Samsung has finally taken the wraps off its long-rumoured Galaxy S8 Active, announcing pre-orders will go live in the US as of Tuesday.
The phone only looks to be available in the US for now, and is a more ruggedised version of the flagship Galaxy S8.
As such, its design differs somewhat from the sleek and smooth form factor of the standard S8, doing away with the curved-edge Infinity Display, in favour of a more durable screen with a decent bezel.
That said, you still get a good 5.8-inch screen size, and the physical home button has also been removed on the S8 Active.
To increase the durability on the handset, the phone has been designed with “military-grade materials” around a metal frame with an “improved, rugged structure” that Samsung says makes it shock, shatter, water, and dust-resistant.
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There’s a rugged texture on the back, in place of the standard S8’s smooth glass backplate, and the 5.8-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED Display has been made shatter-resistant.
Also on-board is a hefty 4,000 mAh battery which can be charged wirelessly and should provide a decent amount of extra juice in comparison to the S8’s 3000mAh cell.
Round the back, you’ll find a 12-megapixel f/1.7 dual pixel camera while the selfie shooter is an 8-megapixel f/1.7 offering, with smart autofocus.
Samsung Knox, is also included – a feature which Sammy refers to as a “defense-grade mobile security platform”.
It comes with various biometric features including fingerprint and iris scanners, and the company’s virtual assistant ‘Bixby’ is also on-board.
The S8 active will be in US stores on Aug 11 in either Meteor Gray or Titanium Gold. Monthly payments will be $28.34 a month for 30 months with AT&T Next, with the full price coming in at $849.99
For a limited time, the device will be exclusively available from AT&T. While that likely means other US carriers will get the phone soon, that would be a first for the Active range.
Which means we’re hoping there’s a small chance it could mean the phone is coming to the UK and Europe in the future, so stay tuned.
Tweet us your thoughts on the new phone @trustedreviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
