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Think the Galaxy S8 is a deal big? Well Samsung has an even bigger one in the shape of the eye-popping Galaxy S8 Plus. I’ve already explored how these two new smartphones differ, but is the Galaxy S8 Plus a good upgrade to the Galaxy S7 Edge which it replaces? Or is the older phone now a bargain you should look to instead?

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Let’s take a look…

Displays – Beauty And The Beast  

Like the Galaxy S8, it is impossible to discuss the Galaxy S8 Plus without starting with the display because Samsung’s 2017 smartphone screens have got a lot bigger…

Galaxy S8 Plus (left) vs Galaxy S7 Edge (right)

Yes, the Galaxy S8 Plus panel is a massive 0.7-inches larger than its predecessor. It also covers a class leading 84% of the front of the phone (marginally more than the 83.6% of the Galaxy S8) which creates a truly stunning looking device (the iPhone 7 Plus has 67%). The display is stronger too with Gorilla Glass 5 surviving falls better than Gorilla Glass 4 (though resistance to scratches is similar).

Aside from size and strength, the Galaxy S8 Plus has gained Mobile HDR Premium certification which means increased brightness and contrast levels that make it ideal for mobile HDR content coming to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

The Galaxy S8 Plus display is stunning for watching video

That said both phones default to 1080p, lower than their native resolutions. The Galaxy S8 Plus runs at 2220 x 1080 (due to its longer 18.5:9 aspect ratio) while Samsung dropped the Galaxy S7 Edge to 1920 x 1080 with the update to Android 7.0. The latter benefits from an increase to its already excellent battery life, but seeing the latter ship at a lower resolution on day one poses more concerning questions in this area (more later).

Design – How Big Is Too Big?

While the Galaxy S8 (155g) weighs almost the same as the Galaxy S7 (152g) despite a jump from 5.1-inches to 5.7-inches, the same cannot be said about the Galaxy S8 Plus:

Samsung’s new smartphone is significantly larger than its predecessor and there’s a notable weight increase as well. It’s still remarkably compact for its screen size – the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus measures 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm (6.23 x 3.07 x 0.29 in) and weighs 188g (6.63 oz) – but this is not a small phone.

Even compared to the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8 (left), the Galaxy S8 Plus is significantly larger

The smaller bezels also see the home button removed and replaced by on-screen navigation keys with the fingerprint sensor moved to the back. This position is contentious as it is up high to the right of the rear camera, making it a big stretch and you’ll almost inevitably smudge the camera lens each time you unlock. So here the Galaxy S7 Edge holds the advantage.

To compensate for this the Galaxy S8 Plus matches the Galaxy S8 with the introduction of iris and facial recognition. Ignore the latter as it can be fooled by a photo (Samsung accepts the flaw), but the former is fast and very secure – though having to point your phone at your face each time makes it a conspicuous method and a pain to use when walking.

Galaxy S8 Plus (left) and Galaxy S7 Edge (right) look a lot more similar from the back

Despite this the Galaxy S8 retains key practical parts of the Galaxy S7 Edge: microSD remains (crammed inside the sim card slot), as does IP68 dust and water resistance allowing for 30 minutes of full submersion in up to 1.5 metres of water. There’s also a common sense shift to USB Type-C as the new connector continues its honourable mission to replace all other USB form factors.

Both Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus squeeze a microSD slot into the sim card tray

Like the Galaxy S8 you’ll only get the Galaxy S8 Plus in Midnight black, Orchid Grey and Arctic Silver at launch but with the Galaxy S7 Edge available in many more colours, expect Samsung to add new options right until the Galaxy S9 is with us.

Read More – Galaxy S8 Vs Galaxy S7: What’s The Difference?

Cameras – Same Old, Same Old

Don’t upgrade to the Galaxy S8 Plus expecting a major camera upgrade from the Galaxy S7 Edge. Somewhat surprisingly, the Galaxy S8 Plus shares its rear camera module.

Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus cameras use the same hardware as their 2016 predecessors

This isn’t the end of the world as the 12 megapixel, f/1.7 aperture shooter is still excellent (if not top of the class) and you’ll still get optical image stabilisation (OIS) and 4K video recording. Samsung says Galaxy S8 Plus improvements instead come from new multi-shot image processing software (multiple shots are taken and combined into a single image).

A pre-release version of the Galaxy S8 Plus I used still found it lagging behind the Google Pixel (sample below). This should improve, but remember Samsung may well also being this new image processing to the Galaxy S7 Edge in a future software update.

Galaxy S8 (left) vs Google Pixel XL (right) shows the latter coming out on top, but more testing is needed

Where you can expect a significant step up, however, is the front facing camera. Out goes the Galaxy S7 Edge’s mediocre 5MP camera in favour of a new 8MP module. You’ll also get Snapchat-style filters, though again expect these to come to the Galaxy S7 Edge eventually.

Performance – Incremental Improvements

Each year smartphones get faster, but the Galaxy S8 Plus is not dramatically faster than the Galaxy S7 Edge. Samsung says you can expect 10% more CPU performance and 21% more GPU performance, which isn’t a big step up given the Galaxy S7 Edge (Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890) had a 30% faster CPU and 64% faster GPU than the Galaxy S6. Still, neither phone will be slow.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chipset will feature on US sold Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus

Note Samsung is still delivering a different chipset to the US than the rest of the world but promising very similar performance:

Where there are more significant upgrades is connectivity. Both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus upgrade the Galaxy S7 Edge’s Bluetooth 4.2 to Bluetooth 5.0 (2x speed, 4x range) and support one gigabit (1,000 megabit) 4G, even if carriers may never offer these speeds until long after this phone is retired.

Software – More Refined, More Bloated

TouchWiz continues to get more attractive as Samsung evolves its polarising Android skin. I still prefer stock Android, but there’s no denying Samsung is making more cohesive software than ever before. Sadly it’s also more bloated.

The new features will come to the Galaxy S7 Edge in time, but at launch the new Galaxies will have exclusive access to Bixby (a Google Now/Assistant/Goggles hybrid which gets its own hardware button below the volume rocker) and Samsung Connect (a Google Home-style IoT hub), plus all the other bloatware you don’t really need but accepted a long time ago.

Bixby’s information screen is a clear copy of Google Now

Unfortunately the Galaxy S8 Plus still ships with Android 7.0 when Android 7.1 is a) nearly six months old, and b) a huge advance. Again, despite Samsung’s promises, if you buy a Galaxy smartphone one of the things you have to accept is software updates will be slow.

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus do have a neat trick up their sleeve though, which the Galaxy S7 Edge cannot do: turn into a barebones PC. Spend $150 on Samsung’s optional DeX dock and you can connect a monitor (via HDMI), keyboard and mouse (via USB) and use a desktop-style interface with Android apps and Citrix and Amazon Workspaces compatibility.

When paired with the DeX dock, users can create a basic multi-window desktop environment which runs Android apps

It’s not quite as advanced as Chrome OS (and you could just buy a Chromebox for $150) and you can’t use your phone at the same time, but it remains a tantalising peak at the future of smartphones.

Battery Life – The Big Backwards Step?

But now we come to an area where I expect the Galaxy S7 Edge to beat its successor. The reason for this is Samsung has retained the same 3500 mAh capacity battery in the Galaxy S8 Plus, despite is much larger display. Displays are the biggest single factor in battery drain, so I very much doubt you’ll find the Galaxy S8 Plus lasting as long as the Galaxy S7 Edge.

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are very thin, but should they have been thicker with bigger batteries?

On the flip side, the Galaxy S8 Plus battery will age better as it has improved cycle longevity losing just 5% of its capacity after one year versus 20% with the Galaxy S7 Edge. Its wired and wireless charging is also slightly faster (though Samsung didn’t say by how much), but brace yourself for the cost of replacing all your micro USB charging cables.

At least Samsung’s new ‘8 Point Quality Check’ means it shouldn’t explode.

Price And Storage

At this stage it is time to decide how impressed you are by the Galaxy S8 Plus, because both it and the Galaxy S8 have had $100 increases compared to the launch prices of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge:

Perhaps more important than this $100 increase, however, is the fact that these days you can pick-up a Galaxy S7 Edge for little more than half that price and there are plenty of second hand models floating around for less than that. You won’t get the $99-valued AKG headphones Samsung bundles with the Galaxy S8 Plus, but you may not need them?

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus may not be massive upgrades internally, but those stunning displays will win over a lot of customers

Early Verdict

Just like the Galaxy S8, the Galaxy S8 Plus looks truly stunning. Unlike its smaller stable mate, however, it is a much larger and heavier phone than its predecessor. This is worth bearing in mind in particular when it comes to reaching for that badly placed fingerprint sensor.

It is also worth noting that the Galaxy S8 Plus has the same camera and battery capacity as the Galaxy S7 Edge and is only marginally faster. So that increased price tag needs careful consideration.

There’s no doubt every Galaxy S8 Plus owner will attract envious glances from others, but it isn’t perhaps as big an upgrade over the Galaxy S7 Edge as many may have assumed based on looks alone. The 2016 phone is also clearly better value one year on, but if you still opted for that stunning 6.2-inch display I wouldn’t blame you in the slightest.

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Source: Forbes Technology

In 2017 iPhones will change radically and new information has revealed a triple upgrade that will ensure we never look at these smartphones in quite the same way again… 

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In a research note obtained by long running Apple site MacRumors, multinational banking and financial services company Barclays has revealed all Apple’s next generation of iPhones will have new screen technology.

iPhone 8 concept based on the latest leaks. Image credit: Tech Driven Times

Barclays says a “full spectral sensing” ambient light sensor will be added across the iPhone 7S, iPhone 7S Plus and iPhone 8 to bring Apple’s ‘True Color’ iPad Pro technology to smartphones for the first time. It claims the sensors will be supplied by Austrian semiconductor manufacturer AMS.

As Apple explains on its iPad Pro page: “[True Tone] uses advanced four-channel ambient light sensors to automatically adapt the colour and intensity of the display to match the light in your environment. Which means reading anywhere is more natural and comfortable – almost like looking at a sheet of paper.”

The Good News

Having experienced True Tone on the iPad Pro, I can confirm it is a fantastic technology. It may be somewhat akin to a glorified real-time filter, but it does indeed make reading in particular more comfortable. And this benefit could be even more important for iPhones than iPads given the former have much smaller displays that are harder to read for long periods of time.

True Tone technology matches back lighting to the environment to increase readability.

Furthermore, given that the iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus (incremental updates to the iPhone and iPhone 7 Plus) will continue to use LCD while the redesigned iPhone 8 (or possibly just ‘iPhone’) will switch to OLED, this suggests Apple isn’t just trying to catch up to established OLED rivals like Samsung but surpass them.

The Bad News

What’s less encouraging is price. Barclays estimates that the material step-up will increase component cost over 60% on both LCD and OLED. As this follows on from other cost increases and multiple reports that the iPhone 8 will start from over $1,000 it looks like 2017 will also be the year of major iPhone price hikes.

Of course, as Apple’s controversial MacBook Pro upgrades showed last year, the company is not afraid to dramatically raise the price of its devices when it believes the upgrades justify it. But it does put significant pressure on the iPhone 8, perhaps more than any iPhone in history, to prove it really is the revolutionary device leaks suggest.

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Source: Forbes Technology

Spoilers through Season 7 of ‘The Walking Dead’ follow.

Negan is taken by surprise in ‘The Walking Dead’ season 7 finale.

Sunday night’s season finale of The Walking Dead was finally an episode actually worth watching in a season that was stuffed to the brim with filler, bad special effects, and various other nagging problems. Thank goodness the season wrapped up with a strong finale and didn’t end with an aggravating cliff-hanger.

Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly in the final episode of Season 7, “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life.”

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The Good

Probably the best thing about this episode was the surprising twist halfway in, when the Trash People turn on Rick’s group. The moment Rosita tries to set off the bombs, the Trash People turn their guns on Rick’s group. They’ve sabotaged the explosives and struck a deal with the Saviors. I didn’t see that coming, though now we learn how Negan was getting his intelligence on Rick’s plans.

I never liked the stupid Trash People to begin with, and now I have even more reason to despise them. Rick’s group should hunt them down and take them out one by one, starting with the leader with the terrible hair. I still think that this group’s weird way of speaking and odd behavior makes absolutely no sense, but at least The Walking Dead used them to good effect here.

In any case, the surprise betrayal worked great, and made Sasha’s surprise even more important. You could see what was going to happen with Sasha a mile away, but it was still pretty great to have her come out of the coffin and straight into an unsuspecting Negan. He’s so cocky and self-assured, but for one moment he was afraid and caught off guard.

The battle that followed was also great, as we found our heroes on the losing side in spite of Sasha’s sacrifice and Carl’s quick thinking (good for Carl to take advantage of that situation and start shooting, though I’m not sure why Rick didn’t make a move also.) While the fight breaks out on the ground, Michonne finds herself in a pitched battle to the death with a seriously strong and psychotic Trash Woman. I didn’t think they’d kill Michonne off that way, but it was still tense, and even more nail-biting when Negan takes both Carl and Rick captive. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the show had killed off another major character, but of course Carl is saved in the nick of time by King Ezekiel’s tiger.

Eugene the coward.

Once again, Carol is here to save the day, along with the rest of Ezekiel’s “regiment” (I do love how Ezekiel talks, though that’s probably my thespian past speaking; I was in two Shakespeare plays in high school and am a huge dork, so…go figure.) Morgan has joined up with Ezekiel, who seems to be one of the only people who can cut through Morgan’s crazy, and enters the fight guns blazing. Hopefully Morgan can strike a balance between total pacifist and unhinged killer.

Maggie and the Hilltop gang show up at the same time, which is a little convenient but works well for the action, and soon they have the Saviors and Trash people routed. “Alexandria will not fall this day!” Ezekiel proclaims, as Negan drives off flipping them all the bird.

This is all great. It’s exactly the kind of tension and action we’ve been waiting for all season. But the entire time I can’t help but feel like it should have happened in episode 8, the midseason finale, rather than at the end of the season. We took way too long to get to this episode, and so much of the show’s momentum was lost along the way. This was a very good season finale, but I’m not sure it’s good enough to justify the slog we just endured throughout most of Season 7.

I liked how the episode ended as well. I enjoyed Maggie’s little speech, though it felt less like something that a person would say to another person, and more like a letter with voice-over. Oh well, it was nice either way. I like Maggie as a character, and especially when she isn’t laying the southern accent on too thick. It was a touching way to round out the episode. And it was sad when Jesus and Maggie find Sasha as a walker, shuffling through the forest, and do what must be done.

Meanwhile, the juxtaposition of Rick’s group and the Kingdom, a small rag-tag band of freedom fighters, with the massive army Negan has at his disposal, sets the stage nicely for Season 8. There will be blood.

Rick didn’t think things through very well.

The Bad

What I really didn’t like about this episode was all the jumping around and the weird flashbacks Sasha had with Maggie and Abraham. I didn’t mind seeing Sasha in the coffin ahead of time, listening to music. A little time-jumping can be effective. But the flashbacks were really weird. I didn’t like how Sasha would say Abraham’s line right before he said it, and the entire scene between the two of them felt forced. I guess I just don’t see them as a couple at all—Rosita and Abraham made way more sense—and the fact that they really were just starting their relationship (something the episode drives home more than once) makes their bond even more fragile. The fact is, they weren’t that close. Maggie and Glenn were much closer and we haven’t had any touching flashbacks between the two of them.

So these scenes felt forced and weird and awkward and just really unnecessary. I think Sasha did deserve something like that to send her on her way—after all, her brother Tyreese got his own time to shine when he shuffled off this mortal coil—and I think any major character who dies deserves to have a fair send-off (again, something not given to Glenn whatsoever.) But I would have preferred to see her flash back to more than just a guy she dated for like five minutes. It would have been nice to see her with Tyreese again, and with Bob, her previous boyfriend. Oh well, as far as complaints go this is fairly minor. I finally have an episode of Season 7 that I liked quite a lot more than I disliked.

Sure, it was a bit predictable that Negan wouldn’t kill Carl; it was predictable that Sasha would come out a zombie; but by and large this episode had some cool surprises.

Oh, and before I forget, what’s up with Carol ordering around Ezekiel’s men? Why is she the boss of the world all of a sudden? Carol is a great character but she’s been really weird lately.

The Ugly

Thankfully we didn’t have any crappy special effects. There wasn’t much in the way of zombies, but Sasha walker was perfectly fine. The battle scene was well choreographed and the whole thing was put together really well. I guess AMC spent all its ugly on that fake deer earlier this season.

Verdict

A really good season finale at the tail end of a really bad season doesn’t quite make up for all the show’s recent mistakes and shortcomings. On the other hand, it does give me a little hope for Season 8. Not a lot, but a little. I liked how this ended, no gimmicks and no cliff-hangers and no cheap tricks. I like the set-up for all-out-war. I just wish we didn’t have to endure Negan for another season, and I’m worried that the showrunners will pack the next season with lame filler episodes and bizarre character decisions.

Some final, scattered thoughts:

What did you think of the Season 7 finale?

‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7, Part 2 In Pictures

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Source: Forbes Technology

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The American dairy is one of the most competitive spaces in the food industry, long dominated by giants who have the scale to quickly and widely distribute a product with a very short lifespan, in a sector where consumer brand loyalty is legendary. Perhaps the most competitive product lines within this increasingly cut throat category are yogurt and ice cream, and yet two backyard brands, born out of the curiosity and imagination of a single young founder, have catapulted to the top, taking on giants like Yoplait, Chobani, Haagen Dazs and Breyers in just a few short years- -and all through the power of creative disruption.

Noosa Yoghurt was co-founded in 2009 by Koel Thomas, who discovered the creamy whole milk yoghurt, sweetened with passion fruit, while on a visit to her homeland of Australia. She returned home to Boulder, Colorado, made a deal with a local dairy, built a yogurt factory right next door, and began marketing Noosa in the US. Advent International acquired Noosa in 2014 to expand their production capacity, and sales this year are expected to hit 9.3 billion.

Halo Top Ice Cream is marketed as the ice cream that’s so good for you that you can eat the whole pint in one sitting. One

lived on nothing but Halo Top ice cream for 10 days and actually lost weight. Halo Top was invented in 2010 by former attorney Justin Wolverton who came up with the recipe while experimenting with his new Cuisinart in his own kitchen trying to come up with sugarless desserts to satisfy his own sweet tooth. From these humble beginnings, Halo Top has shot to the top of the freezer case in record time. Halo Top sales in 2016 jumped about 2,500% from the year before. And they did all of that without spending on any traditional marketing.

So how did Noosa and Halo Top manage to disrupt the American dairy in record time? Here are a few ideas:

Source: Forbes Technology