Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is really pretty but it’s also an incredibly fragile phone. I mean, when something is pretty much all glass, it’s kind of hard to not be fragile. That’s why Samsung usually releases a more rugged and durable “Active” version of their flagship smartphone for their more exuberant clientele.
This year, it’s probably going to be the Galaxy S8 Active and this is our first look at what the phone will look like.
A picture leaked recently from the Wireless Power Consortium that gives us a pretty clear look at the front of the smartphone and as far as we can tell, it looks nearly identical to the LG G6. Unfortunately, there was only one picture and it’s a picture of the front so we don’t know what kind of magic is happening around back.
In any case, this photo does still reveal quite a lot about the smartphone. Unlike the S8, the S8 Active looks like it will have a flat screen instead of the dual-curved one we find on both of this year’s S8 models.
That’s probably to strengthen the sides so delicate glass isn’t touching the floor when this device eventually kisses the ground. Samsung also looks like they’ve beefed up the corners of the phone — in typical Active fashion –for better shock resistance when dropped.
Since these phones have to be durable and used in harsher environments than your typical metropolis, they also tend to be chunkier so it’s easier to use with thick gloves. However, one interesting thing to note is that in the S8 incarnation of the Active phone, there are no physical buttons on the front. That likely means input is all touch and I don’t think you need me to tell you how difficult that is to do underwater or with thick gloves.
We don’t have any kind of specs for the smartphone yet but you should be expecting about the same kind of specs you’d find on the S8. The biggest difference will usually be that the phones have shatter resistant screens, dust resistance, water resistance and bigger batteries.
Just as a side note, the LG G6 is also really durable, boasting an MIL-STD-810G military standard for temperature, environmental extremes, pressure, vibration, shock, salt, sand, dust and water immersion. And all of that is done while keeping a reasonably svelte form factor.
