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How Samsung's Galaxy S8 goes beyond the Edge

Johannesburg - The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices are some of the most anticipated releases of 2017.

Following the South Korean company’s debacle with the fire-prone Note 7 launch last year, its smartphones have changed the company’s fortunes. 

Samsung said the S8 will redefine what a smartphone is, and may have set a trend with the new device. 

In terms of its design, the S8 adopts a similar design to the Edge smartphones by Samsung, which adopted round ends of their Infinity display.

The company has taken the Edge a step further with the screen covering the ends, offering an almost borderless effect. 

Design of this smartphone of course came out as a variant of previous devices. However, the Edge design is the only variant of the S8 and S8+.  

The screen of the device also offers a never-before-seen aspect ratio: whereas HD TVs offer viewers a 16:9 ratio, the S8 delivers a 18:5:9 aspect ratio, adopting the format dimensions of a cinema display.

The infinity display also makes the smartphone the first ever to be HDR certified.

Many critics expected Samsung to follow trends set by other manufacturers, like Huawei, and introduce a dual camera device into their stable of smartphones, like the P10 smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer. 

However, this was not the case. Samsung seems to have opted for a single-lens camera that specification-wise is very similar to the S7 device. 

The facing camera on the S8 has seen an upgrade with an 8 megapixel camera, as opposed to the 5 megapixel camera in the S7. 

After testing selfie shots on the S8, the camera definitely outperforms older devices in taking amazing pictures.

Other exciting features of the S8 is that Samsung’s flagship device now offers various forms of security and unlocking options, which include a fingerprint scanner, an iris scanner and facial recognition.

Samsung launched the new Gear 360 camera alongside the S8 for capturing imagery in virtual reality, which can be shared from the device.

The company has also turned this smartphone into a PC with a full desktop experience. 

The Samsung Dex turns the smartphone into a PC that functions like desktop computer, assuming mouse controls and other PC traits. 

Pre-orders for the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S8 began on Thursday last week.

The device will cost R15 499 and the larger S8+ R17 499, with availability in the country from May.

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