Samsung Galaxy S8
The Galaxy Note7 is essentially ready -
it's being unveiled in a week and rumors say it will go on sale the same day.
So now eyes turn towards the Samsung Galaxy S8 and it seems the buzzword of the
next generation is "VR."
Samsung is already one of the biggest
vendors of VR headsets thanks to the free Gear VRs bundled with the S7, but the
next flagship (codenamed Project Dream) will push that advantage further.
It is said that the Galaxy S8 and S8
edge will have a UHD screen - that's 3,840 x 2,160px, compared to Oculus Rift's
2,160 x 1,200px (combined, 1,080 x 1,200px per eye).
The screen of at least the S8 edge model
will be 5.5" big, which will improve the field of view. It's not quite
clear if the regular S8 will remain smaller or match the edge in size. There's more to VR than just the screen
- the GPU requirements scare even PCs (especially if we're throwing around
words like UHD). The S8 may use the Snapdragon 830 chipset (though an Exynos
version is all but certain).
Now, there are VR-capable GPUs from AMD
and Nvidia, but even the entry level ones are 150W monsters, that will never
fit in a mobile form factor.
Samsung rumors already include Odyssey,
a standalone VR headset akin to the Rift and HTC Vive, maybe the Galaxy S8 can
also connect to a PC? That would be sweet, but it's just a dream at the moment
(well.. Project Dream, right?).