Traditionally Samsung reveals its latest flagship smartphone around the beginning of March at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. This year is anything but traditional for the Korean electronics giant, though, as it finds itself on the back foot following the disastrous launch of the exploding Galaxy Note 7 device last year.
As a result, Samsung is coming out swinging with today’s reveal of its Galaxy S8 at a Samsung Unpacked conference, which kicks off at 8AM PT/11AM ET/4PM GMT.
Phones will never be the same. 29.03.2017. #UnboxYourPhone. https://t.co/N18H5SqB3Q pic.twitter.com/TQC79Oz44T
— Samsung UK (@SamsungUK) March 28, 2017
Samsung teased “the next Galaxy” at the end of its MWC conference and all signs point towards it being the latest flagship device. Its messaging has been aggressive so far, suggesting that it’s going beyond the incremental update with this new phone, though it’s not unlike Samsung to be a bit dramatic in that sense.
But what can we expect from VR at the show?
The Galaxy S8
Assuming that the new phone really is the Galaxy S8 then we’re expecting it to at the very least be a performance powerhouse for the company’s Gear VR headset, made in partnership with Oculus. You can expect the usual spec upgrades and form factor refinements.
The smartphone industry is a leaky ship, though, and we’ve already seen a lot of supposed renders of the phone. Industry leakster Evan Blass has featured the device pretty regularly on Twitter over the past month and other images are pretty consistent in the design. It looks like the S8 is pushing back the bezel as much as possible, which could be great for Gear VR’s field of view (FOV).
A Better Look At The New Gear VR And Its Controller
As we mentioned above, Samsung has already announced the new Gear VR that will feature alongside the S8, though it hasn’t been very specific about it yet. The company didn’t offer hands-on at MWC last month, instead showing but a glimpse of it on stage, detailing one very important new feature: a new controller.
This new single-handed device looks a little like one of Google’s own motion controlled remotes for the Daydream ecosystem. It’s got a trackpad on the top and a trigger on the bottom which will no doubt come in handy for first-person shooters. The company hasn’t revealed any content developed specifically for it yet, but it is expected to work with all games that support Gear’s on-board touchpad, so that’s a start.
As for other specs and release info? We’ll just have to wait for later on today.
