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Samsung S8: R14 799
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To be flown halfway around the world for the launch of a phone, you gotta know something big is coming. And it was. For two days, journalists from around the world descended on New York City to experience Samsung’s first “unboxing” – its big reveal of the S8 and S8+, the latest smartphones in Samsung’s ever-expanding stable – and it was spectacular.
No, no, I haven’t drunk the Kool Aid, in case you were worried. I try a different phone every few weeks for this column, and the S8 is truly a significant development in smartphone technology.
For the past eight versions of the phone, Samsung has been developing its scope of technologies. In the S8 – and more so in the S8+ – this has all been synthesised into the brand’s simplest and most elegant realisation.
The phone itself is beautiful. The most noticeable addition is the sloping edges of the screen, entering that sci-fi space where the entire phone almost becomes a screen – something Samsung execs made maximum use of in their presentation of the phone in New York’s famous Lincoln Centre.
When they mentioned the design, an astounding screen that went up nearly four storeys high showed the actual galaxy, and then the Samsung Galaxy – a little extravagant, but effective.
Inside, it comes with a whole bunch of spy-like extras. Retina-recognition security options, with updates to its already clever facial recognition software, and with thumbprint recognition to boot, make it the most secure and simplest-to-use device Samsung has released to date.
It comes with a 12 megapixel camera, which has a depth that I haven’t seen in other models, and the 360° camera accessory is awesome.
There’s also the introduction of Bixby, Samsung’s answer to Siri. After two weeks of using the phone, I’m sure it’s the smoothest assistant I have ever had.
If you can afford it, the S8 and S8+ are, without a doubt, the best phones on the market.
