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Samsung latest high-res monitors go all-in on HDR
Samsung has launched its business and consumer lineup of high-resolution monitors, and this year, all 12 of them support HDR.
Samsung will let you remap the Bixby button on older phones too
If the Bixby button on your Samsung Galaxy phone doesn't get much use, you might prefer to make it open another app. Samsung noted the remapping option when it revealed the S10 lineup this week, but if you have a slightly older Galaxy phone (namely, Note 9, S9, Note 8 or S8), you can customize the button too if your device is running Android Pie.
Samsung halts S8 Android Oreo update due to reboot glitch
If you were hoping Android Oreo would make its way to your Galaxy S8 soon, well, it sounds like you're going to have to wait. Samsung has halted the firmware rollout, as spotted by SamMobile, because the software was causing some handsets to randomly reboot. The rollout began in Europe, where users in the beta program noticed the problem. If you already downloaded and installed, you can keep using the software. But if you downloaded and didn't install, apparently the files will be deleted from your phone. Samsung is working on a fix but hasn't revealed when it will arrive.
Bixby's voice features aren't finished, but US users can test them
Samsung's virtual assistant Bixby generated untold levels of hype before the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus launched, but the version we actually got to use still feels half-baked. While the company still hasn't locked down when Bixby's voice search and control features will go live, it just confirmed that brave users in the US can enroll in an "early preview test" to get a taste of what's coming down the pipeline.
Where to buy Samsung's Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus in the UK
It's that time of the year again -- one of the most important dates in the smartphone launch calendar. Today, the UK gets its hands on Samsung's new Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, and whichever size you're eyeing up, you won't be disappointed. They are easily two of the best handsets on the market right now, with the lack of bezel around their gorgeous "Infinity" displays a particularly striking feature. Though Samsung's Bixby assistant still needs some training, they are both blazing fast with batteries big enough to get you through two days of normal use. And if you didn't pre-order one right away, these are all the places you can pick one up from today.
Early Galaxy S8 owners complain of red-tinted screens
Samsung started shipping the Galaxy S8 to customers in South Korea who pre-ordered the flagship phone almost a full week ago. They were probably thinking of how lucky they were to get the phone early until some of them noticed something off about their screen. According to multiple reports posted on Korean forums like PPOMPPU and social networks like Instagram, some S8 units' displays have a very noticeable reddish tint. It's unclear how widespread the issue is, but it seems to be serious enough for "Galaxy S8 Red Screen" to be a trending search term on Korean search engine Naver.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus review: Redemption is here
Last year's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge were excellent phones, and so was the Galaxy Note 7... until it started bursting into flames. While some within Samsung were tasked with figuring out what happened and how to prevent it from happening again, others were trying to build a phone that would make people move on. Meet the new Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. The Note 7 won't disappear so easily from our collective memory, but I have to hand it to Samsung: The S8 siblings are impeccably built, thoughtfully designed devices. It's not hard to look at these smartphones as the first steps on a road to redemption, and after a week of testing, I can confidently say these are two of the best smartphones money can buy. I just wish its virtual assistant wasn't so half-baked.
Samsung's 'unbox your phone' event gave us a phone that's still a box
Before Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 to the world, it teased the audience with a device that would break the conventions of the traditional smartphone. The event's pre-roll animation showed an enormous 1980s brick phone morphing into a 1990s-era flip phone, which in turn evolved into a modern smartphone. That device then exploded beyond its frame and summoned the event's tagline: Unbox your phone. When the event started, however, Samsung didn't reveal a revolution in smartphone design -- it showed the world another glass slab with a gorgeously large touchscreen. Except this one has smaller bezels.
Every Galaxy S8 comes with a pair of $99 AKG earbuds
Samsung's newly announced Galaxy S8 and S8+ will come with a pair of $99 AKG earbuds, the company revealed at its Unpacked event in New York City today. Although Samsung didn't say much beyond that, AKG is known for making products with great audio quality, so this should be an improvement over the earphones that have traditionally been included in the box with Galaxy phones. Indeed, audio was clearly a big focus for Samsung with its new flagship device: One of the best features of the S8 is that it can stream music to two headphones at a time, as long as you're using Bluetooth as the pairing method. It may not be something you use regularly, but at least you have the option to do so if you ever need to.
The Galaxy S8 can stream music to two headphones at the same time
Samsung hasn't been able to catch a break recently. After suffering a brand-battering blow with the Note 7, it now looks like almost every feature of the S8 has been leaked ahead of today's launch event. Earlier today, a Galaxy S8 user guide prematurely surfaced on Samsung's download center, confirming many previously leaked specs and features. Before it was swiftly taken down, Phandroid managed to copy all the notable information from the guide, revealing the existence of a previously unreported feature -- Bluetooth dual audio.
The Galaxy S8 may use your face for secure mobile payments
Facial recognition is a done thing. So are contactless payments. So why not put them together? Samsung might do just that according to Bloomberg sources. The incoming Galaxy S8 will reportedly feature facial recognition payment tech "within months of release" in a bid to stand out (and grab those feature headlines) in a world where lots of us are plenty happy with our current smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy S8 leak shows a huge display and not much else
We're less than a month away from getting our first official look at Samsung's upcoming flagship phone. Evleaks has something for those who can't wait till then, though: a clear computer render that shows a device that looks like the previous leaked images of the Galaxy S8 and S8+. The phone in the photo has a wraparound display that takes up almost the whole front side and shows March 29th as the current date -- the same day Samsung is launching the S8 phones.
Samsung's Galaxy S8 won't appear at Mobile World Congress
Clearly, Samsung is still reeling from its Note 7 disaster. In an interview with Reuters, Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin has confirmed that the Galaxy S8 won't be unveiled next month at Mobile World Congress. That's a big departure from the company's usual release schedule, which revolves around a big "S" launch in the Spring and a new "Note" in the fall. The delay isn't a shock, however. Back in November, the Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung's leadership team was considering a later reveal date. It could come "as late as April," the newspaper said at the time.
Lenovo unveils super-thin, super-light tablet (and the price isn't bad, either)
Tablet fatigue: We have it, you have it. We all have it. That said, we'd be remiss if we let IFA go by without mentioning Lenovo's new Android slate. The Tab S8, as it's called, is an 8-inch device that manages to be almost as thin as both the Retina display iPad mini and the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4. In particular, it measures 0.31 inch thick and comes in at 0.65 pound, making it lighter than the iPad and almost as light as the Tab S. More importantly, though, Lenovo's listing it at $199 -- about half the price of what Apple and Samsung are selling.
8BitMMO adds zombies, mega map, and more
What's better than 2-D massively multiplayer sandbox action? Why, 2-D massively multiplayer sandbox action with zombies, of course! 8bitMMO has updated with the brand-new S8 patch, which brings lots of new features to the retro indie construction game. Chief among said new features are a playable zombie race, a mega map, additional permission controls for player cities, trading, and more avatar customization options. 8bitMMO is the work of a single developer, Robby Zinchak, who says that players can take his creation and run with it. "The community can participate as part of the game's development. In fact, many of the new features in the S8 update were inspired from the top voted player suggestions," he says. [Source: Archive Entertainment press release]
Panasonic adds Windows 7 to laptop line, unveils Let's Note N8 and S8
Oy vey! Today must be some industry-wide Windows 7 announcement day, as Panasonic is hot on the heels of Dell and Toshiba with no less than six lappies set to sport Vista's agile younger sibling. The Let's Note (ToughBook, to you and us) F8, R8, T8 and W8 models are likely to take on the new OS without alterations to their hardware, but the hot news comes in the form of the brand new N8 and S8. Powered by Core 2 Duo P8700 chips, both machines will come with 12.1-inch WXGA LCD screens, 250GB HDDs, up to 4GB of RAM, WiMAX, WiFi, HDMI and SDHC connectivity. They also share a stonking claim of 16 hours of battery life, and the one feature that distinguishes between them is the internal DVD burner on the S8. All that goodness will be out come October 22, with expected pricing around ¥200,000 (about $2,230) for the N series. You'll find a gallery of the unveiling event at the Akihabara News link below. %Gallery-74215% [Via Akihabara News]
Paradigm puts its name to version 3 of its Reference Signature lineup
Sitting atop Paradigm's range of speakers is the Reference Signature series which while not cheap, have historically offered up performance that bests many speakers that cost way more. The propellerheads at Paradigm have been busy refining things and have released the third version of these speakers as, you guessed it, Reference Signature v.3. The previous two versions have set a high standard, but the third time's a charm. Paradigm engineers are promising a 3dB increase in sensitivity thanks to new driver materials, motor designs and plenty of design time using finite element analysis. That should bring plenty of sound from a handful of Watts, and hopefully will translate into some serious dynamic range when paired with an appropriate amp. Based on precedence, these should be great if you can swing the cash -- check the full details after the break and pick a winner.
