Moving past a troublesome last year, Samsung took the wraps off its much-awaited flagship devices — Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus a couple weeks ago. And this is not an understatement when I say this, but the Galaxy S8 is possibly the most gorgeous smartphone till date. But, it also seems to be the most fragile smartphone ever because it is covered in glass all-around.
Thus, like every year, Samsung now plans to solve this problem with the release of a rugged iteration of the device — most likely called the Galaxy S8 Active.
Samsung is currently working on the rugged version of its flagship smartphone, which carries the model number SM-G892A and has been codenamed Cruise. The report further suggests that Galaxy S8 Active will most likely be an AT&T exclusive offering. The source of this information, just days post the official launch of the flagship devices, is SamMobile. There’s currently no additional info on the internal specifications or on how the Korean giant plans to make it rugged enough that it is usable even by the military.
As for the lineage of Active smartphones, the Korean giant started the tradition of releasing a tougher and more bulkier version of its flagship S series device for quite some time. It all started out with the Galaxy S4 (no fear of misfortune) and seems to be continuing in the form of Galaxy S8 Active. This is how a Galaxy Sx Active smartphone usually looks like:
But, the dynamics surely have changed with this smartphone as the Galaxy S8 has a 95 percent screen-to-body ratio and we have no info on how Samsung plans to make the outer casing/design rugged. Potentially, Samsung will get rid of the edges and switch to the previous flat-screen design for this iteration. The display will continue to stretch across the front, supporting the minimal bezels on the device — the trademark this time around.
Also because this is the very first Galaxy S series smartphone where the Korean giant has removed the physical home button, thus, it also becomes an interesting point of observation for the Galaxy S8 Active model. The rugged model has always sported three clicky buttons on the front — home, back and recent/menu. But, it will most likely not be the case this year around as Samsung has made a switch to on-screen navigation keys with a physical home button (similar in working to Apple’s Force touch) is hidden under the on-screen home key.
Further, the prominent features of the Active model, combining any and all upgrades from past iterations, are a rugged build with a solid grip, shatter-proof screen, a larger battery (which could be questionable after the Note 7 debacle) and water+dust resistance i.e IP68 resistance.
As for the release of the Galaxy S8 Active, SamMobile suggests that the said models have usually been launched in the month of June and as AT&T exclusives. Thus, we expect Samsung to continue the tradition, though the release of Galaxy S8 was delayed. Currently, for those unaware, Galaxy S8 is breaking records and has already amassed over 750,000 pre-orders — surpassed Galaxy S7.
Thus, it will surely be interesting to see how Samsung plans to integrate rugged elements to the sleek and beautiful aesthetics of the Galaxy S8 device. How do you think Samsung will go about the same? Comment your thoughts down below.
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