All We Know About the Samsung S8

The new Samsung S8 and S8+ are here and we are excited to let you know all the things that we know, the good and the bad.

The Good

Infinity Display

Amongst rumours of the disappearing home buttons for the iPhone, Samsung has gone right ahead and done it. The infinity display has been one of the biggest bragging features for the S8 and S8+. Keeping the rounded edges, Samsung has kept their iconic screen, but just given more for users to enjoy. Watching videos on YouTube just got a whole lot better!

Disappearing Home Button

The new infinity display has hidden the Home Button under the surface of the screen to allow for more overall screen space. There is a built in sensor underneath the screen that provides a tactile, vibrating response. While many people worried about how effectively this would work, so far the reviews are all positive. Looks like Samsung pulled off this transition well!

Bixby

In response to Siri, Samsung has created Bixby – the artificially intelligent voice assistant. Bixby should increase efficiency when working with your phone, but it will do so much more than we originally thought. Bixby knows your phone’s apps and is even worked into your gallery and camera. Tap the icon while using your camera and it can recognize QR codes, translate and even identify landmarks. Imagine being able to open up your camera and knowing exactly where to buy that item you have been looking for, now you can.

It is also able to pull information from your apps and display the things that are most important to you. Whether it is upcoming events, weather, recent events and more. This way you are able to do more from only one screen.

Source: http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/apps/bixby/

10nm Processor

We won’t get over technical with you here, but the new processor in the Samsung S8 packs a punch. This will improve the performance of your phone dramatically as well as make it more efficient without using any more of your precious storage. This is one area where Samsung still stands out as an industry leader.

The Bad

Facial Recognition

While Samsung has been striving to make their phones more secure, with multiple security features that allow the user to customize their preferred settings, they have had one serious mis-step. The S8’s facial recognition software is able to learn and detect your facial features and automatically unlocking your phone once your face has been detected, however this features isn’t as secure as we initially thought. Turns out that this advanced security feature can actually be fooled by a picture of it’s user. A full screen selfie was enough to unlock the S8 and access the information on the phone, including personal emails, pictures and contacts.

While using facial recognition, users should just be aware that double authentication should probably still be used to ensure the security of your personal data.

Fingerprint Reader

With the removal of a traditional Home Button, Samsung has moved one of it’s main security features onto the back of the phone. The biggest problem with this move is the location of the new button. Located directly next to the camera on the back of the phone, users will likely be dealing with an icky camera lens and blurry photos if they forget to give it a quick clean before snapping a photo.

Nothing is worse that breaking or damaging a brand new phone. If you ever have a problem, bring it into Fix My Touch and we can get you fixed up and out the door in no time!