Outfitted with a large, bezel-less Infinity Display, Samsung’s newest flagship smartphone lets users see and do more, from watching their favourite show in HDR to multitasking more efficiently. Expanded screen space means they also have more room to write, draw and colour with the enhanced S Pen, which offers features like Live Message and improved Screen off memo functionality.

The Galaxy Note8 also boasts two 12 MP rear cameras – a wide-angle lens and telephoto lens with Optical Image Stabilisation on both – which are capable of producing clear and crisp photos, even when shot at far distances or in low light.  The phone also features IP68 dust and water resistance, powerful performance with a 10 nm process and expandable storage up to 256 GB.

These are just some of the major enhancements that users will get with the Galaxy Note8. Explore some of the other ways Samsung’s latest addition to the Galaxy Note line-up empowers users to make things happen.

Bixby was created to provide a more personalized experience to enhance the way people interact with their phones and the world around them. Bixby is not an ordinary voice assistant, but rather an intuitive and comprehensive interface that leverages contextual awareness to learn users’ habits and respond accordingly.

Bixby offers four main features: Voice, Vision, Reminder and Home.

Voice: A New Way to Interact

Bixby Voice is easily activated. Users simply need to press and hold the dedicated hardware button on the side of the Galaxy S8, say “Bixby” or tap it on the Bixby Home screen to wake it up.

While most traditional smartphone-related tasks require touch activation, Bixby’s multi-modality lets users control their phone using voice and touch controls interchangeably for maximized convenience. Utilizing natural language understanding, Bixby has the ability to adapt to the unique speaking style of the user. But if Bixby doesn’t understand the user’s command, it will ask for more information so it can complete the task, rather than giving up.

Bixby brings a deeper degree of voice integration, but can also easily switch back and forth between each mode of interaction – from voice command to touch, text and back to voice.

Bixby works simultaneously across multiple apps and has the potential to control all settings and features of each service. So, for example, if a user wants to send pictures to a friend, they can select images in their Gallery by tapping them, then tell Bixby to send the selected photos to their designated contact. Meanwhile, Bixby continues to work in the background to continually support the user, without affecting other tasks they might be working on.

Vision: Information in a Snap

With its Vision interface, Bixby can detect what users are looking at and take action according to what they see. Using the Galaxy S8’s Camera app, Bixby makes it easier to search for images and information, shop online and even translate text.

A tourist in Paris, for instance, spots an interesting looking building and snaps a photo of it. Bixby uses the image to determine that the structure is a famous art museum and can then provide related information, such as the museum’s address, phone number and website. At lunch, the user can also leverage Vision to get a translation of the French menu in their own native language or learn more information about the bottle of wine they would like to order.

Shopping is just as easy. Users can take a photo of an item such as a watch or a book and use Vision to locate and purchase it online.* Users can also launch Vision for more in-depth searching of products they see in their phone’s Gallery or while browsing Samsung Internet. Vision can be activated to read QR codes and, in select markets, barcodes that direct users to related information.

Reminder: Friendly Alerts When You Need Them Most

Bixby also helps users remember important events and to-do tasks through its intelligent Reminder feature.

It does so by sending notifications to users reminding them about tasks at specified times or locations, or in certain circumstances. Say a user is out of milk. They can request that Bixby remind them to buy more once they get off work. Or, they can ask Bixby to set their alarm each night before they go to sleep.

When reading an article or watching a video, users can also use Reminder to mark their place should they need to stop and resume where they left off at a later time.

Users can access stored reminders via the Reminder app, Reminder widget, Reminder cards on the Bixby Home screen or the Galaxy S8’s edge screen.

Home: All Important Content in One Convenient Place

Bixby’s Home screen lets users see the content they care most about with just a single swipe on the home screen or a short press of the designated Bixby button.

Home integrates with select native Samsung apps to provide a seamless look at all of the activity across the Galaxy S8 through a customizable card-like interface. For example, Home’s contact card shows frequent and missed call contacts, while music-related cards provide options such as playing paused content. Facebook and other social media cards, meanwhile, display trending content and news cards announce the latest headlines.

But Home doesn’t just relay information; it puts it into context, paying attention to the user’s schedule, routine and personality each time it’s used. In this way, Bixby can actually anticipate what the user needs and respond accordingly.

Say someone often uses Uber to commute to work. Bixby will start to place an Uber card at the top of Home in the morning, with a fare estimate and request button. When it’s time for bed, Home might display a user’s alarm and health summary of daily activity. The more users access Bixby, the more it evolves and adapts.

With its intuitive, comprehensive features and ability to leverage contextual awareness, Bixby provides a more convenient, personalized mobile experience, changing the way people interact with their phones. As the Bixby ecosystem continues to grow, Samsung believes it will evolve from an interface for your smartphone to an interface for your life.

*At launch, Vision’s shopping service will be available in 11 countries, including the US, UK and Korea, and will expand to others in the future.

Billed as the ultimate multitasking device for those who want to do bigger things with their phone, the revolutionary addition to the Samsung Galaxy family was specifically designed for people who break through barriers to do more.

South Africans can become part of the action by watching the live streaming of the Unpacked New York event, which will air on http://www.samsung.com/za.

“Samsung Dex optimise interface and allows users to easily multitask, watch videos in resizable windows, reply to messages via a task bar and more, directly from their smartphone on a larger display using a keyboard and mouse,’’ says Paulo Ferreira, director of Enterprise Mobility at Samsung Electronics South Africa

A Convenient Mobile Desktop Experience

The Samsung DeX is an easy and convenient ‘plug and play’ station which seamlessly connects you monitor, keyboard and mouse with your Galaxy S8 or S8+. Once connected, the mobile phone will switch to Samsung DeX mode.

The Samsung DeX interface is easily navigable and consistent with most desktops, as it supports keyboard and mouse gestures such as shortcuts, scrolling and drag and drop. Furthermore, with the ability to quickly shift between applications and adjust application window size with ease, users can see a range of contents all at once and multitask with efficiency.

Meanwhile, the Samsung DeX Home Screen’s Task Bar allows users to see which applications are currently running, while pop-up notifications on the bottom right of the screen notify the user of incoming messages and calls without blocking the screen.

Optimised for Productivity

Samsung DeX’s intuitive applications and services help to maximise productivity by allowing people to work more efficiently whenever and wherever they want.

For example, four Samsung applications are equipped with enhanced features that work in Samsung DeX. Samsung Internet, Samsung’s native browser app, lets users launch the desktop version of websites in multiple windows simultaneously, while MyFiles allows convenient dragging and dropping of files and documents from one folder to another. Gallery makes it easier to browse images with a mouse and keyboard and Samsung e-mail facilitates digital correspondence by letting users easily attach files by dragging and dropping them to the email composer.

Key collaborations with Microsoft and Adobe provide Samsung DeX compatibility with Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as Adobe mobile apps including the Adobe Acrobat Reader and Lightroom mobile apps. These applications provide desktop-like functionality and a user interface previously unavailable from a smartphone.

Whether making side-by-side price comparisons on shopping websites, editing photos while browsing images in Gallery or chatting with a colleague while editing a presentation, Samsung DeX enables an easier, faster and smarter way to get things done.

A Mobile Workspace Solution

Because the data from their smartphone is only displayed on the monitor and not transferred from the mobile device, enterprise users can rest assured knowing their information is safe when using Samsung DeX. Furthermore, while connected to the DeX Station, the smartphone continues to be secured by the Samsung Knox security platform, which provides protection against potential threats.

Samsung DeX also allows mobile workers and business professionals to remotely and securely access virtual apps and desktops through partner solutions including Citrix, VMware and Amazon Web Services, whose apps are optimised for Samsung DeX with keyboard and mouse interactions, full screen mode and resizable window capabilities.

The DeX Station contains an HDMI port, two USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, USB type-C power-in and a cooling fan. Additionally, Samsung DeX utilises Adaptive Fast Charging (AFC) technology to charge the smartphone while in DeX mode.

“Samsung takes you beyond the phone experience and provides value-added services to elevate the  possibilities for premiere mobile productivity and connectivity,’’ Ferreira concludes.