AT&T on Monday finally announced the Galaxy S8 Active, Samsung’s new revision of the Galaxy S8 that’s been the subject of a variety of reports and leaks in recent months. The Dallas, Texas-based wireless carrier itself accidentally confirmed the existence of the handset last week and has now officially detailed the flagship that will be available for pre-orders tomorrow, August 8. AT&T will be the exclusive retailer of the Galaxy S8 Active that’s set to be offered in two colors – Titanium Gold and Meteor Gray. The newly announced pre-order period for the device is a relatively short one, with the second largest mobile service provider in the United States revealing that the handset will hit the shelves on Friday, August 11. All of the deals that the company is already offering for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus also apply to the Galaxy S8 Active, AT&T confirmed.
Consumers will be able to purchase the Galaxy S8 Active for $28.34 per month by signing up for a 30-month AT&T Next plan, the company said, which should also mean that the handset will be available for an upfront fee of $850. The device comes with a pre-installed version of the DIRECTV NOW mobile app and buying one also makes you eligible for a number of discounts, including a $500 price cut off of a Samsung TV that you purchase alongside a DIRECTV NOW account. The Galaxy S8 Active boasts a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED panel with the same 18.5:9 aspect ratio found on its predecessor, but without the curved edges. The handset is wrapped in a metal body that’s certified in accordance with the MIL-STD-810G military standard, guaranteeing a high degree of resistant to shock and mechanical damage, in addition to boasting IP68 certification for dust and water resistance.
The Galaxy S8 Active is powered by the Qualcomm-made Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC) and 4GB of RAM, features 64GB of expandable flash storage, and comes with a physical Bixby button that has seemingly replaced the regular Active button found on previous Active-branded revisions of Samsung’s flagships. Its camera modules are also the same as the ones found on the Galaxy S8, with the rear one being of the 12-megapixel variety and the front one featuring an 8-megapixel sensor, both of which have an aperture of f/1.7. If previous smartphones from this lineup are any indication, it’s unlikely that the Galaxy S8 Active will ever officially launch in any other market or through a different U.S. carrier.
