Samsung just went all out for its Galaxy Unpacked event celebrating the ten year anniversary of its Galaxy S line.
As well as no fewer than four new 'regular' Galaxy S10 smartphones, a pair of smart earbuds, a health focused smartwatch, and a fitness tracker, it announced “a whole new category of device” in the form of an actual, real folding phone (even though Royole technically got there first).
Now we know that’s exciting (and possibly all you want to read about) but here’s a rundown of all the new Samsung Galaxy products, the details you need to know and when to expect them to drop.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
The Galaxy Fold kickstarted the year in gadgets bending to our every whim - let's consider LG's rolling TV at CES an appetiser - and, even though it's a bit wild and it costs two grand, you can't deny it feels new. With 5G on the horizon for 2019 and tablets pretending to be laptops for years now, it makes sense that smartphones would want to do away with both tablets and laptops (and cameras) altogether.
Samsung kicked off the Galaxy Unpacked event with this foldable Android 9 Pie phone. The “luxury” device has a 4.6-inch front display with a folding 7.3-inch tablet-size Infinity Flex display.
In the on-stage demo, the app continuity between the two screens looked pretty slick – Google Maps launched on the larger display as soon as the device was opened. There’s also support for three app multi-tasking, sound by AKG and two batteries inside with both LTE and 5G models planned.
The Galaxy Fold will be on sale in Europe for €2,000 from May 3 and slightly sooner, on April 26 in the US.
Samsung Galaxy S10, S10 Plus and S10e
Overshadowed by the Galaxy Fold somewhat is the new Galaxy S10 family which includes the new flagship phone, the compact, more affordable Galaxy S10e and the slightly higher-specced Galaxy S10 Plus. Essentially this is Samsung proving it can keep up with the Huawei's on phone design and specs and we're impressed with what we've seen so far.
The highlights? Infinity-O displays with punch-holes for the front-facing cameras, multiple wide-angle and telephoto lenses on the rear and an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner built into the screen.
All the S10s are now available to pre-order and are on sale from March 8. As an extra bonus, Samsung also announced a 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S10 5G due “this summer”.
For more, read our Samsung Galaxy S10 hands on, Samsung Galaxy S10 vs iPhone XS and Samsung Galaxy S10 vs Huawei Mate 20 Pro vs Google Pixel 3 comparison guides.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active
On sale oMarch 8 for £229, Samsung’s latest smartwatch ditches the signature rotating bezel for a lightweight, aluminium build and redesigned strap. We had a quick play with a Galaxy Watch Active at Galaxy Unpacked and it is indeed very light (it's just 25 grams without the strap) and comfortable to wear - it will no doubt appeal to anyone who hates lugging a big sports watch around on their wrist.
In some ways this is the closest you'll get to an Apple Watch-alike for Android phones. There's a compact 1.1-inch 360 x 360 pixel screen and it runs Tizen OS 4.0 with a new, 'glanceable' UI that looks satisfyingly simple on first glance.
In terms of health and sports credentials, the Galaxy Watch Active has built-in GPS, it's water resistant up to 5 atmospheres and there's even a blood pressure monitoring companion app in beta.
There’s also 60,000 watch faces and support for apps like Strava, Under Armour and (Samsung exclusive) Spotify too. Both the Watch Active and the Fit (below) also auto track exercise, sleep and heart rate as well as handling continuous stress tracking.
Samsung Galaxy Buds
These wireless smart earbuds will come bundled for free with the Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus and go on sale for £139 on March 29. They’re 30 per cent smaller than the Gear IconX, sport adaptive dual mics that Samsung says will help in noisy environments, Bixby voice controls and sound is by AKG. Charge them in their charging case or using the S10’s wireless power sharing.
Samsung Galaxy Fit
Finally, the Galaxy Fit is a fitness tracker that’s light (23g), durable and water resistant with a 0.95-inch AMOLED touchscreen display. Battery life is a week, which is nice, and it runs on Samsung's Realtime OS, which will hook up to the Samsung Health app.
Despite any real, standout features, this will probably sell pretty well as a Fitbit rival - it's $99 in the US. There's also a budget Fit e tracker which has a 0.74-inch passive matrix OLED screen and is expected to sell for as little as $35 when they go on sale on May 21. The Galaxy Fit and Fit e weren't on display at the Galaxy Unpacked product showcase so we haven't had a chance to try it on for size yet.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
