Today’s the main event for Samsung. It’s been well over a year since the company unveiled its last flagship and, well, a lot has happened to the company in the interim. After several months of recalls and some bizarre executive scandals, this is the moment where the company needs to dust itself off and show the world what helped make it such a smartphone powerhouse in the first place.
From the looks of the leaks over the past few months, there’s not likely to be much in the way of surprises — at least so far as the Galaxy S8 and (its rumored bigger sibling) the Galaxy S8+ are concerned. Since Mobile World Congress in February, we’ve seen leaked shots of the handset from all angles, spec sheets and some quick videos.
The handset looks to take the company a step closer to its dream of edge to edge displays, even going so far as ditching the physical home button in the process. And the company has already offered up a fair bit of information on its forthcoming Bixby smart assistant, which enters a crowded market with a few cool tricks.
But Samsung’s never been one to focus on a single product. The company likely has plenty more up its sleeve at today’s event, particularly given how much good will it’s looking to engender among a wary public that’s gotten used to hearing its name over pre-boarding announcements.
We’ll be following along live right here, starting at 8AM on the West Coast and 11AM out east. Stay tuned.
Samsung staff members are standing up now with S8 units for demo. Of course, we’ve already spent some time with the device. You can read all about it here: https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/29/samsung-galaxy-s8-reveal/ It’s a compelling new phone from the company, one that doesn’t hold back on new features, while not pushing the boundaries on things like battery life for obvious reasons.
Samsung staff members are standing up now with S8 units for demo. Of course, we’ve already spent some time with the device. You can read all about it here: https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/29/samsung-galaxy-s8-reveal/ It’s a compelling new phone from the company, one that doesn’t hold back on new features, while not pushing the boundaries on things like battery life for obvious reasons.
“Do What You Can” is the new strangely humbling tagline for the company.
And now (and I’m not making this up) there’s a video of an ostrich running through the savannah in a Gear VR headset to the tune of Elton John’s “Rocketman.”
And it’s S8 video time. So, some details — date (April 21), but no pricing. That will be up to carriers to decide.
Looks like we’re wrapping up. DJ Koh is back onstage, with a bit more humbleness. And just as he was wrapping things up — a brief screen error. Because it wouldn’t be a Samsung event without a technical difficulty or two.
I will say that it’s one of the best demos I had of a device in this strange hybrid category. Plugging the S8 into the desktop turns the Android experience into a more full desktop experience augmented by a curved monitor and a bluetooth mouse and keyboard. Even so, it’s hard to image too many real world case uses for a product like this — as many other fail hybrid devices and concepts have shown us in the past. Pour one out for the dearly departed Palm Foleo.
The crowd is disproportionately excited about this one.
The company is embracing the long standing niche dream of powering a desktop with a phone.
And now it’s time for the weirdest announcement of the show. Samsung DeX.
Everyone is holding up their new 360 camera, like the world’s dorkiest rock concert. Look for about eight million versions of this moment coming to a YouTube tech channel near you.
“At Samsung, we believe that 360 is the future of storytelling.”
And Samsung’s going all Oprah, handing out units to the press.
We’re getting a livestreaming demo. A bit of a delay and the content certainly doesn’t look like 2K, but it’s a pretty impressive live 360 demo for what will likely be a relatively inexpensive camera.
The new camera can shoot in 4K and can livestream in 2K.
The company’s Gear 360 VR camera is getting what looks like a pretty substantial update, however. It’s got a new form factor that moves the battery down to the larger grip.
The company’s Gear 360 VR camera is getting what looks like a pretty substantial update, however. It’s got a new form factor that moves the battery down to the larger grip.
Otherwise, it seems like the headset remains unchanged.
Samsung is also working with content providers like Buzzfeed to bring new video content to its VR ecoystem.
Oculus is also working with the company to develop apps for the headset that take advantage of the new motion controller.
The company is adding a motion-sensing controller to the headset. We saw the peripheral announced back at MWC. The company has created it in tandem with Oculus (like the headset itself).
And it’s accessory time. Looks like we’re getting a peak of the new Gear VR offering.
Those headphones arrive as a result of the company’s recent acquisition of Harman. And, of course, it means that the S8 and S8+ have a headphone jack.
The S8 is arriving on the 21. And the handset will ship with AKG headphones (a $99 value according to the company).
All right, time for launch info!
The company is also launching a Connected Home Router as part of that play. A Bixby-enabled Echo-competitor can’t be too far behind.
The company has created Connect, an app that finally begins drawing together the company’s myriad connected devices and appliances in an attempt to create a cohesive ecosystem.
Bixby’s real play, however, is the connected home. This is the beginning of the company’s play at things like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home.
Bixby will also be heavily integrated with third-party apps like Google Music.
Bixby’s Home feature is a pretty standard notification center, though it utilizes users’ habit to offer up the most relevant info via cards — things like weather, traffic, news, etc.
Bixby’s real killer feature in this early stage, however, is actually image related. The company has been working with third-party developers to offer up image search with the camera. Users can take a photo of something and Bixby will go to work looking for it, similar to technology Amazon has offered in the past — and the forthcoming bane of brick and mortar shops’ collective existence.
Bixby will prompt the user when it needs more contextual information beyond what’s already offered in the app, serving up different choices related to a command.
“Bixby understands context. It know what’s happening on your screen, which allows you to seamlessly move from voice to text.
Remember, the company acquired Viv last year to build its own Siri competitor.
All right, now it’s time to talk Bixby, the real star of these new handsets.
“Technology should make your life easier.” Maybe let’s work on that press conference WiFi first, Samsung.
Samsung is bringing back iris scanning from the Note. And has moved the fingerprint scanner to the rear. There’s also face scanning, which unlocks the phone with a quick snap of the user’s face.
And just like that, the company has moved from safety to security. Really blowing past the Note 7.
The processor, naturally, has been bumped. This time out, it’s 10nm. The company is referring to it as “our” processor, seemingly to imply that it was created in house, though keep in mind that the company worked with Qualcomm on the new Snapdragon chips.
The processor, naturally, has been bumped. This time out, it’s 10nm. The company is referring to it as “our” processor, seemingly to imply that it was created in house, though keep in mind that the copany worked with Qualcomm on the new Snapdragon chips.
Again, the handset is water and dustproof, rated and IP68.
The front-facing camera, on the other hand, has been bumped up to 8MP. Yes, for better selfies.
The rear-camera is largely the same as the last generation, but the company has added some software enhancements, like multiframe processing for more photo options.
The device has the blessing of the UHD alliance, promising video closer to what publishers intended. The home button, meanwhile, isn’t gone entire. it’s just moved beneath the display, still responding to pressure.
And the S8 and S8+ are surprisingly comfortable in hand, in spite of their enormous screen size. Samsung’s gotten quite good as jamming a lot of screen into limited real estate.
And the S8 and S8+ are surprisingly comfortable in hand, in spite of their enormous screen size. Samsung’s gotten quite good as jamming a lot of screen into limited real estate.
We got some hands on time with the device, and indeed, the company has gone a ways toward advancing the technology it introduced in the Edge.
Seems like a pretty big stretch to suggest that the S8 is a “new kind of smartphone.” Certainly this isn’t the kind of jump we saw between the flip phone and touchscreen phone. Still, it’s pretty nice.
Again, the company is looking back through the evolution of the smartphone through the decades, from Zack Morris phones, to flip phones to touchscreen devices. “And then time just stopped.”
“The Galaxy S8 will fundamentally change the way you interact with your phone.”
Now it’s time for SVP Justin Denison to dive a bit deeper into the device.
And Samsung just revealed the device in all of its glory on the stage. It’s pretty much exactly what the leaks suggest. Really slick, with nearly edge to edge displays. And yes, the physical home button is gone from the front of the device.
Video time. Actually, it’s a video of a video on a phone with a whole bunch of bezel. What will we do? Thankfully, it’s the S8 to the rescue with its bezel free phone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to your phone, unboxed.”
And the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are finally official after much preamble. “Today it is my great pleasure to unveil a phone that will take you beyond the limits of what you have known before and bring you closer to the things that you love.”
Koh is discussing the company’s partnership with Google — likely a bit of a defensive stance given the fact that it’s eschewing Assistant for Bixby.
Also a brief mention of the camera, but it’s clear the company is going to be focusing big time on Bixby, Samsung’s new smart assistant.
Koh is discussing the new “infinity display,” which mostly removes the bezels from the new handset and seems to be notably lacking a physical home button.
Koh has run down the history of the company’s phone and given its briefest safety update yet, moving right along to the promise of a “world without boundaries” (read: bezels).
Sorry about that. A bit of a WiFi hiccup, but we seem to be back.
“As you all know, it’s been a challenging year for Samsung…And today we are here to celebrate a new milestone. Not just a great device, but a new way to experience the world.”
“It’s great to be here in New York City and thank you to everyone joining us in London.”
DJ Koh is taking the stage to a very enthusiastic crowd.
Second video is full on nostalgia. “Across the Universe” cover and small children playing, with parents capturing everything on Samsung devices. Consider your heart strings plucked.
The crowd’s already going nuts. Samsung loves packing these things full of fans.
Lights are down and some sort of crazy drumbeat is playing. The company’s show a bit of a retrospective of past devices. “This was a phone.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to begin. Please take your seats.”
T-Minus two minutes — assuming, of course, that we don’t run into the same sort of technical difficulties as Barcelona. At the very least, at least there’s AC in here. Too early for an open bar, though (I’m told).
Oh, and you can follow along right here: http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/events/unpacked/ Pop on a Gear VR and it will be just like being here in person, only with more elbow room.
Veanne and Stefan will be helping out on the photo front, by the way. We’ve managed to elbow our way up close, with a good view, assuming our friends at Mashable sit down and stop livestreaming the lead up before the show starts.
At the very least, the company seems to have nipped the whole protest thing in the bud by acknowledging earlier this week that it’s currently looking into refurbishing the Note 7. MWC’s big press conference was hit by a protester, who unfurled a banner in front of the stage a few minutes in, protesting the company’s waste policies.
And, of course, we’ll likely kick things off with a final apology and highlighting of the company’s newly stringent safety policies.
But the company always has a few surprises up its sleeve. Some leaks have pointed to a new version of Gear VR, which wouldn’t be a surprise, given the fact that the last model was designed specifically with the Note 7 in mind.
Don’t expect too much in the way of surprises, so far as the Galaxy S8 is concerned. Seems like we’ve already seen the phone from every angle since the company announced its announcement back in February at MWC.
And we’re in. Much, much larger venue than the last couple of Samsung events. We’re at the ultra-classy Lincoln Center in Manhattan. They usually have operas here — perfect for the dramatic events of the last several months.
Brian Heater
March 29, 20179:07 am
And that’s all she wrote. Stay tuned for our full review of the new phone. Thanks for tuning in!