Samsung Music will no longer be on any of the company's smartphones from now on as they have joined forces with Google to make the Google Play Music app default for all future Samsung smartphones. It cannot exactly be said that this would be a huge loss; given there was nothing very special about Samsung's music player to begin with!

The tie-up has also resulted in all S8, S8+ and Tab S3 owners receiving premium Google Play Music services without any charges, for a period of three months. Additionally, owners of all the three devices will be allowed to upload and stream as many as 100,000 songs from their offline collections. The limit on regular subscribers on the other hand continues to remain at 50,000 songs as always.

All the other expected premium and free features of the Google Play Music app like free radio, mood based intelligent music suggestion, podcasts, streaming, etc. will be available right out of the box, as long as you decide to purchase any one (or multiple) of the aforementioned Samsung devices. YouTube Red will also be a part of the three-month deal for the Samsung users. In case you really did like the Samsung Music Player, it is still available for download from both the Galaxy and the Google Play Store.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

Although I always prefer my devices to be unlocked, there are those that benefit from the low EMI plans and bundled offers that carriers have in place for expensive smartphones, especially in the US. However, many do not like the way Verizon or AT&T logos are stamped on their phones as it takes away from the phone's initial design language. This would particularly be a travesty for the S8 and S8+, given how aesthetically and minimally they are designed by default. That won't be a problem with the two flagships from Samsung this year though. Samsung has made sure that no ugly carrier logos will be messing with their bezel-less smartphone's aesthetics. Just like the iPhone, physical branding won't be a part of any Galaxy S8 and S8+, irrespective of where you or whom you buy your phones from.

We were actually expecting something like this from the smartphone giant, given how much Samsung has sacrificed to achieve a clean, immersive look for the two phones this year. Apart from axing the iconic Physical Home button, they have not put their own logo in front of the device, which is a first for any and all Samsung smartphones and tablets. However, the Samsung logo does make its way to the back of both devices, unlike the carrier logos which are gone for good.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

After months of speculations and leaks, the S8 and S8+ were finally launched last month. However, except for pre-ordering it and waiting to get your hands on one, there wasn't really much that you could do at that point. However, all that waiting comes to an end today as the S8 and S8+ are now officially on sale across the USA, Canada, South Korea and Puerto Rico. Of course some of the customers in other countries have already started to receive their package as well, but they still can't go and buy one off the shelf yet.

All remaining countries where Samsung has not yet started to sell the device (officially), should see the two flagships smartphones arrive at the stores in the coming week or the next; that is by the end of April or the first week of March, you should be able to buy a S8 smartphone irrespective of your location, unless Samsung has no presence in your nation of course.

Would you be buying the Galaxy S8 or S8+? Have you already pre-ordered it? Would you rather wait for the Galaxy Note 8 which will come out later in the year? Let us know the answers in the comments section below.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

Although the Galaxy S8 and S8+ have not been released to the public yet, they are apparently receiving their first OTA updates. The updates contain the Android security patch for the month, but more interestingly, has the "fix" which takes away the ability to remap the Bixby hardware button from both devices. It wasn't easy to begin with as you had to install a third party app to get it done, but post the update, it just won't be possible anymore unless you decide to root your brand new device. The build numbe on the two updates are G950FXXU1AQDD (S8) and G955FXXU1AQDD (S8+) .

As of now, the update is only hitting the review units and pre-release handsets probably, since the two smartphones are not yet available for purchase anywhere. However, what this does mean is that if you do decide to buy any of the two handsets or if you have pre-ordered any one of them, the April security patch will be waiting for you, along with the Bixby Button reprogramming limitation patch as soon as you switch on your phone for the first time. Get that Wi-Fi ready and start getting to know Bixby I guess!

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)

Apart from the Snapdragon 835 and Adreno 540 powered versions of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ that have been launched in the US, Canada, China and Japan, the two smartphones also have an international version for all other countries, which is being powered by Samsung's in-house chip, the Exynos 8895 CPU and the Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. According to multiple test results made public by GSMArena, it seems that the Mali-G71 GPU is quite a bit more powerful than the Adreno 540 as the former manages to beat the latter in almost all benchmarking tests. It should be noted that both the SoCs are made by Samsung on their own 10nm FinFET process and have almost identical features and capabilities.

You will find the following screenshots of the test results to be self-explanatory, but it was a bit surprising to find that just like last year, the Exynos CPU is faster than the Snapdragon 835 this year around as well; at least in most tests that is. The Qualcomm chip managed to win back a few as well. The most interesting observation according to me is how the iPhone 7 plus still manages to mop the floor with all Android handsets when it comes to single-core performance in both GeekBench 3 and 4. When it comes to AnTuTu, the iPhone 7 Plus was beaten by the Galaxy S8+ Exynos version, but not even by a 1000 points! The SD 835 powered S8+ on the other hand, lost to both its Exynos counterpart and the iPhone 7 Plus significantly. Check out GSM Arena for the rest of the test results in detail.

Saikat Kar (tech-enthusiast)