After much anticipation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Wednesday unveiled its latest flagship device: the Galaxy S8 and S8+.

Following the disaster of the flammable Note7, Samsung will be hoping for a win with its new devices. New features include curved, reduced bezel screens, additional security with iris and facial recognition, system-wide voice control and more.

“Ten years ago, designers did mockups of what phones would look in the distant future as one slab of glass,” Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told SiliconANGLE. “The S8 is the closest phone yet that represents that vision.”

Samsung, in fact, may be leading the way to the future for the smartphone industry. “With iPhone 10/X also targeting ‘bezel-free display’ and iris/facial recognition, we think those two features will become the new standards for the industry going forward,” Cowen & Co. wrote in a note to clients. Still, they wrote, Apple doesn’t have too much to fear yet: “While S8 has most specs similar to iPhone 10/X (at ~15-25% lower price), suggesting a trend of smartphones becoming less differentiated, we note that AAPL is never winning on specs. AAPL’s proprietary AP, iOS, better user experience, and strong ecosystem remain its moat.”

Here’s a look at some of the standout features from the Galaxy S8 and S8+:

Infinity Display and design

The main change for Samsung’s flagships is the display. The 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 and 6.2-inch Galaxy S8+ feature significantly reduced bezels with an integrated virtual home button. Both devices feature “Edge” panels, which the company is now calling “Infinity Display.”

The S8 and S8+’s Always On OLED panels have a pixel resolution of 2,960 x 1,440 with 570 and 529 PPI. “The Infinity Display is stunning and I’m looking forward to seeing how this performs with the GearVR where PPI is paramount to the experience,” said Moorhead.

The devices are also the first to get Mobile HDR Premium certification to provide users with a more vivid viewing experience.

Security

Not only does the Galaxy S8 and S8 sport a fingerprint scanner, now moved to the rear of the device, it also includes an iris scanner and facial recognition.  

“With the right enterprise provisioning, this could enable enterprises to have no passwords. Also, the S8 comes with Knox, considered today the gold standard for Android device security for governments and enterprises,” said Moorhead.

The Samsung Knox security platform allows for the separation of work and personal data, provides multi-layered hardware and software security and easy mobile device management integration.

Gigabit-class LTE

The new devices will be one of the first smartphones on the market theoretically capable of hitting gigabit LTE speeds.

We have known for some time that the Galaxy S8 and S8+ would feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip, which is capable of gigabit speeds thanks to its new X16 LTE modem. The Snapdragon 835 will be exclusive to Samsung until April.

“The S8’s CAT 16 modem is capable of operating on gigabit-class networks, around 3X faster than what we experience today. This not only improves today’s experiences like downloading and streaming videos but also enables streaming VR and Instant Apps which are being delivered by Google,” said Moorhead.

Samsung also reported last month at Mobile World Congress that its Exynos 9 Series 8895 chip, which will be used in the S8 and S8+ in some markets, is also capable of gigabit speeds.

Bixby

Bixby, Samsung’s artificial intelligent assistant was unveiled last week ahead of the Unpacked event, but yesterday’s event showcased some of its features. The common refrain from Samsung when talking about Bixby is that “anything you can do with touch, you can do with voice.”

It is still early days for Bixby and the AI assistant currently only works with approximately 10 of Samsung’s own Android apps. Samsung has also not integrated Viv into Bixby yet, but the company will be eager to take advantage of the technology offered by Viv Labs Inc, which Samsung acquired in October for $215 million.

On the new Galaxy S8 and S8+, Bixby has a dedicated button found on the left-hand side of the device. In the Bixby home screen, you will see a variety of information like weather and news updates, your fitness activity, the ability to control your smart home gadgets and more.

At launch you will be able to use voice control with the phone, messaging, settings, camera, reminder, contacts and gallery Samsung apps. You can also set reminders based on your location.

Bixby’s Vision aspect is an augmented reality camera that can identify objects and then search for them on supported services. The feature can be launched from Bixby Home or directly within the camera app.

Features of the Vision aspect include the ability to translate text, read QR codes and recognize landmarks. While these aren’t unique features, Bixby stands out with the bundling of these object recognition features directly into the camera app and is able to recognize books, wine labels, bicycles, watches and more.

The current partners that Samsung is working with include Amazon.com Inc., Vivino Inc. and Pinterest Inc. with more to come.

Samsung DeX dock

In addition to the launch of two smartphones, Samsung also unveiled the DeX dock that transforms the Galaxy S8 and S8+ into a virtual desktop.

“There have been many attempts at smartphone-to-PC modularity and each one gets better,” Moorhead said. “The concept is a really good one, particularly for the enterprise, and its degree of success will be determined by the right apps being enabled for the right experience.”

Resembling a hockey puck when closed, the DeX opens up to reveal a USC-C port where you will plug in the smartphone. It also has an HDMI port, two USB 2.0 ports, an ethernet jack and the ability to connect a standard keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth.

Android apps that will be optimized for the desktop view include Samsung email, browser, file manager, photo gallery, VDI enterprise apps and Android versions of Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe Photoshop.

Samsung hasn’t revealed the cost of the DeX dock, but rumors suggest it will be $160.

Availability and price

Preorders for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ kicked off at 12:01 ET Mar. 30 and will be available in store on Apr. 21. The device is available from all major carriers and retailers, including AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile U.S.A Inc., Sprint Corp. and Best Buy Co. Inc.

The S8 will cost $750 and the S8+ will cost $850, but each retailer has slightly different pricing and deals.

If you preorder the Galaxy S8 or S8+ you will also receive a free Gear VR headset with Controller and Oculus content. You could also opt to pay an extra $99 for the premium bundle that includes a Gear VR, Controller, 256GB memory card and Bluetooth headphones by AKG Acoustics (parent company is Harman International Industries Inc.).

Samsung announced its new Gear VR headset with a motion-sensitive controller at MWC last month.

Images: Samsung