Samsung’s Galaxy S8 has a big screen, Bixby, and more. This is a device which is packed full of awesome hardware specifications and a great design, as well as some really great features that will make this a standout device. Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus earlier today and along with that announcement came all of the details you could ever hope to know for the company’s latest flagship devices. While Bixby is one of the leading new features that will get consumers excited, Samsung has a new design here that will surely be striking enough to capture the attention of those who may not have given Samsung a second thought before now. That’s all thanks to the big screen with a smaller footprint for the phone body so the device is still pocketable, and the lack of a physical home button which has helped to allow for all that screen space.
Design aside, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus will both have the Bixby digital assistant. This isn’t just a Google Assistant clone as it carries its own unique features that will make it special. Bixby is contextually aware so it will know at what stage of use you are when in a Bixby-enabled app, this way it can take over for you where you left off if you simply want to stop using the normal means of interaction, like the touch screen, and jump to using your voice instead. Bixby-enabled apps will also be able to complete nearly any task through Bixby that you could do with the touch screen so you won’t be limited to just a few things.
In addition to Bixby, Samsung is using some other nifty software on these two devices – facial recognition. Yes, you’ll be able to unlock your device using facial recognition software alongside all of the other options like PIN, passwords, patterns, fingerprints, and the iris scanner, allowing you a multitude of ways to unlock your device. Samsung is also incorporating some pretty great camera software into these two phones. Though Samsung has been known for a really good camera on last year’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, they’re stepping things up a notch this year with the Galaxy S8 series as they’ll have the ability to shoot in RAW mode and a new feature to add Augmented Reality effects on top of your images as you shoot. For those that need a little more productivity out of their smartphone, Samsung’s DeX feature is going to be a huge benefit. While you will still need the additional DeX hardware dock for this to work, with this you can dock your phone and bring up some desktop-like capabilities with access to some apps like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop. These are all just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything the Galaxy and Galaxy S8 Plus will offer, but they’re also some of the best features.