This Galaxy S8 Rumor Better Be a Joke
A prominent leaker says the all-screen Galaxy S8 will have hardcoded space for Samsung's logo up front. We hope he's not serious.
Right after the mother lode of Galaxy S8 leaks dropped last week, the person responsible for the scoop dropped another bomb that some may have missed.
Evan Blass, known as @evleaks, tweeted that, "Those bemoaning the dearth of branding on the S8 will be pleased to learn that the top 1/4" of screen will be hard-coded to display SAMSUNG."
As reported on by Forbes, such a move would allow Samsung to achieve a true edge-to-edge look on the front of its next flagship. Multiple Galaxy S8 rumors have pointed to the phone being almost all screen, and last week's leak said that the fingerprint sensor would be on the back of the device.
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Now, this tweet could be a joke, and many on Twitter who saw @evleak's post believed that it was, with multiple people responding with "LOL" or "LMAO." But Evan never indicated that his tweet wasn't a joke, so you saw just as many people getting upset by the potential move.
@munchy_cool probably summed it up best, tweeting that "and bottom 1/4" would be hard-coded to say Bomb ;)"
It's possible that Samsung could hard-code the display to say "SAMSUNG" at all times, and I could see why the company would want some form of branding up front. But to dedicate that much real estate to a logo would be waste, defeating the purpose of eliminating the bezels. That's why so many are questioning whether Evan's tweet is legit. To be fair, though, the leaked image of the S8 originally obtained doesn't have a logo up top.
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If the designers did such an awful thing, I don't see them leaving the logo there all the time. Perhaps it would only appear when you were on the home screen, and maybe it be present when the rest of the screen was mostly off in always-on display mode.
Forbes also argues that the fingerprint sensor on the back of the latest leak Galaxy S8 image is in a bad location, and it is. I've never been a fan of putting the senor on the back, but this one seems to be positioned way too close to the camera. Perhaps over time folks will get used to the location and avoid smudging up the lens.
Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in chief of Tom's Guide and has covered technology for over 20 years. In addition to overseeing the direction of Tom's Guide, Mark specializes in covering all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at key industry events and appears regularly on TV to discuss the latest trends, including Cheddar, Fox Business and other outlets. Mark was previously editor in chief of Laptop Mag, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.