Is Samsung’s Galaxy S8 smartphone the game changer we were waiting for?

Yesterday, Samsung took a step towards forgetting the Note 7 fiasco by unveiling the brand new Galaxy S8 smartphone at a glittering ceremony in New York.

The new phones — Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus — incorporates the virtual assistant Bixby and are being hailed as starting a ‘new era of smartphone design.’

This is an important phone for Samsung as it is the first major release since the troubled Note 7s, which used to catch fire from overheating batteries.

Here are some of the salient features of the phone that were highlighted at the launch.

Bixby

The two handsets, fitted with screens of 5.8 and 6.2 inches, include Samsung’s upgraded digital assistant Bixby. It will compete directly with other AI assistants including Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

Bixby is expected to provide users with ‘more and more personalized help’ using voice commands to navigate apps and services.

Disappearing home button

Samsung has cut the physical home button, with navigation all done by touch. This difference is barely noticeable, but might be off putting to some, reported Financial Times.

Camera

Selife lovers will have plenty of reasons to be happy with the new S8. This is because the front camera comes with an 8megapixel camera. It also boasts of an auto-focus feature that will make your pictures even better. The rear camera is of 12megapixel quality.

Iris scan

If you are obsessed with your phone’s security, then the S8 offers the ultimate form of securing your phone — face and iris scans. The phone makes use of a facial recognition feature that lets you unlock your phone by looking into the screen.

Although the company has not officially announced when the phones will be available in Qatar or the pricing, it is expected to ship soon. Are you excited for the new Samsung S8 phones?