Samsung SM-G9198 with Snapdragon 808 appears on GFXBench

Samsung is the only major Android manufacturer that has chosen to ignore the Snapdragon 810 and opt for a different flagship chip (one it’s making all by its lonesome), thanks to the 810′s heating issues and the fact that the Korean giant’s Exynos chip is considerably superior. But Samsung has said that it chooses processors according to need and hasn’t given up on the Snapdragon lineup, and the company might just be gearing up to launch its first device to be powered by the Snapdragon 808.

The Snapdragon 808 is a hexa-core chip that slots in somewhere between the Snapdragon 805 and the Snapdragon 810, and has none of the heating issues of the latter. It’s the chipset LG has chosen for the G4, its 2015 flagship, and while it might not be as powerful as the 810 or the Exynos 7420, it’s certainly a high-end chipset that can tackle everything you would throw at it. That would make the SM-G9198, which has appeared out of nowhere on the GFXBench benchmark database with a 4.6-inch display, a small yet formidable powerhouse of a device.

There’s no telling what this device is, but its specs – a 1.8GHz Snapdragon 808 SoC, a 4.6-inch, a 16-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, and Android 5.1.1 – suggest it could be a spin-off of the Galaxy S6. It could possibly be the Galaxy S6 mini, and if that is indeed what this device is, then we could finally see a powerful mini version of Samsung’s flagship, something none of the previous mini smartphones managed to be.

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Android M could introduce Multi Window to Android later this year

Google officially announced Android M, the next major version of the world-dominating mobile OS, at Google I/O yesterday. While not being as big an update as Android 5.0 Lollipop, Android M will bring a lot of new features, such as native support for fingerprint sensors, Android Pay, better volume control, a new battery saving feature called Doze, and an iOS-like permissions management system for apps. But what Google didn’t announce was that Android M might also bring support for a Multi Window-like feature, something that has been discovered in the preview build the internet giant released for Nexus devices.

Samsung introduced Multi Window to Android with the Galaxy Note II back in 2012, and many have clamored for the feature on stock Android ever since. Google was rumored to be working on an implementation of its own but there was never any proof until now. A Reddit user managed to enable a multi-window feature on Android M through a series of rather complicated steps (though those who flash custom ROMs shouldn’t find it too hard to follow the procedure) – it’s rather buggy and experimental for the moment, but it’s certainly a nice indication that multi-window support could make its way to vanilla Android later this year.

A lot of Samsung features have made their way into Android’s core over the years (like the notification toggles, KNOX, or the smart select-like copy feature that will be part of Android M), but this might just be the most useful functionality that Google is taking from the Korean manufacturer. It remains to be seen if Google’s implementation will be ready by the time Android M rolls out, but it’s looking more and more likely that it will be part of the OS at some point in the future.

Moreover, this also shows how stock Android is becoming better and better each year, and how manufacturers might not need to add too much bloat and could instead work on differentiating their software mostly through the user interface in the years to come.

If you have a Nexus device and are trying out the Android M developer preview, head to the source link to see how the multi-window feature can be enabled. Or you could simply use a fully stable and intuitive Multi Window mode if you have any of Samsung’s recent mid-range and high-end devices.

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Samsung completes Lollipop rollout for Galaxy A lineup with the Galaxy A5

This week is turning out to be a good one for owners of Samsung’s full metal Galaxy A devices. The Galaxy A7 recently started receiving the Lollipop update, and it is now hitting the Galaxy A5. The Galaxy A3 was the first A series device to get the update, and today marks the day when it is available for all three in at least one region around the world. The Galaxy A5 update is rolling out in Poland, and it comes with build number A500FUXXU1BOE6.

You can expect the same changelog as the OTA for the Galaxy A3 and A7 – a slightly refreshed user interface, increased performance, lockscreen notifications, and more. You can grab the update over the air, via Samsung Kies, or through our firmware database (this is similar to how Kies works, though the installation process is manual and explained fully in our firmware section.) If you don’t see a notification for the update on your device in the next day or two, you can force it to show up by heading into the Settings » About device » Software updates menu.

Firmware Details:

Model	SM-A500FU
Model name	GALAXY A5
Country	Poland
Version	Android 5.0.2
Changelist	4944491
Build date	Thu, 21 May 2015 07:53:55 +0000
Product code	XEO
PDA	A500FUXXU1BOE6
CSC	A500FUOXA1BOE6

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