my impressions on is screen quality. As I’ve stated in previous articles this is an area in which Samsung excels in, and is the undisputed heavy weight champion of. The screens on the S8 & S8+ are simply gorgeous. Rocking 2k Quad HD super AMOLED displays with HDR included. HDR, the slight edges and that crazy 2:1 ratio make this what Samsung calls the world’s first “infinity display”. Whatever that means.
-What stands out most with this phone, besides the beautiful display is the display aspect ratio. It’s being called 18:9 or 2 by 1. Put simply it’s twice as tall as it is wide. This is the same as the LG G6. That review is coming shortly if you were wondering. Both the G6 and S8 have HDR screens.
-HDR stands for high dynamic range and it’s been all the hype in the TV industry for the past couple of years or so. If you bought a high end 4K television in 2016 or this year, it’s probable that it will be HDR capable.
-HDR means the display is able to produce a wider range of colors, bringing a truer to life representation of… well… True.. life, and you might hear talk about 10-bit or 12-bit color. Basically it will display magenta, green hues, reds, etc. as it is intended to be viewed. But it’s not only about color. HDR also incorporates higher levels of brightness.
-This display defies the traditional framework of screen tech and trends. Dat bezel though. My God it’s gorgeous. Anyways where was I. Onwards and upwards, we now come to the pressure sensitive psuedo-button that is Incorporated into and part of the screen making it invisible. Which aids in the extreme minimalist bezels drooled over above.
-Located bottom center, this area of the screen essentially gives when you push. Combine that with taptic feedback and neato! (think iPhone 7 home sensor). As I was pushing it today, I thought ‘hey cool parlor trick’, and quickly realized it’s somewhat gimmicky. I then moved on, as we shall do now.
-USB Type C, wireless charging, The same camera sensor as the S7 with enhanced software and processing, all glass design, slightly curved and less pronounced edges, all make a return to this beast of a device. What’s new is the latest Snapdragon 835 Processor (for the states anyways). Combine that with 4gb of RAM and the onboard Adreno 540 graphics processing unit and expandable storage and you’ve got a powerful pocket computer. Speaking of computers.
-Meet the DeX. Samsung’s attempt at what Microsoft did last year with Continuum. In essence place your Galaxy in the dock, hook the dock up to a TV or monitor via HDMI, throw in a mouse and keyboard via the two USB ports on the dock or, DeX, and viola you have a makeshift computer. With onboard fans for cooling the phone. The S8 or S8+ would essentially be acting as the brains, the Tower, as it were. The whole interface reminds me of Chrome OS. Cool idea, we’ll see how it fairs in the upcoming months.
-How all this super high end powerful tech will affect the battery life of these 2 phones, will remain to be seen. The S8 has a 3,000 mAh battery while the S8+ has a 3,500 mAh battery. In today’s age this means nothing.
– Lastly I would like to talk about Bixby… this shot taken from the website…
– This a small look at Samsung’s second attempt at AI… S-voice was horrible, while Bixby seems promising. Imagine looking in your photo gallery, and saying “send this to Mom” and it did! The Bixby hardware button, located on the left, is an interesting design implementation choice. All in all Bixby is potentially an amazing voice assistant. Why you need that on a Google Assistant enabled device is unknown to me… However, I didn’t get to play with it much today, but hopefully it delivers.
-Bixby plans on besting Siri and Google Assistant. Samsung claims that since it is integrated into hardware features like the camera and fingerprint sensor and so on… That the software and hardware work in conjunction to give you a more powerful AI. It will be more immersive and accurate in essence.
-In conclusion my few short hours aren’t warranted enough for a review, as soon as I get my review unit in and get to spend some precious time with it, I’ll drop a few lines. Consider this my first thoughts and impressions. Hopes and dreams alike… The “norms” as Michael Fisher (Mr. Mobile) calls them will be lining their pockets with this phone. But I think the geeks will as well. Included in the box will be 100$ set of AKG earbuds! A Treat for those of you reading this to the end.
A beautifully crafted Uber powered spec’d out, symmetrical, high end-cutting edge Phablet is all any “Phabletguru” truly wants. This has been my first ever hands on impressions article. Made possible by viewers like you.
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