Posts

Showing posts from March, 2017

Watchface Friday: Here’s four of this week’s best watchfaces

Image
It’s Friday, so it’s time for another edition of Watchface Friday! For those unaware, every Friday, we highlight a selection of our favorite watchfaces for the  Gear S3 classic  and  Gear S3 frontier . All of the offerings are available to download through the Galaxy Apps Store, so you can rest assured that you won’t have to search all over the Internet to find something we’ve listed. Gear S3 classic A-Class Pro Blue (24H) Facer: Gunmetal Classic Weather Gear S3 frontier Chronometer – Rebel Alliance DSS Armonia

SamMobile Daily Recap: March 31, 2017 — Galaxy S8, Gear S3 frontier and more!

We publish  a lot  of stories on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the majority of news breaks during our European hours of operation, which makes it difficult for our readers in the US (and other regions) to keep up. However, we think we’ve come up with a fantastic solution — a  daily recap . In the list below, you’ll find the stories that went live today. We understand that you’re not going to be interested in all of them, so to help you find what’s important to you, we’ve split them into their respective categories. If you want to see the latest Galaxy S8 news, for example, locate the  Phones   subheading. Business Samsung Q1 2017 earnings guidance may be announced next week Samsung reportedly starts $9 billion expansion of OLED production lines Deals Daily Deal: Save 57% on a pair of Active InEar headphones Opinion The Galaxy S8 is so tall I might start using Multi Window mode again Phones Folk in Germany can now pre-order the Galaxy S8 from Amazon Galaxy S8′s facial recogni

Galaxy S8 face recognition can be spoofed with an image

Folk in Germany can now pre-order the Galaxy S8 from Amazon

Amazon has kicked off pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 for folk in Germany. As expected, the device is listed with a price tag of €799 ($854), with inventory shipping in time for the April 20 release date. What’s more, we’ve updated our promotion to include the online marketplace — so you can be in with a chance of winning the cash value of your handset. To place your order, head over to Amazon now.

The Galaxy S8 is so tall I might start using Multi Window mode again

Yesterday, after what felt like ages, I decided to run two apps at the same time through Samsung’s Multi Window feature on my Galaxy S7 edge. Multi Window is something I would regularly fire up when it first made its way to Samsung devices, but once the novelty wore off, it became one of those Samsung features that you know is available on your phone but is not used all that often. But with the Galaxy S8 , it looks like I might just get back to using Multi Window more often, thanks to the taller display. My biggest gripe with multi window multitasking on phones is that on smartphone displays, there simply isn’t enough real estate for it to be a seamless affair. It’s even more of a problem when you want to look at something in one app and type it in the other app, because once the keyboard comes up, it takes over the screen. This will probably be a problem on the Galaxy S8 as well, but the taller display should make for an improved experience when you have two apps running at once, esp

The First 8 Features for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8

Image
  On March 29, 2017, Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S8 and S8+ to the world at the Unpacked event in New York.   These new devices are equipped with many groundbreaking features, creating a new paradigm for the mobile experience. The Galaxy S8’s powerful performance and innovative features place it at the center of an ecosystem of products and services that fundamentally change how we think about smartphones.   Together, they provide a whole new level of mobile connectivity and productivity across platforms. By defying traditional smartphone barriers, the new Galaxy S8 truly lives up to Samsung’s brand message, #dowhatyoucant.   Here are 8 truly innovative, first-time features of the new Galaxy S8 and S8+ worth checking out:     *All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability and capabilities of the product

Daily Deal: Save 57% on a pair of Active InEar headphones

You can currently snag yourself a pair of Samsung’s Active InEar headphones for $12.91 (57% off). These are the same earphones that ship in the box of the firm’s latest smartphones (the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are an exception ) and come with interchangeable wingtips. If you want to take advantage of this deal, click the  Buy Now  button below. We advise you to hurry, though, as Amazon only has a limited amount of inventory available and as this is an international promotion, we have a feeling it’s going to disappear pretty quickly.  

Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ pricing for Nordic countries

Samsung reportedly starts $9 billion expansion of OLED production lines

Samsung Display is one of the leading suppliers of OLED displays in the market but it can’t rest on its laurels. The company has to work hard to ensure that it maintains and even grows its lead. According to a new report out of South Korea, the company has started its planned expansion of OLED production lines and it will invest $8.90 billion in this endeavor in 2017 alone. The company has reportedly signed deals with several equipment manufacturers to replace its existing production lines for LCD displays with those for OLED production. One of the new lines is said to start production of 30,000 units of the sixth-generation OLED panels per month from the fourth quarter of this year. Samsung is also expected to spend a significant sum of money to expand its A3 flexible OLED production plant to increase the current capacity of 30,000-45,000 units to 120,000 units by the end of this year. With its OLED displays accounting for 95 percent of the market and smartphone demand rising, it

Galaxy S8′s facial recognition feature can apparently be fooled by a photo

Image
We’ve already told you that the Galaxy S8 offers the most security options of any smartphone on the market right now. You can use a pattern or a pin to secure access to the device or use the fingerprint sensor that’s placed at the back. The handset also has an iris scanner if you’d like to use that and it even supports facial recognition. Samsung highlighted the facial recognition feature during its Galaxy S8 presentation a couple of weeks ago. It’s meant to take the pain out of the unlocking process. You just have to pick up the phone and it instantly does its thing and unlocks the device when it detects the owner. However, it appears that the feature can be fooled by just a photo of the owner. A video is making the rounds online which shows a Galaxy S8′s facial recognition feature being bypassed with a photo of the person it’s supposed to detect. It takes a few tries as the photo is hovered on top of the device but eventually it recognizes the user and unlocks the device. It rema

Samsung Q1 2017 earnings guidance may be announced next week

Industry sources in South Korea believe that Samsung is going to announce its earnings guidance for the first quarter of the year next week. They expect that the guidance will beat forecasts as earnings are likely to be buoyed by the continued stellar performance of Samsung’s chip business . Samsung’s operating profit for the first quarter of 2017 is expected to come in at 10.1 trillion won $9 billion which remains a record that has not been breached since the third quarter of 2013. Over the past few quarters, the chip business has continued to account for a significant chunk of the company’s earnings. Of the 9.2 trillion won in operating profit that Samsung posted in Q4 2016, 4.9 trillion won was generated by the chip business. While the company’s chip business is expected to drive growth in this quarter, the mobile division may not show significant improvement in its performance, considering the fact that sales of the Galaxy S7 would have slowed down in anticipation of the Galaxy

Samsung’s struggling to get a hold of camera modules for the Galaxy S8

Samsung’s reportedly struggling to get a hold of front-facing camera modules for the recently-announced Galaxy S8 as its supplier Patron is struggling to boost the yield rate, reveals  The Bell . It’s thought that the production yield remains at less than 70 percent and should be elevated to 80 percent for stable supply. Power Logics, the supplier the firm is using for the Galaxy S8+ , doesn’t appear to be having the same problem (in fact, it recently increased its yield rate to more than 90 percent). Why? Because the front-facing camera and iris scanner are combined into one module on the smaller Galaxy S8, but not on the larger variant.

Samsung teams up with Bear Grylls to showcase the power of the Gear S3 frontier in new ad

Image
Samsung has teamed up with British explorer Bear Grylls to demonstrate the power of its latest smartwatch, the Gear S3 frontier , in a new commercial. The one-and-a-half-minute ad showcases a whole host of the device’s features, including its barometer and health tracking functionality. Check it out for yourself below:

Samsung’s Third Tizen .NET Developer Preview Introduces New Visual Studio Tools

Themes Thursday: Here are the best themes from this week

Image
Samsung has released a whopping 243 third-party themes in the Theme Store over the course of past seven days. We know that it’s quite a task to find a theme that suits your taste, and that is why we’ve shortlisted four new themes for our readers. Welcome back to Themes Thursday ! Of the 243 new themes released this week, we quite liked the [Kendi] Oxy OS theme, thanks to its beautiful wallpaper, attractive icons, and a brighter UI design. The PixelizeD theme pack makes the user interface of your compatible Galaxy smartphone resemble that of the Pixel smartphone’s. The Paper and [WHL] Lights theme packs are good looking too. Which new theme did you like this week? Let us know in the comments section below. [Kendi] Oxy OS PixelizeD [WHL] Lights Paper

Gear Manager app updated with Auto Switch feature

Image
Samsung has released a new version of the Gear Manager app today and it brings a couple of improvements for the app. Users will now see cards in the app which will provide them with tips about the new features, account sign-in, data backup, notification management and more. The updated Gear Manager app also comes with the Auto Switch function that Samsung released recently. We saw this feature in the recent Gear S3 classic and frontier update as well. Auto Switch enables the Gear S3, Gear S2 and Gear Fit2 to automatically connect to the paired smartphone. The app will now show available watchfaces when watchfaces are deleted. An improved Gear lock function is onboard as well, it will show information on the connected wearable’s lock screen. Samsung’s updated Gear Manager app is now available for download, you can get it from our APK page .

Samsung says there won’t be any Galaxy S8 supply issues

Samsung famously had to scramble to deal with supply issues for the Galaxy S6 edge because it apparently didn’t anticipate just how well the handset would perform in the market. The demand supply gap was limited with the Galaxy S7 as Samsung was more prepared for demand and it now wants the public to know that this issue will not be stealing sales from the Galaxy S8. Samsung has already said that it expects the Galaxy S8 to sell more units than the Galaxy S7 did last year. That’s a tall claim given that the Galaxy S7 set a new internal record at Samsung for first-year sales. So if it expects the new handset to perform so well, surely it has made the appropriate arrangements. The chief of Samsung’s mobile business Dong-jin Koh said during a press briefing that Samsung has set the initial supply of the Galaxy S8 double that of the Galaxy S7. “Since we are preparing the supply without difficulty, there will be no issue of supply delay,” he added. His calculations suggest that Samsung

Samsung expects Galaxy S8 sales to outperform the Galaxy S7

In the days leading up to the Galaxy S8′s official announcement, it was rumored multiple times that Samsung expects the Galaxy S8 to perform much better in the market than the Galaxy S7. The Galaxy S7 was no slouch either , in fact, it single-handedly carried the flagship baton for Samsung throughout the entire year after the Galaxy Note 7 was discontinued. Samsung has now made its expectation public. The head of Samsung’s mobile business Dong-jin Koh – who was very confident about the Galaxy S8 during yesterday’s presentation – has said that the company expects the Galaxy S8 sales to beat those of its predecessor. A sales target was not revealed by the mobile division boss so there are no hard numbers to go on, at least not officially. Samsung did say last week that the Galaxy S7 set a new internal record for first-year sales so the Galaxy S8 has quite a job ahead of it if it’s to overtake the Galaxy S7 in sales.

Galaxy S8 DeX dock price is $150, ships next month

Samsung announced the Galaxy S8 DeX accessory yesterday alongside the new flagship smartphone. The dock can be used to get a PC-like experience from the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ on an external monitor. It even allows users to hook up a conventional keyboard and mouse for added practicality. Samsung has now confirmed what the Galaxy S8 DeX dock price is going to be and when it’s going to arrive. The company has revealed on its website that the Galaxy S8 DeX dock price in the United States is going to be $149.99 and that it’s going to start shipping in “late April.” It’s likely going to start shipping once the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are released on April 21. In case you’re curious about how the DeX dock work and what sort of functionality it provides, do check out our hands-on review of the Galaxy S8 DeX accessory . It’s going to give you a firm understanding of all of its capabilities.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Unpacked Live Stream (Official Replay)

Image
Unbox Your Phone. Introducing the new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ from New York. From: Samsung Mobile

There’s also a Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition

Samsung is sourcing camera sensors for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ from two vendors

Image
It was being rumored that Samsung might use a new sensor from Sony for the Galaxy S8 and S8+’s camera. Yesterday, we reported that the newly announced smartphones use a camera sensor manufactured by Samsung’s System LSI arm (at least in our unit). Now, we can confirm that Samsung is sourcing camera sensors for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ from two different vendors, just like it did with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge  as well as with the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge . Some units of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ use the S5K2L2 ISOCELL sensor from System LSI for the rear-facing camera, while other units use the new IMX333 camera sensor from Sony. Both models are 1/2.55-inch sensors with a resolution of 12.2 megapixels, Dual Pixel phase-detection autofocus, OIS, F1.7 aperture, and 4K video recording. So, the final image and video quality should be similar from both the sensors. Also Read: Here’s how the Galaxy S8 will take better photos despite the same 12 MP camera as the S7′s Similar is the case with

SamMobile Daily Recap: March 30, 2017 — Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ and more!

We publish a solid amount of stories on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the majority of news breaks during our European hours of operation, which makes it difficult for our readers in the US (and other regions) to keep up with every post. But, we think we’ve come up with an ideal solution — a  daily recap . In the list below, you’ll find the stories that went live today. We understand that you’re not going to be interested in all of them. to help you find what’s important to you, we’ve split them into their respective categories. If you want to see the latest  Galaxy S8  news, for example, locate the  Phones  subheading. Deals Daily Deal: Pick up a 64GB EVO microSD card for 67% off Pre-order your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ through SamMobile and you could get it free! Opinion Samsung’s mobile boss was uncharacteristically confident during the Galaxy S8 event and that’s a good thing Phones Bixby won’t have support for British English at launch Find all the information from the Galaxy

‘Microsoft Edition’ Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be sold in the US

Samsung has enhanced its partnership with Microsoft this year. We’ve seen the latter’s Skype, OneDrive and OneNote apps come bundled on the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S7 but Samsung is taking a different route this year. After the new flagship was unveiled yesterday , it has been confirmed today that “Microsoft Edition” Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be sold in the software company’s US retail stores. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ Microsoft Edition is now available for pre-order from Microsoft’s retail stores in the United States. This particular version comes loaded with Microsoft’s apps and services. “A Microsoft customization is applied to the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ Microsoft Edition when the devices are unboxed and connected to Wi-Fi,” Microsoft says, adding that this customization is going to provide customers with a great productivity experience courtesy apps like Office, OneDrive, Cortana, Outlook and more. It’s not like the regular Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ don’t alrea

Pre-order your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ through SamMobile and you could get it free!

If you’re planning on pre-ordering a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ , we have a fantastic deal for you. By placing an order through one of our preferred retailers and forwarding the confirmation email to us, you’ll be in with a chance of receiving your device for FREE ! We’re also throwing in a six-month SamMobile Premium membership, so you can keep your handset running with the latest firmware. For more details on the promotion, instructions on how to enter and all of the terms and conditions, hit the link that corresponds to the country you reside in below. If you can’t find your homeland in the list, be sure to check back later as we’re constantly updating it with new regions. On that note, best of luck and happy ordering! Australia Spain The Netherlands United States

Daily Deal: Pick up a 64GB EVO microSD card for 67% off

If you’re running low on storage, you’ll be pleased to hear that you can currently pick up a 64GB EVO microSD card for $19.99 (67% off). What’s neat about this promotion is that it’s available worldwide — so you can take advantage of it in just about any country where Amazon is accessible. Like the sound of 64GB EVO microSD card and want to bag yourself one? Simply hit the  Buy Now  button below. We advise you to hurry, though, as Amazon only has a very limited amount of inventory available for this specific deal, and once it’s gone, it’s gone.

[Poll] What do you think about the Galaxy S8′s design?

Samsung unveiled two new flagship smartphones yesterday , the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ . These smartphones feature Samsung’s new bezel-starved Infinity Displays. The company has also moved the fingerprint scanner to the rear for maximum screen-to-body ratio. Moreover, for the first time, Samsung has used on-screen buttons in a Galaxy smartphone, complete with a pressure sensitive area for improved usability. Some consumers, however, are complaining about the positioning of the fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S8 and S8+, which may be harder to reach for people with shorter fingers. The fingerprint sensor’s position may also result in the camera sensor getting smudged, which is why the Galaxy S8 will remind you to clean the smudges on the camera lens . However, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are still a major step forward for Samsung, with what we think is a very beautiful design unmatched by anything else on the market. But what do you think about the design of the Galaxy S8 and the S8+

[Photo] Samsung Lights Up the World at the Galaxy S8 Unpacked Event

Image
  Samsung’s recent Unpacked event in New York captured the world’s attention on March 29, as the Galaxy S8 and S8+ were unveiled to a full house at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall.   This globally-coordinated product and brand event brought together New York, London, Dubai, Moscow and Los Angeles with a series of illuminated billboards featuring dramatic deep-sea imagery, riveting 3D projections on some of the world’s most iconic buildings, and entire avenues lined with electrifying branding – all reflecting Samsung’s mission to defy barriers and chart new directions with the Galaxy S8.   If you missed the excitement during the Samsung Galaxy S8 Unpacked event in New York and the Times Square takeover, here are some photos from the event:   Samsung takes over New York’s Times Square with immersive video content.   Samsung takes over New York’s Times Square with immersive video content.   Samsung takes over New York’s Times Square with immersive video content.   Sa

Samsung’s mobile boss was uncharacteristically confident during the Galaxy S8 event and that’s a good thing

Image
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ at an event in New York City last night. As is the case with the company’s keynotes, it was opened by the chief of its mobile business, Dong-jin Koh. Koh took over the reins of the mobile business from J.K. Shin back in December 2015. Having joined Samsung in 1984, Koh had been instrumental in developing platforms like Samsung Knox and Samsung Pay. The profiles done by major business publications on Koh suggest that he’s a soft-spoken executive who is well-liked within Samsung and is known to be direct and hardworking. His soft-spoken demeanor is one that we’ve all become accustomed to as well given that he has been opening Samsung’s keynotes for the past couple of years. However, he appeared a bit different last night. Samsung has a point to prove with the Galaxy S8. This is the first flagship smartphone from the company since the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco last year which led to a lot of speculation about the company’s ability to deliv

Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ go on pre-order in US

T-Mobile unboxes the Galaxy S8 rather dangerously under water

Image
T-Mobile has a habit of pushing the limits when it comes to unboxing videos for new flagship smartphones. To highlight the Galaxy S7′s water resistance rating, the company unboxed last year’s flagship inside a swimming poo l. It has gone back under the water to unbox the Galaxy S8 but this time around there’s an element of danger. T-Mobile sent its product expect @AskDes to West Palm Beach in Florida to swim with the sharks and unbox the Galaxy S8. He’s in a cage under water surrounded by sharks as he walks us through the unboxing. He even captures some amazing footage of the sharks using the Galaxy S8′s camera which is capable of recording video in 4K resolution . The third largest mobile carrier in the United States has already started taking pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. More information about its pricing for the handset can be found here . T-Mobile is going to release the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ on April 21.

Here’s how Samsung’s battery stats for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ compare to the S7 and S7 edge

The battery sizes on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ don’t inspire much confidence, with the Galaxy S8 having a particularly small battery for a device with a 5.8-inch display. While the real world endurance will only be revealed once we have used the device for a couple of weeks, we can take a look at Samsung’s official battery stats for its new flagships to get an idea of what to expect. First, let’s talk about the Galaxy S8+ . Samsung’s data for the S8 and S8+ battery life is based on devices tested in Europe. Comparing the S8+ to the S7 edge based on stats for the latter in the Netherlands , it turns out Samsung has managed to eke out impressively similar battery endurance despite the S8+’ 100 mAh smaller battery. MP3 playback time with Always On Display enabled has gone down by 5 hours on the S8+ but is up by 4 hours if you disable AOD. Internet usage time on 3G, meanwhile, has gone up by an hour. Here’s a comparison table for the battery stats on the S7 edge and S8+: G

This is Samsung’s official spec sheet for the Galaxy S8 and S8+

Image
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have finally been unveiled, and our hands-on experience with the devices is available for everyone to see. Everyone has a pretty good idea about the devices’ specifications at this point, but for those wanting to see it, we have added the official spec sheet offered by Samsung below. Remember, detailed specs are also available from our devices page . Oh, and don’t remember to take a look at what we think about Samsung’s new flagships .

Bixby won’t have support for British English at launch

Prior to the launch of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ it was rumored that the Bixby AI assistant that’s debuting with the flagship is going to have support for up to eight different languages . However, that’s not going to be the case. Bixby is only going to have support for Korean and the American English at launch. Samsung has confirmed that Bixby will only support the Korean and American English languages initially. However, support will be added for British English and other European languages like in the following months. It’s obviously going to take some time before Bixby is further improved. Not only does it stand to gain support for more languages but it will also get support for additional apps. Samsung will eventually open up Bixby to third-party developers as well so that they can make it work with their apps as well. If you’re interested in finding out more about the artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant on the Galaxy S8, read our piece on what you can do with

Samsung spent a lot of money to tell New York that the Galaxy S8 has arrived

Image
It goes without saying that Samsung is going to spend a lot of money on marketing to get the word out that its new flagship smartphone is the one you should be buying this year. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ at an event in New York City today. Since it was an invite-only event, although it was streamed live online, Samsung decided to spend a lot of money to tell New Yorkers that the Galaxy S8 has arrived. Samsung illuminated the iconic Times Square in New York City with immersive displays reflective of the visual experience that the Galaxy S8′s Infinity Display promises. It basically bought out almost every available signage to announce the arrival of its newest flagship smartphone. As if that wasn’t enough, it even brought in a troupe of performers who danced “in celebration of the debut of the Galaxy S8.” Good stuff. Customers in the United States can pre-order the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ from all major carriers today. The new flagship will be released on April