The Samsung Galaxy S8 and its Plus variant are two devices that seem to defy logic with their curved displays and compact bodies. The Galaxy S8 manages to cram a 5.7-inch screen onto a body that feels much smaller than that, leading on and the curves come down to meet the hands better than ever before. However, for the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, they had to make some significant changes in order to fit a larger 6.2-inch display into its body. This includes a resolution shift to 960x1440 for an aspect ratio of 18.5x9 and the Galaxy S8 Plus manages to get a little bit taller rather than wider in order to accommodate this change.

One of the most notable changes in the Galaxy S8 Plus is the removal of the hardware home button, which has now become extinct. The Samsung logo at the top of the phone has also been removed, replaced by a fingerprint reader on the back of the device. While this change may not be too noticeable for the average user on the S8, it can feel awkward on the S8 Plus because you have to reach for it, rather than having it easily accessible like on previous Samsung devices.

The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus also boast more display real estate, which means soft keys and a loss of some traditional features. The software side of things is also getting an upgrade with the introduction of Bixby, Samsung's new virtual assistant. Bixby is similar to Google Now and voice search, but it can be triggered by a new button underneath the volume rocker on the S8 Plus. While we've only had limited time with Bixby so far, it seems promising, offering contextual slides, news stories, and calendar entries, as well as functions like changing brightness or taking selfies.

One of the most impressive features of Bixby is its ability to scan words in order to translate them into dozens of different languages. It can also be used to find product information for almost any item you point it at. However, this raises questions about whether Bixby is truly a new layer of assistance or just redundancy, since users still get access to Google Assistant built-in.

The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are housed in water-resistant bodies that protect a range of hardware components, including a 10nm octa-core processor (though Samsung isn't being clear on which one it is) with 4GB of RAM and expandable storage options. The devices also feature a headphone jack, every sensor and connection type possible, and large batteries at 3000mAh for the S8 and 3500mAh for the S8 Plus.

The camera on both devices is also familiar, featuring 12 megapixels on the rear and 8 megapixels on the front with an f/1.7 aperture for both. However, Samsung claims that post-processing has improved the pictures, making them more enhanced and visually pleasing.

Another feature of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus is Samsung Dex, which blows up the home screen to desktop size, offering a range of features built-in.

If you're interested in learning more about these devices, we encourage you to check out our upcoming pieces of content and video on Android Authority, including our first look at the review unit. Our pre-order information for both phones is currently scheduled for March 30th with release dates set for April 21st.

Additionally, if you want to see some behind-the-scenes footage from Samsung's Unpacked event, be sure to check out my channel Tekken, where you can find a link in the description below.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSamsung returns to the flagship game with the latest in their Galaxy S line bringing a familiar but further refined body that is even edgier than ever it's Joshua varara what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 plus there are two versions of the newest Samsung device and the names no longer use the word Edge making it clearer than ever that the curved display is the Galaxy calling card moving forward the edges have the usual propes like the edge ux or any of the features that the edge brings to the table however it's less about that and more about how these curved displays defy Logic the Galaxy S8 crams a 5.7 in screen onto a body that feels much smaller than that leads on and the curves come down to meet the hands better than ever however for the Samsung Galaxy S8 plus they manages to cram in a 6.2 in display onto a body that feels kind of decent to handle in one hand and a few things had to change in order to make this happen mainly a resolution shift to 960x 1440 for an aspect ratio of 18.5x 9 and the Galaxy S8 plus manages to get a little bit taller rather than wider in order to accommodate this change another change comes in the removal of the hardware key yes this is actually happening folks the hardware home button is now gone by the wayside and even the Samsung logo at the top is gone as well on the back now is the fingerprint reader and while it doesn't feel too bad on the S8 the S8 plus makes it feel awkward because you have to reach for it and the change towards more display means soft keys which means an avar and customization speaking of software the latest addition to the Galaxy Suite of apps is a whole new layer of assistance called Bixby Bixby is a little bit like Samsung's version of Google Now and voice search and it can be triggered with yet another Hardware change a new button underneath the volume rocker our time with Bigby only really showed the splash screen where contextual slides are shown including news stories and calendar entries however further actions are available especially with voice input which we saw in a demo functions here included changing the brightness or taking a selfie and a new layer to the camera is available now as well as Bigsby can use the camera to scan not only words so you can translate among dozens of different languages but you can also find product information for pretty much any item we plan to spend a lot of time with Bigby to see what it offers and to see if it's truly a new layer of Assistance or just a redundancy because you still get Google Assistant built in and all of this is housed in a water resistant body that we were almost aggressively invited to dunk and that body protects a bevy of Hardware bits that users have come to expect a 10 Nom octacore processor that Samsung is not really telling us clearly if it's the Snapdragon or the latest exos which is probably going to mean it's a mix of the two 4 GB of RAM expandable storage a headphone jack thank goodness every sensor and connection type possible and a 3,000 mAh battery for the S8 and 3500 mahs for the S8 plus the camera is also quite familiar with 12 megapixels on the rear and 8 megapixels on the front F1 .7 aperture for both what we were told however was that the cameras have gotten better postprocessing so the picture should have an enhancement but it's more on the soft wor side than just on the sheer specs so Samsung strives to make changes in just the right places even if it does mean a shift and familiarity gone or the Samsung logos the tactile home button and flat panels in our Bixby and its new button a shifted fingerprint reader and screens that simply don't quit there are more capabilities that can be unlocked using the Galaxy S8 and S8 plus but you have to use their various tools in the Samsung ecosystem like the gear 360 and Samsung Dex Samsung Dex blows up the already large home screen to literally desktop size with a lot of features built in all of these different pieces will be covered here at Android authority and we encourage you to check out those pieces of content and video our first look at the Samsung Galaxy S8 makes us really excited to get our hands on the review unit sooner rather than later but the release information currently puts pre-orders at March 30th with the phone making it to you on April 21st keep an eye out for our full review and our final thoughts on the the Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus in the coming weeks and you can also see all of our comparisons our quick looks and reactions to various features of the Galaxy S8 here in the next couple of days after that you can actually see a little bit of behind the scenes at the actual Samsung unpacked event if you head over to my channel Tekken and you can find that link in the description below so you can find some BTS down there and from there you can keep you tuned to Android Authority for our future full reviews and comparisons of the Galaxy S8 line and you can keep it tuned here and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already because Android authority is is your source for all things AndroidSamsung returns to the flagship game with the latest in their Galaxy S line bringing a familiar but further refined body that is even edgier than ever it's Joshua varara what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 plus there are two versions of the newest Samsung device and the names no longer use the word Edge making it clearer than ever that the curved display is the Galaxy calling card moving forward the edges have the usual propes like the edge ux or any of the features that the edge brings to the table however it's less about that and more about how these curved displays defy Logic the Galaxy S8 crams a 5.7 in screen onto a body that feels much smaller than that leads on and the curves come down to meet the hands better than ever however for the Samsung Galaxy S8 plus they manages to cram in a 6.2 in display onto a body that feels kind of decent to handle in one hand and a few things had to change in order to make this happen mainly a resolution shift to 960x 1440 for an aspect ratio of 18.5x 9 and the Galaxy S8 plus manages to get a little bit taller rather than wider in order to accommodate this change another change comes in the removal of the hardware key yes this is actually happening folks the hardware home button is now gone by the wayside and even the Samsung logo at the top is gone as well on the back now is the fingerprint reader and while it doesn't feel too bad on the S8 the S8 plus makes it feel awkward because you have to reach for it and the change towards more display means soft keys which means an avar and customization speaking of software the latest addition to the Galaxy Suite of apps is a whole new layer of assistance called Bixby Bixby is a little bit like Samsung's version of Google Now and voice search and it can be triggered with yet another Hardware change a new button underneath the volume rocker our time with Bigby only really showed the splash screen where contextual slides are shown including news stories and calendar entries however further actions are available especially with voice input which we saw in a demo functions here included changing the brightness or taking a selfie and a new layer to the camera is available now as well as Bigsby can use the camera to scan not only words so you can translate among dozens of different languages but you can also find product information for pretty much any item we plan to spend a lot of time with Bigby to see what it offers and to see if it's truly a new layer of Assistance or just a redundancy because you still get Google Assistant built in and all of this is housed in a water resistant body that we were almost aggressively invited to dunk and that body protects a bevy of Hardware bits that users have come to expect a 10 Nom octacore processor that Samsung is not really telling us clearly if it's the Snapdragon or the latest exos which is probably going to mean it's a mix of the two 4 GB of RAM expandable storage a headphone jack thank goodness every sensor and connection type possible and a 3,000 mAh battery for the S8 and 3500 mahs for the S8 plus the camera is also quite familiar with 12 megapixels on the rear and 8 megapixels on the front F1 .7 aperture for both what we were told however was that the cameras have gotten better postprocessing so the picture should have an enhancement but it's more on the soft wor side than just on the sheer specs so Samsung strives to make changes in just the right places even if it does mean a shift and familiarity gone or the Samsung logos the tactile home button and flat panels in our Bixby and its new button a shifted fingerprint reader and screens that simply don't quit there are more capabilities that can be unlocked using the Galaxy S8 and S8 plus but you have to use their various tools in the Samsung ecosystem like the gear 360 and Samsung Dex Samsung Dex blows up the already large home screen to literally desktop size with a lot of features built in all of these different pieces will be covered here at Android authority and we encourage you to check out those pieces of content and video our first look at the Samsung Galaxy S8 makes us really excited to get our hands on the review unit sooner rather than later but the release information currently puts pre-orders at March 30th with the phone making it to you on April 21st keep an eye out for our full review and our final thoughts on the the Galaxy S8 and the S8 Plus in the coming weeks and you can also see all of our comparisons our quick looks and reactions to various features of the Galaxy S8 here in the next couple of days after that you can actually see a little bit of behind the scenes at the actual Samsung unpacked event if you head over to my channel Tekken and you can find that link in the description below so you can find some BTS down there and from there you can keep you tuned to Android Authority for our future full reviews and comparisons of the Galaxy S8 line and you can keep it tuned here and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already because Android authority is is your source for all things Android\n"