Samsung Galaxy S8 - Samsung has finally admitted defeat, and this is why
THE Samsung Galaxy S8 launched at an exclusive media event this week. The phone boasts a slew of awesome new features – as well as one major u-turn from Samsung.
Samsung took the wraps off its Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ this week.
The latest flagship Samsung smartphone boasts a dual-curved, edge-to-edge Quad HD display.
To keep the physical footprint of the device manageable, while also increasing the size of the display in comparison to its predecessor, Samsung ditched the buttons from the front of the phone. The South Korean company dropped the physical Home Button and relocated the fingerprint scanner to the rear of the device.
Navigation on the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ is now handled by virtual on-screen buttons.
Samsung has completely redesigned the virtual navigation buttons that ship with Google's stock version of Android.
Compared to the S7 Edge, LEFT, Samsung has ditched the physical buttons for the S8, RIGHT
The company has also admitted defeat and allowed smartphone owners to change the layout of these buttons.
Yes, that's right, for the first time Samsung Galaxy S phone owners can swap the back button to the left hand-side of the phone, where it is located on every other Android handset.
Samsung is one of only a handful of Android phone manufacturers who stubbornly swap the default layout.
There is an argument that having the back button the right of the device makes it easier to reach for right handed users, since it requires less stretching.
However, from a cognitive logic standpoint, it really makes much more sense to keep the back button on the left.
Samsung Galaxy S8 includes a major u-turn from Samsung
After all, where is the back button on your browser – is it on the right? If you want to re-read a page in your book – do you flip the pages back to the right or the left?
Every back button on every TV remote ever built is on the left of the confirmation button.
Samsung has always stubbornly maintained the opposite – and reverse the default Android button layout.
The vast majority of other Android handsets have the virtual back button placed on the left
However, within the Galaxy S8 settings menu, Samsung allows users the choice between having the back button on the right or left of the display.
You can also use this menu to customise how hard of a press is required to activate the pressure-sensitive virtual home button embedded beneath the display.
Find out all the details about the Samsung Galaxy S8, including SIM-free UK price, specs, new software features, and more.
Carphone Warehouse, EE, Vodafone, and a number of other mobile carriers have now published pricing for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.