Google Play Music launched a new feature for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus over the weekend, with numerous owners of Samsung’s latest flagship duo reporting the existence of a functionality called New Release Radio. The service was designed to automatically generate and serve personalized playlists based on preferences and listening history of users. Unlike many apps on the Google Play Store that boast a similar functionality, New Release Radio is updated on a daily basis and like its name suggests, it’s exclusively focused on newest releases. As such, the service can help users discover new music on a frequent basis without ever exposing them to songs and albums that they were already presented with.
New Release Radio is yet another result of Google and Samsung‘s partnership that was announced in late April with the launch of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. Not only is Google’s streaming service the default music player on Samsung’s new high-end devices but their owners are eligible for a three-month subscription at no cost and can also upload 100,000 of their songs to the cloud, twice as much than what the company is usually offering. While neither Samsung nor Google specifically stated this to date, it’s understood that New Release Radio will eventually be available for all Android smartphones and tablets running some future build of Google Play Music, as it’s unlikely that Google will keep other consumers from using the feature in a few years when the Galaxy S8 lineup isn’t as popular as it is today. Alternatively, New Release Radio could continue existing as an exclusive feature of Galaxy-branded devices going forward.
Owners of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus who still can’t access New Release Radio may want to check if their app was updated in the last few days, though the functionality itself was seemingly delivered through a server-side switch. Samsung and Google are currently also collaborating on another front, with the Galaxy S8 series being scheduled to receive Daydream support in the next few months and the Galaxy Note 8 possibly shipping with the same functionality out of the box. An update on the companies and their product endeavors will likely follow in the coming weeks.
