Milk Music now works on the Galaxy Tab 4 and across some more Note tablets

Milk Music is Samsung’s own take on media streaming. One would expect such a service to work across all Samsung devices, but for some reason we cannot fathom, that isn’t really the case. Nonetheless, the service will now work on a few more Samsung devices than it did until now. The devices that will now support the streaming service include the Galaxy Tab 4 and the Note tablets, which unfortunately haven’t been specified yet. If you’re wondering how exactly you’re to use the service, give the video embedded below a watch. Only a few months back, the service was made available to a slew of devices including the Tab Pro and the Note Pro. Now that its coming to more and more devices, you can expect yours to feature in the list sometime soon.

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Company insider feels the Galaxy S6 will be an “innovative premium handset” with a “special function”

We aren’t certain if this is simply a case of self-advertising or otherwise, but a report from Samsung’s home country, citing Robert Yi, the company’s head of IR, suggests that Samsung intends to launch a new phone this year, which will be an ‘innovative premium handset’ with a ‘special function’. Samsung isn’t best known for innovation; experimentation is perhaps a better term to describe how Samsung goes about its business. Coming back to the report, it doesn’t really mention what phone will incorporate the innovation and the special function, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell that the Galaxy S6 (and possible an Edge version thereof) is pretty much the only big thing besides the next Note (which is a fair few months away) happening at the Samsung camps.

There’s been plenty discussed about the Galaxy S6, and of course the S6 Edge (which could be known as the Galaxy S Edge). The phone is expected to show up in a little over a month on 2nd of March; we’ll know exactly how innovative the phone is then!

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Exclusive: Galaxy S Edge and Galaxy S6 to support the Gear VR

At IFA 2014, Samsung announced the Gear VR alongside the Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge, however, it only supports the Note 4. Nevertheless, it looks like the virtual reality headset will soon be adding two more devices to its compatibility list – the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S Edge – confirm our trusted sources.

You might say, what’s the big deal in that? As the Galaxy S Edge and S6 are coming after the Note 4, it’s obvious that the Gear VR would support the new devices. Well, here’s the thing. The Note 4 is packed with a 5.7-inch Quad HD display, while the S Edge and S6 are rumoured to be sporting a 5.1-inch Quad HD display. So how would Samsung’s upcoming flagship devices work with the Gear VR?

There are two possibilities, Samsung is either developing a brand new Gear VR device to support the smaller display size, or the S Edge and the S6 feature a larger display. The first Galaxy Note device had a screen size of 5.3-inches, if Samsung makes the display on its upcoming flagship devices larger than 5.3-inches, the S series will enter the Note territory.

Currently, our insiders are unable to confirm which route the Korean giant is taking. However, as soon as we receive new intel on the Gear VR, we will update you folks! Stay tuned to SamMobile, we will be revealing more information about the S Edge and the S6 over the coming days.

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Update your Galaxy Note 3 (Russia) To Android 5.0 Lollipop

You are now able to update your Galaxy Note 3 in Russia to Android 5.0 lollipop trough Kies.

pending…

Firmware details:

Model: SM-N900

Model name: GALAXY Note 3

Country: Russia

Version: Android 5.0

Changelist: 3779962

Build date: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 16:11:27 +0000

Product Code: SER

PDA: N900XXUEBOA6

CSC: N900SEREBOA6

MODEM: N900XXUEBNL6

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Samsung Z1 getting its second software update in a week

The Z1 is quite an important device for Samsung, as it spearheads the company’s foray into the smartphone market with its own mobile OS. Reports have suggested that the Z1 has been doing quite well in India, and it looks like Samsung is working hard on supporting its first Tizen-based smartphone, as the company has released two software updates for the device in only 10 days since it went up for sale. Both of these updates come without a proper changelog (Samsung simply mentions that updates can improve performance and fix bugs), but we have found the device to be more responsive after upgrading.

Overall, it’s great to see Samsung pushing out software updates to the Z1 in quick succession. It’s support that we wish the company would extend to its Android devices as well, but we’re not sure that will ever happen (partly because Android isn’t Samsung’s own OS, and partly because it would want to make sure consumers have as many reasons to buy its Tizen phones as possible.)

If you have the Samsung Z1, be sure to head into the Settings » About device » Software update menu and check for the updates manually, as neither showed up on our device on its own. Both updates are around 16-20MB in size, and you should see software version Z130HDDU0BOA3 after installing them.

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Oracle, Samsung team up to offer better cloud-based services

Samsung may be working on its next big release, i.e., the Galaxy S6, but the Korea based OEM is making sure it stays ahead of the tech curve. It is doing so by partnering up with Oracle to offer even better cloud-based solutions to its customers. Oracle is a known name in the enterprise world, which makes it a perfect partner for Samsung to invest its mobile experience with. “As Samsung is the global leader in handsets, Oracle needs the Korean company to boost its database cloud solutions, which the US company identified as one of its next engines,” the report quotes an official from Samsung. The BCN report however goes on to add that Oracle didn’t confirm the advancements.

This should result in some quality cloud-based services for Samsung users over the months if it does materialize. What do you think about this partnership?

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Galaxy Note Edge heads to Canada soon

In November last year the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge was launched in the US. Samsung had said from the get go that this device would only be released in a handful of markets and it looks like Canada is going to be the next one. So far the price and availability information hasn’t been made public but Best Buy has made the device available for pre-order, and the listing hints that Roger and Bell will carry the Galaxy Note Edge as well.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge stands out from the crowd because of how its display curves over the right edge. The curved display is then used for various purposes like controlling media playback and displaying notifications.

Under the hood this smartphone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor with 3GB RAM and Android 4.4.4. It has a 5.6-inch 1600×2560 Super AMOLED display, 16 megapixel rear and 3.7 megapixel front camera as well as 32/64 onboard storage options.

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Z1 Tizen smartphone will be manufactured in India

Recently Samsung launched its first Tizen powered smartphone. The Samsung Z1 was announced in India and is currently only being sold in that country. This smartphone is targeted at first-time smartphone buyers in India. Samsung has not said if it has any plans of introducing the smartphone in Western countries, the Z1 seems to be limited to Asian countries for now. However the company has confirmed that it is going to manufacture the Samsung Z1 at its facility in India.

Samsung India Vice President Marketing (Mobile and IT) Asim Warsi said that the Z1 is going to be manufactured at the company’s Noida plant based in UP. This facility has the capacity to produce four million units per month and can be used to manufacture both high-end and affordable devices.

Warsi has also revealed that Samsung is going to launch the Z1 in Bangladesh soon. Touching on recent reports about this smartphone not exciting the Indian market, Warsi said that Samsung Z1 sales have “surpassed all expectations.”

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Galaxy Note 4 covers add Qi wireless charging

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 does not have support for wireless charging built in, but that does not mean that this smartphone is not capable of supporting this feature. For many flagship devices Samsung has released external covers which add Qi wireless charging to the device. It has done the same for Galaxy Note 4. Two covers are available for the Galaxy Note 4, a standard and a S-View Flip Cover, both have the Qi wireless charging technology built in.

Installing these covers is very easy. Replace the existing back cover on the Galaxy Note 4 and install the new one. The bonus for customers that have carrier-branded devices that the new cover comes without any carrier branding, while preserving the same style, texture and color that the original Note 4 back plate offers.

Both the standard and S-View Flip case Qi wireless charging covers add a little bit of thickness and weight to the device. The user will notice it but its not something that’ll make holding and using the device uncomfortable. In return for added thickness and weight users gets wireless charging compatibility.

The standard and S-View Flip cover Qi wireless charging covers for Galaxy Note 4 cost $29.95 and $59.95 respectively.

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Samsung comes second to iPhone in Q4 2014 US smartphone activations

The latest data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners or CIRP shows a very familiar trend as far as US smartphone activations are concerned. During the fourth quarter of 2014, spanning between October to December, 50 percent of smartphones sold in the US were accounted for by iPhones. Samsung’s models took second place as they accounted for 26 percent of smartphones sold in that period. The lucrative holiday shopping season fell within this period and its interesting to note that the iPhone didn’t quite come into pressure from its biggest rival.

CIRP’s data also shows that LG’s devices accounted for 11 percent of all smartphone sales during this period. The Korean company was followed by Motorola, HTC, Nokia and Amazon with 4 percent, 2 percent, 2 percent and 1 percent of sales respectively.

One must take into account a certain margin of error with this research given that it only surveyed about 500 customers who activated a new or used phone during the October-December 2014 period, but the aim here is to show a trend in the market, one that was also evident from the significant increase in iOS market share at the end of last month.

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Report: Apple eating into Samsung’s market share in South Korea

Is Samsung losing its sheen even in its home market, in addition to seeing reduced sales in the rest of the world? The latest report by Counterpoint Research certainly claims so – according to the report, Apple managed to see a noticeable increase in market share in South Korea in the October-November period in 2014, while Samsung saw its share plummet. Apple apparently had a record-breaking 33 percent share of the market, no doubt thanks to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, both of which feature larger screens than previous iPhones and hence might have seen increased consumer interest as a result.

According to the report, this is the first time that a foreign company has earned more than 20 percent market share in South Korea. Samsung retained the top position with a 46 percent market share, but as the graph below shows, the company’s performance actually reduced from previous months. That’s no doubt a cause of worry for the Korean manufacturer, but it’s likely this spurt of growth for Apple came because of the larger iPhones, and that Samsung might manage to get back on a upward trajectory in the coming months.

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TouchWiz finally looks good, thanks to Google

TouchWiz. That single word can ellicit a slew of responses. From a custom skin that adds a ton of useful features to one that bogs down Android to a level that makes even high-end devices stutter in general usage, TouchWiz is either hated, loved, or simply accepted depending on who you ask. As for myself, I’ve always maintained the opinion that while TouchWiz has a lot of nice features, Samsung’s reluctance to optimize it and make it look good has resulted in a software experience that is not as good as it should be in 2014. However, with Android 5.0 Lollipop, TouchWiz has never looked so good, and that is all thanks to Google and what it calls Material Design.

For those that need a refresher, Material Design is the name of the internet giant’s new design philosophy for Android – it’s full of bright (and funky) colors, smooth animations, and a level of polish that has never been seen on the world’s dominant mobile operating system. Google has never been that good at design, but in the last year or so, the company has showed that it is just as capable of attractive software design, something that is apparent if you look at any of its recent apps and, of course, Android 5.0 itself.

Samsung, and basically every other major manufacturer, has always chosen its own custom skin over stock Android’s, but with Lollipop, we’ve seen a change in tradition – this time, Samsung decided to adopt elements of the new version of Android and implement it on its devices. The result? Well, a TouchWiz that has never looked as good, and like it is said in the title, it is all thanks to Google.

Why? Because instead of doing its own thing, all Samsung did is take the default design elements on Lollipop and mix them with its existing UI. In fact, there’s more of Material Design on TouchWiz on Android 5.0 than of TouchWiz itself. Sure, you still have the ugly app icons, or the poorly implemented UIs of apps like Samsung’s S Planner, but you also have apps like the phone dialer, messaging, and gallery, or things like the notifications shade and the recent apps menu that look quite good. All these apps have a different color highlight, white backgrounds, and improved fonts for an overall look and feel that’s far better than what we had on KitKat and before.

Here are a few screenshots showing some apps in their pre and post-Lollipop avatars (KitKat screenshots are on the left.)

There was a time when custom skins like TouchWiz or HTC Sense were important, as Android in its pure form was rather average in terms of the interface (and also lacked a lot of basic features). But manufacturers continue to use their software overlays till date, mainly due to the fact that they have existing users that would be alienated because of a major shift in UI. Samsung has done the same, but while other manufacturers have moved on to more impressive software design, the Korean manufacturer continues to stick to a skin that feels outdated and just doesn’t look that great in any form.

But that’s all set to change once Android 5.0 hits Samsung’s phones and tablets. Performance is still a factor that needs to be addressed on the company’s devices, but even that has received a boost with Lollipop, making the latest version of Android one of the best updates for both the OS itself and for Samsung’s customized version. Overall, stock Android 5.0 looks considerably better than TouchWiz, but if we compare the latter with what has come before, well, Samsung’s software is finally what we can all call modern and (sufficiently) sleek.

What is your opinion on TouchWiz’s new look? Let us know in the comments below!

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First Tizen smartphone reportedly fails to excite India

After being delayed multiple times the Samsung Z1 was recently released in India. This is the first smartphone commercially released by Samsung that’s running on the company’s own Tizen operating system which has so far powered Samsung devices other than smartphones. The company might have hoped that Tizen would hit the ground running in India due to its competitive price but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Rather it seems the device failed to excite the market.

Reuters reports that reviewers and consumers both are not singing praises of the Samsung Z1. Many criticize the lack of applications as well as its low-resolution cameras. This leads the scribe to speculate that the Z1 will struggle to make its mark in the Indian market which is already being courted by some 280 smartphone brands.

Even though the Samsung Z1′s $92 price tag beats many Android rivals on price the low-end smartphones powered by Google’s OS still offer better specifications, particularly cameras which are better than the Z1′s 3.1-megapixel rear camera.

Samsung has not said if and when the Tizen smartphone will be released in other markets.

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Android powered Smart MultiXpress printers launched in Australia

Some of the recent products that Samsung has launched are powered by the Tizen operating system, these products were out in full force at the International Consumer Electronics Show 2015, but it didn’t take too long for the company to jump back on Android. Samsung Australia has launched its first Android power printer range called the Smart MultiXpress series.There are eight printer models in the new series all of which are powered by Android.

The eight multi-function printer models in the Smart MultiXpress series have been designed from the ground up to operate on their own so there’s no need for a PC app. Since they’re powered by Android Samsung points out that these models will offer “great printing app scalability.”

Samsung Electronics Australia’s director of enterprise and small medium business Todd Lynton said “Our new printer line combines advanced printing technology innovation and performance with the user-friendly Android operating system to provide businesses and IT administrators with Samsung’s smart office experience.”

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Watch the PlayStation Now app for Smart TVs in action on Tizen here

The first wave of Tizen powered smart TVs were made official only days back, at the CES 2015. Among the many ‘smart’ features of the TVs, one that caught the attention of many was the ability to stream PlayStation 3 titles to the TV, without requiring any additional hardware save for a Bluetooth enabled PS3 controller. Both, creators of the PlayStation brand, i.e., Sony and that of the first Tizen TVs, Samsung, showed off the technology at the recently concluded trade show. For those that didn’t attend the show and are wondering how well the app works, here’s a video that folks from Booredatwork.com put together.

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Samsung NX1 firmware v1.20 now available for download, here’s the feature list

Samsung had talked about a firmware update for the NX1 camera back at the CES earlier this month. The company also said that the update would be available for download by mid-January, and it went live earlier today. As you expect from a firmware update, there’s a lot of bug fixes and optimizations. However, in addition, there are some new features thrown in as well.

This includes the ability to control autofocus speeds during movie shooting, and a higher bitrate setting for when shooting 1080p video to deliver even better video output. Also, ISO is now controllable via the hardware dial, which apparently was a much requested feature by shutterbugs. There are many more features, the discussion of which is beyond this article. Which is why, you can take a look at the list below and get the gist.

- Adjustable audio levels during movie capture

- Adjustable ISO during movie capture

- 23.98p and 24p frame rates for 4K UHD and 1080 video

- Addition of ‘Pro’ movie quality setting for 1080 capture

- Wider range of display options, including gridline, center, aspect ratio and action-safe area markers

- Output time code over HDMI (for use with external recorders)

- C Gamma and D Gamma curves added for movie shooting

- Master black level

- Luminance level limiting [0-255], [16-235], [16-255]

- AF speed control for smoother refocusing (3 settings)

- AF responsiveness control (dictates camera’s readiness to change AF subject)

- Added tools for selecting and grabbing frames from video

- Autofocus lock option in movie mode (if set to AEL button)

- AF/MF toggling in movie mode (AF ON button option)

- Wi-Fi and [REC] buttons’ functions can be swapped

- AF On and AEL buttons’ functions can be swapped

- Command dials’ direction of operation can be reversed

- Add ISO or Exposure Comp. to command dial (customizable per PASM mode)

- DoF Preview and Delete buttons customizable

- Auto ISO options (ISO, ISO Customizing, Minimum Shutter Speed) arranged together in menus

- Smartphone App can operate as remote release using Bluetooth

- ‘Quick Transfer’ to automatically send thumbnails to a smartphone as they’re shot

- Pair with multiple smart devices

- Check for firmware updates over Wi-Fi

- Trap Shot feature – fires shutter when a subject crosses a specified guideline

- Samsung Remote Studio for thethered shooting from Windows PC

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Samsung Galaxy E5 (SM-E500) firmware now online

Samsung has been rather busy in the last few months, launching a multitude of new phones, most of them being part of new lineups with simplified names. The Galaxy E5 and E7 are the most recent Android phones announced by Samsung, and now, firmware for the former have showed up online. The Galaxy E5 was made official at an event in India, but that doesn’t mean it will be limited to that country – E5 firmware for quite a few different Asian countries have gone live, all of them based on Android 4.4.4 KitKat (Samsung has promised an update to Android 5.0 Lollipop.)

All the firmware can be download from our firmware section, and they can be used to take a peep into the phone’s software as well as for restoring it to stock should the need arise. Oh, and in case you missed it, you can download wallpapers from the Galaxy E7 and A7, with firmware for the two devices also available online.

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Round smartwatches and Samsung: It’s just about time

Considering Samsung’s recent show of interest in having everything, right from your kitchen to your bathroom, connected to the internet, it is evident that a not only phones and other ‘orthodox’ tech, but also new-found gadgetry such as wearables will be the center of focus for the coming few years. As it stands, we’ve hardly seen much of an advance on the smartphone scene in the past year or so. Why, you wonder? Compare the advancements you’ve noticed in the past one year to how smartphones changed from 2012 to 2013 and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Everything’s been incremental, nothing truly groundbreaking. So, new and rather unexplored areas in technology remain to be terrains yet to be inhabited.

And who better than Samsung to do the honors. What’s great about Samsung is that the company is never shy of an experiment; whether or not these pay off is a completely different story, but the ones that do, turn into something truly special. Take for example, the Galaxy Note series. No one was really making phones as big as the first gen Galaxy Note back in the day, and the Galaxy Note itself was pretty much rubbished by the critics. Turns out though, they couldn’t be more wrong; the numbers are out for everyone to see. Even a company as ‘conservative’ as HTC has a large screen phone out, and its far from doing badly on the market.

Back to Samsung, another place where it didn’t do too badly was with its Galaxy Gear smartwatch. It was among the first smartwatches to be available in the market, and like many other Samsung products, it did pretty well. However, a certain Motorola soon changed how everyone looked at smartwatches with the launch of its round-dial Motorola Moto 360. In fact, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that it changed the smartphone market forever. After its launch, people hardly cared about smartwatches that didn’t have round dials, and every other manufacturer had to play catch up.

Funnily enough, despite being the ‘try it all till it works’ sort of a manufacturer, Samsung is yet to have a smartwatch in the market with a round dial. Its only about time. General consensus is out in the open, and there’s probably no other firm better than Samsung to realize that it does take a smartwatch with a round dial and a great build quality to succeed in the market… at least for the time being. LG’s done it. Alcatel’s done it. Heck, even a company as new as GEAK as done it. So why not Samsung?

While I can’t really give the answer to that, I can tell that its coming. Of course, nothing’s official as yet, but that’s me speaking from experience. Knowing Samsung, I wouldn’t be surprised if they launch it in metal and a cheaper, plastic option!

People have spent lavishly on the timepiece since the time it came into existence, but fact is that tech companies of today aren’t really able to churn out ones that compare to their non-smart cousins at least as far as the style quotient is concerned. The ones that have tried to do so (read: Motorola) have embraced great success in no time, which makes you wonder all the more about why Samsung doesn’t have one out already. After all, like I’ve said a million times before, the company isn’t one to shy away from experimenting.

A phone is something that you can keep inside your pocket, but people generally associate with their watches — regardless of them being smart or dumb — in a very different manner. This is perhaps why we’re noticing a massive skew towards those with designs that truly stand out. Samsung hasn’t done too bad with the pricing for its devices, but from what one sees with the Galaxy A series for example, is that the company is charging a premium for good design (at least as per the company) and proper, metal build. This makes you wonder if Samsung’s metal clad, round-dial smartwatch, whenever it does come, will burn a hole in your pocket. As it stands, the Moto 360 too isn’t the most affordable smartwatch on the market right now; it might well turn out that Samsung’s take on that isn’t the cheapest, too.

Here’s to hoping that Samsung does listen to its users (and well wishers), and makes a smartwatch that isn’t heavy on the pocket, and has a truly remarkable design. We consumers can be a demanding lot, but that’s what Samsung — or any other tech company that dreams of making it big — signed up for, anyway. As for me, I think companies should stick to churning out remarkable designs for the moment — the tech will follow suit.

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Samsung Galaxy E7 and A7 wallpapers and firmwares now available for download

Both, the Galaxy A7 and E7, are Samsung’s one of the first metal unibody, mid-range devices. Even though the Korean giant has announced the devices, they aren’t on sale yet. However, the stock firmwares have started popping up on the company’s Kies servers, which are based on Android 4.4.4 KitKat. So, if you’re interested in the firmware files, you can grab ‘em from our firmware section. Also, we took the liberty to extract wallpapers from the firmwares, respectively. Checkout the firmware details and wallpapers down below.

Firmware Details (SM-E700F):

• Model: SM-E700F

• Model name: GALAXY E7

• Country: Turkey

• Version: Android 4.4.4

• Changelist: 3703532

• Build date: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 15:53:34 +0000

• Product Code: TUR

• PDA: E700FXXU1ANLB

• CSC: E700FOJV1ANLB

• MODEM: E700FXXU1ANLB

Firmware Details (SM-A700H):

• Model: SM-A700H

• Model name: GALAXY A7

• Country: Uzbekistan

• Version: Android 4.4.4

• Changelist: 3753735

• Build date: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 06:44:21 +0000

• Product Code: CAC

• PDA: A700HXXU1AOA3

• CSC: A700HOXY1AOA3

• MODEM: A700HXXU1AOA3

Samsung Galaxy E7 and A7 Wallpapers

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Samsung Galaxy Note Edge now available on Verizon networks for $399 on contract

As reported earlier, Samsung has made available its first Edge series phone, i.e., the Galaxy Note Edge for US$399 with a 2-year contract. Back when we first reported about the possibility of the device landing on Verizon networks, we weren’t completely sure about the authenticity of the leak, but it turns out there wasn’t much to worry about on that regard. Coming back to the launch, the Note Edge can also be had off-contract for a US$799 lump sum.

The Note Edge comes with a 5.6-inch 2560 x 1440p (+160 for the curved screen) QHD display, and is powered by a 3000mAh battery, besides having a 16 mega-pixel rear camera, and a 3.7 mega-pixel front. Hit the source link to get to the listing on Verizon’s official website, and if you’re not sure about how good the phone is, check out our review of it.

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Exclusive: A round-dial Samsung smartwatch is in the works, MWC release likely

How many of you’ve found yourselves ranting about how Samsung doesn’t have a real (read: round faced) smartwatch on the market? Turns out, the company’s working on addressing that. Right from the first Galaxy Gear smartwatch to the full-blown Gear S (which is a phone in itself), we’ve seen a design language which although looks very futuristic, does little to satisfy the design critic in you. Also, a heavy dependence on Android has been seen; Samsung is out there now, to change that and a lot more, it appears.

LG launched its own round-dial version of the G Watch, aka the G Watch R (emphasis on R). The upcoming Samsung smartwatch we talk about gets some R-love too, which is perhaps why it’ll be called ‘SM-R720′, with a codename ‘Orbis’ for reference. In the past, we’ve broken news about a ring operated design that Samsung was working on, which is probably also what will feature on the Orbis. So, this new round Gear smartwatch is going to be quite a departure from the usual Galaxy gear fanfare, thanks to the (obvious) round design, and the OS: it’ll come with Tizen out of the box.

If you’ve been following the tech scene lately, you’ll have realized that although its complete frenzy at the ongoing CES, Samsung is pretty much keeping it low profile. This is perhaps because Samsung has plans to reveal this round dial ‘Orbis’ smartwatch at the MWC, which is due a little over a month and a half from now.

Who’s looking forward to this one?

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Samsung Galaxy A3 and A5 coming soon to Europe, firmware now online

The Galaxy A3 (SM-A300) and Galaxy A5 (SM-A500) are mid-range devices that Samsung is hoping will attract consumers with their metallic designs, but both devices have been in limited supply due to production issues, keeping their availability limited to a few Asian markets. However, it looks like Samsung is finally ready to bring the two devices to Europe, as firmware for a slew of European countries for both the A3 and A5 are now available online. That’s the only indication we need that European consumers will soon be able to buy the two A series devices, though we will have to wait for information on their pricing and exact launch dates.

Those interested can download the firmware for the Galaxy A3 and A5 from our firmware section. Do let us know if you’re planning to buy either device by leaving a comment down below, and don’t forget to check our review of the Galaxy A5.

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Samsung Galaxy A3, A5 official in Malaysia; Galaxy A7 coming next month

After the launch of the Galaxy A3 and A5 in India (where Samsung also pulled off a couple of surprise launches), Samsung has made official the devices in Malaysia. While the smaller of the two — Galaxy A3 — is launched for RM899 (US$250), the Galaxy A5 gets an RM1199 (US$335) price tag, making the prices pretty much in line with other markets. The devices come with rather mid-range specifications, but the USP remains the metal build, which is also what you pay the premium for. A 4.5-inch 960 x 540p qHD display sits on the smaller Galaxy A3, while the Galaxy A5 comes with a 5-inch 1280 x 720p panel. Both devices are powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, but there’s a slight difference in RAM with the Galaxy A3 having 1.5GB while the A5 gets 2GB.

In related news, Samsung will also be making available its Galaxy A7 in Malaysia next month. There’s no official word on pricing as yet, but the 5.5-inch Snapdragon 615 powered phone is expected to sell at RM1499 (US$420), extrapolating from prices of the A3 and A5.

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Gold-plated Samsung Galaxy A5 is available in Vietnam

After dipping the Galaxy Note Edge in molten gold (well, not exactly molten), Vietnamese gold-plating shop Karalux has turned its attention to the Galaxy A5, the first metallic mid-range phone in Samsung’s lineup (not that there are too many of those in the high-end segment). For an extra $200 over the standard $410 price of the phone, you will get a device with a gold plating on almost every part of its body, except for those areas on the back which house the antenna and are used for improving reception (a good move considering the Galaxy A5 already suffers from network performance issues.)

Karalux is also offering the option to put a custom design on the back. Of course, whether someone would be willing to spend an extra 200 bucks on a mid-range device just to see it in gold remains to be seen, but hey, at least you have an option now, right?

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Samsung Galaxy Note Edge launches on US Cellular today

US Cellular subscribers will now have the option of buying the Galaxy Note Edge, as the device is set to be launched by the carrier today, January 7. The “limited edition concept device” will be available from the carrier’s retail stores and its website; the price is naturally set quite high, as the phone will cost $399 after one signs a two-year contract. The off-contract price hasn’t been mentioned by US Cellular, but it will likely be somewhere north of $850.

The Galaxy Note Edge, which we reviewed earlier this week, comes with a 5.6-inch Super AMOLED Edge display with a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels that curves to the right side. Other specs of the device are similar to the Note 4 in most aspects, including a Snapdragon 805 processor clocked at 2.7GHz, 3GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, 32GB of expandable internal storage, and a 3,000mAh battery. The Note Edge runs Android 4.4 KitKat, and will be updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop starting this month.

Anyone looking forward to buying the Galaxy Note Edge on US Cellular?

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This is why Samsung’s Tizen smartphones might fail

Sure, Android has been a great stepping stone towards Samsung success in the smartphone and the tablet market. Thanks to Android, Samsung has emerged as the biggest smartphone vendor in the world right now, but it has been trying to find a dependable secondary platform for its smartphones other than Microsoft’s Windows Phone. Samsung tried its luck with the homegrown Bada OS in 2010. More Bada devices were sold in Q3 2012 than devices running Windows Phone. Almost all the Bada-based devices from Samsung were entry-level offerings. The UI looked quite similar to Samsung’s TouchWiz interface on Android, complete with widgets, multiple homescreens, and quick setting toggles. But later, Samsung found out that it can no longer pursue developing a smartphone platform alone and decided to merge Bada 2.0 into Tizen. If you don’t know about Tizen, it’s a Linux-based open source smartphone platform, though it was originally named as MeeGo when Intel and Nokia initially started developing it. Later, Nokia decided to jump the ship to Windows Phone with a hope of having a better chance of succeeding in a cut-throat smartphone market. Basically, Tizen is a combination of two failed smartphone initiatives, and even with Samsung leading the charge I think that it might still fail, though not without valid reasons.

Samsung’s first commercial Tizen-based smartphone doesn’t look promising at all

Samsung has delayed the official launch of Tizen based devices multiple times now. The mid-range Samsung Z, which was expected to be launched during the Tizen Developer Summit in Russia during July 2014, was cancelled. It was ditched in favour of low-end/entry-level devices as Samsung thought that it might have a better chance of selling Tizen-toting entry-level smartphones, and Samsung is correct, but the execution isn’t right. Samsung is yet to officially announce its first Tizen-based smartphone, but it has already been leaked several times. The Samsung Z1 is an entry-level smartphone as per its hardware specifications, and going by the expected/rumoured price tag of the device, I am sure it won’t attract any buyers. At $100, Xiaomi is offering a 4.7-inch HD IPS LCD display, a Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, 8-megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, USB OTG, and a 2,000 mAh battery. In comparison, the Z1 offers a WVGA PLS LCD display, a dual-core Spreadtrum processor, 768MB RAM, 4GB storage, 3-megapixel fixed-focus camera, VGA front-facing camera, and a 1,500 mAh battery. Why would a consumer want to buy the Tizen-based Z1 when they could buy a feature-packed Android smartphone at the same price? Tizen might need lower resources than Android to run smoothly, but buyers are so hooked to considering hardware specifications like processor cores and the amount of RAM, that it would be really hard to make them settle for lower hardware.

Tizen lacks integration of popular services

Even if Samsung succeeds in creating an operating system with all the functions and features, which are present in its competing platforms, Tizen might still fail. Building a smartphone platform is easier than supporting and nurturing it continuously, especially when there are well-established players in the market. In this day and age, supporting services and the availability of apps play a huge part in a smartphone platform’s success. In case of Android, it has strong support from Google’s ultra-popular and successful services like Google Search, Google Now, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Chrome, Google Translate, and Hangouts. A lot of people have invested their data into Google’s services and their absence won’t be entertained. All of those services are tightly integrated into the platform. You might argue that some of Apple’s services such as iCloud Mail, iCloud Calendar and Apple Maps aren’t very popular, but iOS is still very popular. Due to the large user base of the platform, almost every popular service is available as an app on the App Store; Chrome, Google Maps, Gmail, Hangouts, Kindle, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Skype, Yahoo, YouTube, you name it.

… and Google/Microsoft aren’t going to provide their services to Tizen

In spite of Microsoft’s strong developer community, and integration of Outlook, Skype, and Office, Windows Phone still lacks the ecosystem, which can compete neck-to-neck with iOS and Android. Windows Phone has failed to gain double digit market share. Reason? Well, I find it hard to live without things like Google Maps and Hangouts on my smartphone, and Google isn’t going to develop Windows Phone apps for obvious reasons. So what is the chance that companies like Google and Microsoft making apps for Tizen? Zlich Samsung started replicating Google’s services and including them in its Android devices, but failed to improve the user base of its homegrown apps like ChatOn and Milk. Earlier this year, Strategy Analytics published a report about the usage of Samsung apps on some of the most popular smartphones like the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy S4. The report revealed that the usage of Samsung apps lags behind Google’s apps by a wide margin. Samsung is planning to shut down its IM service, ChatOn starting February 2015, which paints a complete picture of Samsung’s failure at nurturing its own apps. Moreover, Samsung is missing some key services such as Maps, Mail, Cloud Storage, etc. Is there really a need to own such services? It’s not completely necessary, but going forward, it slows the pace of developing new features. The level of integration, which is possible between homegrown services, is hard to achieve with third-party services. No wonder, Apple is still trying to improve its mapping and navigation solution, as it no longer wants to depend upon Google to introduce new maps-related features through Google Maps.

Developers of popular apps will neglect smaller platforms

Coming to other third-party apps which are not from giants like Google and Microsoft, would they develop apps for Tizen? Would industry leaders like Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, LastPass, Dropbox, ESPN, Foursquare, Evernote, Instagram, Pocket, Shazam, Slack, and WhatsApp develop apps for Tizen? There’s a huge chance that developers might not even consider making apps for Tizen due to limited resource and higher priority for other platforms. Even if they develop apps for Tizen, their quality and features might not match with their Android/iOS counterparts. A similar thing is already happening with apps on Windows Phone. Without value-for-money hardware and presence of popular apps/services, Tizen isn’t going to succeed. Even though I think that Tizen might fail in competing with Android, Samsung still needs to try. Monopoly is bad for consumers, and Google has been able to capture such a huge market that it can’t be considered safe for the consumers.

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Samsung Galaxy A3, Galaxy A5 could launch in India tomorrow

Samsung India has been sending out invites for a press event tomorrow, which will be held at India’s financial capital of Mumbai. The tagline reads, “an exclusive preview of the latest innovations that bring a confluence of Style and Technology”; which makes us believe it is nothing but an event for the launch of the anticipated Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 in India. In fact, we had also spoken about a possible release just a couple days back. The phones have been around for a while, but as it stands, they’re yet to debut on the Indian smartphone scene.

Both devices are fairly mid-range, or even entry-level, depending upon your perspective. However, it isn’t the specs sheet that Samsung is using to sell the devices, but rather the metal build which didn’t feature on such phones prior to this. The Galaxy A3 comes with a 4.5-inch 540 x 960p Super AMOLED panel with 1.5GB RAM, an 8 mega-pixel rear camera and a 5 mega-pixel front facing camera. The larger of the two, aka the Galaxy A5 comes with a 5-inch Super AMOLED panel with a 720p resolution, and features 2GB of RAM. Both devices are powered by the same 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 SoC. Potential buyers in India can expect the devices to be priced at INR equivalents of $350 and $450 for the Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 respectively.

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Samsung wants US carriers to speed up their Android Lollipop update rollouts

You often wonder why it takes so long for an Android update to roll out, even though Google’s made the iteration official months back. This can be a complicated thing to explain, but more often than not, the culprit is the OEM; customizing the Android skin along with its proprietary features is what makes companies take so long to deliver updates to you, the end users. Of course, a lot of testing is involved as well, which again takes a lot of time and acts as a bottleneck in pushing updates. At times though, such as in the US market, network carriers have specific variations of a particular model which means there’s even more time to be vested in order to make the update go live.

Samsung has already been rolling out Android 5.0 Lollipop update for its Galaxy S5 in certain regions in Europe, but the update is yet to show up in the US market. According to reports, however, a Samsung rep has conceded that the company is pushing US carriers to make the Lollipop update official soon. And, this is not only for the Galaxy S5, but also the Note 4, Note Edge and some of its older models, including the Galaxy S4 and the Note 3. While we can’t confirm a timeline as of now, it wouldn’t be wrong on your part to expect a Lollipop update soon, given you have any one of the above mentioned phones.

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