Samsung unveils new products at Unpacked event
Samsung will announce a raft of new smartphone and wearable products this morning — including something we’ve waited a long time for.
Samsung has revealed its latest gadget technology with the highly anticipated unveiling of an innovative two-in-one smartphone tablet.
The Korean tech giant has finally debuted its long awaited, and much hyped, foldable phone featuring its Infinity Flex display this morning at its Unpacked event. This one has been teased by the company for a number of years and is now ready for market.
GALAXY FOLD
Samsung kicked off its annual product launch event by showing off the new Galaxy Fold device. Flexible display technology seems to have finally been mastered by tech companies and Samsung will be among the first device makers to achieve the foldable screen smartphone.
“The Galaxy Fold is a device unlike anything before it,” said Samsung’s head of marketing Justin Dennison.
Despite all our smartphone innovations, “the size of our screens is still limited by the size of our devices,” he said. “Until now.”
When it’s folded it has a 4.6 inch display but when the devices opens up it has a large 7.3 inch display that essentially transforms the phone into a tablet. It folds like a book, and closes flat with what promises to be a satisfying click.
To achieve this, Samsung invented a new polymer layer and created a display around 50 per cent thinner than the typical smartphone screen. The flexible material is able to bend over the hinge of the device.
It has six cameras so users “are always ready to capture the moment no matter which way you hold it or fold it,” Mr Dennison told the audience.
One of the biggest challenges was building the spine of the phone. The company has developed a hinge of multiple interlocking gears that are hidden underneath the panel.
You can unfold the phone and the display will seamlessly transition to a larger screen, as you can see in the video below.
The Galaxy Fold will come with a special edition of Google’s Android software to support the function of its two screens.
Here's how Google Maps goes from a small screen to the unfolded large-screen experience on the Samsung Galaxy Fold. #SamsungUnpacked pic.twitter.com/IoJBpNzYa9
— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) February 20, 2019
It has a feature dubbed Three App Multitasking, allowing users to use up to three applications at the same time.
“You can watch a YouTube video about Hawaii, text your friend about it and browse travel options at the same time,” Mr Dennison said.
“It’s a one of a kind, luxury device.”
It is packed with a solid processor and 12 GB of RAM, making it one of the most powerful smartphones on the market. It has two batteries which Samsung says its engineers had to develop special technology to combine both batteries into a single power source.
The Galaxy Fold comes in black, silver, martian green or astro blue and will be available from April 26.
Samsung Electronics Australia IT and mobile head Garry McGregor said the device had been “six-plus years in the making”.
No word on a local price yet, but it’s not going to be cheap. In the US it starts at just under $2000.
Crazy #Samsung #unpacked2019 pic.twitter.com/3IHW9yAdkD
— Kevin Kyburz (@swissky) February 20, 2019
GALAXY S10 AND S10 PLUS
Samsung also announced the 10th iteration of its flagship Galaxy smartphone, the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus.
The devices are the successors to last year’s Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, and they are also accompanied by a new, more affordable Galaxy S10E model to compete with the iPhone XR.
All three phones will be available for preorder starting tomorrow, February 21, and they will start shipping on March 8.
The design of the Galaxy S10 and S10+ centre on 6.1-inch and 6.4-inch edge-to-edge screen that the company says are the most colour accurate and among the brightest displays on the smartphone market at 1200 nits.
Samsung says its flagship phones have the world’s first Dynamic AMOLED display that provides vibrant and bright colours with improved contrast ratio for even deeper blacks and brighter whites.
The device has an ultra sonic fingerprint scanner on the bottom of the screen to let users unlock it.
It has wireless charging capabilities that can charge other devices simply by touching them. We saw this nifty feature on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro last year that allows you to charge a range of other gadgets, provided they have Qi wireless compatibility.
The Galaxy S10 and S10+ boast a triple camera system with an added wide angle lens.
MORE: Early hands-on review with the Galaxy S10
A fourth S10 model due out later in the year will be 5G capable and available to Telstra customers and boast a whopping four cameras on the rear of the phone and two on the front.
“Telstra has been a global leader in the testing, development and rollout of 5G in Australia and now our customers will be among the first in the world to experience it with Samsung,” Telstra executive Kevin Teoh said.
The Galaxy S10 is available in green, black and white while the Galaxy S10+ is only available in black and white.
In Australia, pricing for the Galaxy S10 starts at $1349 for the 128GB model and $1699 for 512GB model.
Meanwhile the entry-level S10+ will start at $1,499 and go all the way up to $2399 for the 1TB model.
The more budget-friendly S10E model will set you back a few hundred bucks less at $1199.
The company did not issue a price for the 5G phone, but said it will cost even more than the top Galaxy S10+ model.
GALAXY BUDS
With Mobile World Congress taking place next week, Samsung is getting a headstart on its rivals in showcasing its new models. But it wasn’t just phones that Samsung was showing off this morning.
The Korean tech giant also revealed its new Galaxy Buds, a pair of wireless earbuds to compete with Apple’s AirPods that look similar to earlier versions of Samsung’s Gear IconX earbuds.
They have an adaptive dual microphones system and are voice controlled with Samsung’s Bixby AI assistant, which can now recognise three new languages — German, Italian and Spanish.
A feature called Enhanced Ambient Sound allows you to hear your surroundings clearly even while the buds are in your ears.
According to Samsung, they offer up to six hours of Bluetooth streaming and up to five hours of calls per charge.
They come in a canary yellow colour which is rather striking. They also come in a more customary black and white option.
The case of the Galaxy Buds can be charged wirelessly so you can charge them on the go with new Galaxy S line, as seen below.
You can pre order the Galaxy Buds in the company’s online store for $249.
Introducing the new #GalaxyBuds. #SamsungEvent
— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) February 20, 2019
Learn more: https://t.co/Tao3CBYQoh pic.twitter.com/ECy8nqnK14
GALAXY WATCH ACTIVE AND GALAXY FIT
We also got a look at new Samsung watches, the Galaxy Watch Active and Galaxy Fit that feature a heart rate monitor, a thinner wrist strap than previous Galaxy Watches and a minimalist design.
The watch has 60,000 faces to choose from and a number of different wrist bands aimed to complement the sporty new design, Samsung says. Like the Apple Watch, it measures your heart rate and blood pressure.
As for the Galaxy Fit, it is the company’s answer to the FitBit and is targeted at super active customers.
At 23 grams, it is “as light as a single strawberry” a Samsung spokesperson said on stage this morning in one of the weirder comparisons to ever be made at a tech event.
“Consumers are increasingly putting their overall wellbeing at the centre of their lifestyle decisions, and they’re looking for wearables that make it easier to get active and stay balanced every day,” said DJ Koh, Samsung’s President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications.
“Everyone has their own way of pursuing their goals. We’re thrilled to introduce our new line of wearables to fit seamlessly into your life and complement your own personal wellness journey.”
Samsung describes the Galaxy Fit as being “as light as a single strawberry,†which... what? #GalaxyUnpacked pic.twitter.com/wO7dUlFgUB
— Nick Vega (@atNickVega) February 20, 2019
For a full list of specs on the range of latest Samsung devices, click here.
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