Chip Chick
Love the Samsung Galaxy S8, but don’t trust yourself enough to keep it free from a cracked screen? It’s your time. As is tradition, Samsung is launching an Active version of their flagship phone, which has the usual reinforced from and shatter-resistant display. Samsung is launching preorders for the Galaxy S8 Active this week, with shipments expected in stores on August 11.
This Galaxy S8 Active is business as usual for Samsung. Hardware-wise, it’s the same as the Galaxy S8, but the outside is extra tough. The all-metal design is now braced by bumpers around the edges to absorb shock when the phone is dropped, and the display has a shatter-resistant layer to make sure the screen survives those drops, too. The IP68 rating for water and dust resistance used to be a big selling point for the Active line, but it’s less important now that the regular Galaxy S phones are rated IP68, too.
The other big difference in Active phones is the larger battery, and that’s definitely true here. The S8 Active has a 4,000 mAh battery, which is a huge upgrade over the 3,000 mAh battery on the S8. Phones with powerful processors and displays like the S8 require a ton of power to operate, so upping the capacity by 33 percent should go a long way toward making the phone last all day, even with heavy use. It does appear that the display is just a smidgen shorter, too, but not so much that it’s going to be noticeable.
At the outset, the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active will be available at AT&T stores in grey and gold for $28.34 over 30 months. As usual, AT&T is throwing tons of DirecTV-related deals at prospective buyers to sweeten the pot. The S8 Active, along with the S8 and S8 Plus, can be had for free if you add a new line and DirecTV to your AT&T account. AT&T is also offering up to $200 trade-in value with the purchase of any S8 phone, although if you’re jumping in from an older Galaxy S model, you can probably get more reselling the phone yourself. If one of the three phones are purchased on AT&T Next and DirecTV, you can get $500 in credit towards the online purchase of a Samsung TV. The short version is that AT&T and Samsung want you to do everything with and through them, always.
Preorders were to start yesterday, but the ordering page wasn’t up at the time this post was written. In any event, the phone is expected to arrive in stores on August 11, so if you want to get hands-on before buying, you won’t have to wait long. It’s also worth mentioning that the S8 Active will eventually be available from other carriers, if not unlocked, at a later (and as yet undetermined) date.
