New Release Of Galaxy S8 Now S8+.

Home Button Gone, Introducing - Virtual Assistant.

  Samsung's latest flagship phones have put away the physical home button found in their predecessors and introduced a new virtual assistant.

The screens of the Galaxy S8 and bigger S8+ are also larger despite the devices being about the same size just like last year's S7 and S7 Edge, If you remember.

This time, the two models feature displays that curve round the phones' sides. More like borderless.

After the launch of S8 came Samsung's release of the Note 7, which was recalled twice after fires.

The South Korean firm blamed the problem on battery faults and said it had since put in additional safety measures, including X-ray scans of batteries.

"The Galaxy S8 is surely the most important launch of the last 10 years for Samsung and every aspect will be under the microscope following the Note 7 recall," Said Ben Wood from the CCS tech consultancy.

Another remark "The S8 is a unquestionably a strong product but Samsung must now deliver a faultless launch to move on from its earlier difficulties. If this happens it will emerge in an even stronger position."

The release of Samsung S8 and S8+  is scheduled for April 21 2017.

The S8 is priced at £690 and the S8+ at £780 - While last year's entry prices was £569 for the S7 and £639 for the S7 Edge. What a jump

Samsung was the bestselling handset manufacturer for 2016 as a whole, seconded by Apple, according to market research firm IDC.

Though, Apple only came foward in the final three months.Source: IDC

NEW FEAUTURES

Longer screens

The displays of the S8 and S8+, measuring 5.8in (14.7cm) and 6.2in (15.7cm) respectively, This gives a more stretched aspect ratio (AR) than before, pushing the screens closer to the top and bottom of the handsets.

Because of this, The Samsung's logo no longer features on the front, and the physical home button is replaced with an on-screen icon - just like that of Huawei and LG screen.

There is a pressure sensor and vibration module that have been built into the space behind the new virtual button to provide feedback.

Samsung suggests the displays' 18.5:9 ratio  which makes them better suited to run two apps side by side at the same time.How awesome, Your samsong can now watch a video, use a chat app and still have room for a full touch-keyboard. How cool is that?

The screens are the same resolution as before but are now loking brighter, supports high dynamic range (HDR) playback of videos for extra clarity. hummm.

The S8's body is a kinda narrower than that of the S7, while the S8+'s is a bit wider than the S7 Edge but lighter - Samsung says both new devices can still be used one-handed.

Say Hello To Bixby

The phones Bixby - a virtual assistant based on technology acquired from some of the original developers' of Apple's Siri.

The Bixby helper is activated by a dedicated side-button and you can use voice control for up to built-in apps - including a photo gallery, messages and weather.

It is "context-aware", that is, users can ask follow-up questions and assume it is aware of what is currently displayed.

Samsung said it expected users to mix together voice commands and physical controls - for example asking to see all the photos taken today, then tapping the ones they want, and verbally requesting they be messaged to a friend. That will be great don't you think?

Bixby can also recognise objects seen via the phone's camera. This can be used to identify a landmark, for example, or tell the owner how much a product would cost to buy online.

Bixby works with Google Play Music, and Samsung intends to open it up to other third-party apps in the future but has not said when.

At launch, it is only designed to recognise US and Korean voices. Urh...?

COMMENTS:

"If the Samsung demoe works well in practice, Bixby will be interesting because it offers features absent from Siri and Google Assistant," Said Francisco Jeronimo from IDC.


"The race is on to have the best digital assistant, since that will drive hardware sales.

"But in the past, some of Samsung's features have looked great in presentations, but when you use them on a daily basis they have not been as good."

While Bixby offers new ways to control a phone, it lacks Google Assistant's pre-emptive smarts - it does not interject in chats to suggest places to visit, for example.

However, the search giant's rival artificial intelligence can still be summoned via the home button.

A look At The cameras

There are some improvements over last year's models:

• A more detailed eight megapixel front-camera with faster autofocus

• The rear camera remains 12MP but promises to take photos with improved sharpness and contrast by snapping additional frames from which extra data is extracted

• New processors - the central processing unit (CPU) is said to be 10% more powerful and the graphics processing unit (GPU) 21%. A shift to 10 nanometre-chip technology should also make them more energy efficient

• An iris scanner, allowing "eye-prints" to be used as an ID alternative to fingerprints

• A new Samsung Connect app that can be used to control smart home appliances. Oops

Accessories

Samsung also has a range of accessories including a revamped virtual reality headset that is now accompanied by its own motion-sensing controller, and a second-generation 360-degree camera capable of more detailed images than before. It also offers a new dock that connects the phones to a monitor, keyboard and wireless mouse, allowing them to act as a kind of Android-powered PC.

Although Microsoft has done this in the past, the performance of the S8 makes it a very compelling experience," Said Mr Wood.

"But while I'm impressed with the dock from a technology perspective, the practicality of it for consumers is questionable."

• Galaxy S8: The internet reacts

• First look at Samsung's S8 phones

• Is the S8 Samsung's yet the most important phone?

• Samsung mulls 'exploding' Note 7 relaunch

I'm not sure I share Samsung's bold declaration that the S8 is "a work of art" - but the slimmer handset definitely sits more easily in one hand than its predecessor.- Another Comment.

And once you see the surface, which is nearly all-screen, you wonder why you ever needed a physical home button or any other furniture around it. Lol.....

The tech giant has high hopes for its digital assistant Bixby. What saw was a limited demo model, which only seemed to understand a few predetermined cues such as searching photos and telling you the weather.

The idea of using the camera as Bixby's "eyes"  makes sense - but is it enough to draw people away from the more familiar Google Assistant, which will also be preinstalled along with the hand set, as it is an Android devices?

I'd like to be able to tell you more about the battery life of what I imagine is a power-hungry little device - but Samsung was coy about that. Batteries are still a sensitive subject every where!.

We will keep you posted. lets hang on for the reality come 21st Aprail.

Your tech guy
Innobrightx
Bitclubs editor.