Samsung finally lifted the lid off its highly anticipated set of flagships, the S8 and S8+ smartphones at its Unpacked event.
The event took place in New York, wherein the South Korean electronics giant unboxed a slew of devices alongside the duo, thus unraveling the mystery behind its absence from this year’s MWC event.
Here’s a breakdown of what all Samsung’s Unpacked event made us privy to:
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+
It was no surprise that the latest smartphones in the company’s Galaxy series were brought out in front of the world. Much awaited, both the phones were revealed in all their glory and have been praised by one and all ever since.
Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S8 And S8+ With Bixby Assistant and QHD Infinity Display Launched
The duo aren’t much different other than the physicality (the S8+ being 6.2-inch display phone and S8 a 5.8-inch one) and are the firsts in a couple of categories (read: Bixby AI assistant and Snapdragon 835 chipset).
Among the features that the duo tow along is an HDR infinity display, IP68 resistance, Iris scanning and facial recognition, 12MP ‘dual pixel’ primary camera, rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and a 6GB RAM.
Going by what it appears to be, Samsung has definitely hit a home run here.
Samsung Gear 360
The essence of Samsung’s unpacked event was that it’s betting big on a 360-degree future. And the Gear 360 is a camera that allows you to shoot 360-degree videos. We’ve already seen this one at the MWC, and we sure as hell liked the changes (from its 2016 version) very much.
What Samsung’s done here is reduced the size of the camera which features two fish-eye lenses, both having an 8.4MP sensor (used in the Galaxy S8 as well).
The battery has been inserted into the handle, which is a part of the camera’s body and as per company’s claims, can last a sum total of two hours of continuous 2K video recording.
Samsung has also addressed the major problem that featured in the original one – transferring of data/photographs. The new Gear 360 will also be compatible with Apple devices in addition to the Samsung ones.
Coming to the body once again, there is a recording button just above the status screen and a standard tripod mount enabling it to stand on its own. Following the wake of the earlier version, this one too is water and dust resistant. Also, Samsung has also made available a stabilizer ring to help it keep balance while it is standing on its own.
Samsung DeX
With Samsung’s DeX dock, you can literally turn your phone into a desktop. Although the technology isn’t particularly of the ‘breakthrough’ kind (HTC and Motorola have tried it before, unsuccessfully), it is one of the better ones for sure.
Bearing resemblance to a hockey puck when closed, it opens up to reveal a USB Type-C port for connecting to your smartphone.
The DeX has been designed keeping the Galaxy S8 in mind, but it can make do with any smartphone with a Type-C port. It also comes with provisions to connect a mouse and a keyboard (via Bluetooth), too.
Also Read: A Complete Guide To Bixby, Samsung’s Very Own Voice Assistant
Among the notable features of the dock is the option to open some apps optimized for the desktop view (includes default browser, MS Office and a few others), which you can then resize and open as per your will, much like in the case of a PC.
New Samsung Gear VR and Controller
Enduring the pressure of keeping up with being the best VR for smartphones for two years running, the newest edition of Samsung’s Gear VR does not disappoint.
It has a wireless, motion-sensing controller that literally acts like a wand, allowing you to play (or whatever you want to do with it) with ease. The remote also has a trigger, which would come pretty handy in games involving shooting.
Apart from the addition of the wand, the VR itself sees a few tweaks here and there, making improvements in battery life and faster loading of apps.
Plus point: the remote would also be sold separately, so if you already own a Gear VR, congratulations!
Samsung Connect Home
In addition to all of that, Samsung also left on the hooks of what it yet another device which, it says, is currently in the making.
This one resembles a little white hockey puck and is Samsung’s first step inside the mesh Wi-Fi router industry.
Its primary use, you ask? Improving the strength of the Wi-Fi signals.
Also, these also act as SmartThings hubs, thus enabling you to control your household items with much more ease. It works with Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth 4.1, and has a covering range of 150 meters.
It will come out in two variants – one with 2 x 2 MU-MIMO antenna array and a speed of 866Mbps in the 5GHz spectrum, the other (Pro version) with 4 x 4 antenna which caps out at a speed of 1.7 Gbps.
Samsung’s Gear 360 is on the right track, and it makes taking consumer 360 photos and videos easy and a lot of fun.Rest all the devices also seems to be really interesting.