Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+: Bright, sharp and colourful screens

The Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones have one of the sharpest cameras in the market.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones have one of the sharpest cameras in the market. PHOTOS: SAMSUNG

Samsung's Galaxy S8 and S8+ look to be the smartphones to beat in the first quarter of the year, by bringing to the table some of the best features in any smartphone released so far.

The immediate standout feature of both phones is their gorgeous, almost full-length quad-HD Super Amoled screens, which are bright, sharp and colourful.

The 18.5:9 screen aspect ratio of the phones also gives them a modern, elongated look and feel, as well as more screen real estate to better display media.

Apps can be scaled to fit the taller and narrower screen, avoiding the problem of having ugly black bars around the border of the screen.

The phones also have one of the sharpest cameras in the market.

And, of course, there is Bixby, Samsung's own artificial intelligence assistant software that can be summoned through a press of the dedicated Bixby button on the left of the phone.

Hitting it takes you to a helpful screen that shows your schedule, preview of photos you may have taken that day, weather updates and a scrolling news feed of important articles for the day.

Another cool feature is how you can unlock the phone in four different ways: with a regular PIN or password, rear fingerprint sensor, iris scanning and a new face-recognition feature. The last two are fast and convenient - just hold up the phone to your face and it's unlocked within a second.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 03, 2017, with the headline Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+: Bright, sharp and colourful screens. Subscribe