Having only recently been leaked online through unofficial and official sources, the largest of the Galaxy A-series family of devices has now been announced by Samsung. The Galaxy A9 has been unveiled and features a collection of impressive specs which should easily satisfy the desires of any consumers looking for a (presumably) inexpensive phablet…
A short while ago a hands on video and promotional poster leaked indicating that Samsung will be launching a bigger version of its Galaxy A-series smartphone for 2016. It shared the same design language and some of the same specifications of the recently launched Galaxy A3, A5 and A7, albeit in a larger package. Although it’s yet to be officially announced by Samsung, the A9 has appeared on TENAA, suggesting a launch is right around the corner…
File this under ‘sketchy’: One of NapiDroid’s editors has apparently managed to get his hands on an early release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The Hungarian blog posted a number of screenshots showing some of the anticipated changes. Among them, the one which really stands out is the revamped selection of S-Pen tools.
What’s unclear is how widespread this software release is or if it’s genuine. A major update happening to land on an Android blogger’s phone is a little too coincidental, and there’s no knowing if other Note 4 users in the same country have seen it too. Perhaps it’s blind luck, or perhaps it’s been fabricated. There are no images of the actual device running the software, and the ‘about phone’ screenshot could quite easily have been altered to show the Galaxy Note 4’s details.
As shown in the screenshots below, you’ll notice the new multi-colored Air Command menu redesign, which comes in from the side of the screen, rather than floating on top. What’s more, it looks like the Note 4 will also be receiving the Note 5’s ability to scribble notes on the lock screen, even when it’s in standby.
As well as that, we see one of Android Marshmallow’s settings menu features, which shows when your device last received a monthly security update. In this case, the Note 4 received the December security patch. The screenshots also suggest we’ll see a slight TouchWiz redesign, although the drop-down notifications/settings drawer is largely the same.
It’s not quite the end of the year yet, meaning we still have a few more weeks for companies to squeeze in some product announcements before 2016 rolls in. Samsung has just officially announced its Galaxy A-series of phones for next year and — from the spec sheets alone — they look like decent alternatives to pricey flagships…
Just a few days ago, Samsung replaced the head of its mobile division; removing JK Shin and replacing him with Koh Dong-jin. In his first interview as mobile division chief, Koh stated that he’s expecting 2016 to be a tough year for handset sales, but still believes that no major changes are needed just yet…
Rumors about Samsung’s next mid-range metal smartphone have been circling the web for a few months now. While most has been speculation and sketchy leaks, the device has finally made an official pre-launch appearance on TENAA, China’s equivalent of the FCC. As usual, the listing comes with the customary front, back and side profile images as well as a collection of important specifications…
The holiday shopping season is so close to kicking off, you can almost feel it. Those of you looking to snag a top flagship Android smartphone at a discounted price should look no further than the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. It’s undoubtedly one of this year’s best phones, and comes with a bunch of market-leading features and specifications. Up until now though, you could only get one by coughing up close to $800.
A retailer on eBay is currently offering the high-end phablet for just $550 with the option to spread payments over six months. The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 on sale from experienced seller, Breed, comes in brand new condition in the official Samsung retail packaging and is carrier unlocked. It has 32GB built-in storage and is compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile’s LTE network, with support for bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 26.
As a reminder, the Note 5 packs in a Quad HD resolution 5.7-inch display, a fantastic 16MP camera on the back and 4GB RAM inside paired with a powerful octa-core Exynos processor. It’s powered by a 3,000mAh battery, and is compatible with fast-charging technologies through wireless and traditional plug-in charging methods.
If you want to take advantage of the deal, head on over to the eBay page and snag one, before the ‘limited quantity’ is depleted and none are left. At time of writing, more than 240 have been sold, and we don’t know how many are left.
Back at its event in August, when it launched the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge plus, Samsung also unveiled the first consumer-focussed Gear VR headset. The ‘Innovator Edition’ tag has been dropped, and you can now pre-order the latest version of the Samsung Gear VR from Best Buy for $99. It’s compatible with all the latest flagship Samsung Galaxy products including the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5.
Samsung built the new Gear VR to be lighter and more comfortable to wear than its predecessor. It’s built with flexible padding, has an easy-to-use touchpad on the side, and ships with a 16GB microSD card loaded with 3D movie trailers and 360-degree videos to enjoy right out of the box.
Multiple companies are aiming to transform the way we view multimedia with virtual reality. Samsung partnered with Oculus to create an affordable, smartphone-powered headset, while Google developed the even more budget-friendly Cardboard. HTC went more high end with its Vive (which is yet to be released), and of course, there’s Oculus’ own-brand set among others. Even YouTube recently updated its Android app to enhance it with VR content and site-wide Cardboard compatibility.
In short, companies are seeing VR as the next step in multimedia and are betting big to make it happen. Whether or not the Gear VR becomes a lasting or memorable part of that move is yet to be seen.
Value for money in the smartphone industry has never been as good as it is now. As OnePlus revealed last week, it’s possible to bring specifications which we’d have considered top-tier just 12-18 months ago and sell them in a device half the price of today’s flagship phones. Samsung, it seems, is keen to follow suit with the follow up to its Galaxy A5. A benchmark result over at GFXBench suggests that we’ll see a phone — model number SM-A510F — launched by the Korean tech giant with a full HD screen…
Samsung reported higher than expected Q3 profits of 7.39T Korean won ($6.4 billion) on revenue of 51.68T won ($45.2 billion), achieving its predicted first return to profit growth in eight quarters. However, while the company reported increased sales of the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, this was only achieved by cutting the prices.
Samsung admits that smartphone growth will be slow compared to previous years, but Re/code notes that the company believes it can generate growth in two ways …
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Samsung’s huge Galaxy View tablet is finally official. Sammy announced the device on its official blog today, and confirmed many of the rumors we’ve previously heard. It’s quite obvious from the announcement that Samsung views this as a versatile multimedia device, not so much a portable tablet. Think of it as a touchscreen portable TV that runs Android Lollipop.
After being leaked and rumored about for months, the huge Samsung Galaxy View tablet is finally available to pre-order. Adorama is taking pre-orders now, but hasn’t stated when customers should expect to receive their orders, but does state that any pre-orders placed will be shipped to customers on a first-come first-serve basis, and credit cards won’t be charged until the unit ships.
For $599, you’ll get an Android-based tablet boasting an enormous 18.4-inch full HD 1080p display. The Galaxy View runs Android Lollipop and is powered by the Exynos 7580 octa-core 1.6GHz processor. There’s 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, which can be expanded up to an extra 128GB via MicroSD card. Other specs include a 5,700mAh battery, stereo speakers, Bluetooth 4.1 and a 2.1MP front facing camera.
Judging the device based on the promotional images being used to sell the Galaxy View, it’s clear Samsung sees this more as a secondary, portable smart TV screen you can move around your house:
Although specifications don’t exactly scream ‘flagship’, given that its primary use will be to watch Netflix, or any other video streaming service, it should easily be powerful enough to handle it. What’s more, 1080p resolution at a few feet away will still look pretty sharp.
Samsung isn’t the only company to see the need for big tablets this year. Ignoring the comparatively tiny iPad Pro, Alcatel OneTouch teased a 17-inch tablet dubbed the Xess, which it’s expected to reveal in more detail at CES next year.
Following Synaptics’ announcement that it would be offering pressure-sensitive touchscreen controllers to allow Android manufacturers to offer features similar to 3D Touch on Apple’s latest iPhones, it appears that Xiaomi will be adopting the technology.
It has previously been suggested that Samsung plans to use the Synaptics system in next year’s flagship Galaxy handsets.
The report from a well-known Chinese tipster says that Xiaomi has patented a technology similar to 3D Touch, notes GforGames. It’s unclear whether Xiaomi plans to use the Synaptics controller or has created its own technology.
Now that all of this year’s biggest flagships have been unveiled and released, it seems now is the time to turn our attention to the next lot. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 has been in the press a number of times recently, and an increasing number of rumors have arisen over the past few days. Reports and posts from MyDrivers and Weibo (two sources with less-than-reliable track records) suggests that we’ll see a phone built from a Magnesium alloy and have improved sound…
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There’s good news and bad news for Samsung today. The good news: the company has forecast a reversal of its seven-quarter decline in profits, suggesting an impressive year-on-year hike of almost 80%.
The bad news is that, while the company itself hasn’t released any details on where the profit is coming from, analysts cited by the WSJ and elsewhere put it down to strong growth in sales of chips and displays – not phone sales. This suggests that Samsung is making its money by helping other manufacturers, like Apple, sell their phones …
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Following evidence suggesting that Samsung has tested at least two revisions of the Snapdragon 820 processor in its next flagship, the Galaxy S7, a new report claims that the upcoming smartphone will indeed ship with Qualcomm’s next high-end chip. Korean publication, ETNews claims that Samsung will be targeting its biggest markets (America and China) with the SD820-equipped smartphone…
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ … wow that’s a long name, but what a beautifully designed phone we have here. It’s of the best designs I’ve seen this year without a doubt, but what makes it so special? It’s essentially just a larger S6 Edge, right? Yep.
There are only two main things that make this phone different: a larger display and a larger battery. If you’re unfamiliar with the much smaller S6 Edge, check out our review or top features article, but due to the similarities between these two we’re not going to get too in-depth with this review…
Samsung has announced that its mobile wallet service Samsung Pay has been used for more than $30M worth of transactions in its first month in the company’s home market of Korea. The company says that the number “has been beyond our expectations.”
Samsung devices are hugely popular within Korea, and the WSJ notes that the “launch was boosted by a massive advertising campaign,” so this doesn’t necessarily suggest that it will see achieve similar take-up in the U.S. when it launches on Monday – especially given the limited number of Samsung devices that support it …
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Samsung caused a lot of chatter in the tech scene when it decided to eschew Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips in favor of its own Exynos processors this year. All four of Samsung’s high end devices feature its own processor in every market worldwide. But that could change next year. According to a few leaks posted to Chinese social network, weibo, Qualcomm has sent a few different versions of its Snapdragon 820 processor to Samsung for testing in its Galaxy S7.
Leading up to Apple’s eagerly anticipated keynote presentation last night, Sony had a jab prepared for the iPhone-makers before they unveiled the iPhone 6s, Apple TV and iPad Pro. It seems, however, Sony wasn’t the only manufacturer attempting to rain on Apple’s parade. Arguably Apple’s biggest competitor, Samsung had a few of its own jibes to share with us and took to its UK Twitter handle to publish them…
T-Mobile, in a blog post this morning, announced a brand new communication service for its customers. Without needing to install a third party app, T-Mo subscribers will be able to place video calls from a compatible device, just by using the regular phone interface. Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 users should have the feature available already through a software update rolling out today, while Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge customers can expect the download to arrive next week. By the end of this year, three more phones will have video calling enabled, giving T-Mo a total of 7 compatible devices.
Samsung just wrapped up its keynote event at the IFA trade show here in Berlin where it spent most of its presentation time discussing the trend of software powering everything in our lives, called Internet of Things. One peculiar new service in particular was an in-car dashboard app that works with the company’s Galaxy line of Android smartphones.
Samsung recently announced a brand new tablet range dubbed the Galaxy Tab S2, and today, the company has announced that its new 8.0-inch and 9.7-inch tablets are going to be available to pre-order from Samsung, Amazon and Best Buy starting today. They’re expected to launch at partner retailers and carriers on September 3rd. Pricing starts at $399 for the Wi-Fi only 8-inch model with 32GB storage, with the 9.7-inch 32GB Wi-Fi only version costing $499.
T-Mobile is one of the first U.S. carriers to announce that it will be selling the LTE-equipped versions of the tablets from September for $649 full retail, or $0 down and 24 monthly payments of around $27.
As revealed previously, apart from size, the two Galaxy Tab S2 models share almost identical specifications. Both 4:3 ratio screens have a resolution of 2048 x 1536, both have 8MP rear cameras and 2.1MP front cameras. Both are also powered by the same octa-core processor, feature 32GB storage (expandable up to 218GB) and 3GB RAM, although there is a 64GB storage option for the 9.7-inch version. Both also have 802.11 Wi-Fi up to AC standard with 2.4GHz and 5GHz compatibility and have Bluetooth 4.1 radios, fingerprint scanners and a bunch of the usual motion and light sensors. Both, incredibly, are also just 5.6mm thin. The only other real difference is the battery capacity: The small version features 4,000mAh while the larger one has 5,870mAh.
So far, we’ve ben unable to locate any pre-order pages, but we’ll update the post with links to those as soon as they go live.
The service may not be launching until next month, but owners of Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are now receiving an over-the-air update which includes support for Samsung Pay. The update, which you’ll need approximately 303MB of free storage to install, includes some other additions as well.
For starters, there’s support for live video broadcasting over YouTube, which has been a highly-requested ability from the video hosting platform ever since the launch of the competing Meerkat and Periscope apps. This is possible thanks to WatchMe, an open-source project by Google that allows app developers to integrate with the YouTube Data and YouTube Live Streaming APIs, among others. There’s also higher quality audio output to Samsung headsets (those new Level On headphones, perhaps?), UI updates, and the usual bug fixes.
Samsung Pay is Samsung’s mobile payments app and service that is different from other solutions from Google and Apple because it includes the ability to pay at nearly any credit card terminal. It does this through the use of MST technology, the same thing used in the magnetic strips on the back of all credit and debit cards.
While Samsung Pay is expected to work in far more places than Android Pay and Apple Pay currently do, Verizon Wireless here in the States is still evaluating whether or not to allow the service onto the Samsung devices it sells, according to a representative from the company speaking to 9to5Google.
The update could take several days to hit devices. You can check manually by visiting Settings > About phone > System updates.