Samsung Galaxy J3 to launch on Boost and Virgin Mobile for $179

Both Boost and Virgin Mobile have just announced that they will be offering the 2016 model of the Galaxy J3 with any of their prepaid plans in the United States for $179. The former will launch the handset on Monday, January 18, whilst the latter will start selling it today.

As you’d expect, the Galaxy J3 doesn’t pack any overwhelming internals. What we’re looking at is a 5-inch Super AMOLED display, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera equipped with Quick Launch, a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter, and a 2,600 mAh battery.

The handset runs Android 5.1.1 straight out of the box with the latest version of Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface plastered over it. It is, however, set to receive the Marshmallow update some time within the next 11-months, making it one of the few affordable smartphones on the market to receive the firmware.

If you reside in the United States and you’re a Virgin Mobile customer, click here to find out how you can go about picking up the Galaxy J3. Boost Mobile subscribers can hit the source link below for all the required juicy details.

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Samsung Galaxy View Review: A movable display that misses the mark

A company like Samsung likes to take risks, and from time to time it comes out with products that don’t immediately strike you as a good idea. The very first Galaxy Note raised many eyebrows, and the first Galaxy Gear smartwatch didn’t strike its goal immediately. Now, the Galaxy Note has proved to be a trendsetter and the Gear smartwatches have a respectable market share (if only because Samsung has launched quite a few watches in a short span of time.)

Now, there’s the Galaxy View. Samsung is positioning this device as a “Movable Display” instead of a tablet, which might not be a bad thing considering it has a giant display. We have been using the Galaxy View for a while and now we’re here to share our experience with you.

Design

The size of the Galaxy View is striking, which is to say it is massive. It has an 18.4-inch display and it lacks a home button (a move that some might say was a long time coming, though there is a reason the Galaxy View doesn’t have a home button: it’s not meant to be used as a regular device.) The front has a black bezel surrounding the screen and at the top we see a 2.1-megapixel front camera and the Samsung logo. On both sides the device houses two enormous 4 Watt speakers.

On the back there is a plaid-like pattern and a hard plastic carrying handle that can be used in two ways. At the top there is a power button and the volume rockers. As you can see it is not too shabby, but it is a plain and rather dull device. On the lower back side we see a sliding cover where you can insert an SD card (up to 128GB). The weight is rather heavy at 2.65 kilos, so it’s not a device you can walk around with and it’s impossible to carry the Galaxy View in your backpack. The device is designed to stand up or lie down on a tablet.

Laying it on a table is where you find a problem – Samsung wanted to have big speakers on the Galaxy View so it cannot be laid entirely flat on a surface. These speakers aren’t really that great, either; they’re loud but the sound is a little dull.

The size of the Galaxy View is also a minus point. It’s not a device you can put somewhere in a drawer or put it in the middle of a dining table. The unit is very bulky, it is always in the way, and if it were up to me I would go for a somewhat smaller size. 14 to 15 inches would have been the sweet spot – the screen would have been large and the device would have been stowable as well.

Display

The Galaxy View comes with a Full HD display (1920×1080 pixels). It’s the resolution most content is created for, so the choice isn’t exactly strange. The pixel density is around 120 ppi, and you can tell that isn’t much for an 18.4-inch display. You can easily spot individual pixels when you’re using the Galaxy View for things like browsing, which you would do at a close distance. Speaking of distance, from larger distances the Galaxy View’s display is just sharp enough – think of a 50-inch Full HD TV at home, and the Galaxy View is pretty much as sharp when kept at the proper distance for media viewing.

The screen has bright colors but unfortunately lacks contrast. The color white leans a little towards blue and gives off a cold feeling. The screen also has issues displaying dark colors, and some parts of the shadows just dissolve. Frankly, it’s a shame on a device that is created for content consumption. Samsung says there is no AMOLED display on the Galaxy View as it would drive its price too high, and the decision has affected the overall viewing experience.

Check out a detailed analysis of the Galaxy View’s display here.

Software/Performance

The Galaxy View runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, and it is the same version of TouchWiz as we know from other Samsung tablets, with features like Popup Window and multi user support. The Galaxy View will be used by more than one person in a family, so the multi user support is quite welcome. Since a device tends to be supported by Samsung for 18 months, we expect the Galaxy View to get Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Marshmallow’s Doze feature will be particularly useful – Doze saves battery life in standby, and since the Galaxy View is most likely to be used in the evenings and remain in standy during work hours, Doze will be of great help in preserving battery life.

Samsung has a dedicated Media Hub installed where various links are posted. These links refer to different apps in the Play Store. Think HBO Go, Fox Sports and a few other apps (depending on where you live.) The sad thing is that you cannot add or remove apps in the dedicated media hub, though the apps that don’t show up in the hub will be accessible from the normal home screen.

Another new app the Galaxy View introduces is Family Square. Family Square is an app that lets different devices connect to the Galaxy View, so that everyone can easily share photos, videos and their calendars with the movable display. It’s handy, as everyone can find each others’ content and appointments in a central location. Think of it as a command center in the house. The Galaxy View can also become a big photo frame once should you want.

One big annoyance on the Galaxy View is the lack of something like a “tap to wake” function, as every time you need to wake it up you need to press the power button, which becomes annoying and is something Samsung should have thought about when it removed its iconic home button from the device.

Another app that can make your life easier if you have the Galaxy View is the Remote View app. This is an app that allows your phone to act as a remote control for the Galaxy View. Since it’s expected to be used as a TV most of the time, Remote View makes everything super convenient and works very smoothly and swiftly (though a dedicated hardware remote would have been nice, since controlling a device through the phone’s touchscreen needs you to be looking at it so that you can press the right buttons.)

S Console Gamepad is another nice app. It turns your phone into a gamepad, which is very handy. I tried a racing game and it worked just fine. The app automatically selects the right style of controller based on a game, so playing a racing title will get you a steering wheel with pedals on the phone screen and playing FIFA will give you a traditional gamepad on-screen.

A pleasant surprise was the keyboard. Samsung clearly thought the keyboard out very well; it’s the best we have seen on a tablet so far, especially since you have the space for a full-size keyboard. With the arrow keys it is easy to make adjustments and even a separate numerical keyboard is available. Typing on the Galaxy View was extremely easy and convenient.

If we look at the performance of the device, it’s not the worst but not the best either. Games like Real Racing 2 and FIFA 2016 ran fine on the 1.6GHz processor, and video playback was good, too. Casual usage like browsing the web isn’t a problem either. However, the 2GB of RAM does result in annoying lag if you are a heavy multitasker. There is 32GB of storage on the Galaxy View, and since this is a media center-like device that will be used by several family members, the microSD slot that takes up to 128GB cards means storage space should not be a concern.

Battery

The 5,700 mAh battery on the Galaxy View does surprisingly well. It could last about seven to eight hours and managed to make it to even 10 hours with regular usage. The standby time could have been better, as leaving the Galaxy View idle saw the battery going from full to empty within a few days. Again, Marshmallow should help thanks to the Doze feature in terms of standby endurance. Overall, we are quite surprised by the battery life on the Galaxy View, and you shouldn’t have much to complain about at the end of the day, unless you are using the device for long periods of time like a smartphone or regular tablet.

Conclusion

The idea of a movable display is not all that crazy, as not everyone has a TV in every room at home. So the Galaxy View (a rechargeable TV) would be an ideal solution for many, though the reality is unfortunately a bit different. The price is way too high, and Samsung’s implementation of a great idea leaves much to be desired. The screen is only Full HD and not good enough, and there could have been more RAM on the device.

It’s too bad, actually – I was rather excited about the Galaxy View at first, but it is a device I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. If it might be cheaper for, say 200 Euro, it would have been worth recommending. But for now, the price is way too high.

It remains admirable that Samsung continues to try new things and push the boundaries once again. We hope the Galaxy View 2 will address all the points made in this review and be a great device we wouldn’t mind recommending to anyone (of course, if the price is right.)

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Samsung to introduce dual-SIM variant of the Galaxy Note 5 in India

While Samsung sells dual-SIM variants of its entry-level and mid-range smartphones in India, the company has refrained itself from offering that feature in its high-end smartphones in the country. However, it looks like the South Korean smartphone giant has decided to launch the dual-SIM variant of the Galaxy Note 5 in India.

According to The Economic Times, Samsung revealed that the Galaxy Note 5 dual-SIM will be made available in India starting from January 17. The 32GB and 64GB storage variants of the device will be available for INR 51,400 (~ $769) and INR 57,400 (~ $859), respectively. The company experienced a strong demand for dual-SIM smartphones in the Galaxy A, and decided to bring the feature to its high-end smartphones.

Manu Jain, Director of Product Marketing at Samsung India, said, “In the high-end segment, we saw a very strong trend of people using dual-SIMs in our A series smartphones. Consumers want a premium device, which has a local SIM and space for another SIM. We will continue doing products that will address an opportunity and we will drive the dual-SIM market in the premium segment, starting with the Note 5,” to the publication.

Samsung leads the high-end smartphone market in India with a market share of 48.1 percent, and the company wants to further solidify its position in the segment by launching dual-SIM variants of its high-end smartphones. The company might extend this feature to devices such as the Galaxy S6 edge and the Galaxy S6 edge Plus in the future. The company already sells the dual-SIM variant of the Galaxy Note 5 in China.

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How to quickly launch the camera on the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, and Galaxy Note 5

Samsung went all-out in the camera department for its flagship smartphones and phablets of 2015. The Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 sport fantastic 16-megapixel cameras, which do a great job at capturing images in low-light conditions. However, having a wonderful sensor and image processing software is all well and good, but they’re useless if you can’t pull up the camera application rapidly enough to capture spontaneous images.

No doubt you’ve noticed the lack of physical camera shortcuts on the bezel of these devices (and on every other Samsung phone), but thankfully, there is a toggle you can use. All you have to do is double-press the Home button and the camera app will launch within a matter of seconds. What’s great about this feature is that it works even when the display is off, and can get you up and clicking pictures almost instantly.

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LG won’t let the Galaxy S7 steal the spotlight at MWC 2016

A day before Mobile World Congress 2016 kicks off next month in Barcelona the two biggest conglomerates from South Korea are likely to unveil their new flagship handsets, according to a report out of Korea this time around LG isn’t going to let Samsung’s new flagship steal the spotlight, it’s going to unveil the G5 on February 21st, the very same day that Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S7.

Samsung is sticking with its tradition of unveiling new Galaxy S handsets a day before MWC starts, last year LG decided to skip MWC 2015 and waited a couple of months after the Galaxy S6 had been unveiled to launch the G4. Apparently this year the company is convinced that it’s new handset is good enough to steal the spotlight from Samsung’s new flagship which is why it’s going to reveal it on exactly the same day. LG is one of the few companies that has already sent out invites for its press conference scheduled for next month, Samsung is yet to do this, even though it hasn’t said it outright that the G5 will be unveiled next month. There’s really nothing stopping LG from showing off its new flagship on the same day as Samsung, it’s not like that’s illegal or anything, but it will certainly make for interesting comparisons between the two handsets.

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Samsung receives a patent for smartphone cover with built-in S Pen

What if Samsung releases a smartphone cover that allows you to add an S Pen to any upcoming flagship device? That would reduce the much beloved Note series to an accessory. That would be pretty absurd. Or would it?

Today, a patent published in South Korea shows us that Samsung is working towards that idea: an S View cover with an inbuilt S Pen, that allows you to turn any Galaxy device into a Note. Of course, there’s slightly more to a Note than the S Pen, such as a digitizer built into the display. The patent, unfortunately, does not mention any such details.

Still, it would not be entirely un-Samsung-like to release such a cover for those of you who enjoy fiddling with an S Pen, but without the burden of carrying a full sized Galaxy Note device around. Now, whether a cover like this will come with the Galaxy S7 or any of its variations is entirely uncertain.

A recently published list of accessories for that device mentions nothing that reminds us of what we are seeing here, so we won’t get our hopes up just yet.

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Chat Hub app for Gear S2 lets you send messages right from the watch

We recently reported on an upcoming app named Chat Hub for the Gear S2 that lets you start messaging conversations right from the watch without needing a notification for a message sent by one of your friends. That app is now available on the Gear Apps store; it comes from the same developer who gave us the Task S2 app and is frankly a nice addition to the store for those who spend a lot of time texting and chatting with their friends.

To remind you of why this app is so nice: With Chat Hub, you can think of your smartwatch as your smartphone itself and send messages to your friends via an array of social network apps (Facebook Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp and more are included), without touching your actual smartphone. It gets around a major limitation of smartwatches – these watches are simply extensions of your smartphones, so by default you can only reply to messages sent by your friends after a notification arrives on your wrist. You can either type in manual messages, or select from predefined ones for quick replies.

Chat Hub doesn’t require you to log in to any messaging app from the watch itself, so all you need to do is install Chat Hub from the Gear Apps store and its companion app from the Play Store on your phone to get going. If you’re into a lot of chatting, don’t forget you can pin the app to your Gear S2′s home button for instant access at all times from the Settings » Double Press Home Key option in the Samsung Gear app on your phone.

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Samsung could become chief supplier for the future iPhones’ flexible OLED displays

Samsung has been steadily assuring a future business with Apple in its future iPhones as well as the Apple Watch and now a recent rumor suggests that the South Korean giant could become the chief supplier for the next generation of iPhones’ flexible OLED displays. It was reported that Samsung and LG would supply the displays for the upcoming iPhone so this seems plausible but the big story here is that Samsung could become a chief supplier and spend $7.47 billion in the next year or two in order to manufacture said displays.

It wouldn’t surprise us if Apple’s next iPhones would make use of Samsung’s technology as the tech company currently manufactures some of the most high quality panels in the industry. What really remains to be seen if Apple is indeed making the shift to OLED displays; it just might, considering OLED displays have gotten more and more accurate over the years, which is the feature the Cupertino giant aims for with its iPhone screens.

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Samsung Galaxy A3 (2015) and Galaxy A5 (2016) preview

By now, all new models in Samsung’s 2016 Galaxy A series are available at least somewhere. And thus we’ve managed to get our hands on them. Here are our first impressions of the Galaxy A3 (2016) and Galaxy A5 (2016). If you’re into the larger devices, don’t forget to head over to our preview of the Galaxy A7 (2016) and Galaxy A9 as well.

Design

The first thing that stands out when handling the revamped A devices is the design. Last year’s Galaxy A3 and A5 might have been Samsung’s first all-metal Galaxys, but truly beautiful they were not. At least not compared to the current generation, that takes the design of the Galaxy S6 and adds some significant improvements.

The corners and metal frame of the A3 and A5 (2016) are just a bit less round. This might seem like only a very subtle difference, but the result is that the phones look thinner than the S6, even though they are not. Another small but significant difference is the glass. The 2.5D Gorilla Glass is a lot more 2.5D than in the S6, ensuring the display looks like it’s floating on top of the device.

Overall, Samsung’s design has matured a lot since the first Galaxy A devices were released one year ago, and even since the S6 things have not been standing still. Because the devices also pack larger batteries, the weight has increased, giving them a more substantial feeling of quality. The compact A3 (2016) weighs roughly the same as the S6, the A5 (2016) is some 20 grams heavier, despite being the same size.

In front, the corner of the Galaxy S6, behind it the Galax A3 (2016)

Display

Not only the build quality has taken big steps forward, so have the displays on both the A3 and A5 (2016). The new A3 now packs a 4.7 inch 720p HD AMOLED screen, and the A5 even got upgraded to 1080p Full HD status. The most important thing, however, is the vastly improved color reproduction, and even the cheaper A3 (2016) is capable of offering relatively natural looking imagery.

Performance

This being a first, quick preview, we will spare you the extensive digging into specs and benchmarks. Suffice it to say neither device will win any awards here, but basic performance coupled with Samsung’s recent TouchWiz optimization efforts ensure satisfactory handling. A game like Riptide GP2 runs smooth enough on the A3 (2016), which packs the modest quad core version of the octa core Exynos 7580 found in the Galaxy A5 (2016).

Camera

It is here, in the camera department, we run into the first area where the mid-range pricing of the A3 and A5 (2016) really become apparent. While the five megapixel front cams are sufficient, the 13-megapixel rear shooter are rather mediocre. Of course, the A5′s optical image stabilization does something in conditions with less-than-perfect light conditions, but overall these are no phones to consider if you have any real photography ambitions.

With the Galaxy A (2016) line now packing seriously good design and build quality, the distinction with Samsung’s flagship devices has to be made somewhere, and camera quality is where it happens. Still, we’ll reserve final judgement until we’ve had ample time to do our full review of the phones.

2.5D Gorilla Glass front on the Galaxy A5 (2016)

Features: Galaxy A3 (2016)

The A3 (2016) at a glance is all about its build quality, display and a decent basic user experience. Apart from an FM radio, and Samsung’s usual features (battery saving tricks, theme store with a few exclusives) there aren’t many extras. No fast charging, no fingerprint reader, no Samsung Pay support. Of course, there is room for a microSD card, in case the 16 GB of storage (eleven of which is available to the user) is not enough for you, so that’s one perk you don’t get with Samsung’s high-end devices (well, at least not last year).

Features: Galaxy A5 (2016)

If you need any of these extras, the A5 (2016) provides. You can charge it really fast with the fast charger that comes free of charge (pun unintended) with the phone, and added security is provided by the fuss-free fingerprint reader that also supports Samsung Pay. All alliterations aside, the A5 is simply a much more complete device, despite the fact that for some inexplicable reason Samsung again failed to equip it with a notification LED, just like the A3. That’s five cents nobody needed to be saved.

Lollipop?

The other strange thing about the entire new Galaxy A (2016) line-up is the presence of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. While in use, there’s not much wrong with it per se, but Android 6.0 Marshmallow should have been there out of the box. Now, you’ll have to wait for the update for a couple of months. This is, to be honest, something most manufacturers are doing (even HTC has phones coming out with Lollipop in addition to those with Marshmallow), though Samsung could have done well to lead the way.

Wrapping up

Yes, we haven’t said anything yet about battery life. You will have to wait for our full reviews, but the big batteries powering these modestly spec’d phones promise good endurance, the first glimpses of which we did witness in the short period we’ve been playing with them.

For now, the takeaway message is that the Galaxy A3 (2016) and A5 (2016) are very beautiful, well-built devices with good-looking displays, the latter of which even packs a few very practical extra features. Photography enthusiasts should look elsewhere, but on the whole, Samsung has just significantly upped its mid-range game this year.

Now, go check out our Galaxy A7 (2016) and Galaxy A9 preview!

 

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Samsung is set to launch its own version of Live Photos with the Galaxy S7

When Apple unveiled the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus back in September 2015, the fruit-named company showcased a new feature that enables users to capture 1.5-seconds of video before and after a photo is snapped in order to create a moving image with sound (a feature that is also found on HTC smartphones). However, if a new report is anything to go by, it looks as if Samsung is developing its own live image functionality for its upcoming flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7.

Samsung’s rival tool is expected to carry the name Vivid Photo and, unlike Apple’s offering, will not include audio playback. Instead, it will produce high-quality moving images. The reason behind this is simple: Sharing. The South Korean company is building its service from the ground up to produce GIFs as opposed to an in-house format, which means that users will be able to export their motion pictures to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and a plethora of other social networks that support the file type.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S7 sometime in February during a dedicated Unpacked event, and it’s perfectly possible that this feature, which only entered testing last week, will not be ready for a public release. If this is the case, we believe that it may be added to the handset shortly after it’s in our hands by way of a software update.

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