In one of the most detailed and extensive reports on the Galaxy S8 to date, The Guardian has revealed several new rumoured details about Samsung’s upcoming smartphone.
Let’s start with the basics. Corroborating a previous report from Bloomberg, The Guardian reports that the S8 will come in two sizes and will feature a bezel-less, edge-to-edge “infinity” display. The publication then goes on to note three interesting things related to the S8’s display.
Design and display
The first is that the “infinity” screen takes up most of the front of the device, leaving little space for other design elements, including Samsung’s logo, which is reportedly not present on the phone’s front side.
Also missing from the front of the device is a fingerprint scanner. In one of the most interesting revelations from this report, The Guardian says that rather than integrate a fingerprint sensor into the S8’s screen, Samsung has allegedly chosen to place the sensor on the back of the device. The in-screen fingerprint scanner is something less realistic reports have claimed Samsung planned to build into the S8.
Third, The Guardian notes, according to its sources, that the screen protector shared by SamMobile and Twitter user @dfordesign last week is an accurate representation of the device.
Rollover features
Returning features from past Samsung devices include the Note 7’s iris authentication technology, USB-C connectivity, expandable storage via a SD card slot and, in what’s likely to come as good news to many, Samsung hasn’t excised the venerable 3.5mm headphone jack from the device. The phone will feature Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 835 processor — at the expense of other smartphone OEMs.
When it comes to the S7’s excellent back-facing camera, the S8 will only feature incremental improvements upon its predecessor, with low light performance, speed and image quality seeing upgrades. The Guardian says it was able to confirm that the smartphone’s camera will integrate with Samsung’s unreleased Bixby personal assistant to enable image recognition functionality.
One other piece of good news is for anyone that ends up deciding to buy the S8 is that all base models will ship with 64GB of internal storage.
New accessories
Samsung will also launch new versions of its Gear VR headset and Gear 360 camera alongside the device, as well as a dock that turns the smartphone into a replacement desktop machine, again corroborating a past rumour. The Guardian doesn’t provide too many details on how this dock will work, merely noting that the feature will be called “DeX.”
The Guardian claims Samsung will start selling the S8 on April 21st, which verifies speculation that Samsung made a decision to delay the S8’s launch following its troubles with the Note 7. It’s important to keep in mind that launch date could be specific to the U.K., as The Guardian is based in the U.K.
[source]The Guardian[/source]
