Samsung might launch a phone upgrade program with the Galaxy S7

A new report out of Korea claims that Samsung is going to launch a phone upgrade program with the Galaxy S7 in March. It’s said that this phone upgrade program will be similar to the one Apple launched last year. The company may announce the program next month at its Mobile World Congress 2016 event, apparently Samsung will offer the program in South Korea initially before expanding it to other important markets like the United States. It was reported late last year that the company might soon start leasing its Galaxy smartphones and even at that time it was presumed that the program will just be limited to its flagship handsets.

Apple’s upgrade program covers its current flagship smartphones and offers the base iPhone 6s model for 24 equal monthly payments of $32.41, not only do customers purchase the handset directly from Apple but they also get unlocked units which give them the freedom to choose their carrier, and they also get the option to upgrade to a new iPhone after 12 months. That means by the time the next iPhone is released customers are eligible to upgrade to the new handset. Samsung’s phone upgrade plan is said to be similar so it will allow customers to purchase its flagships on low equal monthly payments with the promise of upgrade eligibility when the new flagship comes out the following year. There’s no indication as yet from Samsung to hint that it’s going to launch a phone upgrade program, it can’t be said for sure right now if it will or won’t make this announcement come MWC 2016.

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Gear S2 Rose Gold and Platinum watch faces released with new update

We announced earlier that Samsung has unveiled the Gear S2 Rose Gold and Platinum models in the US at Amazon, but Dutch customers have had their hands (or wrists, rather) on these new luxury Gear S2 models for some time. For those customers, and for those to come, Samsung has released a new update for the Gear S2, bringing two new watch faces, one each for ladies and gentlemen. These new watch faces are only for Samsung’s Special Edition Gear S2 models, according to the update, so this may be a limited rollout for customers who’ve purchased either the Gear S2 Classic Rose Gold or the Gear S2 Classic Platinum. The Gear S2 update brings the build number to BOL6 from the former AOL3 and weighs 23.16MB in size. Alongside of the new watch faces, Samsung has improved the S Health UX for measuring heart rate.

We’re glad to see Samsung push out additional watchfaces that enhance customization for these customers, but we’re anxiously awaiting the release of a new update that brings even more watchfaces for regular and special editions alike.

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Verizon and Samsung launch 4G network extender for enterprise customers

Verizon and Samsung today announced the immediate availability of the 4G LTE Network Extender for Enterprise that’s designed to improve indoor wireless coverage for enterprise customers. The network extender uses Samsung’s small cell technology to improve coverage in weak areas inside a building. It’s ideal for mid-sized locations from 10,000 to 100,000 square feet with a single unit having support for 42 concurrent users and about 31,500 square feet.

The 4G LTE network extender can prove to be very useful across multiple industries, including but not limited to hospitals, government agencies, hotels, remote operations facilities as well as massive office buildings and warehouses. “The introduction of this solution with Verizon represents our continued focus on delivering innovative LTE solutions for our customers,” said Mark Louison, Networks Division Senior Vice President and U.S. General Manager for Samsung Electronics America. These units are small, cost-effective and easy to deploy. They are immediately available to enterprise customers.

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Samsung’s R&D spending was over $14 billion in 2015

Samsung is known for spending billions of dollars each year on research and development, its audit report for 2014 showed that it spent just under $14 billion on R&D, this was actually the highest amount that Samsung has ever spent on research and development. Global strategy consulting firm Strategy&, a part of PricewaterhouseCoopers, has released a list that details how much the top 20 publicly traded companies have invested in R&D. Samsung’s spending appears to have slightly increased in 2015.

German auto maker Volkswagen claimed the top spot on this list with $15.3 billion in R&D spending last year while Samsung comes second with $14.1 billion. Its main rival Apple spent considerably less on R&D efforts as it only managed to clinch the 18th spot on this list after spending $6 billion. It’s impressive that Samsung is still spending a significant amount of money on research and development even though its quarterly performance hasn’t really been spectacular. Samsung has already said that it expects growth to remain tough in 2016 but it looks like for now it doesn’t seem to be willing to cut its R&D spending, most likely because it’s now seeking for profits in avenues other than mobile and semiconductor.

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The Gear S2 Classic goes global, Rose Gold and Platinum models available at Amazon in the US

The Gear S2 Classic is considered to be Samsung’s traditional take on the “classic” smartwatch (hence the name), but some customers want a little more choice in build materials with the traditional (and their favorite) smartwatch. While some customers have been debating the Gear S2’s build materials, others have been wondering when they’d see the smartwatch in their own land. Now, the wait is over: the Gear S2 Classic has gone global today, bringing with it the love of millions of Samsung fans who a premium timepiece to match their premium smartphone.

With the global release of the Gear S2 Classic, though, questions arise about the Rose Gold and Platinum Gear S2 models and when consumers can expect to see them (Dutch customers already have their pick of these two). US customers can count on Amazon to have the very latest and best of the tech world, and the case is no different with regard to the very best “bling” of Samsung’s latest smartwatch.

The Gear S2 Classic Rose Gold and Gear S2 Classic Platinum both bear a retail price of $449.99, so you’re paying $100 more than the retail price for the Gear S2 Classic black model (for example). Nothing has changed as far as specs and features are concerned: you’re still looking at the same 1.2-inch, circular AMOLED display, rotating bezel and Rotary UI, 1Ghz, dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 250mAh battery that provides anywhere between 2-4 days on a single charge, wireless charging, as well as IP68-certified water and dust resistance.

Samsung’s best smartwatch has just gotten better. Who’s buying?

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Create a stylized watch face for the Samsung Gear S2

The Gear S2 comes with more than enough watch faces to keep consumers happy, but Android users prize customization more than any other mobile user base (okay, so the Gear S2 runs Tizen, but you’re probably using it with an Android device). As is always the case, users like one watch face’s dial color but dislike the same watch face’s hands. Some users like the dial color of a particular watch face but want to have more information (or, as Samsung calls them, “complications”) on it.

For the customization crazies, Samsung has created “Stylized watch faces” that let you style your watch face to some additional extent. Here’s how to create a stylized watch face for the Gear S2:

• Head into your Gear Manager app, but make sure your Gear S2 and smartphone are connected by Bluetooth first.
• In the Gear Manager app, select “watch faces” at the top.
• In the watch faces settings, you’ll be presented with the different types of watch faces you can create. Select one, which will appear at the top, and then select “stylize” to the right of the watch face. If you don’t see the word “stylize” to the right of the watch face, then it can’t be customized. The Chronograph, Activity Bubbles, Heart Wave, Pixel Heart, Activity Sparkle, and others such as the Material watch face can’t be customized. I highly recommend the Classic and Modern Utility watch faces for the best customization experience.
• On the next screen, you’ll be presented with 1) dial and 2) complication customizations if you want to style a Classic watch face, or dial, complication, and hand choices if you’re styling a Modern Utility watch face. Complications within Samsung’s setup refer to pieces of information that interfere with a perfect watch face. In other words, these widgets or pieces of information will be plastered across the watch face and make it slightly difficult for you to read the time accurately.
• Select your dial, complication, hand option, and complication (or complications, plural), then select “save” in the orange box at the top right. You should notice that your watch face changes on the Gear S2 to reflect your input choices.

That’s how you create stylized watch faces for the Gear S2. Now, with your new Gear S2 smartwatch and sexy watch face, go forth and conquer!

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Exclusive: Samsung working on newer version of Kids Mode for 2016, new Kids tablet

Our trusty insiders have revealed to us that Samsung is working to update its Kids Mode app, which was introduced with the Galaxy S5 back in 2013. Kids Mode has made its way to other Samsung devices since its release and is also available on the Play Store as a regular download for the company’s devices, and the 2016 iteration of Kids Mode could get a major overhaul.

The overhaul could include a new user interface (one that is still focused on being visually attractive for the little ones), including new and improved animations. The version number will see a bump to 4.x, which leads us to believe the update will be substantial. But for now the information that has been made available to us doesn’t give us much to go on in terms of what the new Kids Mode will bring to the table.

We have also learned that Samsung is working on a new tablet for kids; this could be the Galaxy Tab E Kids that was leaked recently. The company even posted a feature focus for Kids Mode on its website recently, so it’s possible we will see both the tablet and the new Kids Mode app in the near future.

Do you the Kids Mode feature on your Samsung device?

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Patent application shows Samsung working on whispered voice recognition

A recently published patent application reveals how Samsung could implement whispered voice recognition in its smartphones.

Courtesy of South Korea’s intellectual property office comes a patent application that shows how Samsung envisions users whispering to their smartphones. Obviously, talking to a phone has become profoundly mainstream since Google Now, Siri and Cortana. Samsung’s own S Voice has yet to catch the imagination of the masses, so it should be no surprise the search is on for a feature that sets it apart from the competition. The ability to recognize whispered speech could be just that, especially as it could also bring improvements in regular voice recognition.

Still, this application does not show the technology for recognition of the content of whispered speech. Rather, it details how a Samsung phone would recognize the type of speech, in order to activate the right recognition mode. And so we see how Samsung details differences in volume and sonic content, but also the act of using the classic whispering hand gesture on or near the phone.

Of course, the ability to recognize the actual content of such speech would be required for the phone to understand it. Whether Samsung has the tech to do that remains unclear. It would be quite the feat if they did, and it’s no secret Samsung has been working together tightly with Nuance recently. Still, this patent does not reveal any details regarding this matter.

As always with these kinds of patents, there is no way to predict when, or even if, they find their way to a consumer product. We do not expect to see whispered speech recognition in a Galaxy any time soon. Still, it’s always interesting to catch a glimpse of what is cooking in Samsung’s R&D labs.

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Samsung starts rolling out January security update for flagship smartphones

When the Stagefright vulnerability in the Android operating system was made public last year, Samsung promised to start rolling out Google’s monthly security updates to all its flagship smartphones to keep them up to date and safe from all of the latest exploits. The company has done a good job of sticking to that promise and has today announced that it’s now pushing out January’s upgrade for the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Active, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note 5.

The manufacturer could not disclose the entire changelog for this update as there are patches for bugs present that may not have been discovered prior to release and, once uncovered, hackers may attempt to use of them to their own advantage before the firmware is rolled out. We do know, however, that there are several fixes for “critical” errors that are susceptible to remote code execution.

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