Brands
Samsung has finally
released its latest flagship phones, the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and larger 6.2-inch
Galaxy S8+, marking the end of an embarrassing era for the brand after last
year’s Note 7 problems with burning batteries.
Among the highlights of
the new products is Samsung’s Infinity Display, a curved screen that takes up
nearly the entire front face of the phone. Along with a highly-touted display,
both phones also come equipped with iris and facial recognition software for
added security beyond the phone’s fingerprint and password protections. While
the rear camera is staying pretty similar to what was in the Galaxy S7, the
front-facing one has been upgraded to 8 megapixels. The phone will be released
globally in five colors, however, only three—black, gray and silver—will be
released in the U.S.
The phones, announced
today, will be available for pre-order on March 30 before going on sale on
April 21.
“When most people think
smartphone, they think cell phones,” DJ Kohn, president of Samsung’s mobile
communications business, said at the launch event in New York. “We think this
view is too narrow.”
Both phones come equipped
with iris and facial recognition software for added security.
In addition to the
hardware specs, the Galaxy S8 will also be the first phone with Samsung’s Bixby
artificial intelligence assistant. Like other AI interfaces such as Apple’s
Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, Bixby will be able to take commands by voice, however
it will also be able to interact via text and touch. According to Samsung,
Bixby will be able to remember context to help personalize itself for users.
The particularly notable
feature for marketers might be Bixby’s visual recognition software, which
allows the phone’s camera to detect anything from landmarks and languages to
wines and other objects. Through partnerships with Google Translate, Bixby will
be able to translate words in photos from 52 languages, while a partnership
with Amazon will let users take photos of products then directly purchase them
from the online retailer. Samsung is also partnering with Pinterest to take
photos to find similar products. Another partnership, through FourSquare, helps
to identify landmarks and other places.
In addition to the phones,
Samsung also announced its next virtual reality headset, which comes equipped
with a motion-sensing remote control that allows for more interaction with the
games and movies available through Gear VR. The addition of the remote also
catches Samsung up to Google’s View headset that debuted with a remote control
when it launched last fall.
Samsung is also ready to
debut the next version of its Gear 360 camera less than a year after the first
one debuted. Samsung has been betting increasingly on 360-degree content
creation, partnering with filmmaker and YouTube Casey Neistat which included a
video of Neistat teaching model Karlie Kloss how to shoot in 360 around New
York during New York Fashion Week.
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