Samsung Unveils Galaxy S8 and S8+ With Iris and Facial Recognition, No Home Button

[HickDead]

I believe that a lot of iphone users will switch to s8 this year.

And a few months later they'll switch back. It happens every time.
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Sahmesung have been lucky to have something as awesome as the iPhone to blatantly copy all these years.

In all fairness, Samsung has been way more innovative than Apple when it comes to smartphones.

All the "new" changes to the iPhone 8 (or whatever it's going to be called) has been implemented by Samsung for a few years now.

But I guess it doesn't become talked about until Apple does it, right?

 

[DamoTheBrave]

It seems highly coincidental that all of the rumours we have been reading about for 12+ months are pretty much what Samsung are releasing. Like they tried to pre-empt the release so they could be first.

 

[pika2000]

In all fairness, Samsung has been way more innovative than Apple when it comes to smartphones.

All the "new" changes to the iPhone 8 (or whatever it's going to be called) has been implemented by Samsung for a few years now.

But I guess it doesn't become talked about until Apple does it, right?

Innovative? Samsung? LOL.
Curved corner screen, LG got it first.
Bezel-less, Sharp did it, and Xiaomi even did it already.
Bixby? Samsung bought it. They tried with S-voice, but nobody used it.

Now, Samsung made great chips, great OLED screen, great and fast SSD, I give you that. But "innovative" in the context of a phone? Laughable. Do they have aggressive marketing to make people think they are innovative? Absolutely.

 

[HickDead]

i wish the screen didn't have those rounded corners but this s8 ****z on any iphone in terms of design. iphone looks dated as hell.

Lots of phones look better than the iPhone in terms of design - but when you factor in the OS, that's where the iPhone shines and other Android phone makers fall flat.

 

[HiRez]

Am I the only? I find the new samsung Ugly! Do not like how that screen looks at all.

I don't think it's ugly, but I don't get all the drooling over it either. It looks...OK. Personally I don't really like rounded edges on the screen, nor the rounded off screen corners, I prefer a "perfect flat rectangle" for the screen (I don't like curved tvs either). I like the longer aspect ratio for movies, although it will be worse for other things (now you'll have pillar-boxed 16:9 tv content).

I suspect the iPhone 8 won't blow me away with its design either. Since it's all heading towards being pretty much all screen, there's not a whole lot left you can do once the bezels are gone. It's all about the screen and the software. I do really want an OLED screen though. As nice as Apple's phone screens are, LED can never match OLED black levels, it makes a huge difference.

 

[Jsameds]

Headline should be updated to include the fact that this phone still has a headphone jack for customer convenience. Courage !

They're simply letting Apple do all the hard work.

Once the transition to wireless is complete just watch Sammy copy.

 

[kis]

I believe that a lot of iphone users will switch to s8 this year.

Only to switch back to the iPhone 8, should there actually be enough stock to satisfy basic demand, that is. But who cares - it's a win-win situation. Samsung sells a lot of phones, then Apple sells a lot of phones.

 

[sofila]

Samsung's main competitor is probably Xiaomi. But, I think the real threat to Samsung is Lenovo. They own Motorola and have a decently strong foothold in the west, unlike Xiaomi and Huawei. In addition, their approach is to compliment Android with their software, whereas Samsung is dead set on supplementing Android's UI. I've acknowledged the beauty of Samsung phones, but only Motorola and their UI has tempted me to switch from Apple.

Exactly, no duplicated apps, just a few useful add-ons. The chance to personally customize the voice command for waking up the phone is PRICELESS (for me....)

 

[McCool71]

It seems highly coincidental that all of the rumours we have been reading about for 12+ months are pretty much what Samsung are releasing. Like they tried to pre-empt the release so they could be first.

Yeah, because those rumors are all original and groundbreaking new stuff that only Apple can think of instead of being a natural development of features that anyone with half a brain can come up with when thinking about what might come next...

 

[kis]

They're simply letting Apple do all the hard work.

Once the transition to wireless is complete just watch Sammy copy.

In all fairness, Samsung supports not one but two wireless streaming connections at the same time on the S8. It's not like they're going headphone jack and ignore wireless headphones. I fail to see how leaving away a feature is innovation, especially if the result has been around for years. In this case, it's merely about choice - people still have a lot of wired headphones around (some very expensive ones in many cases) - Samsung gives you the choice to keep using them without investing in additional hardware.

Apple also isn't going all-wireless here - instead they simply want to sell you dongles to use standard headphones. Or buy their brain-frying AirPods. Last time I checked, every iPhone sold came with wired headphones included - they just now have proprietary hardware built in that forces customers to buy additional crap from Apple.

 

[McCool71]

Innovative? Samsung? LOL.
Curved corner screen, LG got it first.
Bezel-less, Sharp did it, and Xiaomi even did it already.
Bixby? Samsung bought it. They tried with S-voice, but nobody used it.

You are going to have a field day when the next iPhone arrives

I can't remember a single thing iPhones have introduced the last few years that hadn't already been available on other devices in a very similar shape or form.

 

[Floris]

Finally a damn fantastic looking Android powered phone.

 

[pika2000]

You are going to have a field day when the next iPhone arrives

I can't remember a single thing iPhones have introduced the last few years that hadn't already been available on other devices in a very similar shape or form.

Where did I say Apple is innovative?

 

[kis]

You are going to have a field day when the next iPhone arrives

I can't remember a single thing iPhones have introduced the last few years that hadn't already been available on other devices in a very similar shape or form.

Indeed:

Siri? Apple bought that and failed to develop it into anything useful
Widgets? Apple blatantly copied that (Konfabulator anyone?) and failed to develop it into anything useful
Night Shift? Been on Android for months and found in other apps for years (F.lux, for example)
Beats? Apple bought that with dubious results

etc. etc. etc. Here you can find a comprehensive list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple

 

[thasan]

You are going to have a field day when the next iPhone arrives

I can't remember a single thing iPhones have introduced the last few years that hadn't already been available on other devices in a very similar shape or form.

Secure Touch ID ..... ? But I guess that's about it.
I quite like the dual camera mode and two tone flash but I think it was around before Apple implemented it.

 

[9081094]

Some new Kia's and Hyundai's also look better than BMWs or Audi's, but I would still take BMW or Audi over any of them.

Samsung created a nice phone, only because they keep changing the designs every year. The only reasons that the new S8 looks impressive is that Apple's iPhone is using 3 years old design. Spec and performance wise, it is just another year and another bump in the android world - nothing more. It is typical that Android gets newer tech earlier, but usually it is there for bragging rights, not to make peoples life easier or better.

Since iPhone 7 is such a beast performance wise, I would not be surprised if it was even or better in many benchmarks against S8. Time will tell.

Also, I remember when people complained when Apple released 5 and people complained that it was just taller 4S with another row of icons. Fast forward 5 years and now Samsung just did the same thing and all of sudden people get excited about such a tall phone. it crazy how times change.

I wish i could agree with you, but i can't. Samsung just delivered what the iPhone 8 should have been and more. The car comparison doesn't hold up and is another way to deny how far ahead the competition really is.
Maybe the 7 plus is faster, maybe not... it's tenths of seconds... in real life you won't even notice.

 

[jpine]

Never again. I know that many like their Samsung phone. I'll even admit my experience with the 7S is a fluke. But the 7S is the worst piece of tech I've ever owned, and I'm 57 years old. Apps randomly launch or apps will close during usage. Battery life is about 3 hours if I need to use the Google maps. Take the thing off the charger, let it sit idle (no calls, texts, running of app, bluetooth off), and the battery will be dead in less than a day. Tech support's indifference was astonishing. Decent camera (for a phone) and really good display. So no, the S8 is not something I can get excited about.

 

[9081094]

Galaxy S8 series is more for the business and advanced users while iPhone offers a more basic experience for the average user.

Samsung really putting the bar extreme high for Apple. Imo, it's done for Apple

 

[mi7chy]

Lots of phones look better than the iPhone in terms of design - but when you factor in the OS, that's where the iPhone shines and other Android phone makers fall flat.

That's very debatable. iOS feels like an OS with training wheels due to the fact that it's still missing useful along with basic features others have had for years. As stripped down as it is it's not as reliable either as far as uptime.

 

[44267547]

Innovative? Samsung? LOL.
Curved corner screen, LG got it first.
Bezel-less, Sharp did it, and Xiaomi even did it already.
Bixby? Samsung bought it. They tried with S-voice, but nobody used it.

Now, Samsung made great chips, great OLED screen, great and fast SSD, I give you that. But "innovative" in the context of a phone? Laughable. Do they have aggressive marketing to make people think they are innovative? Absolutely.

I think what @HickDead is saying that Samsung has already released technology that Apple is planning on releasing, when Apple has used the same physical design for over three years now with LED. It's not to say that one for manufacture does things better than the other, because they both have their advantages and disadvantages. But Samsung has already introduced OLED, curved display, reduce bezels, integrated home button, etc. Point is, Samsung doesn't necessarily do things better, I think they just are a step ahead of Apple and it's not much of a secret. But that doesn't mean that Apple doesn't do things "Different."


And truthfully from the marketing standpoint, I don't think Samsung is nearly as aggressive marketing their devices as much as Apple does. I would say Samsung focus is more of marketing their TVs then they do their phones. At least in terms of what you see in the media and posted through various tech websites. I believe Apple spends the most on their marketing. I Can't recall exactly when I read this, but Apple was leading in expenditure with marketing the iPhone over any other manufacture.

 

[kis]

Never again. I know that many like their Samsung phone. I'll even admit my experience with the 7S is a fluke. But the 7S is the worst piece of tech I've ever owned, and I'm 57 years old. Apps randomly launch or apps will close during usage. Battery life is about 3 hours if I need to use the Google maps. Take the thing off the charger, let it sit idle (no calls, texts, running of app, bluetooth off), and the battery will be dead in less than a day. Tech support's indifference was astonishing. Decent camera (for a phone) and really good display. So no, the S8 is not something I can get excited about.

Not sure what this has to do with age, but honestly: have you considered getting it repaired under warranty (as in dropping it off and get it sent in?? This is NOT normal behaviour. My S7 EDGE that I use for work has better battery life than my 7 Plus and it's as stable as it comes, no issues whatsoever. It's a fluke - but why put up with it? They will fix this

 

[Shanghaichica]

I think now on android you can sync with your devices far better. I mean samsung flow is great to do things on your phone then do it on your tablet for example.

there are back up apps where you can get all your info from your old phone to your new one like with icloud. So stuff like that has come a long way.

if you don't use imessage then really there isn't a huge reason to stay unless you simply have alot of apple devices and don't want to switch.

Samsung has their own cloud service now and it was ok when I used it with the S7 edge. I was able to back up my stuff (similar to iCloud) and restore from back up and it worked. It has probably gotten better now as it had just come out when I used it.

 

[thekeyring]

Why does everyone care how profitable their vendor is?

You are the one paying for those high margins and lack of innovation, after all.

Would you hire a plumber that way?

"This guy charges double and wears a $20,000 watch, but installs second-rate toilets. He is very successful so I gave him all our money." If that is your approach, PM me your number any time you need home improvement work done.

How about the vendor that spends every last dollar trying to make a better product, so they have nothing left over at the end and are barely still solvent? And the product does more and costs less?

Just thinking out loud here.

I don't see it that way. I see iPhones as the best phone you can buy, or I'd buy a different phone. Especially as I'm supporting - to use your analogy 'the plumber who invented the toilet'.

 

[9081094]

Innovative? Samsung? LOL.
Curved corner screen, LG got it first.
Bezel-less, Sharp did it, and Xiaomi even did it already.
Bixby? Samsung bought it. They tried with S-voice, but nobody used it.

Now, Samsung made great chips, great OLED screen, great and fast SSD, I give you that. But "innovative" in the context of a phone? Laughable. Do they have aggressive marketing to make people think they are innovative? Absolutely.

And Siri? Apple bought that too, years ago and it still doesn't do much more after all those years. What did Apple really make the last four years? Everybody is leapfrogging Apple these days. Wake up.

 

[UltimaKilo]

And a few months later they'll switch back. It happens every time.
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In all fairness, Samsung has been way more innovative than Apple when it comes to smartphones.

All the "new" changes to the iPhone 8 (or whatever it's going to be called) has been implemented by Samsung for a few years now.

But I guess it doesn't become talked about until Apple does it, right?

It's all about who does it better, not first. Apple was not the first media player, yet the iPod cornered the market, nor were they the first smartphone or wearable, yet they lead in both those product segments as well. Heck, you can even argue they weren't first to the headset game, but by acquisition, now lead the market in sales by a long shot.

Are they behind on their TV, PC and services offerings? Yes, but not by far on services and TV streaming device market still has a lot of room for growth.

This phone released today is gorgeous, but innovation now will come more in the form of software and not hardware. Not to say that this screen isn't great, but that you should look more towards June and the iOS11 preview for innovation that simply to hardware alone. A bigger screen is not innovative.