If you’re thinking about picking up one of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus handsets, then you may want to check out some of the accessories that Samsung plans to sell alongside them. Samsung has a catalogue of the familiar case varieties alongside a couple of new items and some upgrades to its power accessories.
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AKG earbuds
With the exception of the AKG tuned headphones, none of these accessories below will come with a Galaxy S8 out of the box, barring any deals that individual retailers may offer. Speaking of the AKG headphones, Samsung tells us that there are two speakers in each headphone, one tweeter and one bass, for enhanced clarity. These should be some of the best sounding headphones that ship with any smartphone.
If wireless audio is more your style, a limited edition premium bundle which adds a 256GB memory card and Bluetooth headphones by AKG will also be available for $99.
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Cases and Covers
Previous Galaxy flagship owners will probably recognise many of the covers pictured below. The standard Silicon, Clear, and Clearview Standing Covers have all been refitted to house the company’s latest flagship. The Silicon Cover is just a single piece, as is the Clear protective cover, which both allow for easy access to the front of the Galaxy S8 while still protecting from the occasional drop.
You’ll want the Clearview or LED View option if you’d prefer to have both sides of your S8 protected though. The Clearview Cover can flip open to stand upright for watching video; the LED View option allows for useful information to be displayed on the front of the cover, including the time and notifications. Users can also swipe the cover to turn off alarms and answer phone calls without having to open up the cover to touch the display.
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If you’re after a cover with more of a premium feel, Samsung has unveiled a new Alcantara cover which has a plush suede feel to it. All of these covers are available in a wide selection of colors, including black, blue, pink and mint, to name just a few.
One of the more intriguing accessories I’ve seen is the magnetic 2 Piece Cover (above), which is exactly as the name suggests. The cover comes in two parts and is only designed to protect your phone from the most likely areas of damage, those top and bottom corners that are usually the first to crack if you drop your phone. This leaves you free to enjoy the premium finish of the Galaxy S8’s chassis, but the available pop pastel colors won’t be to everyone’s tastes.
Business users’ coveted Keyboard Cover returns for the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus models this year, offering up a full QWERTY keyboard and physical home buttons for navigating the OS. As before, simply snapping the keyboard to the phone sees the display contents shrink to fit the reduced display size, and there no need to sync via Bluetooth or NFC to start using the keyboard.
Power and Charging
The Samsung Galaxy S8 retains its dual mode wireless charging capabilities from previous generations and has received an updated wireless charging dock this year. The dock offers up Samsung’s fast wireless charging technology and can also be adjusted into an upright position to show off your phone while it’s charging, rather than having to lie your phone flat on the pad.
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Samsung has also updated its official Battery Pack for its Galaxy flagships. The form factor is thinner than before and features a soft textured finished rather than a hard plastic exterior, along with a loop at the top of the pack. The battery capacity is a reasonable 5,100 mAh, which should easily see power users through a very busy day.
Samsung DeX
The final and arguably most noteworthy accessory that Samsung has developed is the DeX Station. This drop-in dock switches the Galaxy S8 into a new desktop mode, which supports a keyboard and mouse input and monitor connections for when you need to be extra productive.
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The DeX Station features a USB Type-C port to connect up the phone, two more USB Type-A ports for peripherals, and an HDMI out that supports up to 4K displays at 30 fps. There’s also a built-in cooling fan to keep your handset cool while running more intensive traditional desktop applications.
