Gunjack is a visually stunning arcade shooter for the Gear VR

Samsung has been hard at work to provide VR content for people who have spent $200 on the Gear VR headset, it has also provided the requisite tools to developers so that they too can create new experiences and games for the virtual reality headset. CCP games has announced a new arcade shooter, this visually stunning title for the Gear VR is called Gunjack. It has been built from scratch using the Unreal Engine 4 graphics engine to deliver a fast-paced and fully immersive gameplay in a panoramic sci-fi setting.

In Gunjack players are tasked with operating a gun turret on a mining vessel in the Outer Ring region of known space. The player is part of the ship’s defense team and is required to protect the rig from pirates, opportunists and anyone else that wants to take what rightfully belongs to the mining company. CCP calls it the “ultimate pick-up-and-play VR experience” promising intuitive controls and intense full-immersion action. Gunjack will be released when the Gear VR drops its “Innovator Edition” tag this fall.

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Samsung reminds you to “Note the Date” for its next Unpacked event

For the past couple of years Samsung has been launching new Galaxy Note handsets at IFA Berlin which takes place in September. This time around it appears that the company is moving up the launch to August, some analysts believe Samsung is doing this to hold off competition from the new iPhones that are due this September. The company officially announced the date for its next Unpacked event over a week ago but today it’s reminding you to “Note the Date” as it gears up to launch some new products.

It’s not unusual for Samsung to drop hints about the products that it will be launching at an upcoming event, it has done that in the past as well, so you can draw your own conclusions about what the company means by “Note the Date.” Just in case you forgot, the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2015 event will take place on August 13 at 11:00 EDT in New York City. Don’t worry if you don’t have an invite to the event because it will be live streamed on YouTube as well as on the Samsung Tomorrow blog.

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eBay has a good deal on unlocked Galaxy S6 edge today

eBay has consistently been offering some great deals on Samsung’s current flagship devices, just a couple of weeks back it had both the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge unlocked units in stock for a significant discount. There’s a good deal today on the 32GB Galaxy S6 edge (SM-G925A), this particular model can be used on AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States and on any GSM network worldwide.

Bear in mind though that the unlocked units being offered through this deal are manufacturer refurbished so you won’t be getting completely new units, nevertheless this is a good option for those who have been on the fence about picking up the Galaxy S6 edge mainly because it’s quite expensive. Off-contract the device costs $815 on AT&T but this refurbished unit can be yours for $549.99. The units are being sold through seller qualitycellz which has a 99.2% positive feedback rating on eBay. All units have about 11 months of Samsung warranty left and are available in White Pearl and Black Sapphire colors.

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Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge features that we love!

If all the rumors and leaks are to be believed, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ will be officially unveiled in around a week. By this time, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge have only been on the market about four months, and we have certainly taken a liking to the two devices in the time we have owned them despite some nagging issues. After all this time, what are the features that we love the most on the S6 and S6 edge? Well, there are a couple, and you just need to keep reading to find out.

Shine bright, Super AMOLED!

The display is something that can impress people or turn them away once they pick up a device and turn it on. With its Super AMOLED technology, Samsung has surpassed everyone else when it comes to the brilliance of smartphone displays, and the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge feature two of the best screens we have ever seen. As is typical of AMOLED displays, they can be extremely vivid and have deep blacks. The two displays can get extremely bright and equally dim, and those curves on the S6 edge make it arguably the most attractive smartphone on the market today.

Double-press home for camera

Short of a dedicated camera key, double-pressing the home button on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge is perhaps the most convenient and quick way of turning on the camera app. This shortcut works no matter what you are doing on your device, and with the S6 and S6 edge always keeping the camera app in the background, taking photos of moments in (almost) an instant is among the best features of the two phones.

Capture!

There is no argument against the fact that the Galaxy S6 duo features one of the best cameras ever put on a smartphone. Other than the LG G4, no other device comes close. Daylight photos come out extremely well and detailed, and night shots are great as well thanks to the camera’s f1.9 aperture. The Pro mode comes in handy when you want more control on your imaging experience, and while we’re still waiting for Samsung to implement things like shutter speed control, the camera on the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge is as good as it gets in this day and age.

My software looks different from yours!

Themes. That’s absolutely the best feature on the S6 lineup as far as software features are concerned. Things didn’t start out well, but the themes collection for the two devices has only gotten better with time, with some brilliant options available from the Theme Store. Our favorites include themes like Urban and Material, and we are constantly letting our readers know about the latest ones. Again, some themes are rather bad and would have been better off having never been released, but the fact that we can all have a different look to our phone’s software is a feature that was a long time coming and is very nice to have.

ID please

The fingerprint sensor is another highlight of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. Gone is the unintuitive swipe-based fingerprint sensor of the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy Note 4 and in place is a touch-based sensor that’s fast and accurate. Not all of us are fans of keeping our phones locked, but the fingerprint sensor also enables faster access to the phone as you can simply press and hold the home button to make the phone wake up and unlock itself.

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The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge aren’t without their faults, but there is a lot to like in the two devices and things can only get better with upcoming flagships from the Korean giant. What are your favorite features on the S6 or S6 edge? Let us know in the comments below, and do tell us what you think about our favorites?

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Samsung claims to have captured 40 percent smartphone market share in India

India is an important market for Samsung, at least when it comes to numbers, and the company seems to be doing well in the country after getting hit by a series of setbacks. Samsung claims that it has managed to capture 40 percent share of the Indian smartphone market (by value, as per GFK Data) during the month of June 2015.

During the launch of the Galaxy A8 in India, Samsung India’s vice president of marketing (IT and mobile), Asim Warsi, said, “Our market share has crossed 40 percent by value in June this year. Since January 2015, we continued to grow for six consecutive months and widened the gap.” He stated that India is an encouraging smartphone market with double digit growth rate, growing at 12-14 percent with 6-7 million units.

Samsung launched 16 devices in the Indian smartphone market in 2016, and Warsi claimed that it has been a great start for the company till now, but he reportedly denied to comment when asked about declining profit margins in the mobile phone division of the company. The South Korean smartphone giant has 2,100 exclusive stores in India, but no details were shared regarding its revenues through e-retail channels.

Unlike last year, Samsung has launched a complete range of 4G LTE smartphones in the country as the demand for devices with faster connectivity is increasing. Micromax, India’s homegrown smartphone maker toppled Samsung to become the country’s largest smartphone manufacturer in Q3 2014, but Samsung managed to snatch back the crown this year.

Once an undisputed leader of the smartphone market in India, Samsung is facing tough competition from Micromax, Motorola, and Xiaomi in the low and mid-range price segment, while Apple is squeezing its market share in the high-end segment with its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

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Tizen-based Samsung Z1 launches in Nepal

Samsung Z1 has had a big success in markets like India and Bangladesh now the smartphone is coming to Nepal. So far it was launched in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, selling over 1 million units within the first 6 months. Following its launch in Nepal you can get the Samsung Z1 for only 7,490 NPR, the equivalent of $74. It’s a very low price for a low-tier device which has appealed to a lot of people so far.

If you want to buy a Samsung Z1 then you should know the specifications of this entry-level device. It features a dual-core 1.2GHz processor with 768MB of RAM, 4GB of native storage which can be expanded by up to 64GB using a microSD card, and the Z1 also has dual-SIM support. It’s a pretty good device for its price and it promises a very good battery life.

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Why is Samsung removing important components from its mid-range and budget devices?

Samsung is a giant in the tech world and it has a selection of truly amazing devices, but while they made some brilliant decisions in the past they also made poor decisions. One of those decisions is removing certain essential components from their devices for no reason, such as light sensors, auto brightness or proximity sensors.

They say it’s the little things that make something great and this is especially true for smartphones. Small components such as light sensors or notification LEDs can make your experience much better but Samsung has been getting rid of these tiny little components in time, and it seems that their decisions aren’t random. An example is the fact that there’s no light sensor on the Galaxy E and J series. It’s strange that these aren’t included by default because they’re very cheap to manufacture and they’re essential in any smartphone build.

If you’ll take a look at the mid-range market you’ll find that Samsung’s mid-range devices are becoming quite good these days, so it’s a shame to discover that they lack simple things like auto brightness. This feature detects the ambient light and sets your display brightness accordingly which is a big deal in your overall experience. While these devices are quite cheap, it’s tiny features like this that make them worse than they should be. Another example is the fact that the Galaxy A8 (and all other Galaxy A devices) has no LED notification light and the Galaxy E5 lost its outdoor mode after the Android L update, plus the J series don’t even feature Samsung’s own music app.

But why would Samsung remove these things from mid-tier and budget devices? You don’t see lacking sensors in big-league devices like the Galaxy Note 4 or the Galaxy S6/S6 Edge, so why do you see them in lower-tier devices like the Galaxy E series? One possible explanation would be that Samsung is looking to encourage people into buying higher-tier devices. Why do you think Samsung keeps removing small features from lower-tier devices? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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The Galaxy J series doesn’t include Samsung’s own music app

When we reviewed the ultra low-end Galaxy J1, we noted that the phone didn’t come loaded with Samsung’s music player app. Rather surprisingly, Samsung had put Google’s Play Music app on the device for the user’s music needs, and we had surmised at the time that the J1′s weak hardware might have been the reason for the absence of Samsung’s music app, as it had been rather heavy and memory-intensive before the Galaxy S6 and its optimized version of TouchWiz came along.

Well, it seems there is some other reason for why Samsung is doing this, as the Galaxy J5 doesn’t have the company’s music app either, despite being powered by a Snapdragon 410 processor. The J5 does have only 1.5GB of RAM, while the J1 had only 512MB, so it’s possible high memory requirements could be the deciding factor for why Samsung is shipping the Google Play Music app on these devices instead of its own excellent music player. But then, seeing the S6 only seems to use around 10 MB of RAM when playing music, it doesn’t exactly seem plausible that the app’s memory usage is the main culprit.

Of course, it’s also possible that the Korean giant doesn’t want to offer a great experience to those on a budget – the Google Play Music app isn’t bad, but it is nowhere near as good as the stock TouchWiz music app. We have reached out to Samsung for an official statement on the matter, and we will be sure to update this post once we get an answer.

In the meantime, let us know why you think the stock Samsung music app is missing from the Galaxy J lineup! Also look forward to our review of the Galaxy J5 (and the Galaxy J7 if we can get our hands on it) in the coming days.

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Here are nine things you should know about the Galaxy Tab S2

Samsung recently launched the Galaxy Tab S2 and as the company continues to steadily release it in more markets across the globe it would like to remind you about the nine things that you need to know about the Galaxy Tab S2. Samsung highlights some of the tablet’s major selling points which include ultimate portability, ultra-thin design and many innovative new features.

The Galaxy Tab S2 is just 5.6mm thin and it happens to be the thinnest and lightest tablet on the market right now, this means that it boasts Ultimate Portability since it’s easy to hold in one hand and ideal to carry on the move. Super AMOLED display technology reproduces lifelike True Colors with more vivid photos and videos aided by a higher contrast ratio. The display also allows for Improved Readability of digital content such as magazines, webpages, newsfeeds and e-books. On-the-Go Productivity features make the Galaxy Tab S2 an idea device for workplace productivity and efficiently managing tasks on the move aided by Microsoft Office and OneDrive cloud storage apps. The Galaxy Tab S2 has built-in Bluetooth Low Energy which enables connectivity between device and TVs or smartphones so users can truly do Away With Cables.

Mission: Multitask caters to users’ multitasking needs with the ability to run and access multiple apps simultaneously so they can watch a video while chatting with friends or take notes while scrolling through a presentation. With fifth generation Wi-Fi 802.11ac and 2X2 MIMO technology the tablet satisfies users’ Need for Speed with additional features like Download Booster and Smart Bonding technology to combine Wi-Fi and LTE for even faster speeds. The tablet offers Superior Security with a built-in fingerprint scanner which makes authentication quick and easy. Last but not the least the Galaxy Tab S2 has A Camera for All Lighting Conditions thanks to new camera software and increased lens aperture which lets in 35% more light than the previous model.

If all this doesn’t convince you to spend your money on this tablet perhaps our review of the Galaxy Tab S2 will.

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Galaxy Tab S2 gold variant available in Taiwan

It seems that the gold version of the recently-announced Galaxy Tab S2 has made an appearance on Samsung Taiwan’s store page. The tablet was initially pegged to be available in black and white, however the black variant is missing from Samsung Taiwan’s store page for some reason. Gold versions have always been popular in the Asian market so it’s a possibility that this color option will be exclusive to them, but we guess we will find out. The tablet is due for an August 11th release date in South Korea.

This news isn’t too surprising if we take a look at Samsung’s device release history. The Galaxy Alpha has had a gold color option for the past two generations and the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S6/S6 edge are also offered in a golden color option. It’s also worth noting that a Galaxy Tab S2 cover has also been spotted on Samsung Taiwan’s website, being available in 5 different color options: white, black, gold, blue and red.

Don’t forget to check out our Galaxy Tab S2 hands-on!

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Samsung Galaxy E5 is getting the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update in Russia and India

We told you Samsung’s greatest mid-range smartphones yet would be getting updated to Lollipop at some point in the future, and that day has now arrived as the update has started rolling out to the Galaxy E5 in India and Russia. The Android build is version 5.1.1 (with build number E500HXXU1BOG6); the OTA is a 744 MB download for the Indian variant, so it’s going to be one major upgrade for whoever’s rocking a Galaxy E5.

Of course, you shouldn’t be expecting the update to bring the new Galaxy S6 TouchWiz to the device, as Samsung is reserving that for new devices launching in 2015 and beyond. But what you can expect is a somewhat modified and more colorful interface, better performance, lockscreen and heads-up notifications, and hopefully an improvement in battery life as well. If you are the impatient kind, you can download the Android 5.1.1 firmware from our firmware database to do a manual upgrade, or just wait for the OTA to become available for more and more users in the coming days.

Well, what about the Galaxy E7 you may ask? As usual, we can’t really put a concrete date on when the update will commence for the phone, but it shouldn’t be too long before it comes knocking.

Firmware Details:

Model	SM-E500H
Model name	GALAXY E5
Country	Russia
Version	Android 5.1.1
Changelist	5479496
Build date	Fri, 24 Jul 2015 12:40:14 +0000
Product code	SER
PDA	E500HXXU1BOG6
CSC	E500HOXY1BOG6

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