Here's all you need to know about the new Galaxy S8, S8+

Samsung ‘unpacked’ the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in New York on Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at a very colorful event. Here in Nigeria, the launch was livestreamed at an Unpacked event which held at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the latest devices in high-end segment of Samsung’s Galaxy line. Both devices will come with 5.8 and 6.2-inch screens respectively, amongst a host of other features.

The biggest feature of the new phones is Samsung’s new infinity display which runs seamlessly from each edge of the devices to the other giving it a bezel-less look. It looks very much like the edge devices Samsung is now famous for but where those devices have sharp edges where the screen meets the aluminum frame, the design of the S8 is more smooth and merges perfectly (at least from what we saw at the launch) with the aluminum frame.

Design is a big part of these new line of phones and Samsung made sure that message was repeated more than enough times at the launch. To accommodate the new design aesthetic (more screen space without making the phone bigger), Samsung has removed its popular home button. As a result, the fingerprint scanner (which Home button also functioned as) has been moved to the back of the phone, beside the camera.

Last year was quite turbulent for Samsung with infamous exploding Note 7 device, so the Korean company has played it safe in the battery department. The S8 maintains a 3000mAh battery, while the S8+ gets a slightly larger 3500mAh battery pack.

ALSO READ: How to fix the most common Samsung Galaxy S7 problems

Both phones have the gorgeous QHD Super AMOLED displays, which Samsung is known for, and resolution is kept equal between the two. The rear camera is the same 12MP shooter with f/1.8 aperture found on the S7 and the front-facing camera is also the same 8MP sensor.

The S8 (and S8+) maintain the IP68 water and dust-proof rating many other Samsung flagships have and the primary button that are usually at the bottom of Samsung devices have been replaced by software (on-screen) versions. The entire Samsung interface has also been redesigned to give simpler-looking app icons.

Another big part of the S8 is Samsung all-new self-built AI assistant called Bixby (Think ’s , ’s and ’s ). Bixby is baked into the phone and is supposed to be able to understand context and basically do everything the Google Assistant you’re currently familiar with does. It even has its own dedicated button on the side of the phone.

The thing with that is, the S8 sports Android 7.0 Nougat (Google’s latest Android OS) which has Google Assistant baked in. Samsung did say that Google was one of its major partners but didn’t specify how two AI assistants that do the same would play out on the new device. If we get to review it, that will be something to focus on.

For those who are fans of the 3.5mm headphone jack, Samsung has not joined bad gang. There’s also expandable storage, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of ROM, an Iris Scanner, a 10nm Snapdragon 835 processor, an always-on display, fast and wireless charging, five colors to choose from, USB Type-C and Samsung Pay (although this may not be available in Nigeria).

The phone will go on sale in ‘first tier’ markets from April 21 and the Samsung reps said it will go on sale in Nigeria sometime around the end of May. Watch out for a possible review here on Pulse Tech.