Samsung wants to bring smartwatches and virtual-reality headsets to the enterprise

Currently, Samsung only makes consumer-centric smartwatches and virtual-reality headsets, but it is exploring bigger opportunities for the business. The company wants to make work fun and productive using wearable devices like smartwatches and virtual-reality headsets.

At a Samsung event in New York, Eric McCarty, vice president of mobile marketing, stated that business are interested in smartwatches for alerts and immediate access to critical information, while virtual-reality headsets like the Gear VR are drawing attention for presenting multimedia content in a unique and immersive way. However, there are challenges with both the types of devices, information security and BYOD integration for smartwatches, and content creation for virtual-reality headsets.

Samsung proposed some business use cases for both these device categories during the event. The company stated that smartwatches can be used by day traders, field service workers, and workers in restaurants to access immediate information and stay updated regarding their jobs. Day traders can get alerts for stock prices or make trades on a timely basis, while filed service workers can stay updated with job alerts while being on the road. Samsung sells smartwatches like the Gear S with 3G connectivity, so there’s no need for these devices to be extensions of users’ smartphones. Besides accessing information, smartwatches and other wearable devices can also double up as access cards or as pointing devices during presentations.

Samsung stated that there’s a huge amount of interest about virtual-reality headsets from automotive and real-estate industries. These devices can be used to display training videos, virtual tours of homes and other types of real estate. However, devices like the Gear VR can only be as good as the content created and deployed for them. Remember when Lamborghini teamed up with Samsung to provide virtual driving experience of Huracan supercar through Gear VR? Device makers can even create highly-customised, high-priced devices for enterprises that will be sold in small volumes.

Bob O’Donell, principal analyst at Technalysis Research, said that it could take years of experimentation to figure out how these devices can fit in the enterprise. “You have to have a pretty robust and rugged device. Consumer-grade stuff isn’t really going to cut it“, he said.

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Samsung announces operating profit of $5.63 billion for Q1 2015, smartphone sales increase

Samsung has announced its earnings for Q1 2015 today, which lines up closely with the company’s guidance that was released earlier this month. In the first quarter of 2015, Samsung reported an overall revenue of 44 billion (KRW 47.12 trillion) with an operating profit of $5.63 billion (KRW 5.98 trillion). However, this is a drop in revenue but a slight increase in operating profit over the previous quarter. Compared to the same quarter last year when Samsung reported an operating profit of $7.8 billion, there is a drop in operating profit.

Coming to the important part, the company noted that the sales of its smartphones have increased, but the tablet and feature phone sales have taken a hit. During the quarter, the company shipped 99 million handsets, and over 80 percent of these device were smartphones. A majority of these devices were shipped to Southeast Asia and Middle East. Revenues from Samsung’s mobile devices have decreased to $24.1 billion (KRW 25.89 trillion) with an operating profit of $2.5 billion (KRW 2.74 trillion). Apparently, the increase in smartphone sales is largely due to consumer interest in its Galaxy A series of devices. Samsung is planning to tap the growing low-end and middle-range smartphone market with a streamlined lineup.

While the company is confident that the sales of the Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge will outperform the sales of the Galaxy S5, it said that it’s too early to predict the sales volumes of its latest flagship smartphones. The company continued to blame seasonality and weakening global exchange for the ongoing decline of its business. SangHyo Kim, vice president of investor relations, admitted the company’s mobile business continued to decline but believes that it can regain growth momentum by focussing on new technologies such as curved and flexible displays, Samsung Pay, and wireless charging.

JinYoung Park, vice president of Samsung’s mobile communications business, said, “Market demand for the smartphone is expected to continue to increase, compared to the last year, due to global expansions of LTE services and growth in emerging markets. However, tablet market growth is expected to slow down. In 2015, we will continue to do our best to increase our smartphone business with our competitive product line-up. We plane to solidify our leadership in the premium handset market with differentiated features in our products.“

While the company’s mobile devices division continues doesn’t show much improvement, its semiconductor and display panel business continues to shine. The divisions year-on-year profit is up by 81 percent to $3.1 billion (KRW 3.39 trillion), and the display panel business contributed $0.48 billion (KRW 0.52 trillion) to it, which is a turnaround when compared to $0.074 billion (KRW 0.08 trillion) posted last year. The company’s memory business showed 2 percent increase in the revenue, thanks to its DDR4 and low-power DDR4 memory chips, while the consumer electronics group posted a loss of $0.13 billion (KRW 0.14 trillion).

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Buy the Galaxy S6 unlocked in the US for $629.99 through eBay

Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone is available through all major carriers in the United States and even through some regional carriers. The downside to this carrier support is that Samsung can’t sell the unlocked Galaxy S6 directly in North America but there is a way to go around this limitation. Today’s eBay deal lets anyone in North America buy an unlocked Galaxy S6 (SM-G920F) for $629.99.

Folks in the States who are interested in picking one up for full price should rest assured as this particular model does have support for majority of the LTE bands in the country, including band 2 and 12 for T-Mobile. It’s fully compatible with AT&T’s 3G network but users will be limited to HSPA+ on T-Mobile if they happen to be in an area where 1900MHz re-farmed spectrum is used. Nothing else is different about this device aside from the fact that it can be used on any supported carrier in the country and indeed across the globe, it has the same octa-core Exynos processor with 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 5.1-inch Quad HD display and 16-megapixel rear camera. For $629.99 customers get free shipping in the United States and tax is only applicable on purchases made from Florida.

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Verizon releases Lollipop for the Galaxy S4

This is certainly shaping up to be a great week for Lollipop updates. Since yesterday multiple carriers in the United States have released the Android 5.0 update for a handful of devices and today it’s Verizon’s turn. Big Red has finally started rolling out the Android 5.0.1 Lollipop update for the Galaxy S4. The roll out has just begun so it could take a couple of hours before Verizon customers start to see the update notification on their device.

Verizon is rolling out build LRX22C.I545VRUGOC for the Galaxy S4 over-the-air. It brings everything that you have come to expect from Lollipop, including the revamped user interface, new features, safety and stability improvements among other enhancements. Verizon has already updated its support document to reflect the changes that this update brings to the Galaxy S4. In case you own the Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition, we exclusively reported earlier today that Samsung will soon release Android 5.1 Lollipop for that variant.

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Lionel Messi, Fabian Cancellara and more stars feature in the Samsung/Marvel duo’s ‘Assemble’

What happens when your favorite smartphone brand, favorite superhero comics creators and favorite stars come together? Well, you might want to know exactly what happens then, and that’s perhaps why Samsung has come up with the ‘Assemble’. As you’ll see from the video posted below, the ‘Assemble’ is an attempt to put all of your fantasies (well, almost) in one place!

The Samsung/Marvel duo calls this Part 1, so there’s certainly more awesomeness coming your way. As noted by Samsung in the first video, Lionel Messi, Eddie Lacy, John John Florence and Fabian Cancellara star in Part 1, along with two other fans.

Take a look at the video below, let us know what you think in the comments section!

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Lip Sync Battle, first network TV series to be filmed in VR, lands on Gear VR

Spike TV’s Lip Sync Battle is the first network TV series to be filmed in virtual reality and Samsung has teamed up with this network to bring said show to the Gear VR. Starting today folks who own Samsung’s virtual reality headset can access immersive clips from Lip Sync Battle through the Milk VR app. By teaming up with Samsung, Spike TV is broadening its audience to more viewers across multiple platforms. VR was a natural progression for this series since it’s rooted in online platforms and viral videos any way.

Lip Sync Battle has already proven to be a hit for Spike TV with the premiere bringing in a record 3.2 million viewers, it also delivered the highest ratings for the adults 18 to 49 demographic and thus clinched the No. 1 in the timeslot for all television. Immersive clips available through Milk VR put viewers right in front of celebrity guests that have appeared on the show, including but not limited to Jimmy Fallon, John Legend, Dwayne Johnson as well as hosts LL Cool J and supermodel Chrissy Teigen.

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Samsung rolls out Lollipop for the Galaxy Alpha in France

Just yesterday we reported that Samsung had started rolling out the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for the Galaxy Alpha in South Korea. Most major carriers in the country rolled out said update to Galaxy Alpha owners on their networks yesterday. We also said that this means Samsung would soon be rolling out Lollipop for this device in other markets across the globe, and it hasn’t taken too long for the company to get the ball rolling on this.

Today Samsung has released Android 5.0 Lollipop for the Galaxy Alpha in France. The roll out started this morning, as confirmed by Samsung France’s official Twitter account. It shouldn’t take too long for this update to go live for all Galaxy Alpha owners in the country. The update brings loads of new features for the device aside from an overhauled user interface, performance improvements and overall system enhancements. It comes in at just under 1GB and Galaxy Alpha owners will be wise to connect to a Wi-Fi network before they start downloading it.

@adnanfarooqui Bonjour ! La mise à jour est en cours de déploiement depuis ce matin, elle vous sera proposée très vite !

— Samsung FR (@SamsungFR) April 28, 2015

Thanks, Kris!

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Exclusive: Samsung teaming up with artists, fashion brands for its round smartwatch

Samsung’s next-generation Gear smartwatch is going to have a circular display, that much the company itself has confirmed. We have exclusively revealed many details about this watch - codenamed Orbis. Orbis obviously won’t be the moniker that this smartwatch will come to market with, as we have already reported it will be called the Gear A. It will be available in two variants, one with 3G and calling support and the other with just Bluetooth support (though both variants should have Wi-Fi connectivity.)

The Gear A will also have a rotating bezel ring which could presumably be used for scrolling through lists, zooming in and out, selecting time when setting an alarm and much more. Samsung has said that it’s next smartwatch will be as close to perfect as possible, and now there’s yet another reason to believe that Samsung is really serious about its first round smartwatch. The company is going to team up with various artists and fashion brands to create custom watch bands for this Orbis, according to our sources.

Miami based pop-up artist Romero Britto is believed to be involved as well. He has previously worked with Samsung to create custom cases for the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge. Samsung may also work with the likes of Z Zegna, Swarovski, Tech21, Anymode and Incipio to create custom watch bands for the Orbis. The company has worked with some of these brands in the past; for example Swarovski has created accessories for many Samsung devices. Some have only made cases in the past so it’s unclear at this point in time precisely what they’ll create for the Orbis.

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Samsung foregoes its corporate branding in favor of Galaxy in Japan

We reported last month that Samsung’s latest flagship devices were being sold without its corporate branding in Japan, the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge were instead accompanied by carrier branding. Samsung’s logo was not to be seen even on the promotional material for these new handsets and it appears this is part of a broader push by the company to use the “Galaxy” branding in Japan instead.

The latest design for the company’s pop-up stores in Japan proudly displays the new Galaxy logo but Samsung’s corporate branding is no where to be found, even the colors have been changed. Samsung’s logo has even been removed from the Galaxy S6 edge Flip Wallet being sold in the country and the packaging has also been redesigned. For customer support it directs customers to a “Galaxy Customer Center,” Samsung doesn’t even get mentioned once. In all other markets where its latest handsets are being sold the Samsung moniker is embossed on the box but in Japan the Galaxy S6 edge’s box doesn’t even have that.

Samsung Japan’s YouTube page has also been rebranded to “Galaxy Mobile Japan,” its Facebook and Twitter accounts get the same treatment and this just goes to show how serious the company is in its rebranding efforts in a bid to steal market share from Apple, which dominates the Japanese smartphone market.

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The Galaxy S4 Google Play edition will get Android 5.1

Like Nexus devices, Google Play edition (GPe) smartphones have the benefit of receiving major software updates faster than their standard OEM variants. The Galaxy S4, the only Samsung phone to have launched as a Google Play edition device, was among the first to receive the initial Android 5.0 update, but has been sidelined as far as the minor updates to Lollipop are concerned.

All GPe devices were updated to Android 5.1 earlier this month, and the Galaxy S4 GPe was ignored once again. Well, if you were thinking that this was a sign that the device won’t get any further updates, then we have some good news for you – according to our sources, the Android 5.1 builds for the Galaxy S4 GPe are ready and could start rolling out at any time.

We don’t have a concrete time frame, but we can confirm that Google and Samsung haven’t forgotten about the Galaxy S4 and will be bringing it up to the latest version of Android at some point. We will be sure to let you know once the update starts rolling out; don’t forget to check out a preview of Android 5.0 running on the device in the video below.

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Galaxy J5 dual-SIM and Galaxy J7 receive Bluetooth certification

We reported a few weeks back that Samsung is going to expand the Galaxy J series with two new handsets, the Galaxy J5 and the Galaxy J7. Unlike the Galaxy J1 these handsets will have proper mid-range specifications which would make them a compelling choice for anyone out in the market for a budget smartphone. It has now come to our attention that these two as yet unannounced handsets have received Bluetooth certification.

The Galaxy J5 (SM-J500F) will come with a 5.0-inch HD TFT LCD display, a 1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor from Qualcomm with 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The device’s Bluetooth certification listing shows that a dual-SIM version will be offered as well. The Galaxy J7 (SM-J700F) has also received its Bluetooth certification. This device will have a 5.5-inch HD TFT LCD display, a 1.2 GHz or 1.5 GHz octa-core Marvel PXA1936 processor with 1.5GB RAM and 4GB/8GB internal storage. Both handsets will have an 8-megapixel rear camera and will be powered by Android 5.1 out of the box.

Bluetooth certification is usually one of the last steps before a device is brought to market so if history is any indication we might soon see Samsung officially announce the Galaxy J5 and the Galaxy J7.

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Samsung reportedly developing a new method to produce Galaxy S6 edge’s curved display

There’s a reason why the Galaxy S6 edge is the most expensive device that Samsung has ever produced, the dual edge display is the most expensive component as it needs to be put through an arduous process. However it’s certainly paying off for Samsung as recent reports suggest that demand for the Galaxy S6 edge has skyrocketed, which may ultimately help the company reach the forecast goal of 55 million unit shipments of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge combined this year.

A new report out of Korea claims that Samsung is developing a new method for the production of the Galaxy S6 edge’s display. Currently the panel is heated on both sides before it’s bent on the left and right edges. Polishing it afterwards is a major expense since heating it to such a high temperature causes micro wrinkles, which is why Samsung has been struggling with low yield. With the new method only one side of the glass panel will be heated so that micro wrinkles are reduced and production costs are decreased, moreover this could also improve yields for the company by up to 60-70 percent. Samsung is believed to be testing this new method at its manufacturing facilities in Vietnam and may soon use it on the production line.

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Samsung launches the Level On Wireless and Level Link

Samsung has launched two new additions to its Level series of audio products – Level On Wireless and Level Link. Level On Wireless is the second on-ear headphone in the Level lineup, and its USP seems to be the wide variety of punchy colors it will be available in (Blue Black, Blue, Red, White) and the inclusion of six built-in microphones for active noise cancellation.

Samsung is touting a “sleek, sophisticated look and feel” for Level On Wireless, and at least from the pictures, it does seem like the headphone won’t look cheap despite its full colored body. Like other Level headphones, the Level On Wireless can be used without wires thanks to the inbuilt Bluetooth technology, and comes with support for S Voice and other music controls that will work with Samsung’s phones and tablets. Oh, and it also supports sharing tunes with other users of the Level On Wireless through what Samsung is calling the Sound Sharing function, which looks like a play on the company’s Group Play feature.

Read More: Review: Samsung LEVELover (EO-AG9008) over-ear headphones

As for the Level Link, it’s basically a device that will let you turn any conventional set of speakers or earphones into a wireless audio device – users will be able to connect any standard speaker, earphone or other audio output device to the Level Link, and then connect Level Link to a phone or other Bluetooth-enabled for a wireless audio listening experience. Sound Sharing is supported here as well, and the Level Link will be available in Charcoal Black, Blue, Red, White color options.

Samsung hasn’t detailed availability or pricing, but we’re guessing the Level On Wireless and Level Link will launch in the US first, with other markets to follow later.

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Angry Birds now available on Tizen

With so many versions of Angry Birds having come out ever since the original took the mobile gaming world by storm, the bird-slinging game isn’t exactly a must-have app for mobile devices anymore. But for a new and young operating system like Tizen, popular apps and games are no doubt a necessity if it needs to have any chance of making it big in the market, and Samsung’s in-house OS can now boast about having the first Angry Birds available in its app store.

That’s right – Tizen users can now download Angry Birds from the Tizen Store, with OpenMobile’s ACL emulation technology making it possible for the game to run on the OS. For those who don’t remember, the same emulation technology is also what enables WhatsApp to run on Tizen, and like WhatsApp, getting Angry Birds is as easy as downloading it from the app store instead of having to manually deal with any installation files.

The game is 47MB in size, and might require you to install the ACL for Tizen app before it can run on your phone. Sadly, the game isn’t very smooth on the Samsung Z1, but that’s not really surprising when you considering the extremely meager hardware that is powering Samsung’s only commercially available Tizen smartphone.

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Poor RAM management affecting the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge

Have you noticed your Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 edge killing apps too quickly during usage, and still taking up a lot of the available RAM at all times? Well, you’re not alone, as this issue seems to be affecting a lot of users out there, some of whom have voiced their concern over on the XDA development forums.

I’ve personally been irritated by the horrendous RAM management on my Galaxy S6 edge – apps like WhatsApp and Facebook, which usually stay in memory and show up instantly on devices with 2GB+ RAM, often take time to load as the phone keeps killing their processes. It’s a problem with browsing as well. Chrome will often reload when you go back to it, even if you have only opened one other app after sending it to the background.

Android is designed to remove older apps from memory to free up RAM for current tasks, but the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge seem to take it too far despite having 3GB of RAM (and considerably less bloat than previous Samsung devices taking up memory.) However, the fact that despite killing apps too quickly the phones seem to have very little available RAM suggests it’s a bug and not something deliberate.

Some might say that this is a fault of Android 5.0 Lollipop – indeed, Lollipop does have a memory leak issue, but that doesn’t make the OS aggressive against keeping apps in memory on other devices. Hopefully, Samsung will fix what is one of the very few issues on the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge’s software through a software update as soon as it possibly can, as there doesn’t seem to be any stop-gap solution to the problem at this point.

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Samsung announces Galaxy Gifts package for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge

Samsung’s made it a tradition to offer a plethora of free premium content with its flagship smartphones, and it’s no different this year with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. This time around, Samsung says it is matching the premium experience of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge with the content it will offer for free through the Galaxy Gifts package, though most of it seems to be rather similar to what was attached to previous flagships.

The entire content is around $500 in total value, and includes things like a subscription to Audible, The Economist, Evernote, and Kindle (one free eBook each month.) According to Samsung, these apps will need to be downloaded through its Galaxy Apps store for the offers to be valid, though as we’ve seen in the past, apps like Evernote should let you access the premium subscription even if they’re downloaded from the Google Play Store.

Head over to the source link for more details on the Galaxy Gifts package for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge.

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