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The Galaxy S8 Will Be Samsung's Biggest Test Ever (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: You know what's coming tomorrow, you've known and waited for it for months now. Samsung's 2017 flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, will be officially announced, and one of the most critical periods in the company's history will begin. The phone Samsung launches on Wednesday will carry greater expectations and have to prove a lot more than usual. Even as the world's biggest smartphone maker, Samsung's mobile credibility was deeply shaken by the Galaxy Note 7 snafu, so it now needs to reassert its reliability while also rebooting its technological advantage. Vlad Savov provides a "rundown of the biggest challenges facing Samsung" in his report. While Samsung will need to nail the design and camera performance, as well as many other things, the most critical area will be the battery, given how the Note 7 was recalled due to battery issues. Even though that incident took place half a year ago, we are still faced with the consequences. Samsung is still trying to figure out what to do with the "recalled units" and people are still making bad jokes about "explosive Samsung news." If the Galaxy S8 is to have any battery issues whatsoever, the result could be catastrophic for the company. Though, Samsung is well aware of this and has likely packed "the most robust and durable batteries we've ever seen in a smartphone" inside the Galaxy S8 devices.
Yeah, I don't think most people are terribly excited. It's not like five years ago when each new phone crushed the previous one. It's more like seeing what minor tweaks they're making to the previous model, and what things they're taking away that were good. In general, I expect more memory, better camera, longer battery life, and a loss of some feature that I used that most people ignored. Like when they took away the IR that my S5 had, so I couldn't turn off TVs in restaurants anymore.
In my case, I have an S7 now, so I'm curious about the S8, as I'll probably end up with an S9, so this gives me some idea of what to expect next year.
Me. I bet it won't explode. The S8 may have many flaws, but if there is one Samsung focused on the most, that 's battery issues.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Tech blogs and YouTube "celebrities" will be champing at the bit to get the first exploding S8.
There will be reports, likely even before the official launch, of S8's going kablooey. We'll even see video or photographic "proof" of an S8 exploding/burning.
It'll all be staged.
In my case I have an S4, so in a month or so the S7 will drop $150 (of my local dollars) and I will buy one of those.
But if you buy one, based on their recent history, you will have a hole in your pocket, and you ... Hmm.... can't think of a good pun to tie fire sale into this one. Need more coffee..
Clothing stores. Clothing stores will have fire sales.
On pants.
Because they're catching fire.
With S8's in their pockets.
Come on, man, PULL IT TOGETHER! How could you miss that?!
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
If the battery is still a non-replicable unit, then I will know they haven't learned the obvious, profound lesson:
Non-replaceable battery: Battery problem? Phone is garbage. Write off entire cost. Purchaser has nothing. Seller loses everything.
Replaceable battery: Battery problem? Send new battery. Preserve most of purchaser's value and seller's income.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
The only really major advance in phone hardware in the last year was the Google Pixel camera, and even that is about 75% software.
Even so... We still don't have the perfect phone. The OnePlus 3 is close, just needs wireless charging to be complete.
Samsung Galaxy S phones are quite boring really, same silly price tag as an iPhone but little to offer over other phones costing half or a third as much. Since this is News for Nerds, how about more stories about phones from less mainstream manufacturers like OnePlus and Xaomi? They are affordable, hackable, high end and great build quality, probably of much more interest to the average geek.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
With such an explosive product, Samsung will prove that it is a company on fire, which has, single-handedly, managed to reignite the interest of the public - something that one can see in the fact that so many are burning with anticipation to buy this device, the hottest of the year.