Samsung launches an upgraded version of the Galaxy A8 in Japan

Samsung launched the Galaxy A8 about five months ago, it happened to be one of the most feature-packed mid-range smartphones that the company has ever come out with. It also featured a metal body to provide a premium look and feel to the entire package. Samsung has now launched a slightly upgraded version of the Galaxy A8 though it appears to be limited to Japan for now.

The Galaxy A8 either had a Snapdragon 615 or Exynos 5430 processor under the hood depending upon the variant, but the one that’s destined for Japan has the Exynos 5433 processor instead. The processor has four Cortex-A57 cores clocked at 1.9GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.3GHz coupled with the Mali-T760 MP6 graphics processor. Aside from the upgraded processor all of the specs remain the same, it has the same 5.7-inch full HD Super AMOLED display, 2GB RAM and a 3,050mAh battery. There’s also a 16-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel shooter on the front. No indication as yet whether the Exynos 5433-powered Galaxy A8 will be released in markets other than Japan.

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Exclusive: Samsung Pay coming to Brazil in Q2 2016

Samsung launched its mobile payments service earlier this year and so far it has only gone live in South Korea and the United States, the company did say that it will expand Samsung Pay to other markets but didn’t say when it will do that. We exclusively reported a few weeks back that Samsung Pay will be launched in the United Kingdom, China and Spain in the first quarter of 2016. We are now hearing from our insiders that Samsung Pay will be coming to Brazil in Q2 2016.

Even though Samsung Pay supports both NFC and MST technology for processing payments, it’s likely that in Brazil it may focus mainly on MST, since NFC terminals may not be that prevalent in the country. MST enables Samsung Pay to mimic card swipes at conventional card machines thus eliminating the need for merchants to acquire costly terminals while enabling customers to perform quick and easy contactless payments. Brazil is one of the few markets where Samsung enjoys a dominant position so it does sense that the company would like to cash in on that by launching its mobile payments service.

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First Galaxy A7 (2016) firmware now available online

It has only been a few days since the new Galaxy A lineup was unveiled, the Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 (2016) models have initially been released in China before they’re brought over to other markets across the globe. The new handsets bring significant improvements over their predecessors, touting features like Optical Image Stabilization and fingerprint sensors with support for Samsung Pay. Now the first Galaxy A7 (2016) firmware has been released, it’s actually the first firmware release for any of the new Galaxy A handsets, and it’s now available for download from our firmware section.

Firmware details:

• Model: SM-A710M
• Model name:
• Country: Colombia
• Version: Android 5.1.1
• Changelist: 101969629
• Build date: Wed, 02 Dec 2015 05:53:19 +0000
• Product code: COO
• PDA: A710MUBU1AOL1
• CSC: A710MUUB1AOL1

As previously mentioned China is the first market for these new smartphones so those of us who are not based in the People’s Republic may have to wait until 2016 to get our hands on the 2016 Galaxy A3, A5 or A7.

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How to take a screenshot on the Samsung Z1 and Samsung Z3

The Samsung Z1 and Z3 are two smartphones from the company to be powered by Tizen, its own mobile operating system. All of Samsung’s Android smartphone can take screenshots, and considering Tizen takes many cues from the company’s Android interface, you can take screenshots on the Z1 and Z3, too. Well, it’s a basic feature that every mobile OS should support, but how exactly do you take a screenshot on Samsung’s Tizen-powered handsets?

The procedure is actually the same as Galaxy handsets, and here’s a step-by-step guide.

1. First, you need to have whatever it is you want a screenshot of to be on the display. This can be an app, game, or any other screen that you want to capture.
2. Press and hold the power button and the home button at the same time until you hear a camera shutter sound and see an animation, which is the indication the screenshot has been captured.

Once taken, you can access your recent screenshot by dragging down the status bar and clicking on the screenshot notification. To access all your screenshots, simply go into the Gallery app where you will see the screenshots along with your regular photos and videos. If you want to access the dedicated Screenshots folder, simply press the menu button in the gallery, click View as then select Albums to sort your images by album instead of by the time they were taken.

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Verizon releases Wi-Fi calling update for the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge

Verizon confirmed last week that it will soon release a new firmware update for the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge which will enable Wi-Fi calling on these handsets. The carrier is finally allowing its users to make calls over a wireless network, it’s launching the feature with these two Samsung handsets, and will later expand it to smartphones from this OEM and others. The iPhone gets Verizon’s Wi-Fi calling feature in 2016.

The updates have now been released for the Galaxy S6, version G920VVRU4BOK7, and for the Galaxy S6 edge, version G925VVRU4BOK7. They feature Advanced Calling 2.0, VoWiFi (Wi-Fi Calling), fixes for ALM and wireless charging, HiFi Audio and Live Video Broadcast. Verizon is sending out the updates over-the-air and they should have gone live for users across the United States by now.

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