Now that the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are out and many people are picking them up to upgrade, Samsung has opted to open source the kernel for the Exynos model of the devices. So those that have the Exynos version of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus (those sold outside of the US), you should start seeing some development for your device beginning soon. Typically the Exynos models of Samsung’s flagships don’t see much development because the device doesn’t have anything open sourced, but that’s not the case this time around.
Users may be wondering what this means for them, well with the kernels being open sourced, it means that developers are able to build more stable kernels and custom ROMs to flash onto your smartphone, which is always a good thing. So this means very little for everyday users, especially those that won’t be flashing anything onto their smartphone or tinkering with it really, but for developers this is big news. Developers are able to grab the necessary files from Samsung’s open source website using the link in the source section below.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus has been receiving rave reviews since it started landing in people’s hands last week. Not only are tech reviewers impressed by what Samsung has put together here, but everyday consumers are very impressed with what Samsung put out this time around. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus beat the pre-order records set by the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge last year, by about 30%. And that’s no small margin, of course a big factor in that is likely the fact that the Galaxy Note 7 was killed off so soon after release, forcing users to buy the Galaxy S7 or wait for the Galaxy S8, and it seems like a big number of people decided to do just that. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus both sport much larger displays, but in the same size bodies as last year’s smartphones, thanks to smaller bezels and opting for a 18.5:9 aspect ratio instead of the usual 16:9 aspect ratio that most smartphones use for their displays currently.