It’s been another great week for smartphone fans, although it would be even better if they could get their hands on the iPhone 8 and Galaxy S8 right now. Unfortunately, the Galaxy S8 won’t be released until the end of April, and the iPhone 8 won’t be available until the fall. But let’s take a look at the latest revelations from the past week.
iPhone 8
Though it hasn’t been confirmed, BGR says Apple could entirely ditch the Touch ID on the upcoming iPhone 8.
“Apple, meanwhile, is also expected to add facial recognition support to the iPhone 8, and there’s more and more indirect evidence that seemingly confirms the feature. It’s unclear at this point whether Apple will also use iris scanners for Apple Pay purposes, but a number of reports do say the iPhone 8 will have special sensors that will recognize faces and surroundings.”
Will Apple get rid of the Touch ID? [Image by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]
The article adds that these advanced cameras may not only replace the Touch ID, but will be used for AR purposes as well. Some of the commenters after the article aren’t very excited.
“Apple plans on putting Touch ID on a dongle and charge a measly 99 dollars for it. It will be practically magic,” AquaVelva sarcastically points out.
“This feature was OK when I got it on my Galaxy Nexus in 2011,” says VAVAMk_2
Last week, MacRumors reported that the iPhone 8 may not have the curved OLED screen that it was rumored to have. However, this week, Apple Insider reported that Apple’s next smartphone may indeed have a curved OLED screen, but it won’t be curved as much as some had hoped. For others, this is okay since they don’t like looking at curved videos or photos. There are also some who think that a curved screen takes away important real estate space on a smartphone.
Galaxy S8
Samsung’s new phones will have curved screens just like the Galaxy Note 7. [Image by Daryl Deino]
Speaking of curved screens, it appears that both the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will have similar curved displays, except the one on the S8 Plus will be 6.2 inches, while the display on the regular S8 will measure 5.8 inches. More importantly, both screens will have an increased pixel resolution.
First, there were rumors that Samsung would deliver a 4K screen to at least one of its new Galaxy S8 devices. This excited people who own or plan to own the Gear VR since the Quad HD screens from previous Galaxy devices that powered the Gear VR looked too pixelated in VR. Then, there was disappointment as it appeared that both the Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus would only sport Quad HD screens like the previous generations.
However, reliable information from BGR reveals that both devices will display Quad HD+ screens with a 2960 x 2400 pixel resolution. It’s not quite 4K, but it’s close. This means that the screen door pixel effect in the Gear VR will be minimized. This is also good news for everybody else who doesn’t use the Gear VR; a 4K screen would eat up way too much battery life.
Leaked images of the S8 devices have appeared all over Twitter.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that, like Apple, Samsung is expected to use facial recognition as a major feature. Reporter Sam Kim says that the new Galaxy S8 will employ facial recognition technology for mobile payments within a couple months after its release. They will allegedly add cutting-edge security for this. Samsung is going to announce the S8 series on March 29, and both the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are expected to arrive in stores — at least in the United States — on April 21.
Based on all the information revealed, are you more excited about the Galaxy S8 than the iPhone 8? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
[Featured Image by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images]
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