By AFTER severe setback last year following the crisis of its smartphone, Galaxy S7, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, has shock the entire mobile device market with the introduction of an Artificial Intelligence smartphone, Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone.
The latest device launch which signalled the retaking of its market leadership it lost to Apple Incorporated was unveiled yesterday in New York City, and viewed life in Lagos, Nigeria by a select group of technology journalist, which included top celebrities entertainers, Banky W and Seyi law as well as publisher of Today’s Woman, Adesuwa Onyenokwe.
The Galaxy S8 enters the market bubbling with of a 6.2-inch (15.75 cm) and 5.8-inch curved screens- the largest to date for Samsung’s premium smartphones.
The South Korean technology company’s latest device has the largest wrap-around screens ever made, and with two versions of the Galaxy S8, code-named Dream internally.
Expected to go on sale on April 21 in New York and early May in Nigeria, the S8 features Samsung’s new artificial intelligence service, Bixby, with functions including a voice-commanded assistant system.
There is also a new facial recognition application that lets users unlock their phones by looking at them and also boast of a new voice assistant and larger display.
The device two models comes with different screen sizes – the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus as well as some of the key features such as the “infinity display”, giving the device a bezel-less curved edge and a 12 megapixel back camera.
The South Korean electronics giant also unveiled a new feature called Dex. It’s a device that users can dock a Galaxy S8 on, then plug into a monitor or TV, effectively turning it into a PC. It runs a version of Google’s Android operating system optimised for a larger screen. Samsung also said several apps such as Google’s YouTube were optimised for the bigger screen.
Samsung also used its launch event to unveil a new Gear 360 camera which allows users to film 360-degree video and broadcast this to sites such as YouTube or Facebook. It’s the firm’s second generation version of the device, as it pushes further into virtual reality and keep users locked into Samsung’s ecosystem of devices.
More exciting about this flagship smartphone from the Korean phone maker giant company is its slim design and barely-there bezels to its eye-catching display and biometric security features, this is undoubtedly one of the best smartphones money can buy right now.
The new device has an all-glass body, and is slim and long compared to most modern smartphones, designed to be held in one hand while the physical Home button has been removed, and replaced with a pressure-sensitive panel placed underneath the screen, so that the front of the device is a sheer pane of glass.
The fingerprint reader is now located on the back of the phone, next to the camera module, and is designed to be used with an index finger rather than a thumb. The phone also supports iris scanning for added security.
The Galaxy S8 boasts the industry’s first 10nm chip, which Samsung claims enable heightened speed and efficiency. It also contains 6GB RAM and 64GB of in-built storage, expandable up to 256GB with a MicroSD card.
The Galaxy S8 is also the world’s first mobile device certified by the UHD Alliance as “Mobile HDR Premium”, meaning it lets you see the vibrant colours and contrasts that filmmakers intended while watching your favourite shows.
Shortly before the unveiling of the device, the company’s mobile chief D.J. Koh said: “We must be bold enough to step into the unknown and humble enough to learn from our mistakes”, acknowledging that it had been a challenging year for Samsung.
