A dazzling beauty

SAMSUNG Electronics Malaysia recently unboxed its latest flagship device, the Galaxy S8, offering journalists a hands-on experience of the smartphone and what it can do.
The Galaxy S8 looks ­spectacular – classy and elegant – easily the most opulent phone the company has released.
The first striking thing about this head-turning, tactile beauty is its sleek form.
Its unified front has a slim black bezel that blends seamless into the side of the device, resulting in a curved and symmetrical body, ­making it comfortable to hold and operate in one hand.
Building on ­Samsung's heritage of ­creating stunning designs and ­functional devices, the smartphone comes with an infinity display and bezel-less design.
Slimmer than its predecessor, the Galaxy S8 has no home button. This has been replaced with a pressure-sensitive section embedded under the screen.
All you need to do is to fire up the device and double tap on the screen to unlock it. To access apps, just slide up or down.
The device is compact and has a smooth, continuous Corning Gorilla Glass 5 surface on both front and back, which is curved on both sides, making it convenient for multi-tasking.
­Samsung ­Malaysia ­Electronics IT and ­mobile business unit senior product manager Julian Thean was on hand to outline the Galaxy S8's features and apps as well as their ­functionality.
Among them is the phone's ­advanced 8MP F1.7 Smart ­autofocus front ­camera, and 12MP F1.7 dual pixel rear camera, which aim to ­offer the best low-light, zoom and anti-blur ­pictures with ­enhanced ­image ­processing.
The S8 ­operates on a ­powerful 10nm ­processor for better ­efficiency.
It is also gigabit LTE and gigabit WiFi ready, able to support up to 1Gbps for fast ­download of files.
For security, the Galaxy S8 comes with biometric ­features, including a ­fingerprint ­scanner, iris scanner, and facial ­recognition for ­authentication.
At the same time, the S8 offers IP68 water and dust resistance, ­MicroSD ­support up to 256GB, and both fast and ­wireless charging capabilities.
Samsung has also included the intelligent interface, Bixby, for the Galaxy S8, which can respond to voice, touch, vision and text commands.
For now, Bixby's Voice function will integrate with several Samsung native apps and features, including camera, contacts, gallery, messages and settings. These will be expanded in the near future to cover third-party apps.
The Galaxy S8, which has been getting rave reviews, can also unlock the new Gear VR (virtual ­reality) with Controller, powered by Oculus.
Convenient for one-handed control and ­navigation, the ­controller offers better motion ­interaction when ­accessing interactive VR content.
These devices can also connect to the new Gear 360 to create 4K 360° ­videos and 15MP photos.
Another device that works in tandem with the Galaxy S8 for enhanced ­productivity is the ­Samsung DeX (see sidebar story), which offers a unique ­solution that transforms the smartphone into a desktop PC.
The Galaxy S8 will also feature Samsung Pay, ­turning the device into a digital wallet to pay for any purchases at outlets that offer Samsung Pay ­services.
The device also comes with the high performance AKG ­Harman earphones that offer quality audio as an in-box ­accessory.
The Galaxy S8 is ­available from May 5 at all ­participating outlets and Samsung ­Experience Stores, and comes in the ­standard 5.8in Galaxy S8 variant at the recommended retail price of RM3,299, and
the 6.2in Galaxy S8+ at RM3,699.
Colour variants for the smartphone include midnight black, orchid grey, and magic gold.