Posts

Samsung introduces a 43-inch ‘vertical’ TV for millennials

Image
Samsung's TV division has been quite innovative and experimental in recent times. From the modular Wall TV to the artsy Frame TV , the company has been pumping out new designs and form factors to stay ahead of the competition in the premium TV market. Continuing its creative streak, it has now introduced a "vertical" TV for smartphone-addicted millennials in its home market. Can be used in portrait and landscape orientation Named " The Sero ," which literally means vertical in Korean, it's a 43-inch QLED TV with 60-watt 4.1 channel speakers and all the standard Samsung Smart TV features like Bixby and screen mirroring. The company says the vertical design is suitable for displaying content from smartphones, which may be true but doesn't sound like a big enough reason to warrant a new design. Thankfully, the Sero TV can be turned horizontally to be used as a normal TV. Essentially, this is a TV that can be used both vertically and horizontally, so c

Our video review of the Galaxy Fold is live!

Image
Less than a week after our written review of the Galaxy Fold went live, and after a long hiatus from the world of video, we've shared our video review of the handset. We intended for the video to be viewed alongside our on-site review, so it's more of a visual aid, with many of the points we touched on in the written version being discussed in the clip — so be sure to check that out as well. Anyway, we'd like to stress that this is our first video in a while . Our video department recently fell under new management and the team are working around the clock to improve the quality of future content. Our aim is to deliver the best Samsung coverage on YouTube , under our SamMobile TV brand. With that in mind, expect to see a new video, or two, in the not-too-distant future. Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy our video review of the Galaxy Fold . The post Our video review of the Galaxy Fold is live! appeared first on SamMobile . #Google #Android #Smartphones #O

Sony’s Sketch app to discontinue online functionality, including syncing

Image
If you are an avid user of Sony's Sketch app then you won't like hearing that it has become the latest causality of Sony's app portfolio rationalisation. The Sketch team has confirmed that all online parts of the Sketch service will be discontinued from 30 September 2019. This means that all syncing, sticker downloads, and community functionality will stop working. Sketch has been a fun casual drawing app, which used to be pre-installed on Xperia devices. There was fun stickers, with a vibrant community and the online syncing part meant that you could carry your sketches across devices. Sony says that after 30 September 2019, the app will still be alive, but you will only be able to use the app locally. If you don't want to lose your art and contacts, ensure you export your data from the app before 30 September 2019. There is a full FAQ here . Dear Sketch community! The online parts of Sketch will be discontinued on 2019-09-30. We would like to thank you for

Galaxy A50 April update brings Bixby Routines and new camera features

Image
Samsung has started rolling out a new update to the Galaxy A50 in India. The update introduces a number of new features to the device, and also bundles the April 2019 security patch . Samsung also promises improved fingerprint recognition on the Galaxy A50 with the latest update. The update is available over the air and can be expected to reach all Galaxy A50 units over the next few days. It carriers software version  A505FDDU1ASD6 and weighs just over 666 MB. Bixby Routines comes to the Galaxy A50 Samsung launched Bixby Routines , a feature that  works on the  If This Then That (IFTTT)  principle , with the Galaxy S10 series earlier this year. The feature is also available in Samsung's newer devices, such as the Galaxy A80 . And with the latest software update, Bixby Routines has arrived on the Galaxy A50 as well. The update also brings a number of new features to the Galaxy A50's camera. The device gets a "Beauty Video Mode" for both front and rear camera

You won’t believe this image of Saturn was taken on a Galaxy S8

Image
South African astrophotographer Grant Petersen snapped a picture of the most recent occulation of Saturn and the moon using nothing more than a Galaxy S8 and a basic 8-inch Dobsonian telescope from his home base in Johannesburg — and the result is fascinating to say the least, with the image showcasing the second-largest in the Solar System just before it slipped behind Luna at dawn. To capture the image, Petersen recorded a 60-frame-per-second video of the occulation. He then processed the clip using stacking, which let him merge several of the video frames into a brighter, clearer picture. It's the same basic construct the boffins at NASA use to photograph both major and minor astronomic events, like an asteroid or even the International Space Station zipping by. Saturn is an astonishing 1.4 billion kilometres from Earth What's more impressive is the photo Petersen took accurately highlights how small Saturn is when viewed from Earth, when in actuality it's the

Galaxy S10 can now mirror notifications to your Windows PC

Image
Last month, Microsoft started testing a new feature that allowed Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S9 owners to view their handset's notifications on their Windows PC — and now the firm has added support for the Galaxy Note 8 , Galaxy Note 9 and the Galaxy S10 . At least, that's the official statement. We tried setting it up on our Galaxy A70 , which isn't on the list, and it worked just fine. In order to take advantage of notification mirroring, you'll need a PC running build 1803 (RS4) of Windows 10 or newer with Your Phone installed, as well as a supported smartphone running Android 7.0 Nougat or higher. You'll also need to have the latest version of Microsoft's Your Phone Companion application installed on your handset, which can be downloaded through the Google Play Store. Phone Companion is far from a one-trick pony Your Phone Companion bundles a slew of other features, including the facility to access media stored on your device. You won't hav

The Death of External Storage: Correcting a Mistake

Image
My post from last Monday had a significant mistake. I wrote: You cannot write to the standard directories available from Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory() . So, you cannot write to DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS or DIRECTORY_MUSIC or places like that. That is incorrect — you can write to these locations… sort of. The reason for my mistake and the reason for the "sort of" qualification help to illustrate what is going on with these external storage changes. You can write to those directories, but the directories may not already exist for your app… even if they appear for the user. If you have been working in Android from the early days, you may recall a time when emulators (and occasionally devices) would not ship with the common external storage directories already created. So, if you wanted to use Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory() , you would need to call mkdirs() on that File to ensure that the directory existed before using it. Howev

Xperia XZs receives April 2019 security patches (41.3.A.2.239)

Image
The Sony Xperia XZs has received a minor update recently, which moved the build number from 41.3.A.2.234 to version 41.3.A.2.239. The only change that we can see with the latest update is the addition of 1 April 2019 Android security patches . We are probably coming towards the end of software support for the Xperia XZs, so it will be interesting to see how many more security patches Sony has in store for the XZs. Thanks Hock! #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Galaxy Note 10 Pro will have a 4500mAh battery

Image
The standard 4G model of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Pro will feature an adequately-sized 4500mAh battery, which is a 500mAh hike on that of the Galaxy Note 9  and on par with that of the Galaxy S10 5G , according to esteemed tipster Ice Universe — corroborating a recent leak. The cell was certified for use by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology on Saturday, with the accompanying documentation revealing that the component was assigned the model number EB-BN975ABU, which matches up to the 4G variant ( SM-N975 ) of the Galaxy Note 10 Pro. What is the Galaxy Note 10 Pro? Samsung is said to be working on four variants of the Galaxy Note 10 — two with 4G and two with 5G. That makes sense seeing as the firm is rumored to launch the handset with the choice of two screen sizes: 6.28-inches and 6.75-inches, with the latter being branded the Galaxy Note 10 Pro . As for what the duo will bring to the table, the main tidbit  we've heard to date comes courtesy of  Korea's 

Sony ships 1.1 million Xperia’s in last quarter; expects only 5 million in next year

Image
Sony Mobile's troubles have been well flagged in recent years. Sony's latest results highlight that its mobile business saw revenues decline by 31% in the year to 31 March 2019 to 226 billion yen. The reduction was mainly due to the number of Xperia units sold halving, from 13.5 million units in the previous year, to just 6.5 million over the last 12 months. This means that Sony shipped only 1.1 million Xperia units in the last quarter – the lowest ever, and by quite a margin. This resulted in much higher losses for the division, with operating losses increasing by 70 billion yen to 97 billion yen overall. Sony reiterated that it plans to reduce operating expenses within its mobile division by 50%, with a plan to turn Sony Mobile profitable in the 12 months to March 2021. Halving the smartphone workforce will help Sony to achieve this. In addition, Sony said that that it had accelerated plans to cease production at its Beijing factory, as reported previously , as well as c

OnePlus 5T Starts Receiving OxygenOS 9.0.5 Update with April Security Patch

Image
A few days back we have seen OnePlus rolling out a new update to its OnePlus 5 and 5T smartphones which bought deep integration with Google Duo. And now OxygenOS 9.0.5 is being rolled out to OnePlus 5T smartphone which also gets Android Security Patch for the month of April which is a bump from January 1st, 2019 security patch. The same update could also be pushed to the OnePlus 5 smartphone soon but there is no official word on it yet. The size of the latest update for the device is 200MB which bring improvements and stability to the phone app along with few fixes to the Parallel and gaming modes. The user had issues with downloading pictures in parallel WhatsApp and also Video call issues on third-party applications. Talking about the OnePlus 5T smartphone, we have already seen many leaks about the upcoming OnePlus 7 devices and they are going to be unveiled on 14th May. Well, the One Plus 5T was announced in 2017, November which was an upgrade over the OnePlus 5 launched earli

Android Pie update rolling out to the Galaxy J4+ and Galaxy J6+

Image
Samsung is racing to the finish line with the Android Pie update. The company has added two more budget phones, the Galaxy J4+ and Galaxy J6+ , to the list of Galaxy devices that have been updated to Pie . The Galaxy J4+ is receiving the update in Vietnam, Thailand and Ukraine, while the Galaxy J6+ is being updated in Germany, Iraq, and India. Android Pie for Galaxy smartphones brings a new look and feel for Galaxy phones thanks to Samsung's new One UI interface, which puts important information front and center and makes it easier to access with one hand. There's also plenty of new functionality and minor improvements included in One UI, many of which we have covered in detail in our One UI (Android Pie) feature focus series . The April 2019 security patch is included in the updates for both devices as well. Something to be noted here is that it's not often that Samsung pushes a major update for a smartphone to multiple markets in the initial release. Perhaps this

The Smartphone Market in India, 2018 to 2023 - With a 14% Yearly Market Growth Since 2016, India is the Fastest Growing Smartphone Market Globally - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Associated Press

Image
The Smartphone Market in India, 2018 to 2023 - With a 14% Yearly Market Growth Since 2016, India is the Fastest Growing Smartphone Market Globally - ResearchAndMarkets.com    Associated Press Press release *content* from Business Wire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation. #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Honor 20 Pro leaks in White gradient - GSMArena.com news - GSMArena.com

Image
Honor 20 Pro leaks in White gradient - GSMArena.com news    GSMArena.com Last week, a render of the Honor 20 Pro leaked in Teal color showing off the phone's back with a quad camera setup. Today, we get to see this smartphone... #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

EMUI 9.1 beta rolling out to 12 devices including Huawei Mate 20/P20 Lite, Honor View 20, Honor 8X in China ahead of global launch - 9to5Google

Image
EMUI 9.1 beta rolling out to 12 devices including Huawei Mate 20/P20 Lite, Honor View 20, Honor 8X in China ahead of global launch    9to5Google The EMUI 9.1 beta is now rolling out to 12 devices in China likely ahead of a ful global launch in the coming weeks, with several Honor handsets included. #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Honor 8S with dewdrop notch launched; check out price, specifications, features and more - Business Today

Image
Honor 8S with dewdrop notch launched; check out price, specifications, features and more    Business Today Honor 8S, if launched in India, could be priced under Rs 10000. #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

The Huawei P Smart Z may have an “Ultra FullView” display with a pop-up camera - XDA Developers

Image
The Huawei P Smart Z may have an "Ultra FullView" display with a pop-up camera    XDA Developers Huawei P Smart Z is tipped to be Huawei's first smartphone that might feature a pop-up camera for selfies and a full-view display without any notch. #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Huawei’s Honor View20 – the best budget phone for playing Fortnite at 60fps? - VG247

Image
Huawei's Honor View20 – the best budget phone for playing Fortnite at 60fps?    VG247 If you're looking to pick up a gaming smartphone and don't want to remortgage your house, Huawei's Honor View20 is one of your best options. The phone costs ... #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Honor View20 and Huawei P30 Pro get the AR Measure app with EMUI 9.0.1.173/9.1.0.140 - XDA Developers

Image
Honor View20 and Huawei P30 Pro get the AR Measure app with EMUI 9.0.1.173/9.1.0.140    XDA Developers Huawei P30 Pro and the Honor View20 (Chinese variant) are getting AR Measure app which uses the time of flight camera to measure distances from far away. #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Huawei's EMUI OS crosses 470 Million Daily Active Users - gizmochina

Image
Huawei's EMUI OS crosses 470 Million Daily Active Users    gizmochina Huawei has been on a roll lately, quickly climbing up to become the world's second largest smartphone company. It has managed to sell hundreds of millions of ... #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews