Home Technology Samsung Galaxy S8 unpacked event: What to expect and how to watch

Samsung Galaxy S8 unpacked event: What to expect and how to watch

Here finally is the ‘Unbox your phone’ moment that tech enthusiasts the world over have been keenly waiting for. Within hours from now, Samsung would be unveiling its year 2017 flagship device – the Galaxy S8, and Galaxy S8+.

The Galaxy S8 has come on the back of the infamous Note 7 debacle has added even more importance to the event. So apart from the usual flagship role, the S8 will also have to restore consumer confidence in the Samsung brand once again.

The press event starts 11 a.m. ET at the David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center at New York. There is going to be a separate press conference at Here East, London at 4 p.m. BST to unveil the handset simultaneously on the other side of the Atlantic.

Others elsewhere around the world will be able to catch up with the proceedings thanks to the Galaxy Unpacked event site that will be streaming it all live. Similarly, the official Samsung Mobile channel at YouTube will also be live streaming the event.

Then there also are apps made available at the Apple and Android app stores to offer more details on the upcoming handsets.

However, with everything set to go, the big question doing the rounds is whether the S8 will be able to live to the hype. That again is something that only time can answer for sure though things do look promising from all that we have known of the upcoming device.

For instance, the S8 will be featuring a bezel-less display thanks to the curved layout of the screen that technically rules out the bezel as we know of it. The display size too seems to have undergone some changes as the standard S8 is touted to come with a 5.8-inch display while its plus sized sibling would have 6.2-inches of the 2K SAMOLED goodness.

Also, gone will be the home button as well, which for the first time would be accommodated at the rear. The same applies to the fingerprint sensor though the rear won’t be featuring a dual lens camera, another feature that has assumed a must-have status among flagship smartphones off late. Instead, it’s going to be the 12MP dual pixel camera that first was introduced in the S7. The front would benefit from an 8MP camera on both the models.

Powering the device would be the latest SD 835/Exynos chip backed up by 4 GB RAM and 128 GB ROM. A 3000 mAh battery would be providing life to the S8 while the bigger S8+ will come with a 3500 mAh battery pack.

The hardware specs aside, another stand-out feature of the new S8 series will be Samsung’s very own AI-powered Bixby voice assistant. In fact, so eager the company is to highlight the new Bixby that it has the support of a dedicated hardware button as well.

Samsung stated the new Bixby would evolve into a smart assistant over time and will allow all supported apps to be controlled entirely via voice commands. How proficient Bixby turns out to be remains to be seen though Samsung does seem confident at the moment.

Meanwhile, it is going to be Android Nougat that would be running the show on both the S8 and S8+ though both will have the company’s TouchWiz interface running on top.