Android News

Customers of one South Korea’s largest banks, Kookmin Bank, will be pleased to hear that they will soon be able to use the Galaxy Note 7′s iris-recognition technology to access their mobile banking services. At present, the only other banking-related application that iris scanning is compatible with is Samsung Pay . However, Samsung is hoping to bring the technology to more financial apps later this year. “Last-minute preparations have been underway to link our mobile banking services to the iris-recognition capability of the Galaxy Note 7 ,” said a Kookmin Bank official. Unfortunately, a specific date of availability hasn’t been provided as of yet. Although, a representative of the bank did reveal that the functionality is expected to go live in the not-too-distant future.

Following its rollout for the Galaxy A7 earlier today, Samsung is now pushing out the Android 6.0.1 update for the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Wi-Fi) in the Netherlands. The upgrade –  XXU1CPHF — brings the latest build of Marshmallow to the slate, in addition to a multitude of bug fixes, stability improvements and speed optimizations. If you own a Galaxy Tab S 10.5 , you’re probably feeling as a little confused right now a little over a month ago a Samsung representative revealed that the tablet wouldn’t receive the firmware in Europe. Since then, it has made its way to Germany and is now available in the Netherlands. It’s expected to be available in other countries in the continent later today.

Posted by Hoi Lam , Developer Advocate Today we’re launching the third developer preview of Android Wear 2.0 with a big new addition: Google Play on Android Wear. The Play Store app makes it easy for users to find and install apps directly on the watch, helping developers like you reach more users. Play Store features With Play Store for Android Wear, users can browse recommended apps in the home view and search for apps using voice, keyboard, handwriting, and recommended queries, so they can find apps more easily. Users can switch between multiple accounts, be part of alpha and beta tests , and update or uninstall apps in the “My apps” view on their watch, so they can manage apps more easily. Perhaps the coolest feature: If users want an app on their watch but not on their phone, they can install only the watch app. In fact, in Android Wear 2.0, phone apps are no longer necessary. You can now build and publish watch-only apps for users to discover on Google Play. Why an on-wat

Posted by  Federico Asara, Software Engineer Some topics are best discussed in face-to-face meetings, but setting them up takes too much time. Whether you’re coordinating across time zones, hunting for a room, or just trying to find a time that works for more than a couple of people — it really adds up. If you’re using G Suite , “Find a time” already lets you set up meetings much faster in Calendar on Android . Today it’s coming to iOS and by the end of the year, the web. We’re also adding smart room booking, so you can easily find a place to meet as well. Powered by Google’s machine intelligence, “Find a time” suggests meeting times and available rooms based on your preferences, which saves you lots of time and gets everyone together faster. Time and room suggestions are smart, too: They don’t just identify the first free slot in a grid, they also locate the next best slots as a back-up. For example, when Calendar doesn’t find availability for your preferred time, it then looks

We built Google Docs to help you create your best work — from work, school or home, and everywhere in between. We know crafting presentations, projects and reports takes time and energy. That’s why today we’re introducing Explore in Docs , Sheets and Slides to bring you insights, design tools and research recommendations so you can create better work, faster. Explore uses Google smarts to help you create amazing presentations, spreadsheets and documents in a fraction of the time they used to take… so you can get on with what’s most important in your life. It’s like having a researcher, analyst and designer by your side. Insights, instantly  Today’s updates to Explore in Sheets help you decipher your data easily, whether you’re new to spreadsheets or a formula pro. Just ask Explore — with words, not formulas — to get answers about your data. You can ask questions like “how many units were sold on Black Friday?,” “what are the top three items by sales price?,” or “what was the t

Today, we’re launching Quick Access, which shaves 50 percent off the average time it takes to get to the right file by eliminating the need to search for it. It uses machine learning to intelligently predict the files you need before you’ve even typed anything. Quick Access predictions are based on an understanding of your Drive activity, as well as your interaction with colleagues and your workday patterns such as recurring team meetings or regular reviews of forecasting spreadsheets. Starting today, Quick Access will be available globally for G Suite customers on Android. Give it a try, and file away the time you save for more productive activities. Posted by Cayden Meyer, Product Manager, Google Drive

Less than a month after it kicked off its voluntary recall of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung has today announced that more than one million owners globally are now using a ‘safe’ model of the unit. This figure includes all variants issued as replacements and those initially sold in China that don’t sport the dodgy battery that led to over seventy devices catching fire while on charge in the US alone. Prior to the recall, Samsung had produced and distributed two and a half million Galaxy Note 7 ‘s. A substantial amount of this number accounted for unsold stock. Regardless, one million safe units it still a pretty big milestone. However, the firm isn’t out of the woods just yet as reports have started to emerge claiming that the replacement models are having issues with overheating and losing power when charging. Samsung is confident that a faulty battery isn’t the cause of these problems, though. Instead, it’s putting them down to an issue with mass production. The South Korean compan

Sony Mobile announced the Xperia XZ Dual for the Indian market earlier today, where it will be released on 10 October 2016. Pre-orders for the Xperia XZ Dual will open on 1 October and cost MRP Rs. 51,990. Free goodies if you pre-order include a Smartband Talk SWR30 worth Rs. 8,990. Pre-orders will be taken exclusively through Amazon.in and through Sony Center Stores. Click here for further details. The Xperia XZ Dual has 64GB of internal storage versus 32GB for the single SIM model. Once the phone is released, the handset will be available at a “best buy” price of Rs. 49,990. Sony will also be bundling the UCH12 Quick Charger in the box. You will be able to purchase the phone in all three colours including Forest Blue, Mineral Black and Platinum. Unfortunately, for fans of smaller smartphones, it looks like Sony has no plans to launch the Xperia X Compact in India. Introducing our new flagship Xperia™ XZ with triple sensor camera, Pre-booking starts from 1st October, know more

Samsung has released 85 themes in the Theme Store over the course of past one week, and we’ve shortlisted three themes that you might like: [V] Midnight 7, [V] Tictoc 7, and Sense UI Theme. [V] Midnight 7 and [V] Tictoc 7 themes by Motiveflux Interactive are inspired by Samsung’s stock wallpaper for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. However, these paid themes feature colorful circular icons as opposed to Samsung’s ‘Squircle’ iconography. The Sense UI Theme by Faaiz Puthawala is a paid theme that imitates HTC’s Sense UI design that is used in the HTC 10. Did you install any of these themes? Let us know in the comments section below, and stay tuned for next week’s Themes Thursday ! [V] Midnight 7 | Paid [V] Tictoc 7 | Paid Sense UI Theme | Paid

As we reported six months ago, the Korean giant has been testing out MediaTek’s Helio X20 and X25 processors in the Galaxy S7, a sign that Samsung is considering using the chipset maker’s processors in not just low-end handsets but even premium ones, but information in recent days has made it apparent that Samsung’s testing several months ago wasn’t just a random act. According to a MediaTek representative last week, Samsung is a customer — thereby rendering MediaTek silent on the Galaxy Note 7 battery debacle. Well, today, a new report has surfaced showing that, once again, Samsung and MediaTek are linked. A second MediaTek executive has outed Samsung as the company’s partner in a Romanian launch event around the Allview P9 Energy, in which the representative said “We cannot provide information about products that have not yet been announced by our partners.” This statement itself implies that Samsung is a “partner,” which is a second confirmation of Samsung and MediaTek’s work rel

Samsung and SAP have inaugurated a joint research center in South Korea where the companies will conduct R&D on memory solutions to develop next-generation in-memory computing. In-memory computing is being developed by SAP to be used in servers for faster data processing and faster analyses of large amounts of data. The president of Samsung’s memory business, Dr. Young-Hyun Jun, and Adaire Fox-Martin, President of SAP Asia Pacific Japan, were present at the inauguration ceremony. Both companies will push to improve in-memory computing using newer DRAM technologies, commercialize the technology, and offer it to customers. Engineers will test runs SAP’s HANA platform and also analysis performance of Samsung’s high-performance, high-density memory. Currently, the server system in the joint research center uses a 24TB in-memory platform based on Samsung’s 128GB 3DS (three-dimensional stacked) DRAM modules built using 20nm technology. However, Samsung will soon start using 10nm 256GB

Last year, Samsung launched the Galaxy On series  of smartphones in the Indian market. Unlike all its other smartphones, the Galaxy On5 and Galaxy On7 were exclusive to online retailers, in a bid to compete with the feature-packed affordable smartphones that Chinese manufacturers were selling through the online-only model. As the On5 and On7 were sold online, Samsung managed to save on costs associated with offline retailers and stores. As a result, the Galaxy On5 and Galaxy On7 had slightly better specs that what were expected from Samsung phones at those price points. Fast forward to 2016, and Samsung has launched the On5 Pro and On7 Pro, which bring more RAM, storage and an upgraded version of Android. The Galaxy On5 Pro and Galaxy On7 Pro, like their predecessors, are targeted at those who like to be online all the time (hence the “On” in the phones’ names). At $— and $—, the On5 Pro and On7 Pro offer the best specs Samsung has ever offered in the segment. In fact, the Galaxy On5

A patent application Samsung filed very recently in South Korea just might support earlier rumors about the  Galaxy S8 having a dual camera setup. In the patent application, which was filed on September 13, we see a camera interface with improved zoom control. Just like the one-finger exposure control Samsung currently uses in its camera app, zooming in and out can be a one-finger gesture as well. Currently, zoom can be controlled by pinch-to-zoom, or assigned to the volume keys, as it has been for years. Why is Samsung looking to improve the camera’s zoom control, when its current digital zoom capabilities are nothing to write home about? One possible, though speculative, answer can be found in recent rumors about the upcoming Galaxy S8 having dual rear camera . As we’ve seen on Apple’s new iPhone 7 Plus, a dual camera setup can be used to create zoom capabilities better than traditional single-lens digital zoom. A comparable feature would warrant the implementation of an interfa

After the Galaxy Note 7 debacle , Samsung has announced that it will resume shipping the Galaxy Note 7 in Europe from October 28 . If you did not preorder a Galaxy Note 7, would you still consider buying Samsung’s latest phablet when it goes on sale in your country? Samsung could  release the Galaxy S8 earlier than usual next year. Would you wait for the Galaxy S8 or S8 edge , or would you buy a non-Samsung smartphone this year instead? In any case, cast your votes using the poll below to let us know your choice. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

As a part of our Daily Deals program, we are bringing you a good deal on Samsung’s Lens Cover for the Galaxy S7 edge and Galaxy S7 today. The Lens Cover accessory for the Galaxy S7 edge has seen its price dropped from $149.99 to $96.69 on Amazon in the US. This is a discount of 36 percent over its original price. Amazon is now selling the Lens Cover for the Galaxy S7 in the US for just $89.99 , which is a discount of 40 percent over its original price tag of $149.99 . Samsung unveiled the Lens Cover for the Galaxy S7 and the S7 edge during MWC 2016 . The accessory package comes with a well-made protective cover for the smartphone and two high-quality detachable lenses, a 2x telephoto lens and an ultra wide-angle lens. We reviewed the Lens Cover two months back and found it to be quite useful. Make sure you pick up the right Lens Cover for your Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge.

Samsung can’t really catch a break. The Korean company announced that there’s a potential safety hazard with respect to their top-loading washing machines manufactured between March 2011 and April 2016. Samsung says the affected units “experience abnormal vibrations” that poses a risk of personal injury or property damage when washing bedding, bulky or water-resistant items. […]

With Nougat right around the corner , Samsung has finally started pushing out the long-awaited Marshmallow update for the European variant of the Galaxy A7. The upgrade — XXU2BPH4 — weighs in at a little over 1GB and bundles all of the changes you’d expect to find baked into Android 6.0.1. It also transports a more refined build of TouchWiz, similar to the version on board the Galaxy S7 . If you reside in Europe, own a factory unlocked Galaxy A7 and would like to see if the update is ready for your handset, simply head into the following menus: Settings > About Device > Software Update > Update Now . Alternatively, you could always wait until you receive a push notification prompting you to install the upgrade, but this has proven to take slightly longer than manually scanning for it. Thanks, Fernando!

We’ve seen a lot of rumors, reports and patents concerning Samsung’s foldable smartphone but the one that’s come up today isn’t about a smartphone, it’s about a tablet. Samsung has been awarded a design patent for a foldable tablet which features a built-in keyboard and stand. The illustrations show that this device will have a foldable keyboard as well as an integrated kickstand at the back. The device has three foldable segments which when opened would combine to form a large display area that would be good for both productivity and entertainment. Since this is a design patent it doesn’t reveal which materials will be used by Samsung to actually create this device and which components will make their way inside the shell. It’s just a visual representation of what Samsung engineers think a foldable tablet should look like. Just because Samsung has patented something doesn’t mean it’s certainly going to bring it to market. We’re still waiting on the company’s foldable smartphone so i

Legend of the Skyfish is a beautiful action adventure puzzle game with a unique weapon and tool - a fishing pole! Legend of the Skyfish com.crescentmoongames.skyfish Follow the intrepid Little Red Hook on her journey with the Moonwhale to defeat the monstrous Skyfish. Use your fishing pole as a weapon or a grappling hook, and upgrade it as you go. Legend of the Skyfish is filled with beautiful hand-painted art, intricate action puzzles and unique enemies. Explore a huge world of 45 handcrafted levels and defeat giant bosses. Features: Unique fishing/grappling hook mechanics Gorgeous hand-painted environments and creatures Original music score by Sean Beeson 45 handcrafted levels Epic boss fights Many items to find and use  Various puzzles to solve Great for all ages! And also: MFi Controller Support Universal app: purchase once and play on both your iOS device and your Apple TV Game Center achievements What's in this version :   (Updated : ) Initial

*FRESH STYLE IN ICON PACK WORLD, SIMPAX ICON PACK com.sikebo.simpax.icons This is not standalone app! You need a compatible launcher (read bellow) to use this app! Doesn't support Touchwiz (Samsung) and perhaps most of Chinese device launchers! If your launcher is not mentioned in this description don't even think to purchase! Or simply install compatible launcher ie. Nova, Apex to apply Simpax Features: 1. 3400+ icons (90% of them are redesigned!) 2. 50+ HD wallpapers 3. 5 KLWP sets by Irwin Kurniadi (you need to install KLWP Pro to use these) 4. Support 29++ launchers 5. Full manually vector graphic processing icons 6. See & Search all icons 7. Smart Icon Request 8. Support Muzei 9. Image picker , attach as an image to email, hangouts, Etc or even use it to create Zooper widget 10. Support main dinamic calendar (eg. Google, Today, Touch, Sunrise, Biz, Business Calendar, pre-installed calendar and many more) 11. Smart icon request 12. Help sec