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Samsung displayed spectacular performance last year as it posted record operating profits for consecutive quarters. The company said that it was on track to post its highest yearly operating profit ever as well as another record quarterly profit in Q4 2017. Its earnings guidance for the quarter revealed that much and Samsung has now posted the full Q4 2017 earnings. As expected, the company raked in record profits. Samsung Q4 2017 earnings Samsung Electronics announced today that its earnings for the October-December 2017 quarter were 66 trillion won or $61.6 billion, a 24 percent increase compared to the same period in 2016. It posted 15 trillion won or $14.13 billion in operating profit which is a 64 percent increase year-over-year. The company has reported full-year revenue of 239.58 trillion won or $222 billion and a record full-year operating profit of 53.65 trillion won or $50 billion. It has been several years since Samsung posted a record full-year profit. The last it did

Facing stiff competition from Chinese brands, South Korean electronics giant Samsung has taken the e-commerce line to launch its budget offering, the Galaxy On7 Prime. Priced at Rs 12,990 for the base variant – 32 GB internal storage and 3 GB RAM – the smartphone offers the Samsung Mall, a first of its kind shopping app, in addition to the usual features. Business Standard reviewed the Galaxy On7 Prime to test the Samsung Mall app, and the overall performance of the smartphone. Here are our observations: Samsung Mall The Galaxy On7 Prime is the first smartphone to feature the Samsung Mall app, which promises to enhance users’ shopping experience by making product search easier. However, in real-life scenario, the app has its hits and misses. The Mall feature works through a dedicated app or camera interface. To make a search, you need to click a photo of the product and the mall app would make an online search for it across e-commerce platforms to look for products matching the

Samsung is looking to differentiate its smartphones by launching a foldable phone this year. Samsung may be facing a lot of internal crisis that led to the chaebol replacing all of its current CEOs last quarter, but it certainly isn't affecting the company's performance. The South Korean manufacturer posted its Q4 2017 results , and once again things are looking great. Samsung recorded an overall revenue of $61.5 billion (65.98 trillion won) with an operating profit of a staggering $14.13 billion (15.15 trillion won). That's a year-on-year increase of 64%, making the last quarter Samsung's most profitable Q4 to date. In fact, Samsung has made of habit of breaking records all through 2017. The company recorded profits of $8.8 billion in Q1 2017 , $12.5 billion in Q2 , and $13.8 billion in Q3 . Cumulatively, Samsung's full-year revenues stand at $224 billion (239.58 trillion won) with overall operating profit at $50 billion (53.65 trillion won). The mobile div

We've just been given our best look at the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus to date, with a full-frontal shot of each handset popping up online. The image was tweeted by renowned leaker @evleaks, who posted the message "These are the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+" alongside the shot. Evan Blass -- the man behind the @evleaks handle -- has an excellent track record with these sort of things, which gives this particular leak a good level of gravitas. However, it's not totally convincing. Incremental's the name, minor updates the game What you'll notice right away is the Galaxy S9 duo look almost identical to the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus devices they're set to replace. The arrangement of cameras and sensors in the bezel above the displays appear to match the layout on the S8, while the expansive 18.5:9 aspect ratio Infinity Displays also feature. On screen there's a new wallpaper, and it's worth making a note of the date too. Friday, March 16 co

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is currently in the process of receiving the January security update which brings patches for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, but it also comes with a new bootloader. A new bootloader on Samsung phones has always meant that you can not downgrade your phone’s OS. However, the terrifying part of the new Bootloader is the fact that it patches the ability to use a cracked version of the bootloader, developed by Prince Comsy. Odin is a tool used to flash and install new firmware on Samsung devices. When Samsung builds Android, they remove some features from the bootloader and replace it with Odin. The leaked version of Odin can only flash to devices with matching model numbers. The workaround for it is Prince Comsy’s version of Odin which allows flashing versions of Samsung software not signed by Samsung or firmware signed by Samsung but for a different region with the same SoC. Since Prince Comsy’s Odin no longer works with this new bootloader, that

A new Sony Xperia device has passed through the FCC with ID number PY7-24118Q. There is little to glean from browsing through the documents, but we do see a more normal location of the FCC ID label, compared to the previous handset rumoured to have no 3.5mm headphone jack . The FCC documents do reveal that this new Xperia device has a 5-inch display in as chassis with dimensions of 135 x 65mm. So if this is true, it looks like it will have much slimmer top and bottom bezels compared to previous handsets. In fact, one previous handset has already come very close to these dimensions. The device in question is the Xperia UL, Sony Mobile Japan’s exclusive of 2013, which managed a 5-inch FHD display with dimensions of 135 x 71mm. So the new device has the same height as the Xperia UL, but will manage to shave a further 3mm on either side of the display. We’ll bring you more news as we have it. New Sony Xperia (PY7-24118Q) device dimensions Sony Xperia (PY7-24118Q) ID label location

An all-screen display with 4K resolution. A fingerprint sensor built into the screen. 10GB of RAM. 512GB of onboard storage. It’s supposedly a smartphone that might make you forget all about the Galaxy S9, Samsung’s next big thing set to debut next month. Sadly, however, you might not find it in stores near you unless you live in China. Vivo is the company that’s supposedly making this Android beast and Xplay 7 is its name, according to information that FoneArena dug up from Weibo . The specs mentioned above come from a PowerPoint presentation from China, which also says the phone will have an impressive screen-to-body ratio, at 92.9%. Other specs include the Snapdragon 845 processor that will equip most 2018 Android flagships and a dual-lens camera with IMX Sony sensors that support 4x optical zoom. Finally, the Xplay 7 is also supposed to support face recognition, which is labeled “2.0.” There’s even a leaked press render of the handset that suggests it will be incredibly thi

Nokia 3310 4G is a Feature Phone from Nokia which runs on Nokia OS. Nokia 3310 4G is available in Azure, Yellow, Warm Red, Charcoa colors and 88.1 g (3.10 oz) of weight. Nokia 3310 4G has 240 x 320 pixels, 4:3 ratio (~167 ppi density)|2.4 inches, 17.8 cm2 (~29.1% screen-to-body ratio) display size which supports TFT.Additional features of Nokia 3310 4G are Flashlight. Nokia 3310 4G has GPRS, EDGE, 3G, WIFI, Bluetooth connectivity options on board. You can take pictures of your beloved ones from its 2 MP camera.

LG Aristo 2 is a Android Smartphone from LG which runs on Android OS, v7.1.2 (Nougat). LG Aristo 2 is available in Titan color and 139 g (4.90 oz) of weight. LG Aristo 2 has 720 x 1280 pixels, 16:9 ratio (~294 ppi density)|5.0 inches, 68.9 cm2 (~66.2% screen-to-body ratio) display size which supports IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors. LG Aristo 2 is powered by Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU, Qualcomm MSM8917 Snapdragon 425 Chipset and Adreno 308 GPU along with 16 GB, 2 GB RAM.LG Aristo 2 has GPRS, EDGE, 3G, WIFI, Bluetooth, GPS connectivity options on board. You can take pictures of your beloved ones from its 13 MP camera.

Samsung  is planning to raise its prices when it releases the new  Galaxy S9  phone, according to a new leak which revealed it will cost £35 more than its S8 model.  The new handset is set to be unveiled next month, before going on sale in March. However, it appears that it is likely to arrive as one of the priciest handsets on the market. The 5.8-inch S9 is expected to launch alongside the 6.2-inch S9+, a larger, more powerful handset, which will be even more expensive. The smaller model will cost 950,000 KRW, and the larger model will cost 999,000 KRW in South Korea, according to a report in ETNews . That is the equivalent of around £625 and £660 in the UK, and around $885 and $935 in the US. However, the handsets do not sell for the same price in different countries, so it could be more expensive in Europe, the US and elsewhere.  The Samsung Galaxy S8 retailed at 935,000 KRW (£615) when it first came out in South Korea.   In the UK, the S8 was available for £689 when it fi

New Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note8 Bootloader Prevents Flashing Out of Region Firmware Samsung is rolling out a new update for the Galaxy Note8. These updates come with the January security update which brings some patches for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, but it also comes with a new bootloader. An update bringing a new bootloader on Samsung phones means that you can not downgrade your phone after installing this . This new bootloader also has one more nasty secret: it patches the use of Prince Comsy’s modded Odin . Odin is a Samsung tool used to flash and install new firmware. When Samsung builds Android, they remove some features like fastboot from the bootloader, and instead replace it with Odin.  The Odin tool that we have is leaked from Samsung and it works on all modern Samsung phones,  but can only flash to devices with matching model numbers. That’s where Prince Comsy’s modded Odin comes in. Prince Comsy’s tool is a version of Odin modded to support flashin

It looks like Samsung is sending out a final thank you message to everyone who participated in the Galaxy S8 and S8+ Oreo beta program and could be close to releasing the official update. A few users are seeing a new notice about the beta in the Samsung Members app, with the Galaxy Beta team simply saying that it is doing its “best to distribute the official S/W version”. No date or ETA is mentioned this time around, but since the beta team had earlier said it’s aiming for a stable release by January 31st , could the update be on its way? Galaxy S8 Oreo update: Official rollout imminent? It would be improper to come to conclusions based on the latest beta notice, but at least users outside the US could see the final update come out before the week is over, if we go by how long it took Samsung to release the Nougat update after the Galaxy S7 beta program ended . Even if they don’t, stateside Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners are likely to go through a longer wait than others as the beta progr

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have seen a huge spike in interest in the last couple of years. With exponential returns on investment, the cryptocurrency market has seen huge investments recently. While some prefer to just buy the Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies for quick returns, the more tech-savvy ones opt for mining coins using high-end mining hardware. This has resulted in huge demand for high-end graphics cards and customized mining rigs. A few months back Samsung made its first move in the cryptocurrency space when it built a Bitcoin mining rig out of old Galaxy S5s . While it was a fun and an experimental project, it seems Samsung is now reportedly interested in manufacturing commercial cryptocurrency mining hardware to tap into the market demand. Samsung’s commercial foray into cryptocurrency market According to a report from the South Korean outlet  The Bell , Samsung has reportedly started manufacturing ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chips sp

As we said in our Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ review , the fingerprint sensor is easier to use on Samsung’s latest mid-range phones compared to the company’s 2017 flagships, but it’s still not in the ideal location. That’s especially true on the 6-inch Galaxy A8+ ; the sensor is housed in the same cutout as the rear camera, so there is some amount of hand movement involved between tapping the sensor and using the phone. Your take on the Galaxy A8 (2018) and A8+’ fingerprint sensor? Again, it’s not as bad as it was on the Galaxy S8 or Note 8 (although many thought the sensor’s placement wasn’t an issue on those devices, either ). Since the sensor is placed below the camera, chances of the user smudging the camera lens are also fewer than they are on the aforementioned flagships. Our overall experience of using the A8 and A8+’ fingerprint sensor was a positive one, and we’re interested to know how you feel about the placement of the sensor on your Galaxy A8 or A8+. We’ve created a

So you’ve got yourself one of Samsung’s new mid-range phones or are planning to do so, either because you love selfies or because you’re looking for a flagship-like experience without paying the price a flagship would command. The Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ are good choices for people who fall in either camp (or both), as we said in our review . There’s a lot to do on these phones, from taking beautiful selfies that blur the background to viewing YouTube videos on the immersive 18:5:9 Infinity display, but if you’ve just purchased one, here are a few things you should set up on your A8 or A8+ before doing anything else. Galaxy A8 (2018) Tips: 11 things to do on a new A8 or A8+ Set up face recognition, register fingerprints This is something your A8 or A8+ would have suggested when you were going through the initial setup after turning the device on for the first time, but if you skipped it, you should set up your fingerprint and also enable facial recognition. On a security

Google is officially the proud owner of the Pixel team. The $1.1 billion deal between Google and HTC resulted in the transfer of 2,000 of HTC’s R&D team over to Google in addition to a licensing agreement which gives Google access to HTC’s intellectual property. Google has not mentioned where its new Taipei team will be housed (we imagine HTC isn’t going to let them keep their desks inside HTC HQ, but Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President of Hardware at Google is pleased that the deal has closed and that the team will be able to fully focus on the Pixel 3 lineup which is expected to be unveiled in the fall. As for HTC, the company is still planning on releasing new smartphones and working on VR and AR technologies with its Vive team. The core team which worked on the HTC One and the new HTC U11 family of devices is still intact. In fact, the $1.1 billion deal should have a dramatic impact on HTC’s bottom line going forward. By shaving off 2,000 employees from its books, 2018 m

Foldable smartphones are inching closer to reality. While Samsung has already confirmed working on a foldable Galaxy X smartphone, Chinese handset company OPPO is expected to join the bandwagon soon. OPPO has now patented a design for a foldable device that could be used as a tablet, according to reports. The patent was picked up by China Mobile (via GSMArena) and presents an exciting prospect for those awaiting the first truly foldable handsets. “The patent indicates that the device would look something like a regular smartphone device -- albeit without a bezel on one side -- when in one configuration, but that it could also open up to resemble a compact tablet,” Android Authority reported on Tuesday. OPPO is said to be one of the manufacturers currently eyeing a foldable product, along with Samsung, LG and Apple. Samsung will be testing the waters with its truly foldable OLED smartphone in its “Galaxy” series with a limited run in South Korea. It is one of the very few smartph

Major carrier Verizon has just released a changelog for a new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 update. Although it doesn't bring too many new features, the update is supposed to address some important security and software issues. First off, Verizon notes the update delivers the January security patch , which includes fixes for the dreaded Meltdown and Spectre exploits. Aside from that, the update is meant to address an issue that froze the screen during incoming calls. Some force close bugs that appeared when unlocking the device or when the user tried to change the method of locking the device screen from the settings have been addressed as well. Finally, as the title says, the small update adds the bokeh camera effect while using Live Focus, so make sure you check it out after downloading the new firmware version (NMF26X.N950USQU3BRA5). Samsung Galaxy Note 8 owners can download the update via Wi-Fi or by using Verizon's network. Make sure your battery is fully charged

The Galaxy A8+ (2018) was quick to receive the January security patch update , with some markets getting the update before the phone hit retail shelves. The Galaxy A8 (2018) seemed to have been sidetracked, but Samsung is finally updating the smaller of its new mid-range phones with the latest security maintenance release (SMR). The update is rolling out in the UAE at the moment, with firmware version  A530FXXU1ARA3 . Oddly, the Galaxy A8+ is still on the December patch in the UAE, so it looks like Samsung is randomly updating these phones in various markets at the moment. Galaxy A8 (2018) January security patch update The January 2018 security patch brings fixes for 13 vulnerabilities discovered in Samsung’s software, along with five critical vulnerabilities that affect Android in general. The update doesn’t include any worthwhile changes or new features other than the latest Android security patch, and that’s not a bad thing, as we found the Galaxy A8 and A8+ quite stable and bug

The Samsung Galaxy S9  is going to be announced on February 25 . Samsung is already marketing the camera system on the upcoming smartphone, which will reportedly have a variable aperture. But Samsung will likely have something else to discuss about its newest flagship. A feature called “Intelligent Scan” has been surfaced ahead of the official announcement by SamCentral . As it currently stands there is no mention of the feature in any current build of Samsung’s mobile software, nor is it mentioned in any beta seeds of the Android 8.0 Oreo build. There is a video showcasing the feature, which will apparently combine iris scanning and facial recognition to get a better picture of the person that is trying to unlock the device. It looks like iris scanning will work in low-light situations, too. The idea appears to be for Samsung’s biometric security measures to work in tandem in an effort to make unlocking the Galaxy S9 a lot easier and smoother. If the iris scanner can’t pick up t

Samsung Pay , Samsung’s mobile payment service, continues its rollout to international markets. Samsung has confirmed that Samsung Pay is now available in Mexico, which marks the 20th market to get the service. As is par for the course, Samsung has partnered with a variety of companies to mark the launch. Those include American Express, Visa, Citibanamex, Santander, HSBC, and others. Samsung Pay will work in Mexico in the same way it does in those other markets. You’ll just need to find an NFC-supported terminal or a standard credit card reader and you will be able to use your supported Samsung-branded smartphone to check out. As far as those supported devices go, you’ll need a Galaxy Note8; Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+; Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge; Galaxy S6 edge+; Galaxy Note 5; Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ (2018); Galaxy A5 (2016 and 2017); Galaxy A7 (2016 and 2017); Galaxy A9 (2016); Galaxy A3 (2017); and Galaxy J5 Pro and Galaxy J7 Pro. How often do you use Samsung Pay?

Microsoft announced in 2016 that it was discontinuing its Band line of fitness wearables. The Microsoft Band 2 was already out at that point , and it was significantly better than the original Microsoft Band. It was also understood that the Microsoft Band 3 was just months away from being ready for launch, but Microsoft was in the middle of a transition at that point, and manufacturing wearables in a tough and growing market was seen as a non-priority. So what would the Microsoft Band 3 have brought to the table? A lot of good things, apparently, as revealed from an actual prototype that has leaked and been summarily studied. Among the highlight features of the Band 3 would have been waterproofing, the ability to track swimming activities, and blood pressure tracking via an electrocardiogram sensor. The ECG sensor would have also been able to monitor the wearer’s stress levels and body temperature. Design-wise, the Band 3 did not look that much different from the Band 2. The s

The Amazon Cloud Cam Indoor, which already starts out at a tough-to-beat price of $119.99, has been discounted today to just $89.99. That’s a $30 discount for those not into that whole math thing. It’s also a heck of a deal for those ready to dive into the indoor cam arena. The Amazon Cloud Cam Indoor  ( Android app ) is a lot like other smart home cameras in that you get a 1080p stream that you can check out 24 hours per day. It’ll push notifications to you when it notices activity, can see in the dark with night vision, includes 2-way audio, and works with Alexa (you can pull the feed up on screens by voice). If you want more features, you can pay for a Cloud Cam subscription (start at $7/mo) and get person detection, motion zones, and up to 30 days of video history. $90 for a smart home camera is a good deal. Amazon Deal Link DEAL: Amazon’s Cloud Cam is Just $89.99 Today ($30 Off) is a post from: Droid Life

One of the big new trends we’re about to see in smartphones is secure face unlock methods. Face unlock is certainly not new to Android phones, but it has never been as secure as a fingerprint. For example, you can use your fingerprint for mobile payments, but not your face. Apple’s Face ID is secure enough for those tasks. Samsung phones have had face unlock for a while. Starting with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 , they have also included iris scanning. Some users have been digging around in the Settings app of the Oreo beta for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 . They discovered a few strings that relate to a new “Intelligent Scan” feature. This feature supposedly combines face unlock with iris scanner for a better experience. The idea is using the two methods together will make the feature work better in all lighting conditions. Since there is no such feature on the Galaxy S8 and Note 8, it’s believed that this is for the Samsung Galaxy S9. Obviously, Samsung will want something to compete

As the days fly by, we are getting closer and closer to the launch of the Galaxy S9, which Samsung is expected to do at an event during MWC 2018 next month in Barcelona. That means we are beginning to see more and more information revealed about the device, and the latest piece of information may give us an idea as to when the device may go on sale. This latest report suggests that Samsung will open pre-orders of the Galaxy S9 lineup on March 2nd in the company’s home country of South Korea. The pre-order time period will last until March 8th, when the device will likely go on sale everywhere in the country. While specific pricing for either the Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9 Plus were not mentioned, the report does state that these devices will be “slightly more expensive” than the Galaxy S8. For reference, the Galaxy S8 was priced at $875 when the device launched, meaning we could see a price hike to above $900 for the S9 lineup. One reason for the higher pricing in Samsung’s latest

Last night, Axios uncovered a document from the Trump administration’s National Security Council that floated the idea of a government-owned 5G wireless network . Their reasoning for considering such an idea was that they believe China to be evil, that China will spy on us if we allow their 5G network products in our country, and that the US doesn’t want China crushing it economically by being the major provider of said equipment. That narrative shouldn’t surprise you after watching the assault on Huawei we saw during and immediately after CES . Both Huawei and ZTE were mentioned numerous times throughout the document. As you can imagine, anyone interested in wireless freaked the hell out after this report dropped, wondered if the US government was serious about this, how it might affect Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint, and whether or not the FCC would even be on board with such a move, you know, since this is kind of their area of expertise. To address that first point, t

So let us start this by saying no, OnePlus is NOT sending your clipboard data to Chinese servers. OnePlus is again in the spotlight for the wrong reasons – and we’ve probably typed that line more than we should ever have to, so it is true that OnePlus needs to clean up its act. This new allegation comes from a Twitter post saying that OnePlus is identifying and uploading clipboard data like bank account numbers to a Chinese server. OnePlus has immediately come out to clarify the issue and deny the allegation. According to the Twitter account @fs0c131y , they discovered a file within OxygenOS’s clipboard app called “ badwords.txt ”. The allegation made is that OnePlus uses this file to identify data to upload to a Chinese server. Of course, when the Twitter post hit Reddit , almost everyone was ready to crucify the company all over again. In the defense of the people, OnePlus has made some pretty big mistakes lately, like the credit card hack incident. The @OnePlus #clipboard

Almost everybody who’s somebody on the internet has their own livestreaming platform, and that is especially true of Facebook. It launched Facebook Live in 2015, allowing users to live stream from their phone’s cameras, and the stream appears on the users’ timelines and their social media contacts can comment and react to these videos. This feature was positioned to compete with other popular streaming platforms like Periscope. These days, Facebook is also targeting game streamers on platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming, hoping that they would transfer over to Facebook Live. Facebook has recently unveiled its Facebook Gaming Creator Pilot Program . According to the world’s biggest social media platform, this is an effort make Facebook Live work better with game streamers, helping them get viewers and build communities on Facebook. This program will be creating new tools specifically for live streaming games. Facebook also said that it is “actively exploring ways for fans to