Making its debut with its latest smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, is Samsung’s new Infinity Display. It’s a fancy sounding name to be sure, but what is it really?
The Infinity Display builds on the curved edge displays first introduced a few years back around the Galaxy Note Edge. After finding a home on various “Edge” models since, curved screens get more interesting this year with the Galaxy S8 line.
…Infinity Display and bezel-less design form a smooth, continuous surface with no buttons or harsh angles. The result is a truly immersive viewing experience without distractions and makes multi-tasking more convenient…
For 2017’s flagship model, Samsung has pushed things ever further to the side edges of the phone. Moreover, it has also trimmed things at the top and bottom of the handset. What does this do? In short, it gives you bigger screens without the need for a bigger physical unit. Indeed, the standard Galaxy S8 boasts a 5.8-inch display while the Galaxy S8+ comes with a whopping 6.2-inches of real estate.
Not that it has anything specific with the “Infinity Display”, but Samsung’s phones also feature Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on both the front and back. This means they’re much more durable than predecessors and can withstand drops, scuffs, and scrapes better than most.
If the phones look like they are nearly all screen, that’s for good reason. Samsung completely redesigned its handsets, embedding the home button under the screen until you need it. At first glance it appears there’s nothing to see but what you need to see.
We’ve seen various phone makers employ different tactics over the years, all in the name of standing out from the pack. One of the most consistent trends, however, is trying to eliminate any traces of bezel. Some, like the Xiaomi Mi Mix and forthcoming UMIDIGI C NOTE, are almost all screen. LG comes close with its G6; we suspect there will be others this year which comprise a high screen:body ratio.
As for Samsung and its Infinity Display, we’re on board. Time will tell, but we imagine the days of “Edge” models may be over. This may be the way things are for Samsung and its key releases. Going forward we figure we’ll get standard displays for most of the entry-level and mid-range stuff and Infinity Displays on flagships and premium models.
With the Galaxy S8, Samsung has completely overhauled the Galaxy S design language you were accustomed to. For starters, the Galaxy S8 comes with a dual curved display in the vein of the 
However, because it has removed the physical home button, Samsung has now positioned the fingerprint scanner on the back of the device – specifically to the right side of the main camera. But this detail might not fly with a lot of customers, because the positioning of the fingerprint authentication system is simply quite awkward.
Certainly one of the most appealing features of the Galaxy S8 is the edge-to-edge Infinity Display. Samsung squeezed a 5.8-inch display into a phone chassis smaller to the Galaxy S7 (a phone with a 5.1-inch display). With the bizarre 18:5:9 aspect ratio onboard, the Galaxy S8’s display is visibly taller than the 16:8 screen of the Galaxy S7. Samsung says the Galaxy S8 has a screen-to-body ratio of 83%, while the 
Unlike the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S8 has an on-screen home button with a pressure-sensitive panel and haptic feedback in the vein of Apple’s 3D Touch that can be found in the iPhone 6s and 7. Another selling point of the Galaxy S8 is that it supports HDR10 playback (like the 
As for photography, the Galaxy S8 doesn’t bring a lot of improvements, which is not necessarily a bad thing, given that the Galaxy S7 had one of the most advanced shooters on the market, but it would have been nice to see Samsung strive for evolution in this department. Since the Galaxy S7 launched, other phones like the 
With the Galaxy S8, Samsung brings a redesigned, cleaner and sleeker-looking TouchWiz which was renamed to Samsung Experience. Since the physical button has been removed, Samsung has added three on-screen buttons on the Galaxy S8 which feature custom designs – which you will either love or hate. It’s that simple, as it all boils down to personal aesthetic preference. But the good news is that if you are among the displeased, you will be able to reverse the layout of the navigation buttons to Google’s stock.
The novelty factor might be the first thing that draws you to the Galaxy S8. Then there’s the beautiful design, elongated display and all new 
Samsung presentation of Dex, while brief, was pretty informative. Once you log in, your Android desktop will appear. You’ll be able to run select apps that are compatible with Dex. Companies like Microsoft and Adobe have already started working with Samsung to make their apps available because sometimes it’s just a lot easier to type with a physical keyboard rather than your virtual keyboard.
Both sides of the Infinity Display will be curved and that goes for both models. No more flat Galaxies. The display seems to melt over the side of the phone and blend perfectly with the aluminum it connects to. I’m a bit worried about functionality as I had some issues holding and swiping on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge last year, but we’ll see once we get our hands on.
In addition to the always-on home button, you can also choose which side your back and multitasking window buttons will reside on. Samsung has (rightly) gotten stick for having its buttons backward (back button on the right of the home button) but it will now allow you to decide where you want that back button in a settings menu. This is a welcome change that shows Samsung is listening to its customers.
I’m a tile-matching puzzle enthusiast for a very simple reason – this sort of game tends to utterly relax me, so naturally I was very keen to try this little game out.
There are 3 chapters available for play, but only the first one is accessible at first – the next two you will have to unlock. Most of the levels you’ll end up going through, are pretty genre-standard, with time-limits and match goals.
Depending on the level you are at, you’ll be asked to match certain jewels in order to complete the quests assigned. But from time to time, you’ll get to play a level where origami creatures battle one another. Match 3 or more swords to attack the enemy or 3 or more hearts to replenish health levels. As you advance into the game play, you can select up to three creatures to have in your party, which can also be leveled up.
The battle system is element based and there are five elements to be taken into consideration including Fire, Water, Nature, Light and Dark. So Water beats Fire and Light beats Dark and so on. Tiles are different based on the level you play. The graphics are really beautiful and colorful and the soundtrack is equally so. Throughout the chapters players will encounter mini-bosses and there’s one big boss fight waiting for the final fight.
The score-based levels are the most challenging the game throws at you. On these levels, players need to make sure to use the special charms as much as possible in order to get access to the big combos. The storytelling levels are the easiest to deal with and the combat levels are perhaps the most interesting to play.
As I mentioned above, throughout the pack, gamers will be tempted to purchase “Starter Packs” which include gems and bonuses, but you are free to ignore these offers by tapping on the X icon. However, without these power-ups the game play will get quite hard around level 20 or so.
While the game is engaging and fun to play, there are some issues the developers need to address to appease their fans. The game seems to have persistent loading problems. It especially has a tendency of stalling at the main loading screen. One time I waited so long that I got annoyed and started doing something else instead. I even tried re-installing it once, only to lose my progress. Luckily I haven’t experienced any crushes while playing, but a game that takes forever to load is certainly not fun. Especially if for example, you’re on a lunch break and you want to play a few quick levels, before going back to the office.
Samsung brings back its backward buttons, but they’ve moved to onscreen buttons now. Gone is the iconic oblong home button of Samsung phones in the past and here is a home button that sits at the bottom of the screen in a pressure sensitive area that can be pressed any time to bring the phone back to the home screen. The screen has been stretched out to an 18:9 display ratio, just like the LG G6, and the resolution has been increased to 2960×1440.
Even though the screens are much larger, the battery capacities have stayed mostly the same. The regular S8 will match last year’s S7 at 3000mAh while the S8 Plus comes in at 3500mAh, which is just a hair under the S7 Edge’s 3600mAh. All eyes will be on the battery this year after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 disaster last year. If battery life is bad, you can bet you’ll see plenty of stories speculating if Samsung pulled back on the batteries to make sure they wouldn’t explode.
The main power reserve is a high-density lithium-ion battery that lives beneath the case and can charge devices wirelessly. It comes integrated with a lightning port for Apple devices and microUSB and USB Type-C ports for Android handsets. A wireless receiver for inductive charging via the included dock sits at the bottom of the power reserve.
Uvolt has developed a custom watch hinge which bundles additional batteries that allow users to continue charging even after the main power reserve has ran out of juice. On a sunny day, users can easily fully charge the power reserve, currently at 290 mAh. The transfer between the power reserve and your phone takes about 45 minutes.
The Uvolt Watch comes with a charging dock which can re-charge the watch in under 45 minutes. It’s compatible with most wireless chargers.
The Uvolt is currently up on 
And based on what we’re hearing the phone will come equipped with a very unique characteristic called the Edge Sense. The technology was leaked back in 2016 by a HTC designer in the form of a concept video. Edge Sense will basically allow HTC U owners to control apps with gestures performed on the device’s U metal frame (and not on the display). For example, turning music volume up and down by simply touching the phone’s frame.
We were aware of most of the information presented here, thanks to leaks and rumors, but now we have our confirmation.
The same leakster has also provided us with information about the two phones European pricing. US pricing will probably be announced during the Unpacked 2017 event.
You can watch the event by visiting the news.samsung.com or 
Go to the