T-Mobile shows off how incredibly fast gigabit LTE is on the Samsung Galaxy S8

Why it matters to you

Wish you could stream higher-resolution video and download bigger apps? Gigabit LTE could help you do just that.

A new generation of 4G LTE is here, and boy, is it fast. LTE connections are getting better and better, but no matter how good your carrier is, you probably aren’t hitting the same speeds the new Samsung Galaxy S8 is on T-Mobile.

In a new video, T-Mobile demonstrates just how fast its new gigabit connection is on the Galaxy S8 — speeds flirted with a massive 1Gbps. Sure, you probably won’t hit those kinds of speeds in real life — but the fact is that this is a pretty significant jump in mobile data speeds.

More: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 demolishes the competition in new benchmarks

All of this is made possible by the Galaxy S8’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip, which comes with Qualcomm’s latest X16 LTE modem. That modem is capable of handling new gigabit LTE data speeds — but that obviously also requires gigabit LTE from your carrier.

“You know what happens when you combine the most advanced LTE network in the country with Samsung’s most powerful phone ever? An entire industry has to redefine the word ‘fast.’” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile, in a statement.

It’s important to note that T-Mobile’s gigabit LTE connection isn’t available to the public just yet. The test seen in the video was conducted in T-Mobile’s Bellevue, Washington, lab.

The fact that we’re seeing the new internet speeds now is no coincidence — the Samsung Galaxy S8 is actually the first device available with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, and thus the first phone to be made available that is capable of LTE speeds. We’ll definitely see more phones with the capability this year, especially once the Snapdragon 835 starts coming out on more phones. Gigabit LTE is already live in Australia, and carriers in the U.S. have been experimenting with it a lot over the past few months, so it likely won’t be long until it’s available in the U.S. Sprint in particular has been building the infrastructure for gigabit LTE in 100 markets, and it should launch in major cities in the near future.

Check out the video of the Samsung Galaxy S8 on gigabit LTE below.

The Samsung Galaxy S8’s facial sensor can be fooled with a photograph

Why it matters to you

You might want to think twice before relying on the Galaxy S8’s facial recognition to secure your data.

When Samsung announced the Galaxy S8 this week, it talked up the flagship’s facial recognition feature — if you choose, you can dispense with a password and use your face to unlock your phone. But initial reports suggest that might not be the most secure alternative. In a video published by iDeviceHelp on Thursday, the Galaxy S8’s facial recognition appears to be fooled by a selfie on another S8.

It’s a weakness Samsung tacitly admitted earlier this week when it clarified that facial recognition can’t be used for Samsung Pay.

More: Wearable fingerprint sensor uses whole hand to control multiple smart devices

“The phones can be unlocked by the face of a sleeping person or even just a photo,” an industry watcher told the Korea Herald. “For now, the facial recognition technology is only intended for fun. It should not be considered as a foolproof security measure.”

The Galaxy S8’s facial recognition may not be better than its forebears, but it’s no worse.

In 2011, Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich Android operating system shipped with facial recognition that could be fooled with a photo. An updated version of the feature, which debuted in Android Jelly Bean, added a “Liveness check” that required users to blink after the initial facial scan. But it, too, was easily circumvented — by pics from Facebook and a photo editing program.

More: Synaptics’ new fingerprint sensor puts all of 2016’s devices to shame

More recently, University of North Carolina researchers demonstrated how similar “Liveness checks” can be fooled by realistic, textured 3D facial models with photos animated by virtual reality systems. Using the 3D models, they were able to fool four out of five security systems 55 percent to 85 percent of the time.

Despite the fact that facial recognition technologies remain relatively easy to fool, they’re seen as something of a biometric holy grail. Facebook’s experimental system can recognize a face without seeing it and Microsoft is developing technology that can decipher emotions from the facial expressions of people who attend political rallies.

One explanation is that one of the most popular alternatives — fingerprints — aren’t much more secure.

More: Now researchers can fool fingerprint scanners with an ordinary inkjet printer

Members of Germany’s Chaos Computer Club were able to replicate a fingerprint using high-resolution images of a hand, specialized computer software, a standard printer, glue, and plaster. Researchers at Michigan State University were able to use an inkjet printer to print a 2D image of a fingerprint that fooled most sensors. And police in Michigan used a 3D print of a murder victim’s finger to unlock an iPhone.

If surveys are any indication, it might all be moot. In a recent survey of 1,119 people, a majority — 58 percent — preferred to log into online services with a password versus biometric methods like fingerprints (10 percent) and facial recognition (two percent).

The Samsung Galaxy S8’s facial sensor can be fooled with a photograph

Why it matters to you

You might want to think twice before relying on the Galaxy S8’s facial recognition to secure your data.

When Samsung announced the Galaxy S8 this week, it talked up the flagship’s facial recognition feature — if you choose, you can dispense with a password and use your face to unlock your phone. But initial reports suggest that might not be the most secure alternative. In a video published by iDeviceHelp on Thursday, the Galaxy S8’s facial recognition appears to be fooled by a selfie on another S8.

It’s a weakness Samsung tacitly admitted earlier this week when it clarified that facial recognition can’t be used for Samsung Pay.

More: Wearable fingerprint sensor uses whole hand to control multiple smart devices

“The phones can be unlocked by the face of a sleeping person or even just a photo,” an industry watcher told the Korea Herald. “For now, the facial recognition technology is only intended for fun. It should not be considered as a foolproof security measure.”

The Galaxy S8’s facial recognition may not be better than its forebears, but it’s no worse.

In 2011, Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich Android operating system shipped with facial recognition that could be fooled with a photo. An updated version of the feature, which debuted in Android Jelly Bean, added a “Liveness check” that required users to blink after the initial facial scan. But it, too, was easily circumvented — by pics from Facebook and a photo editing program.

More: Synaptics’ new fingerprint sensor puts all of 2016’s devices to shame

More recently, University of North Carolina researchers demonstrated how similar “Liveness checks” can be fooled by realistic, textured 3D facial models with photos animated by virtual reality systems. Using the 3D models, they were able to fool four out of five security systems 55 percent to 85 percent of the time.

Despite the fact that facial recognition technologies remain relatively easy to fool, they’re seen as something of a biometric holy grail. Facebook’s experimental system can recognize a face without seeing it and Microsoft is developing technology that can decipher emotions from the facial expressions of people who attend political rallies.

One explanation is that one of the most popular alternatives — fingerprints — aren’t much more secure.

More: Now researchers can fool fingerprint scanners with an ordinary inkjet printer

Members of Germany’s Chaos Computer Club were able to replicate a fingerprint using high-resolution images of a hand, specialized computer software, a standard printer, glue, and plaster. Researchers at Michigan State University were able to use an inkjet printer to print a 2D image of a fingerprint that fooled most sensors. And police in Michigan used a 3D print of a murder victim’s finger to unlock an iPhone.

If surveys are any indication, it might all be moot. In a recent survey of 1,119 people, a majority — 58 percent — preferred to log into online services with a password versus biometric methods like fingerprints (10 percent) and facial recognition (two percent).

Study shows laptop batteries often don’t last as long as they say

Why it matters to you

Next time you’re buying a laptop, make sure to check reviews for battery life claims for a better idea of how long it really lasts.

A new study has found that the battery life estimates made by manufacturers of laptops rarely have much bearing on reality. Although Apple’s battery life claims were the closest to reality, in the case of some other manufacturers, their laptops lasted hours less than the stated time.

Battery life is one of the most important considerations when it comes to buying a laptop. Can it last long enough for you to do what you want and not need to be constantly tethered to an electric socket? The claimed battery lives of many commercial laptops certainly suggest they can, but according to Which? Magazine’s study (via Hexus), the reality is often far different.

In its testing, Which looked at the battery life claims of 67 different laptop models from manufacturers as diverse as Asus, Apple, Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba — some of the world’s most popular laptop makers. It found that while Apple’s average claim of 10 hours was proven correct — and was even slightly better in some cases — Dell’s claims were overstated by more than four hours, and HP, close to five.

More: How to care for your laptop’s battery

The times listed in the header image are the average claimed battery life for all of the laptops Which? has tested over the past year versus the times it recorded in its internal testing. That involved charging the laptops to full, then running them down to nothing three times, using online web browsing via Wi-Fi or watching local videos to do so.

Out of all laptops tested, the only manufacturer to understate battery claims was Apple. In one case, it claimed that its MacBook Pro 13 could achieve 10 hours of usage, while tests suggested it could go for as long as 12 hours.

At the other end of the spectrum though, there were some really egregious overstatements. The Lenovo Yoga 510 has a claimed battery life of five hours — it only lasted two hours and seven minutes. The HP Pavilion 14-al115na is supposed to be able to run for nine hours, but was only capable of four hours and 25 minutes. The Acer E15 claimed six hours but ran for just under three hours.

While it seems unlikely that manufacturers would outright lie as part of specifications — that opens up the potential for legal action — it may be that their battery life claims involved ideal scenarios, with an idling laptop with the screen in standby or similar. Some manufacturers did offer comment on Which’s findings, with HP suggesting the discrepancies could be put down a difference in screen resolution.

Dell suggested that battery life was a nebulous concept that was hard to quantify. “It’s difficult to give a specific battery life expectation that will directly correlate to all customer usage behaviors because every individual uses their PC differently,” Dell said in a statement.

Under Armour upgrades its 3D-printed shoe with ArchiTech Futurist

Why it matters to you

3D-printed shoes are getting better with each model and the ArchiTech Futurist is part of a technological movement.

Year after year, 3D-printing technology is getting better. There are more products that can be printed and the machines have been refined to the point that many printed objects don’t look printed. Shoes are the latest endeavor across the biggest names in athletics and Under Armour released its latest model.

The ArchiTech Futurist is an updated version of the company’s ArchiTech running shoe it released in 2016. This time, the technology is back in a high-top variant. With a 3D-printed midsole made from a lattice network, this shoe offers plenty of stability and cushion.

More: Awesome Tech You Can’t Buy Yet: 3D printed violins, biometric wallets, and more

Those intertwined loops are what provide the shoe with its cushioning and support. Overtop that is a flat outsole that features different density foams for a smoother feel. What sets this shoe apart from last year’s model is how it fits. The Futurist uses a compression lace system with a neoprene shroud and a zipper. Just like a compression sleeve, it conforms to each user’s foot. This provides lockdown and support with a tailored and seamless fit.

Additionally, the shoe takes advantage of  Under Armour’s SpeedForm. This upper maintains the seamless look and locks the heel into the shoe. Whether the user is lifting, training, or running, the shoe will maintain a seamless fit with the heel. This is a shoe designed for superior fit and comfort with a modern silhouette.

Due to the complexity of the tendrils, each shoe takes a full day of printing. Just like the ArchiTech before it, the Futurist launched with a very limited release at a retail price of $300. While the shoe is currently sold out, those who are interested are encouraged to sign up for email notifications about availability.

The best and worst April Fool’s Day tech gags of 2017

Hide your wallet and your sanity, April Fool’s is here again.

April Fool’s Day is kind of like a marketer’s Halloween. They get to dress up and play tricks on their customers with sometimes elaborate and obviously time-consuming gags. We can’t ignore April Fool’s Day because there are things on this day that really do happen, or are deep-teasing future releases, like Pokémon in Google Maps teasing Pokémon Go. There are also April Fool’s gags that we wish could stick around, like the year YouTube added a light switch to make the UI go dark while you’re watching your videos. So, love it or hate it, it’s back again.

Just be careful rolling your eyes at these.

Google Maps Mrs. Pac-Man

Google is breaking out an old April Fool’s gag this year with a bigger and better version of the original: it’s Mrs. Pac-Man on Google Maps! Tap the Pink Mrs. Pac-Man symbol above the location button in Google Maps on the app (or the Insert Coin box on the Google Maps website), and Google will take you to a random location around the world for a round of Mrs. Pac-Man, where you get five lives to outrun and out-eat the ghosts.

Roku SnackSuggest

Roku, one of the most popular set-top boxes on the market, has unveiled a service on their devices to help you pair the proper snack with your favorite shows with Roku SnackSuggest. You can even limit your snacks based on dietary requirements and allergies, which is something my dairy-intolerant twin would appreciate. There’s also some fun stats from Roku’s press release, and while I doubt their validity, they sound about right to me.

• The average time paused for a snack run to the kitchen is 27.53 seconds
• The frequency of snack runs surges after exactly 3.785 episodes of a TV show
• The average streamer snacks on at least 3 types of snacks during a single streaming session
• Spicy treats are preferred for dramas while sweet goodies are preferred for sitcoms
• A streamer will ask someone watching a show with them if they are hungry 12.2 times during a binge marathon

Excuse me, I need to go pop some popcorn.

OnePlus Dash Energy Drink

OnePlus has launched a new energy drink to help you Dash Charge your body the same way you Dash Charge your OnePlus 3. Dash Energy, like the Dash Charge charging bundle they have 15% off today, is an apparently real drink that OnePlus is going to give out on the streets of London and online in Europe and India.

No comment on the “electrifying” taste, however.

T-Mobile ONEsie

T-Mobile is never one to shy away from a chance to poke fun at its rivals, and the carrier is kicking things off with the T-Mobile ONEsie, “the world’s first full-body wearable.” According to T-Mobile’s CEO and “lead fashion designer” John Legere, the T-Mobile ONEsie is a “quantum leap forward for wearables, for wireless networks and for fashion” that embodies the “very meaning of unlimited coverage.”

If you wear this near me, I will set it on fire with you in it and ask why not just opt out of the fire while you roll around and scream. https://t.co/DicNS2igJE

— Russell Holly 📎 (@russellholly) March 31, 2017

This eye-burning pink monstrosity will be available for $40 online, but please be warned our own Russell Holly will set it (and you) on fire if he catches you wearing it. Or you could buy something more stylish with that money, like one of our own stylish Team Android tees on Teespring. Just in time for baseball season!

How to back up your Android phone or tablet: The ultimate guide

Some things can’t be replaced if we lose or damage our phone.

There is an incredible amount of our lives on our phones. Settings to keep everything running, the music that keeps us going, our contacts and even photos of times and places and people we’ll never be able to relive or revisit. Keeping all of this safe and backed up is important.

The companies that make the products we use every day know this and offer a wide assortment of ways to store our things in plenty of different places. The key is knowing the best place to store it all, and how to do it.

Cloud first

It’s important to know that Android was designed from the ground up as a cloud-centric operating system. Google is a cloud company and is very familiar with ways and means to store everything from your digital life.

For Google’s own apps and services, cloud backup and sync are automatic.

Everything starts with your Google account. Many were taken aback when Google launched Google Plus and we saw how one account is tied to most every service Google has to offer. Your Gmail, your contact address book, your YouTube account and more are all under a single umbrella even though they may appear to be completely separate apps and services. This is part of Google’s cloud roots and spread across hundreds of servers you’ll find your information sorted under your primary Google account. You might never use a particular Google service, but if you have a Gmail account you’re already signed up for it.

This makes things really easy to keep anything you use through a Google service backed up in the cloud even if you haven’t made any effort to do it yourself. When you first decided to use an Android phone or tablet or even a TV with Google’s services you set yourself up to store everything you add or upload with them in your Google account.

Your Gmail keeps all of your mail, both the mail you receive and the mail you send, stored and synchronized so that no matter where (or how) you want to access it everything is the same. Your address book is closely tied to your Gmail, though they are separate services. It too is backed up and stored in a way that you have access to it all from any device anywhere in the world.

How to restore your apps and settings to a new Android phone

All of Google’s basic services work the same way. Your calendar, notes you might store in Google Keep, all your office documents and spreadsheets and even things like a list of favorite YouTube videos are all tied to your Google account and not any particular device. When you use an Android, even settings like Wi-Fi networks and your favorite apps with a place on your home screen are stored. Keeping track of all of this not only makes it easy to use Google’s services from more than one device; you can pick up any other Android and have it all setup and working the same just by signing in.

Your digital things are tied to you and your Google account, not a particular device.

Companies who make Android phones can alter some things like settings in order to use their own methods of keeping track of it all, but every app you use from Google works this way. That’s how it can be the same on any phone or tablet or even a Chromebook. It seems simple now, but this was a pretty revolutionary idea just 10 or so years ago. Your Google “stuff” is always tied to you and not a thing that can be lost or stolen. The best part is that we don’t have to do anything for it to happen.

We’ve laid out the basics when it comes to backing up everything when you use an Android. It’s a great starting point to learn how to keep track of everything and keep it safe.

How to backup your Android

Third-party application data

We all have a few favorite apps. Hopefully, those apps follow google’s lead and store their data in your Google account so you’ll always have it.

Google provides any developer who joins the Play Store the means and space to keep track of data that is tied to their app. That goes for apps like message clients or games or your favorite fitness app. Part of the development process involves incorporating Google Play Services, and when properly set up a section of your Google Drive storage (we all get signed up for Google Drive when we open a Google account!) is set aside just for that application’s data. When a developer uses this, all the data for their app is backed up just like Google’s own applications, and retrieving or restoring it is seamless and everything works just by reinstalling the app itself.

But Google does not force a developer to incorporate Play Services or use their data backup solution. Nor should they. A developer is free to use their own method to keep track of your data or to not do anything at all. This can be frustrating: many Android apps in Google Play don’t offer any type of backup and restore option, and apps are sandboxed so that it can be difficult for a third-party solution to do it for you.

Unless you alter the firmware on your Android (by rooting or installing a custom ROM) there is no surefire way to backup all the data from every application. Our best suggestion is to look for apps from developers who use Google’s tools or their own solution and use them whenever you can.

Your music

Our phones make great music players (this goes for podcasts, too) and there are many apps that can play it back for us whenever we want to listen.

Some of them are streaming music players. Spotify, Tidal and Google Play Music are examples of a streaming music player. There isn’t really anything to back up when your streaming music from a server, but most apps can play music you store locally, too.

Backing up local music or podcasts is simple if you’d rather not stream all the things.

Keeping those songs or podcasts backed up is easy. You can do it through a cloud storage account like Google Drive or Dropbox or transfer a copy of them to a computer or spare SD card. We’ve gone over how you can keep all your media backed up so it’s easy to transfer it to another Android any time you need to.

How to back up your music files to your computer or online storage

Movies and TV shows

Your phone has a really great display and watching a movie or show when you have a chance is something many of us love to do. Android can play most any type of video file, and there are plenty of apps to use for your own micro-theatre system.

If something is important enough to keep on your phone, it’s important enough to keep backed up.

Like your music, some of these apps stream the media you’re watching from a server in the cloud. Companies who specialize in streaming video like Netflix, HBO and even your cable company all have a presence in Google Play and catching the latest episode of your favorite show or renting a movie is just a tap away. But your local videos, whether they be moments you captured yourself with your Android’s great camera or a full-length movie you love so much you keep a copy ready and stored right on your phone, are worth keeping a spare copy of just in case.

Thankfully it’s easy to store any video in a cloud storage account like Google Drive or Dropbox or right on your computer at home.

How to back up your videos to your computer or the cloud

Your photos

When you have an Android in your hands or your pocket, you have a great camera ready for anything. That means it’s easy to build a large library of photos, and keeping them sorted and stored is a must. And Google has the best way to do that with Google Photos.

Google Photos will store high-resolution copies of any photo you upload right in your Google Drive account at no cost. For professionals and anyone else who wants to keep a true 1:1 copy of even the largest photo file, you can upload these to Google Photos, too, but their size counts against your Google Drive storage limits. It’s easy to buy more storage on Google Drive if you want to keep a full resolution copy of everything.

Google photos is the best thing that could ever happen to a proud grandfather.

As a special promotion for people with a Google Pixel any photo or video you upload from your phone is stored at full resolution and the space they take isn’t counted against your Drive storage. If you’re someone who needs terabytes of storage to store photos and video (4K video is surprisingly large!) it can be worth it to buy a Pixel just to upload it all.

Like any other Google service, Photos is tied to your account and not a particular device. When you sign in, your pictures and video are there no matter what type of device you’re using or where in the world you are. If you use the app on your phone (we think you should) you can upload pictures and video automatically, with control over what folders get uploaded and whether to do it over a cellular connection or not.

Of course, you can also keep a copy of any or all of your photos in another cloud storage service like Dropbox or on your computer. We go over it all right here.

How to back up your photos to your computer or the cloud

Not everyone loves the cloud

Samsung and LG sell a lot of phones and offer a decent backup program for your home PC to use with them.

It’s true. There are plenty of folks who don’t want to or can’t use the cloud to store everything. While keeping a local copy of things like your Gmail or address book is possible with a little bit of creativity and a good IMAP email client, everything else is pretty simple to store on your own hard disk somewhere.

We do want to reiterate that Android is a cloud-based OS. Everything is designed to be stored remotely and doing it is almost automatic. That means there is no simple and complete solution like iTunes to keep a full backup of everything on a computer. And the way Android sandboxes application data (an app can access only the data associated with it and nothing else) makes it difficult for anyone besides Google to create an iTunes-like piece of software.

That doesn’t mean there are no tools that can help.

Samsung Smart Switch

Samsung sells more phones than any other company and almost every one of them is running Android. That makes them a pretty big player and the tools they offer for creating a local backup are important for a lot of people.

Samsung calls its software Smart Switch. On the surface, it’s a lot like iTunes where you plug your phone in and you can pull data from it for safe keeping on your computer. It’s also great for transferring everything from one phone to a new Samsung phone or updating the software if you would rather use a PC instead of doing it through the phone itself.

Smart Switch will back up your contacts, photos, apps, device settings, messages, music, and calendar. It’s easy to use and if you have a Samsung phone that works with Smart Switch and would rather back up everything locally you should have a look.

How to use Samsung Smart Switch to back up your Galaxy phone

LG Bridge

LG is also a big player in the Android world and they too offer a desktop based program called LG Bridge.

LG Bridge is in two parts: LG AirDrive and LG Backup, LG AirDrive is software that works with your LG phone and allows you to do things like copy files back and forth without plugging anything in. It’s a handy piece of software that’s worth looking at even if you would rather use the cloud for backup purposes.

The LG Backup part of Bridge is a one click method to back up your LG Home screen, apps, contacts and apps to your computer. It’s really easy to set up and use, and we cover how to get started with your new LG phone.

How to use LG Bridge with your LG phone

The human factor

The time you don’t backup something might be the time you wish you had.

You are the most important piece of any backup plan when it comes to the data and media on your phone. If you depend on the cloud to store everything you have to make sure everything is installed and set up even though that’s usually as simple as signing in. Without your supervision losing a photo or file you can’t replace is a real possibility. We’ve all heard horror stories of lost photo albums or work documents when a phone is damaged or lost and waiting until it happens to you is not the right time to make sure you are storing everything important in a safe place.

If you choose to use the available tools to manually back things up, you need to figure out a regular schedule and stick to it. The one time you forget could be the time you wish you hadn’t.

We hope this can get you started and give you some ideas about how you can keep your things safe!

Save big on external hard drives, NAS systems, flash drives and more to celebrate World Backup Day

Our friends at Thrifter are back again, this time with some great savings on storage solutions for World Backup Day!

In celebration of World Backup Day retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and others have a number of storage products on sale to help you with keeping all your data safe. Whether you want a portable option or something that sits permanently on your desk, we’ve got you covered.

Backing up your computer is quite important, no one wants to lose all their pictures, music, videos and more because you didn’t invest in a way to keep it all safe. Here are some of the best deals to check out, and there are plenty more as well.

• Seagate Backup Plus 3TB External HDD – $71.99 (normally $89.99)
• Seagate Backup Plus 4TB External HDD – $87.99 (normally $109.99)
• Seagate 1TB Firecuda Gaming 2.5-inch Internal HDD – $55.99 (normally $69.99)
• WD 6TB My Cloud Personal Network Attached Storage – $209.99 (normally $255.99)
• WD Elements 3TB External Portable HDD – $89.99 (normally $109.99)
• SanDisk 64GB USC-C Flash Drive – $22.99 (normally $32.99)

These deals are only good for today, so be sure to grab some additional storage for your computers so you can keep all your data backed up. Be sure to check out all the deals from the retailers below.

• See all storage deals at Amazon
• See all storage deals at Best Buy
• See all storage deals at B&H Photo
• See all storage deals at Newegg

For more great deals be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

How to make your phone look like a Galaxy S8

Say what you will about Samsung’s software — and I can say plenty — it’s a very distinctive look.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is here, and with it comes another update of Samsung’s software UI. This year, we’re seeing more of an overhaul than the usual spit-and-polish Samsung gives its flagship’s UI, from the nifty new animated wallpapers to the wireframe nav buttons and system icons to a new color scheme that ditches that long-stale blue from previous versions.

Even if you pre-ordered a Galaxy S8, it’s not showing up for three weeks, meaning you’ve got a while to wait. While you’re waiting, why not get some of that modern sleekness on your own phone with our very own Samsung-inspired theme?

Launcher magic

Now, we can’t get the Samsung launcher on non-Samsung phones the way that we can get the BlackBerry Launcher or the ZenUI Launcher from ASUS, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get what we desire from other, more customization-friendly launchers. There are a few things we’re looking for here.

Gesture controls, Page indicator styles, and Icon layout settings in Nova Launcher

• Swipe for app drawer: The Samsung Galaxy S8 ditches that hideous nine-dot app drawer icon for a swipe gesture, just as the Google Pixel did last fall. Rather than having it be a dock gesture, though, Samsung lets you open the app drawer by swiping up or down anywhere on the home screen itself. Gesture commands are available in several launchers, and for Nova Launcher Prime, you can find them in Nova Settings > Gestures. In Action Launcher, they’re in Action 3 Settings > Shortcuts.
• Page indicator style: The number of home screens on Samsung launcher are indicated by dots between the main screen and the dock. The default screen is indicated by a tiny, tiny house icon, and the rest of the pages are marked by white dots next to that home icon. You can find page indicators in Nova Launcher under Nova Settings > Desktop > Page indicator > Small dots. In Action Launcher, they’ll be in Action 3 Settings > Dock > Dock separator > Style > Dots.
• App labels: Samsung keeps apps labeled on both the home screen and dock. To turn that on in Nova Launcher, you’ll turn on home screen labels under Nova Settings > Desktop > Icon layout > Label. You can turn on dock labels under Nova Settings > Dock > Icon layout > Label. In Action Launcher, you can turn it on for the home screen under Action 3 Settings > Desktop > Text Labels. You cannot turn on app labels for the dock in Action Launcher 3 at this time.

The other launcher requirement we have is that it supports third-party icon packs so we get some lover squircles on our home screens.

Icons

No one icon pack quite gets down the S8’s blend of squircles and wireframe icons, so I am going to offer you a few options and let you decide which one is the most Samsung-like in your eyes.

Grace UX Icon Pack, left, and Lines Icon Pack, right

• Grace UX Icon Pack ($1.49) is a pack based on the ill-fated Note 7. While the device may not have lasted, these icon sure have, and they’re pastel, flat, and quite frankly beautiful. If you absolutely must have Samsung-inspired squircles, this is the pack for you. This developer also sports icon packs based on older versions of TouchWiz, too, if you’re looking for a more nostalgic take on Samsung’s UI, and has just published a beta pack based on the Galaxy S8, but there aren’t too many icons in the pack yet that use the wireframe so it’s a bit inconsistent.
• Lines Icon Pack (Free, $1.99) is a wireframe icon pack that keeps things simple, elegant, and allows the true beauty of your wallpaper to shine through. It’s a pack I’ve employed many times before because it is consistently beautiful and consistently plays well with modern and abstract wallpapers.

Wallpapers

The Samsung Galaxy S8 now boasts some awesome animated wallpapers that take on different angles and layers between the various stages of waking and unlocking your phones. While there are a lot of cool, fun, and even functional live wallpapers in Google Play, that kind of co-ordination and wallpaper wizardry can only be done by the manufacturer itself.

That said, this doesn’t mean we can’t get some of that magic on our home screen with some Samsung-esque wallpapers.

I present new wallpapers weekly to our readers so that you can replace that boring, old, basic wallpaper with something that speaks to you and shows your style.

But if you are dead set on having that Samsung sparkle on your phone, there are a few things you can do:

• DroidViews put out a couple of the stock wallpapers before the Unpacked event, but they’re not quite those awesome star fields or gradient glories that we’ve seen on the actual devices. If you like the ones offered here, great. If not, keep reading.
• Tint Make Gradient Wallpaper lets you make a simple two-color gradient wallpaper with whatever colors you damn well feel like using, allowing you to customize your gradient to match your case, icons, wardrobe, team colors, or whatever other hues you’d like you use. It’s a simple app, and you can save gradients you like and come back to them over and over again.
• It’s not quite the pitch nothingness of Samsung’s star field always-on wallpaper, but we’ve got some out-of-this-world wallpapers that are out of this world and might encourage you to reach for the stars.

Ringtone

There’s a new version of Samsung’s Over the Horizon ringtone out with the Galaxy S8. As in previous years, Samsung has partnered with a top-notch artist to redo the ditty, and this year it’s Jacob Collier, who has done just a bang-up job with the tone.

Stock ringtones tend to get confusing in the office if everyone’s using them, so you might want to grab the new ringtone now and switch to it before any of your friends get their S8s in a few weeks. Make it yours.

Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+

• Galaxy S8 and S8+ hands-on preview!
• Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
• Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
• Get to know Samsung Bixby
• Join our Galaxy S8 forums

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VRHeads is giving away a Samsung Galaxy S8 and Gear VR prize package!

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ are here! These new phones are feature packed and make a perfect upgrade if you’re interested in pairing a new phone with the Gear VR and Controller. In fact, they’re such a great combo that Samsung has partnered with carries and retailers to give away a free Gear VR with Controller bundle when you preorder the Galaxy S8, which is pretty awesome.

But we thought we’d go one step further and give you all a chance to win not only the Gear VR and Controller, but your choice of Galaxy S8 or S8+ to go with it! Keep reading for all the details and to get entered!

Read more at VR Heads!