Samsung Electronics to report first profit growth in two years

Samsung Electronics has been reporting low profits for quite a while now but a new report from The Wall Street Journal suggests that Samsung is about to report the first profit growth in two years, which was to be expected. The report forecasts an earning report of $5.3 billion, the equivalent of 6 trillion won which is a 42 percent increase in a single year. It’s all very surprising especially considering that Samsung has been reporting constant losses for multiple quarters but what’s truly surprising is that it wasn’t Samsung’s flagship that brought forth the profit but rather Samsung’s business strategy, like reduced intervals between its high-profile smartphone releases which increased sales.

The outlook seems positive if we take a look at the facts. First of all the tech company could announce its next flagship, the Galaxy S7, in January and the Tizen ecosystem is also growing at a very fast pace, with Samsung attracting developers to this platform by offering them 100% of the app revenue. Samsung Pay is growing faster than any of its competitors, having surpassed 1 million users in South Korea and bringing in $30 million in accumulated transaction volume in the first month alone.

Samsung’s chip manufacturing business is also growing at a very fast pace, raking in billions of dollars and bringing forth interesting partnerships, like the one between Apple and Samsung. From an investor’s perspective, Samsung’s stocks have also recovered from the big August dip where one share was 1,067,000 won ($940) to 1,308,000.00 won (~$1,157) which basically means investors are once again willing to put their money into one of the biggest companies on the planet.

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Samsung finally unveils the Galaxy View

We exclusively reported earlier this year that Samsung is working on an 18.4-inch Android-powered tablet, a few months back the company teased this tablet that it has named the Galaxy View, and over the past couple of weeks there has been a steady stream of information about this new tablet. Today Samsung has finally unveiled the Galaxy View, the biggest selling point is its huge display and Samsung promises a video-optimized user interface as well a “long-lasting” battery life. There’s no mistaking the fact that this device has been created with content consumption in media and the display size is just perfect for that.

The Galaxy View has an 18.4-inch full HD display, Samsung says that it has been designed with a video-centric interface in mind, there’s a dedicated home screen for videos which showcases all of the different content sources in one place making it much easier for users to discover content they’d want to watch. Weighing in at a chunky 2.65kg the Galaxy View measures 275.8mm x 11.9mm x 451.8 mm, it even has an integrated kickstand which effortlessly props up the device when users want to watch content from a distance. It’s powered by a 1.6Ghz octa-core processor with 2GB RAM and 32/64GB internal storage, runs Android 5.1 Lollipop, has a 2.1-megapixel front camera and supports LTE. There’s support for microSD cards and the 5,700mAh battery promises eight hours of video playback.

Samsung has not yet confirmed when it will actually release the device, and even though a possible price was recently rumored, the company itself is yet to confirm just how much it will ask for the Galaxy View.

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Samsung partners with designers and brands for Gear S2 watchbands

During the launch of its first smartwatch with a circular display, Samsung emphasized on the personalization of the Gear S2. The company showcased multitude of watch faces, watch bands, and exclusive apps for the Gear S2. Now, Samsung has announced that it has partnered with various brands and designers to prepare a variety of watchbands that will soon be released.

Samsung has partnered with Alessandro Mendini and brands like Case-Mate, Casetify, Chow Tai Fook, iTFit, SLG (a.k.a TheSom), and Incipio as a part of its Samsung Mobile Accessory Partnership Program (SMAPP). Mendini has tried to bring timeless design to the Gear S2 watchbands with rich use of colors. Case-Mate will offer leather bands for the Gear S2 as well as the Gear S2 classic.

Casetify will offer five designs – Dark Marble, Woodland Camouflage, Coral Tribal, Diamond, White Marble – for both the variants of the Gear S2, which are made of highly durable sweat-resistant TPU material. In the future, users can customize their watchbands using their Instagram, Facebook, or personal images.

In an exclusive partnership with Chow Tai Fook, Samsung will bring premium and luxurious watchbands in two categories, chic and elegant. These bands will be offered in 18k gold with diamond accents, hornblende and genuine leather or a fashionable silver style with diamond accents. They will be displayed at the Samsung Experience Studio all over China and Hong Kong.

iTFit will offer two watchbands made of TPE for the Gear S2 and six watchband options made of leather or NATO material, which are woven and are hypoallergenic. SLG Design will offer three options – Italian Buttero, Minerva Box and a lizard skin pattern – and the company is claiming guaranteed quality. Incipio will offer a wide range of straps for the Gear S2 that are made up of durable TPU straps in translucent colors.

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Tizen gets native Facebook app, available on the Samsung Z3

Samsung’s Tizen phones come with a Facebook app out of the box, but this app simply loads the web version of the social network. The web version of Facebook is rather limited, so it hasn’t been a good experience for Tizen smartphone users. Well, until now that is, as an update to the Facebook app for Tizen turns it into a proper native app designed for the operating system.

The native app looks and feels similar to the Android version of Facebook, but it seems there is still some work to do as not everything seems to have been implemented. For example, things like our SamMobile page (and pages in general) and the settings menu still open in a browser, though future updates should bring in the necessary changes to make this a truly native app.

Still, a native version of one of the most important smartphone apps is a good step forward for Samsung’s young mobile operating system. Download the update from the Tizen store; the app is available only on the Samsung Z3 for now, but we’re sure the update will also make it to the Z1 in the next few days.

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What’s on my Samsung smartphone: October, 2015

The sort of questions I continually get asked are: “What’s your favourite application at the moment? What launcher are you currently using? What wallpaper has caught your attention this week?” I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t got a little laborious answering the same questions over and over again, so I’ve put together this roundup of the current configuration of my smartphone.

For the past few months, my go-to handset of choice has been the International variant of the Galaxy S6 Edge, which launched back in April. I love its premium build quality, its incredibly gorgeous 5.1-inch curved QHD display, its 16-megapixel rear-facing camera which works a treat in low-light conditions and its 2,600mAh non-removable battery.

Here’s what I have installed on the device and how I have it set up.

Launcher – Google Now

I’m presently using the extremely fluid official Google Now Launcher which is super easy to install. I’m a huge fan of the Nexus lineup and have owned a Nexus 4, 5 and 6 – so having the same overlay on my S6 Edge makes me feel right at home. It also gives me one-swipe access to Google Now from the home screen, which is great as I am a frequent user of the service.

Wallpaper – Ocean Delight by Sheno C

Truth be told, I’m not a huge fan of stock Android wallpapers. For this reason, my background is a minimalistic ocean-centric Material Design render that was created and uploaded to Google+ by Sheno C. The image itself is a very simple abstract sketch that looks stunning on my S6 Edge. The gradient from the sky to the ocean is clear and smooth, and the blue hue is really crisp.

Third-Party Applications – Daily Mail Online, Fenix for Twitter, Relay for Reddit, Spotify Music and WhatsApp Messenger.

• Daily Mail Online / Free – The Daily Mail Newspaper has been my primary source of world news for as long as I can remember, so it makes perfect sense that I should have its mobile client installed on my smartphone. The application automatically downloads the top stories for offline reading, which is great for when I’m on the Underground or anywhere with no signal.
• Fenix for Twitter / $5.49 – Fenix is by far my favourite third-party Twitter client. It’s jam-packed with all the latest and greatest functionality, including the ability to: view conversations in an easy to read layout, preview images on your timeline and open links using an internal browser. Not a day goes by when I don’t use this app. It really is awesome.
• Relay for Reddit / Free – Relay has been my preferred Reddit client for over a year now. It’s cleaner and smoother than most of the competition out there. Whatsmore, its baked-in animations, quick image previews and themes present an exceptionally fluid and personal browsing experience. It even has a comprehensive set of Moderator features, which are ideal for keeping spam out of the subreddits you manage.
• Spotify Music / Free – Music consumes a large part of my day and Spotify enables me to access albums from my favourite artists for a fixed monthly fee. There’s even offline playback, which is splendid for my daily commute to work, and the recently-implemented Chromecast compatibility makes it the ultimate party companion.
• WhatsApp Messenger / Free – This is the very first application  I install on all of my smartphones. I can’t stress how amazing WhatsApp is. I use it on a daily basis to stay in contact with family, friends and colleagues. Furthermore, WhatsApp Web enables me to respond to messages from my laptop without having to take my handset out of my pocket.

Accessories – dBrand Skin

As with any smartphone, protection is key. No matter how rugged and durable the manufacturer claims the unit is, it’s always better to have an extra layer of protection. Sometimes they can even improve the appearance of the device. Since I got my hands on the Galaxy S6 Edge, I have had the Matte Black dBrand skin applied, and it has done a great job of keeping the handset clean.

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So there you have it, folks. That’s how I’ve had my smartphone setup for a while now. What launcher and wallpaper are you using on your phone? What are some of your must-have applications and accessories? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.

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Samsung to mass produce Exynos 8890 for Galaxy S7 from December

There has been a lot of buzz around Samsung’s upcoming mobile processor, the Exynos 8890. Starting Q1 2016, it will go head-to-head with the best SoCs in the industry including Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 and Apple’s A9X. In the previous weeks, we reported that Samsung is in the process of optimising its chipset for better performance as well as efficiency.

Now, it is being reported by Business Korea that the South Korean electronics chip giant will start mass producing the Exynos 8890 for the Galaxy S7 starting from December 2015 in its Giheung plant. The Exynos 8890 is an important milestone for the company as it will feature a custom CPU core for the first time in its processor lineup. Samsung will launch multiple variants of the Galaxy S7 with some of them featuring Exynos 8890, while others using the Snapdragon 820 chipsets.

With this introduction, Samsung will become the third brand after Qualcomm and Apple to introduce its own custom CPU cores, and that will improve the company’s position in the SoC segment. This is because it takes a lot of effort and experience in all forms of chip design including the manufacturing process. Till now, Samsung used generic ARM CPU cores in the Exynos chipsets, but starting with Exynos 8890, it will use homegrown M1 (a.k.a Mongoose) cores.

Samsung also has plans to introduce its own GPU in Exynos chipsets, but that will come at a later stage. The company is reportedly optimising Snapdragon 820 to fix its heating issues as the chipset will be manufactured by Samsung using its 14nm FinFET process. This is help the company in rising above other SoC players like MediaTek, Spreadtrum, and Huawei. Moreover, the company has reportedly hired AMD’s legendary CPU architect Jim Keller to design its next-generation Exynos chipsets.

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Samsung will bring paid themes to nine countries tomorrow

Samsung released support for third-party themes on some of its new smartphones that were launched this year, but the availability of paid themes was limited to only a few markets around the world. Paid themes were available in the Theme Store in markets like India and South Korea, but were not available to users in the European countries.

Now, a well-known theme developer Samer Zayer has announced through a post on his Google+ account that paid themes are coming to nine countries around the world starting tomorrow. If this information is to be believed, Samsung will release paid themes to users in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Switzerland, Australia, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

Moreover, an update to the Theme Store has been released today. The new version of the Theme Store (v 1.01.38) has brought a new ‘My Themes’ tab on the top bar as well as a lot of categories for themes, which you can see when you scroll down to the bottom of the app.

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Galaxy View user manual appears on Samsung’s website

The Galaxy View has been fully detailed ahead of its launch thanks to a plethora of leaks, and the 18.4-inch tablet’s user manual has now popped up online on Samsung’s website, suggesting an official announcement could take place soon. The user manual details various features of the Galaxy View, including the detachable arching handle at its back that acts as a dock and also doubles up as a way of carrying the tablet.

The Galaxy View comes with stereo loudspeakers at the back, and it also sports a DC jack. The tablet does have a battery inside but it’s said to be only a 6,700 mAh unit, so Samsung has likely put in a DC jack to enable constant usage when users are at home and can connect the tablet to a power outlet instead of using the inbuilt battery. The manual also confirms a cellular variant, with the tablet to support LTE connectivity as we had exclusively revealed.

On the software front, the manual mentions a dedicated TV page and also reveals that the tablet will connect to Samsung Smart TVs from 2015 and beyond via Bluetooth. The manual also talks of a feature called Family Square. This is a way to share content with family members, and while Samsung doesn’t detail how the content will be shared, it’s likely a Bluetooth or a Wi-Fi connection will be used to connect to other Samsung devices.

The Galaxy View seems like an interesting device, and it’s clear that Samsung will be pitching it as something that can slot right in between a tablet and a full-fledged television. Would you be interested in buying the Galaxy View? Let us know in the comments, and check out its user manual by downloading it from the links below.

Download: English, French, Dutch

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