Design and Displays
The Galaxy S8 has a greatly enlarged 5.8-inch display, compared to the 5.1-inch Galaxy S7
Galaxy S8 dimensions are 148.9 x 68.1 x 8.0mm and 151g, impressive given this is one gram lighter than the Galaxy S7
The Galaxy S8 Plus has a huge 6.2-inch display vs the 5.5-inch Galaxy S7 Edge which it succeeds, but no dimensions for it were revealed
Both phones have new ultra-wide 18.5:9 aspect ratios which lead to 2960 x 2400 native resolutions (WQHD+)
Despite this both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are likely to ship with Full HD (1080p) as their default resolution to save battery life
Curved OLED displays (similar to the gentle curvature of the Galaxy Note 7) will be used on both Galaxy S models for the first time
Wave goodbye to the physical home button, but IP68 water and dust resistance will remain
Both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus will improve on the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge’s weak mono audio with stereo external speakers.
Performance
Samsung will keep RAM at 4GB and there is no mention of a larger 6GB model for Korea and China, which is still thought to be in the works
Both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus will ship with Samsung’s Exynos 8895 chipset globally with the exception of the US, Japan and China which will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835.
Security
On both models the fingerprint scanner will support gesture recognition for the first time, including programmable gestures to open specific apps
Cameras
Both phones get upgraded 8MP front facing cameras (up from 5MP last year), the f/1.7 aperture is unchanged
Rear cameras stay at 12MP again with an f1/7 aperture and OIS but laser autofocus has been added to Dual Pixel focus “to capture highly dynamic situations” (expect these cameras to be fast )
Battery Life and Charging
Battery life is a potential concern with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus sporting 3000mAh and 3500mAh batteries respectively which is no larger than the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge batteries, despite their bigger displays.
Connectivity And Storage
64GB of UFS 2.0 storage on both models, up from 32GB last year and the microSD slot remains (supporting up to 256GB cards)
Dual-band gigabit WiFi support, alongside Bluetooth 4.2 (with apt-X and LE)
MicroUSB has been replaced by USB Type-C, a move all flagship smartphones are making
Pricing and Accessories
European pricing will be €799 for the Galaxy S8 and €899 for the Galaxy S8 Plus (so expect $799/849 and $899/949 tags in the US)
Black, Blue, Gold, Orchid Gray and Silver colour options will be available at launch (pink/rose gold was previously rumoured but is excluded here). Today:1
