Dubai
Samsung is seeking to re-establish its reputation for innovation with Galaxy S8 models after being forced to pull the fire-prone Note 7s from the market in October.
Both analysts and Samsung are of the view that S8 will help the Korean company regain its lead.
Daniel Gleeson, senior analyst for consumer technology at Ovum, told Gulf News, that S8 is by far the best Android phone this year. It has an edge-to-edge and bezel-free display which are eye catching but the biggest thing is the dedicated physical button for artificial intelligence voice-assistant – Bixby.
For now, Bixby integrates with only a handful of Samsung’s own apps such as the camera, contacts, settings, calendar, gallery, and messages. It is officially compatible only with English and Korean voices.
“It is an interesting concept and they will get better as Samsung invests in it. It is more difficult to replicate software than the hardware and that is what Apple has done. That is why Apple has defined its success and it is able to deliver excellent software and offer unique experience,” he said.
Moreover, he said that Samsung is trying to create a unique differentiated software package that makes it different from others and easy to use. It will add ‘long-term value’ to Samsung.
The biggest issue with Bixby is that it does not work in all the markets, but Samsung is investing a lot to expand to other markets very quickly. Another big issue is the language support for the Middle East, Europe and Indian markets, Gleeson said.
Tarek Sabbagh, head of IT and mobile division at Samsung Electronics Gulf, after the launch said that Bixby will work in the UAE. It consists of voice, home, vision and reminders.
“Arabic will come in the next update as it has many dialects. Bixby is the first step towards full-fledged artificial intelligence,” he said.
He said that S8 is the only phone to be awarded ‘HDR Premium’ certification by the UHD Alliance.
“Pre-order numbers are a benchmark and a good sign to tell how much customers trust the brand. When we started taking pre-orders, our target was 1.5 times that of S7 quantity. As of Tuesday, we got two times that of S7. The pre-order period for S7 was 14 days and for S8, it is only 10 days. By the end of the pre-order, we will pass three times the S7 quantity,” he said.
According to reports from South Korea, Samsung got 550,000 per-orders in the first two days while S7 got 100,000 during the same period.
It will be available in the UAE on April 28 after the US and Korea launches on April 21, but per-ordered customers will likely to start getting the devices after April 15.
Research firm IHS Markit forecasts Samsung to ship 331 million smartphones in 2017, up 6.8 per cent from 2016 numbers.
Ian Fogg, senior director for mobile and telecoms at IHS Markit, said that S8 is the start of a “super cycle” for smartphone innovation in 2017. This year, there will be very ‘significant advances’ in the design and performance of smartphone models after several years of incremental improvement.
Specs and features
• Both models run on 2.3GHz octa-core Exynos chip set, Bluetooth 5.0, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage capacity. The microSD card supports up to 256GB.
• Both models house 12MP rear and 8MP front-facing autofocus cameras.
• Preorder price for S8 is Dh2,799 and Dh3,099 for S8 Plus.
• A “hidden” pressure sensitive front home button, a rear fingerprint sensor, and both face and iris recognition options, and head phone jack.
• An optional docking station — DeX — will turn the S8 into a desktop computer when connected to a TV.
