Samsung wlll officially unviel the Galaxy Note 7 on August 2nd

Plenty of Galaxy Note 7 rumors have been floating around over the past few weeks, and we've even seen some pretty legitimate-looking press renders surface. One of the longest standing rumors associated with the upcoming handset is its naming scheme – will Samsung continue its numerical trend and call it the Galaxy Note 6, or will the phone be named Galaxy Note 7 to be more in line with the Galaxy S line?
Samsung has just announced that the Galaxy Note 7 will be officially unveiled on Tuesday, August 2.

• Galaxy Note 7 press renders leak
• Exclusive: Leaked Galaxy Note 7 front panel confirms iris scanner

The Unpacked even will take place at 11am EST/10am CST in New York. Additionally, simultaneous launch events will take place in Rio de Janeiro at 12pm and in London at 4pm. Of course, you'll also be able to catch the live stream of the New York even at Samsung.com.

Alright, alright… let's talk about that name. Why is Samsung going with Galaxy Note 7 instead of 6? Here's the official statement from the company:

First and foremost though, you might be curious as to why it's called Galaxy Note7 instead of Galaxy Note6. There are a couple reasons why. First, the Galaxy Note7 will complement our Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, and unify our product portfolio. Second, the Galaxy Note7 will minimize confusion about the latest mobile technology from Samsung, and provide full alignment with Galaxy S smartphone.

It makes sense, really. The average user might walk into a Verizon or AT&T store and think the latest Galaxy S device is newer than the latest Note device, which is obviously something Samsung doesn't want.

So what are we expecting out of the new Note? Based on a few reports, the Note 7 is rumored to sport a 5.7-inch Quad HD AMOLED display, 6GB of RAM, a 12MP rear camera, a curved display and even an iris scanner.




Source: Android Authority

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Samsung could launch its first foldable phone, the Galaxy X, in 2017

 

 You might think the Samsung Edge display is cool, but something cooler is coming very soon. Samsung has been working on foldable displays for many years now, and the Korean giant might be ready to launch its first foldable smartphone in 2017.

Where and when will it go on sale?

The latest rumor comes from a Weibo user via Sammobile, who says the South Korean giant will release five smartphones in 2017 — the Samsung Galaxy S8, the S8 Edge, the Galaxy Note 7, the Note 7 Edge, and the Galaxy X. The Galaxy X is the highlight here — an entirely new category of Samsung’s lineup that will focus on the company’s first foldable display for smartphones.
All the mentioned devices, except the X, will have a Super AMOLED display with a 2.5K resolution, as well as a RGB subpixel arrangement. The Galaxy X, codenamed Project Valley, is aiming far higher, with a 4K display using a “diamond PenTile subpixel arrangement.”
Other previous reports confirm the existence of Project Valley.
Related: It may be up to Samsung and LG if the Apple iPhone 8 has a folding design
The company introduced the concept of a foldable display at CES 2013 and supposedly showed its first foldable phone prototype in a private meeting at CES 2014.
However, an old report by SamMobile suggests Project Valley may not have a wide international launch at first. According to anonymous inside sources speaking to the publication, when the Galaxy X first goes on sale, it’ll be available in the U.K., Germany, Italy, South Korea, France, Poland, and Nordic countries. An exclusive version for the U.K. retailer Carphone Warehouse is also listed. We can’t confirm this information, so take it with a grain of salt.
The U.S. isn’t mentioned, and although it’s certainly not official, restricting the phone’s launch would fit in with Samsung’s recent strategy. Samsung has been experimenting with launching different devices in different locations, controversially deciding to hold the Galaxy Note 5 back from the U.K. and Europe. Could Project Valley be a “designer” phone that’s all about the look, which Samsung says is what the region is looking for? If so, a U.S. launch may not come very quickly.

How about the specifications?

Samsung is allegedly testing two variants of the device, with the main difference being the processor. One has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 620, while the other has the Snapdragon 820. These are some of the newest processors from Qualcomm that feature Quick Charge 3.0, but if a launch is slated for 2017, it’s likely Samsung will opt for something newer down the road.

The only other specs that were revealed with this report include 3GB of RAM, a MicroSD slot for expanded storage, and a non-removable battery. The presence of a MicroSD slot will be welcomed by many, but it’s unlikely this phone will be all that affordable, at least early on.

Source: Digital Trends

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NVIDIA Settles Patent Dispute With Samsung over graphics chips

NVIDIA sued Samsung back in 2014 alleging that the Korean company was infringing on its patents. Samsung responded by suing NVIDIA for alleged patent infringement and the U.S. International Trade Commission first found Samsung not guilty of infringing on NVIDIA’s patents and later ruled that NVIDIA was infringing on Samsung’s patents instead. It all became a bit messy but both companies have announced today that a settlement has been reached in this matter.

The previous ruling by the ITC judge held NVIDIA liable of infringing on three of Samsung’s patents and it could have faced a potential sales ban because of it.

A joint statement announcing this settlement was released hours before the U.S. International Trade Commission was due to announce its final ruling on this matter. By doing so NVIDIA has avoided a potential ban on the import of its graphics cards.

The statement also revealed that a “small number” of patents will by licensed by each company to the other but there won’t be any other compensation or broad cross-licensing of patents for that matter.

Now that an agreement has been reached between all parties involved, this case also included some of NVIDIA’s customers like BioStar Microtech, Jaton, and EliteGroup, all litigation in the district court, the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will now be dismissed.



Source: Ubergizmo

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Minecraft is Now on Samsung's Gear VR headset

Oculus has announced that the open-world hit is now available on Samsung's virtual reality headset. Officially dubbed Minecraft: Gear VR Edition, the game is said to support the same features as the Pocket Edition, including its creative, survival and multiplayer modes, as well as the character skins your familiar with.

In addition to that, Minecraft: Gear VR Edition will let you pick between a first-person or theater view (which is the default), depending on how hardcore you feel when you're about to start building and exploring in virtual reality. Oculus CTO John Carmack, who last year revealed that this version was in the works, said in a blog post, "My strongest memories of being inside VR are from the time I've spent exploring Minecraft on Gear VR. Experiencing it in virtual reality changes it from an abstract activity to a visceral one."

If you have a Gear VR, Minecraft can be yours from the Oculus Store for $7.







Source: Oculus
Via : Engadget

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Samsung Gear VR gets even better internet with WebVR support

With all the coverage lavished on "proper" VR devices like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, it might be too easy to forget the VR headset that was already in the market way ahead of those two. Made by Samsung in partnership with Oculus, the Gear VR is almost like a poor man's VR (though the real poor man's VR would be the original Google Cardboard), lettings users experience VR more easily.

Provided they have the latest Samsung smartphone, of course. Now Samsung is expanding its headset's coverage by adopting what is to be the VR standard for the Web called, what else, WebVR.

With Mozilla as one of its biggest proponents, WebVR is an attempt to more or less standardize web browser access to virtual reality before it becomes too wild and wide to corral. Technically, it's a set of Javascript API for doing as such. It's still a work in progress and, until recently, was available only for experimental versions of Firefox and Chromium. Now add Internet for Gear VR that list and remove the "experimental" label.

The Gear VR has long had an Internet browser of its own, but that was a rather plain one that really simply let you, well, browse web pages. On the other hand, real virtual reality content could only be enjoyed on the headset using content curated by Samsung or Oculus, which isn't really a lot. WebVR has the potential to expand that scope to any VR content that can run inside browsers using the Javascript API.

That said, Samsung admits that the browser so far only supports the deprecated API, which means the parts that will soon be obsolete. This first release, however, will hopefully serve as the launchpad for updating to more recent WebVR APIs in the near future. However, WebVR itself is still in its infancy, so not everything might work as desired.

In addition to supporting WebVR, Samsung Internet for Gear VR also gets some other features in the latest update. One nifty feature is that any web page you are browsing on the Samsung Internet browser for Android will automatically show up on the Gear VR browser when you attach your smartphone to the headset.

Unlike the Samsung Internet for Android app, which is available from the Galaxy App store, Samsung Internet for Gear VR has to be installed or updated via the Oculus Store Android app.


Source: Samsung
Via: Slashgear

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Samsung Rolls Out Marshmallow For Galaxy S5

It has been a few months since Google released Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Many OEMs have still not updated their flagship handsets to the new firmware let alone older devices that are eligible to receive this update. It’s a slow process and Android owners are having to wait for months to get this update. Samsung has finally started rolling out the much-awaited update for the Galaxy S5.

It’s not all good news, though. The update has only been released by Samsung in South Korea for now. Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow is now available for Galaxy S5 on LG Uplus in South Korea.

However, it’s a sign that now the roll out has begun, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of months before this update arrives in other markets. That’s how long it’s likely going to take to arrive for users in the United States where mobile carriers almost always tend to hold up updates and delay the release even further for end users.

Marshmallow for Galaxy S5 brings all of the bells and whistles that come as part and parcel of the new software update. New features include an improved Doze mode, better notifications experience, enhanced app permissions, overall bug and stability fixes as well as performance improvements.


Source: ubergizmo

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Samsung unveils the world’s largest hard drive

At the Flash Memory Summit in California, Samsung has unveiled what appears to be the world's largest hard drive—and somewhat surprisingly, it uses NAND flash chips rather than spinning platters. The rather boringly named PM1633a, which is being targeted at the enterprise market, manages to cram almost 16 terabytes into a 2.5-inch SSD package. By comparison, the largest conventional hard drives made by Seagate and Western Digital currently max out at 8 or 10TB.

The secret sauce behind Samsung's 16TB SSD is the company's new 256Gbit (32GB) NAND flash die; twice the capacity of 128Gbit NAND dies that were commercialised by various chip makers last year. To reach such an astonishing density, Samsung has managed to cram 48 layers of 3-bits-per-cell (TLC) 3D V-NAND into a single die. This is up from 24 layers in 2013, and then 36 layers in 2014.


Historically, like most computer chips, NAND flash has been planar—that is, the functional structures on the chip are (for the most part), laid down on a single two-dimensional plane. In a similar way to how logic chips are moving towards 3D transistors (FinFETs), Samsung (and more recently Toshiba and Intel) has been forging ahead with 3D NAND.

The simplest way of describing 3D NAND is that everything is turned on its side: so instead of having just one layer of memory cells on a single plane, you can now have dozens of layers of cells, all standing up next to each other. (The "V" in Samsung's V-NAND refers to the vertical nature of these cells.) Process-wise, 3D NAND is very complex, but the massive potential density increase makes it worthwhile.

The 16-terabyte drive (actual capacity 15.36TB) must use between 480 and 500 of Samsung's new 256Gbit dies. We're not entirely sure how you squeeze that many dies into a standard 2.5-inch SSD case, but presumably there's some die or package stacking involved.

At the Flash Memory Summit, as reported by Golem.de, Samsung showed off a server with 48 of these new SSDs, with a total storage capacity of 768 terabytes and performance rated at 2,000,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second). By comparison, the consumer-grade SSD that you have in your PC is probably capable of around 10,000-90,000 IOPS, depending on the workload.

Over the last few years, as NAND manufacturers raced to increase density, we knew that conventional HDDs would eventually be defeated by the seemingly indefatigable march of Moore's law—but we didn't think it would happen quite so soon. That isn't to say that hard drives will be obviated by SSDs any time soon, of course: at least for the foreseeable future, SSDs are an order of magnitude more expensive than HDDs. Today, an enterprise-grade 1TB SSD will cost you about £600 or $1,000; an enterprise-grade helium-filled 8TB hard drive from HGST costs about £400 or $700.



Source: Arstechnica

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Samsung wins US appeal in ongoing patent fight with Apple

A U.S. appeals court on Friday overturned a $120 million jury verdict against Samsung, finally handing the South Korean smartphone maker a significant win in its longstanding patent feud with top rival Apple.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., said Samsung Electronics Co Ltd did not infringe Apple's "quick links" patent, and that two other patents covering the iPhone's slide-to-unlock and auto-correct features were invalid. The court also said Apple was liable for infringing one of Samsung's patents.

In a statement, a Samsung spokeswoman said: "Today's decision is a win for consumer choice and puts competition back where it belongs - in the marketplace, not in the courtroom.”
A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment.

Apple and Samsung have been battling over mobile device technology patents for years. Apple has mostly prevailed, and in December, Samsung paid Apple $548.2 million stemming from a separate patent case, which Samsung has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Friday's ruling was issued by a unanimous three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit, the country's top court specializing in patent issues.

The ruling reverses a May 2014 verdict from a federal court in San Jose, California ordering Samsung to pay $119.6 million for using Apple's patented technology without permission.
Infringement of the quick links feature, which allows the device to recognise data on the touchscreen, such as a phone number, and link to it to make a call, accounted for nearly $99 million of the damages.

While the appeals court said that Samsung did not use the same technology to detect and link to specific data, it also said Apple's other patents were obvious compared to previously known inventions and should never have been granted.

Chicago-based patent lawyer Bradley Hulbert, who has followed the litigation, said the decision is "a clear signal that Apple is not invincible and that alternative operating systems are here to stay. The marketing and psychological benefits for Samsung are huge."

Rutgers Law School professor Michael Carrier said Apple "rolled the dice" by going to court and today's decision "shows that the patent wars really are not worth it."




Source : Reuters

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Microsoft, Intel, & others Tech Giants launches IoT standards group: Open Connectivity Foundation

Giants of the tech world are banding together to found a new group to support the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) industry.

The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) is touted as an open IoT standards group to unify standards, expedite innovation, and “create IoT solutions and devices that work seamlessly together,” according to a press release. Founding members include Microsoft, Cisco, Electrolux, General Electric, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, ARRIS, and CableLabs, who will work together to create specifications and protocols to ensure devices from a myriad of manufacturers work in harmony.

The Internet of Things is a major driving force in creative labs around the world. At CES last month, Samsung unveiled an eclectic mix of products, from smart fridges to giant video walls and beyond, and at the upcoming Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, a Samsung spin-off company is debuting smart shoes.

Elsewhere, Microsoft is making a big IoT play with Windows 10 and Azure, as the company looks to build an operating system that delivers access to universal apps and driver models that work across any device, from fridges and ATMs to industrial robotics. And earlier today, Volvo announced its intentions to create the first properly keyless cars — vehicles that can be unlocked, started, and managed through a smartphone app.

It’s clearer than ever that the Internet of Things is pushing hard to shake off its gimmicky reputation and become a genuine thing that’s embraced. But well-defined and open standards are key to its success — devices and software from different manufacturers and developers have to be compatible.
The OCF is the successor to the existing Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC), which was launched back in 2014. The OIC was in competition with another group called the Allseen alliance, which consists of members such as Microsoft, Electrolux, and Qualcomm who are now in the OCF — but we’re assured that the OCF is not a merger between these other two groups.




Source: Venture Beat

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Samsung patents vein identification sensor on smartwatches

Fingerprints, heartbeats and veins — they can all be used to identify who you are. While the latter is far from new, it may be on the cusp of mainstream adoption, if Samsung’s recent patent ever comes to fruition. The Korean technology giant recently filed a patent for a wearable device equipped with a vein-reading sensor.

The patent, ambiguously titled “Wearable Device and Method of Operating the Same,” was filed on July 29, 2015, and published on February 4, 2016. The summary describes a wearable device with a sensor that captures a “vein image” of the user, which is processed and used to identify the user. If the vein image captured matches at least one registered vein image, a specific function or application would be run. In other words, it wouldn’t function too differently from a fingerprint sensor.

In the patent, Samsung goes on to describe a sensor that includes an infrared light source and camera. When the infrared light is emitted on the back of a user’s hand, for instance, the camera would capture the vein image.

If a positive vein image identification occurs, it can trigger the loading of a specific user’s music playlist, contact list or credit card payments, for example. The applications could extend to actions like opening car doors or hotel room doors.

As always, patents are never sure bets to make their way to real-world devices. However, the applications for a vein identification sensor on a smartwatch are clear and appealing enough.




Source: Digital Trends

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Apple, Samsung and Sony Accused of Child Labour

A new report by Amnesty International claims that Apple, Samsung and Sony are consistently failing to perform the basic checks which are required to ensure that mining operations for essential minerals do not take advantage of child labor.

The report focuses on cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—the origin of 50 percent of the mineral that’s used heavily in li-on battery production. Based on interviews with 87 people, the report explains that cobalt is mined by children as young as seven in the country, before it is sold on to large mineral firms such as Congo Dongfang Mining, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd and Huayou Cobalt.

Those companies process the ore, before selling it on to companies in China and South Korea where it’s used to make batteries. Amnesty International claims that large manufacturers, including Apple, Sony and Samsung, use parts which contain the cobalt mined in these operations.

Speaking to the BBC, Apple explained that it was “currently evaluating dozens of different materials, including cobalt, in order to identify labour and environmental risks,” while Sony said it was “working with the suppliers to address issues related to human rights and labour conditions.” Samsung claimed that “contracts with suppliers who use child labour will be immediately terminated.”

The report claims that as many as 40,000 children work in the cobalt mines of the DRC. Some of the children interviewed for the report claim to work up to 12 hours a day, earning between $1 and $2 in the process. They work above ground, washing and carrying heavy loads of rocks. Amnesty International claims they often face physical abuse and exposure to dangerous gas and dust.
It’s not the first time these companies have faced complaints over the use of child labor. Both Samsung and Apple have been accused of exploiting underage workers in the past.

“Millions of people enjoy the benefits of new technologies but rarely ask how they are made. It is high time the big brands took some responsibility for the mining of the raw materials that make their lucrative products.” explained Mark Dummett, Amnesty International’s business and human rights researcher, in a press release. “Companies whose global profits total $125 billion cannot credibly claim that they are unable to check where key minerals in their productions come from.”


Source: Amnesty International
Via : BBC

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Samsung’s new SSD T3 comes with the USB-C

Samsung reveals a brand new external SSD made for portability and future-proofing your data. The body of this portable piece of storage is a dark gray and silver, and inside you'll roll with the same controllers and flash used in Samsung's 2.5-inch SATA SSDs. This is the successor to the Portable SSD T1 (with a 3, as strange as that may be), and the biggest changes are a switch to USB-C (instead of USB 3 Type B), and a switch from plastic to metal.

The switch to metal increases the overall weight to double what it was with the T1 - but since this is such a small device in the first place, it hardly matters at a mere 51 grams. This drive is 74 x 58 x 10.5 mm large.

"Following the successful worldwide launch of the Portable SSD T1 in 2015, we made several significant upgrades to the T3 based on the feedback and needs of our customers," said Un-Soo Kim, Senior Vice President of Brand Product Marketing, Memory Business at Samsung Electronics, "which included content creators and business professionals in particular."

"The T3 delivers the outstanding performance, storage capacity and durability needed from an external storage device for today's mobile lifestyle, without compromising on style or security. It's the new portable external storage drive users can depend on in any situation or environment."

This device includes a USB Type-C to Type-A cable in the box, and has several capacities (different models) coming to market: 250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB. Also included is AES 256-bit hardware encryption and optional password setting, just so long as you're running Requires Windows 7 or higher, Mac OS 10.7 or higher or Android KitKat (version 4.4) or higher.

This drive will be available in early March of 2016, and pricing has not yet been made available.



Source: SlashGear

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Expect Smarter Wearables With Samsung's Latest Bio-Processor

 

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced that it is addressing the growing trend of quantified health with an all-in-one advanced system logic chip for the health-oriented wearables market, the Bio-Processor. The Samsung Bio-Processor, now in mass production, is specifically designed to allow accelerated development of innovative wearable products for consumers who are increasingly monitoring their health and fitness on a daily basis.

“With improvements in smart, fitness devices and an increase in consumer health consciousness, more and more people are looking for ways to monitor various personal bio-data, or fitness data, to constantly manage their health” said Ben K. Hur, Vice President of marketing, System LSI business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s Bio-Processor, which can process five different biometric signals, is the most versatile health and fitness monitoring chip available on the market today and is expected to open up many new health-based service options for our customers.”


Samsung’s Bio-Processor is the industry’s first all-in-one health solution chip. By integrating not only Analog Front Ends (AFE), but also microcontroller unit (MCU), power management integrated circuit (PMIC), digital signal processor (DSP), and eFlash memory, it is able to process the bio-signals it measures without the need of external processing parts. Even with its integrated design, the Bio-Processor is particularly innovative thanks to its incredibly small size. When compared to the total area of the discrete parts, the Bio-Processor is only about one fourth of the total combined size, which is ideal for small wearable devices, offering a bounty of options when designing new devices.

While heart rate monitoring alone may have been compelling in the past, the ability to measure a variety of fitness data is expected in today’s wearable products. To meet such demands, Samsung has designed its Bio-Processor to integrate five AFEs including bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), photoplethysmogram (PPG), electrocardiogram (ECG), skin temperature, and galvanic skin response (GSR) into a single chip solution that measures body fat, and skeletal muscle mass, heart rate, heart rhythm, skin temperature and stress level, respectively. In addition, combinations of these fitness inputs can be considered for a variety of new use cases.

To speed product development and better understand Samsung’s new Bio-Processor, several wearable reference platforms are now available to demonstrate various uses cases. For example, wrist band, board and patch type reference devices exhibit the Bio-Processor’s potential by demonstrating its ability to measure multiple fitness variables on an extremely small device.

Samsung Bio-Processor is currently in mass production and will be available in fitness/health devices within the first half of 2016.


Source: Samsung

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Samsung Galaxy A9 Officially Announced In China

Samsung has officially announced the handset during the company’s Galaxy A Party 2016 event.

The Galaxy A9 packs a 6-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 can be found with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage that is expandable via microSD.

It also comes with a 13MP rear-facing camera with OIS and an aperture of f/1.9 which is actually pretty wide for a smartphone camera, and an 8MP front-facing camera to top things off. The phone will also come with a sizeable 4,000mAh battery in it which is rather impressive given how thin (7.4mm) it is.

Unfortunately pricing was not revealed but according to Samsung, the phone is expected to be made available in China later this month and pricing will be determined then. No word on whether it will be making its way to the US or other markets for that matter.


Source : Ubergizmo

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Samsung reportedly adding a pressure-sensitive display to the Galaxy S7

Samsung is reportedly looking into adding a pressure-sensitive display to its next line of smartphones. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the company will add not only the improved display tech, but also a fast charging capable of USB Type-C port and retina scanner. It's believed these improvements will be included in the next Samsung Galaxy smartphone, which is expected to be the S7.

While details on the pressure-sensitive display weren't included in the report, one could expect similar functionality to what Apple introduced in the iPhone 6s. The display on the next Samsung smartphone would be able to interpret multiple levels of force used to press on-screen to achieve different results (much like the equivalent of a right-click on your PC mouse).

The Wall Street Journal report also noted that the non-curved Galaxy S7 could launch with support for storage expansion through an SD slot. We'll have to hold out until more details surface or Samsung officially announce the next wave of smartphones.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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Samsung replaces its smartphone chief

Samsung Mobile's top execs held on for a whileduring the company's troubled time with smartphones, but it's apparently been long enough. JK Shin, in addition to another co-CEO, (Samsung's exec lineup is a... multi-layered one), will withdraw from daily operations, replaced by DJ Koh, a mobile exec who previously oversaw Samsung's barely-nascent Tizen mobile OS and Samsung Pay -- neither of which are international success stories (yet?). At the same time, Samsung's head of TVs and home appliances, BK Yoon, is being moved on to focus on "long-term strategy".

According to the WSJ, both Yoon and Shin will retain their titles as co-CEOs of Samsung Electronics. The mobile head was responsible for misreading demand for the company's top flagship phones, not making enough of its curved Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones -- and making too many of the more conservative S6. The mobile profit hit the Electronics arm enough for it to announce an earnings loss for the entire year.

Source :Engadget 

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Samsung Launches First TV Ad for Gear VR Headset

For some time now, the promise of Virtual Reality gaming and entertainment has been heading to shelves in stores all over the place “soon” and now, it's finally here. While the Oculus Rift has been available as an expensive Developer's Kit for a while now, and Google's Cardboard is readily available and cheap, a fully-realized product has been a long time coming. The Gear VR is that very product, and while it launched last year with support for the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge, it wasn't that easy to get hold of and with support for just two phones it was almost as niches as the Oculus technology that powers it. Now it's back, and on general sale for just $99.99, which isn't too bad considering the high prices that some have been predicting for the likes of the Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus.

This version of the Gear VR works with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5 line of devices, which should ensure a lot more eyes to fill given the popularity of Samsung's latest devices. With the Holiday Season just around the corner, it's no wonder that Samsung is gearing up (get it?) to sell bucket loads of the Gear VR. To get things started, the South Korean giant has released a simple 30-second TV spot (watchable below) to show off the Gear VR and offer glimpses at what it can do for your world of entertainment. In the short ad, it seems as though the Gear VR is super-easy to use, and while it is pretty simple to set up and use, it's not your everyday plug-and-play sort of experience.

The Gear VR is no doubt going to sell well, for such a niche product at least, and it's interesting to see that Samsung are one of the first companies to offer a fully-realized product for virtual reality. Needing just the phone you use every day and the headset to get a pretty accurate and tailored experience for an extra hundred bucks is compelling. How many of these end up under Christmas trees and in wrapped-up boxes is unclear, but it's good to see that something like this is finally hitting the market from a recognizable name.

Source :Android Headlines 

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Samsung W2016 Is Official, Premium Smart Flip Phone Is Here

Samsung has already announced four flagship devices this year, and along with those handsets, this Korea-based tech company has also introduced a number of entry-level and mid-range ones. Samsung is expected to announce the 2nd-gen Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 devices in the coming weeks considering they've been leaking like crazy recently. Well, that's not the only thing this Korea-based tech giant has been expected to announce. The high-end Galaxy Golden 3 flip phone has surfaced on GFXBench back in October, and has also been certified by the FCC earlier this month. That being said, this phone has just been announced by the company, read on.

The Galaxy Golden 3 was announced as the W2016 in China. Think of this handset as sort of a flip phone variant of the Galaxy S6, its specifications are quite nice actually. The Samsung W2016 was listed on Samsung China's website, and the listing does confirm the specs of this phone, but Samsung did not reveal its availability or pricing details just yet. The Samsung W2016 features two 3.9-inch 1280 x 768 Super AMOLED displays along with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. This handset is powered by an octa-core SoC clocked at 1.5GHz, and there are two SIM card slots available here. The 16-megapixel OIS camera is located on the back of the W2016, and a 5-megapixel snapper can be found on the front side of this phone. The 2,000mAh battery is available on the inside, and the device offers fast charging, you'll be able to charge up your phone up to 50% in just 30 minutes according to the company. 4G LTE connectivity is available here, of course, and the device is made out of metal and glass. The W2016 measures 120.4 x 61 x 15.1mm, while it weighs 204 grams.

This listing actually revealed that the device sports China Mobile network, though the device is expected to not only be released in additional variants in China, but we'll probably see it available elsewhere in the coming months. This is a rather interesting smart flip phone, which is not something we see a lot of these days, so if you”re interested in getting one, stay tuned.

Source: Android Headlines 

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Samsung Announces BRITECELL, A New Camera Technology

Samsung is currently the number one smartphone OEM in the world. This Korea-based smartphone OEM has introduced a number of smartphone this year, including four flagships, two flagship smartphones, and two flagship phablets. All of these devices sport the same main camera, and is regarded as one of the best shooter in a smartphone at the moment. Well, it seems like Samsung is trying to improve it even more. I don’t know if you recall, but we’ve talked about Samsung’s ‘BRITECELL‘ camera trademark earlier this month. Well, Samsung has decided to unveil the tech already, read on.

The BRITECELL camera tech was announced at Samsung Electronics 2015 Investors Forum, and ‘BRITECELL’ is also regarded as ‘Bright Cell Technology’. So, what’s the gist? Well, BRITECELL actually replaces the traditional green pixel in the RGB, with a white pixel in order to create RWB of brighter images, and this will reportedly help quite a lot in low-lit conditions. BRITECELL sensor also contains the ‘Smart WDR’, a which stands for ‘Wide Dynamic Range’, and this should help with details quite a lot according to Samsung. PDAF (Phase Detection Auto Focus) tech is also built in here, by the way, as it was the case with a number of mobile camera sensors this year.

”When we take a picture in the left side, for example, there is like a dark spot and a very bright part. And you just expose yourself per unit from across the pixel, you have to focus on just one of them. So, when you focus picture exposure based on the dark side. Then bright side became just too bright and the vice versa. So, there is some smart way to control it so that you can take a good quality of image from the dark side of the – dark part of the picture, as well as the bright part of the picture. And that’s a smart – the wide dynamic range that we introduced. So, basically, adjacent pixels, we can control the different exposure time from one pixel to the next pixel just as sitting next to it. And again, without a good separation between these two, you cannot fully take advantage of that kind of smart WDR,” said Samsung during the announcement.

Now, it is worth mentioning that Samsung announced a 16-megapixel camera sensor with 1.0 micron pixels for smartphoens back in July. This sensor is only 5mm high, and is approximately 20% thinner than the current 1.12 micron 16-megapixel sensors out there. So, will the BRITECELL tech be included in the Galaxy S7? Well, yeah, quite probably, this seems like the perfect time for Samsung to introduce tech they intend to release in a couple of months.

Source : Recode 

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Samsung Aims To Include Premium Features In Affordable Phones

Samsung might be the number one smartphone OEM in the world, but their device aren’t exactly the cheapest around. Even the company’s low and mid-range devices are oftenly more expensive than similarly-specced one from a number of other OEMs out there. Well, it seems like Samsung is trying to change things around, and offer more for the money you’re paying them, at least according to the latest report coming from South Korea, read on.

According to the source, Samsung plans to release low and mid-range handsets with premium features in the future. This Korea-based company plans to include fingerprint sensors and Samsung Pay in some of their lower-end devices, which wasn’t the case thus far. “Samsung is planning to deploy fingerprint sensors in budget smartphone models,” said an industry source. A number of Samsung-branded devices currently sport a fingerprint scanner, but those are mainly their premium offerings and some devices from the mid-range ‘Galaxy A’ line of devices. Now, according to the report, Samsung is having some issues along the way. They’re trying to keep these phones affordable, and pack quite a few interesting features in them, which is a bit of a challenge for Samsung it seems.

So, why is Samsung doing this? Well, the company actually holds quite a significant market share in emerging markets, and is trying to keep it that way. As you probably know, the competition is quite fierce, mainly because Chinese OEMs keep pushing prices down. One analyst from Samsung Securities, Hwang Min-sung, is confident that Samsung will include Samsung Pay in pretty much every smartphone they release (except maybe the extremely low-end ones), it’s in Samsung’s best interest after all.

In addition to all this, yesterday’s report said that Samsung is preparing a high-end Tizen smartphone, which is also interesting. All in all, this Korea-based tech giant is looking to up the ante a little bit, and there’s nothing wrong with that, of course. It remains to be seen how much will these low and mid-range devices cost in the end, which we’ll find out in the coming months, hopefully. Stay tuned for additional news, we’ll report back soon.

Source :Korea Herald 

Via :Android Headlines 

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