Samsung fans, rejoice! Finally, the much-awaited Samsung flagship devices — Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are here in India. First unveiled on March 29th, both the devices have received unprecedented attention, apparent through their pre-order sales in Korea and the U.S. India being the third-next crucial market for the Korean giant will further decide the fate of these devices, which have launched today at a press event in New Delhi.
Both Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus come with the very intriguing ‘Infinity display‘, giving you a massive 95 percent screen to body ratio i.e, 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Both devices feature industry-first 10nm processors, meaning its in-house Exynos chip, with support for Gigabit LTE. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC variants will only be available in select regions including the U.S.
Galaxy S8 as well as the Plus model, both pack 4GB of RAM and come with 64GB inbuilt storage while also supporting expandable storage via microSD card up to 256GB. Both of these gorgeous devices support Samsung Pay (launched earlier last month in India), with NFC and MST connectivity.
On the camera front, Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are equipped with an advanced 8MP F1.7 Smart autofocus front camera and 12MP F1.7 Dual Pixel rear camera with impressive low-light, zoom, and anti-blur photos with enhanced image processing. These cameras offer various modes for excellent pictures such as Pro mode, Panorama, Slow motion, Hyperlapse, Food mode, RAW file mode; some of them being already present in Apple iPhone. In addition, the cameras also feature power saving capabilities along with AI assistant Bixby‘s image recognition capabilities.
Though both handsets feature quite similar hardware and software specs, they differ in terms of their screen sizes and battery specs. Galaxy S8 comes with a 5.8-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED display powered by a 3,000mAh battery while the S8 Plus features a 6.2-inch screen with a 3,500mAh battery. Hence, the difference in the prices announced by Samsung seems to be justified.
While Samsung Galaxy S8 will cost you around ₹57,90o, the Plus model with a bigger screen and battery will come with a price tag of ₹64,900. Starting from today, you can pre-order the phones on Flipkart. However, Samsung will start shipping by May 5th only.
Both Galaxy S8 and S8+ offer a wide selection of biometric technologies including iris scanner, facial recognition, and regular PIN or pattern lock. A fingerprint scanner has also been embedded in the back panel next to the camera, adding to its bezel-less smartphone experience.
The sensors on board include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, barometer, gyroscope, heart rate sensor, magnetometer, and proximity sensor as well. Calling on the connectivity features, these handsets offer 4G LTE (Cat. 16), Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4GHz, 5GHz), Bluetooth v5.0, USB Type-C, NFC, and GPS. Although USB Type-C support is available on the flagships, both devices support wireless charging packed with fast charging technology.
Scheduled for a launch in May, Bixby’s Voice function will integrate with several Samsung native apps and features including Camera, Contacts, Gallery, Messages and Settings, with the plan to expand its capabilities to include more Samsung and third-party apps in the near future. Contextual awareness capabilities enable Bixby to offer personalized help based on what it continues to learn about the user’s interests, situation, and location.
