The Galaxy S8 sets records and erases the bad taste of the Note 7
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What's going on?
Bryan Tong here, and welcome to Googlicious, for all the Google you can think of.
The S8 is officially on sale, and we have stories around that, but let's start off with some Google news first.
All right, the next generation of Google's jump camera rig for 3D 360 video is here and it's called Halo.
It's a partnership between Google and the [UNKNOWN] backed brand [UNKNOWN] The Halo features 17 4K cameras weighing 8 pounds with 100 minutes of battery life.
Now there are 16 cameras on the rig, and one facing upward to fully capture a scene.
And an Android app acts as a remote control, and includes a live preview.
Now Google introduced its first jump rig with the help of GoPro cameras back in 2015.
The Yi Halo will go on sale this summer.
There's also a jump start program to get free access to the rig for 100 traders with an application process That closes May 22.
Now VR content is still evolving, and content is always king with any new platform.
But Google Play is celebrating content of their own with their 2017 nominees for the Google Play Awards.
Categories range from Best Standout Indie Best VR experience to standard stuff like your best app and best game, or something more meaningful like best social impact.
And no, Snapchat is not one of the nominees.
Now, the winners will be announced at Google I/O, which happens on May 17th to 19th This year.
Okay, this is Google related, kind of.
Okay, not really, but this is just plain awesome.
A new startup named Kitty Hawk is showing off its first flying car.
And the word car is a very liberal description.
Alphabet CEO, Larry Page, is one of the company's biggest backers.
It's really more like a hover craft that's a recreational toy.
But the Kitty Hawk flyer is already been approved under the ultralight category for FAA regulations.
And can be used in areas that are considered uncongested like an open lake.
Now you don't even need a pilot's license, and they say you can learn to fly it in minutes.
I want this.
Whee!
Kitty Hawk says you can pitch in $100 to get a $2,000 discount when it comes out before the end of the year, but no actual price has been announced yet.
Okay, we talked about how the Galaxy S8 pre-orders were looking good in Korea and now Samsung US has said.
That preorders for the S8 and S8 Plus have topped the S7 by 30%.
That's a huge turnaround since the Note 7 disaster and they deserve the credit for the turnaround with you know what, a pretty kick **** phone.
But it's still not without its blemishes.
Samsung went all in for Bixby, their virtual assistant, even dedicating a specific button just for it.
Now, you already know about its delayed release in the US, but CNET has found one of its other features, Bixby Vision, which can identify products with its camera and send you to Amazon to purchase them, has been delayed on Verizon phones, it's not even operational right now.
So no Bixby Voice And no Bixby vision, and a physical button on the side that was unnecessary to really just activate it.
Now it's still a great phone, really the best phone of the year so far.
But they doubled down hard on Bixby That's not even close to being ready for primetime yet.
And for those of you who are dealing with the red tinted screen issue on the S8 and S8 Plus a fix for that screen is coming with a software update that is expected to roll out next week.
The Galaxy S8 line also made an interesting move and maybe it's something to come in the future.
We know how much Married to their touch wiz interface, and it's the cleanest it's been this time around.
But the default music player on the S8 is the Google Play music app and it has shown that maybe Samsung could change its tune and rely more on pure Android based apps from Google, maybe.
And the last S8 story of the week, if a new phone is finally available for sale, then rumors for the next one have to be out by now, right?
According to the [UNKNOWN] Business Daily, Qualcomm's next-gen chipset will likely be called the Snapdragon 845.
And they are currently already working on the chip that will make its debut in the Samsung Galaxy S9.
The chip name may change, but it will potentially include Enhancements for VR and AR support, and that's a story we could have all made up on our own that's still most likely true.
All right, that's gonna do it for this week, you can email me at googlicious@cnet.com, or tweet me @BrianTong.
Thanks so much for watching, and we'll catch you all next time for some more of that Googlicious.
[MUSIC]
Googlicious.
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