Tizen

Earlier this year, it was reported that Samsung was working on a fully rounded smartwatch for launch sometime in 2015. At the time, details were sparse, but now SamMobile has shared another report with more details of the company’s device. According to SamMobile, Samsung’s rounded smartwatch will be called the Gear A and feature support for 3G data and calling.

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Samsung today revealed its first Tizen-powered smartphone, dubbed the Z1. The phone was originally teased as the “Samsung Z” in June of last year, and was supposed to be available in Russia in Q3 2014, but faced delays that pushed the release back until the new year.

Rather than launching the Z1 in Russia, however, Samsung is instead opting to only make the device available in India for the time being. While the originally teased phone featured decent specs, the version that went to market today sports decidedly less advanced internals targeting the entry-level market.

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The Times of India reports that the Delhi high court has banned Xiaomi from both importing and selling smartphones in India following a patent infringement claim by Ericsson.

Hearing a case filed by Ericsson India against Xiaomi, the court on Monday passed an ex parte order forbidding the popular Chinese manufacturer from importing and selling its smartphones in India […]

It is not clear if the order will impact all Xiaomi devices sold in India or specific devices that violate the patents.

However, as the patents concerned are Standard Essential Patents – patents which are so fundamental to a particular product category that the patent owner is obliged by law to license them on reasonable terms – it appears likely that the ruling applies to all Xiaomi handsets … 
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Samsung recently announced a new addition to its Tizen-based smartwatch lineup. The Gear S is a standalone smartwatch that will work without the need of a smartphone. It packs a cellular radio, accepts a SIM card, and is bulky enough to fit all of that inside…

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HERE, the competitor to Google Maps initially available only on Windows Phone, has arrived on Android for the first time. Initially, the beta version of the Android app will be limited to Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

The main claim to fame of the app is that it offers the ability to download entire regions or countries for offline use, in contrast to Google Maps which only allows you to cache areas you have viewed while online. HERE maps currently cover around 200 countries, though turn-by-turn directions are so far limited to about half of these … 
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Samsung announced today that its official Developers Conference is returning again this year and will kick off November 11 at Moscone West in San Francisco. Last year, Samsung held its first developer conference in San Francisco in October and showed off a number of new features for developers across its product lineups. That includes its Mobile SDK for Android, Smart TV SDK 5.0 Multiscreen Gaming SDK, Multiscreen SDK, and its KNOX Enterprise SDK beta that’s arriving this year natively in Android. This year Samsung makes a venue change to the Moscone West Center used by both Apple and Google for their developer conferences that took place earlier this year.
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According to a new report out of The Information, the already tense relationship between Samsung and Google has begun to worsen thanks to both of their own lines of wearables. The report claims that Google CEO Larry Page and Samsung Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee took part in an a “tense” private meeting at the Allen & Co. conference last week in Sun Valley. The meeting reportedly centered around Page being frustrated that Samsung was investing more in its smartwatches running Tizen than the ones running Android Wear.

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I was debating which Android Wear watch to get at Google I/O between the Samsung Gear Live and the LG G Watch. Sadly what won out overall was probably the look of the Gear Live (which looks like a Tizen-powered Gear 2 minus the camera and a few other minor details). Samsung’s offering also has heartbeat monitor and a higher resolution OLED display but LG has a bigger battery and LCD display (which didn’t help much with outside viewing from my brief usage).

I’ll say what everyone else was saying: We’d all rather have the Moto 360. But those come later this summer – which ends in September. Both the industrial design and the almost round face put the Moto 360 in another league but will probably put it in another price league as well. Both LG and Samsung will come in around $200.

How was the experience with the Samsung Gear Live?
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About a year later than first expected, Samsung has finally announced its first smartphone running Tizen instead of Android, the Samsung Z.

While this particular handset is only launching in Russia initially (sometime in Q3), it’s notable in a couple of ways. First, the spec – while not cutting edge – is pretty decent. Powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core processor and 2GB RAM, it has a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display (though only in 1280×720 resolution) and the fingerprint sensor that has so far been exclusive to the S5. It’s not the low-end spec many had expected from Tizen … 
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Samsung is dumping Android for Tizen. Well not completely, but the company is moving its Galaxy Gear smartwatch to its in-house operating system. An update for the first Galaxy Gear is now available through Samsung’s Kies software and in addition to a platform jump the download brings a trove of new features to this smart timepiece.

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Samsung is working on a competitor for Google Glass that will be announced in September during IFA in Berlin, according to Business Korea. Aptly referred to as “Gear Glass,” the unannounced wearable is expected to be revealed alongside the Galaxy Note 4 and it’s rumored to run the Tizen operating system used by the Samsung Gear 2.

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Out of the three smartwatches recently released by Samsung, the Gear 2 Neo and Gear Fit seem to be questioned the most. Both of these device are priced at $199 and offer similar features, but which one should you buy? Take a look at our full comparison video between these two wearables to find out.

If you’re looking into the Gear 2, you may be surprised to find that the extra $100 will only get you a camera and a slightly different (metal) build quality on the face of the watch. When compared to the Gear 2 Neo, everything else is identical. With that being said, the best options you should consider are the Gear Fit and Gear 2 Neo.

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We’ve got our hands on another one of Samsung’s latest smartwatch offerings. After taking a closer look at the Gear Fit, we’re checking out Samsung’s mid-range smartwatch option. The Gear 2 Neo is a slightly scaled back version of the Gear 2, but overall there aren’t many differences between the two.

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Photo: thestar.com.my

Samsung has finally confirmed pricing for the Tizen-based Galaxy Gear 2 and Gear Fit smartwatches, though still no word on pricing for the camera-less Gear 2 Neo. The Gear 2 comes in at almost the same price as the original (and widely panned) Gear at $295, while the Gear Fit can be yours for $197 when both devices go on sale next month.

Samsung made SDKs available for the Gear 2 watches a few days ago in the hope that third-party apps will be available by the time the devices go on sale … 
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOIGUfAlMY0]

Samsung’s description of a nine-minute video as a ‘quick look’ at the Gear 2 and Gear Fit smartwatches may be about as accurate as its claim that they are everything users “loved” about the original Gear, but if you want to know everything the watches do and how to do it in full detail, this video is your friend.

The Galaxy S5 video (below the fold) is a little shorter, at a touch under eight minutes … 
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CNET is reporting that Google is set to announce a smartwatch next month, manufactured by LG (who also manufactured the two most recent Nexus phones). The device is described as the Nexus of smartwatches, with Google controlling the design of software and hardware.

Although Google will announce the product in March, the watch will not be released until June at Google I/O. As 9to5Google reported last year, Google’s smartwatch will revolve around Google Now’s assistant features with voice playing a major role in how users interact with the product.

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