Samsung releases Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition unboxing video

Samsung made the Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition official last week and announced that it will only be selling a limited number of this exclusive handset in select markets starting July 18th. Samsung has announced today that the Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition is now available for purchase in Brazil, China, Germany, South Korea and the United States. Samsung has made exactly 2,016 phones available in each market. Pricing varies, we do know how much this handset costs in South Korea.

All of the changes that Samsung has made to this limited edition smartphone are cosmetic in nature. The Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition has a custom-made colorway pattern, color accents on the power, home, volume buttons as well as the rear camera. Exclusive wallpapers and themes are included too. Samsung has also created a 3D Flag application which is pre-loaded on the device. The app enables users to select the nation of their choice so that their country’s flag can automatically be displayed on the handset’s display. The company has also posted an unboxing video of the Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition. We can see that the handset is packaged in a practical pouch type carrier which can be used for a variety of purposes and it doubles as a memorable souvenir of Rio 2016.

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Samsung details the entire contents of its Gear S2 ‘Value Pack’ update

Samsung started pushing out its third major firmware update for the Gear S2 on Friday, July 15. By this date, we’d already brought you an exclusive report on its changes, together with an early preview showcasing some of the new functionality. However, the entire contents of the upgrade remained unknown. Even when it started arriving on our devices, we were still discovering features that the manufacturer had failed to shine a light on in the changelog, so to help clear up the confusion, Samsung has published a post over on its Newsroom detailing the entire contents of the ‘Value Pack’ OTA.

The most notable alteration that the Value Pack update brings to the Gear S2 is the facility to peruse the Gear Apps Store and download watch faces from the unit itself. This is not only more convenient than the previous process, but is also significantly faster as you no longer have to pull out your smartphone, navigate into Gear Manager, manually search through the marketplace, download a face that tickles your fancy, then sideload it to your watch. Instead, it’s a direct download onto the unit’s integrated storage, which takes roughly a few seconds to complete.

Samsung has also made a flurry of changes to the Gear S2′s default applications to provide more information at a faster rate. Here are just a few of the improvements it’s made, which it specified over on its blog: “The Schedule app now adds a green dot below date with events scheduled, to make identifying appointments easier. The Weather app now includes a UV Index to help people keep safer from the most intense sunshine. And the World Clock features several updates, such as sunrise and sunset, time difference between other locations the local time, and a different look for the daytime versus the nighttime in the list view.”

Hit the source link below to read the full post over on Samsung’s website.

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Import logs reiterate that the Galaxy Note 7 features an iris scanner

Samsung has never offered a smartphone with an iris scanner before so there might be some people who may not believe that this biometric technology will be making its way to the Galaxy Note 7. We have already seen countless reports confirm the existence of the iris scanner and have even seen live pictures of it in action, and now we have import logs from Zauba which show that Samsung imported 2,000 iris scanners for the Galaxy Note 7 to India from Vietnam.

Vietnam is where some of Samsung’s production facilities are located while the company regularly imports new devices and components to India for research and development. The import logs show that 2,000 units of the IRIS CAM_SM-N930F have been imported into the country on July 15. In case you’re unaware SM-N930F is one of the model numbers of the Galaxy Note 7. This should go a long way to convince people that an iris scanner is likely going to be one of the biggest features of the upcoming flagship. Samsung has said that it’s going to unveil the Galaxy Note 7 on August 2 and it’s expected that the company may even release the handset on that very day at least in select markets.

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Samsung overtakes Apple to lead Brazil’s PC market

The global PC market has been in a gradual state of decline over the past few years and it has seen several players bow out. Samsung is still in the game, at least in some markets, and that appears to be paying dividends for the company. Brazilian publication O Estado de S. Paulo reports that Samsung has overtaken Apple to lead the country’s PC market. Samsung’s ranking is based on an annual brand survey conducted by this publication.

Apple was found to be leading the market in last year’s survey while Samsung was in second place along with Dell. Samsung has topped the list this year even though the sale of desktops and notebooks declined by 36 percent on-year in Brazil last year.  Samsung officials say that their aggressive marketing campaigns have made them the top PC brand in the country. The company’s “Blue Medal” campaign which uses images of synchronized swimming to promote the usage of notebooks and smartphones together has been particularly successful.

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Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition price in South Korea confirmed

We exclusively told you three months ago that Samsung was making a special edition version of the Galaxy S7 edge for the Rio 2016 Olympics. Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition last week and confirmed that a limited number of handsets would be sold in Brazil, China, Germany, South Korea and the United States starting July 18 with prices varying by market. Samsung has now confirmed the Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition price in South Korea.

All of the changes that Samsung has made to this limited edition device are cosmetic. Underneath it’s still the same Galaxy S7 edge that we know and love. There are multicolored Olympic Rings on the backplate on this device, the power button is red, volume buttons are green, home button and earpiece are yellow while the camera has a blue accent. Each handset features an exclusive Rio 2016 Olympic Games theme and wallpapers. Samsung is going to sell the Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Edition exclusively through its online store in South Korea for 1,067,000 won (US$ 943). Customers will get a Gear VR headset with the device and 100 randomly selected customers will also get the wireless activity tracking Gear IconX earbuds for free. If you’re an Olympian competing in the Rio 2016 Games you’ll get one of these limited edition handsets absolutely free from Samsung.

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Samsung teams up with the White House to accelerate development of 5G networks

Samsung has made it pretty clear that it wants to be a major market player when 5G comes around. It’s leading the way for standardization of 5G technology and showcased the world’s first end-to-end 5G solution earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress. Samsung wants to be a global top-three player in 5G mobile networks and for that purpose it’s willing to work with a variety of partners. The company has announced that it’s participating as a board member of the Advanced Wireless Research Initiative (AWRI), it’s a public-private partnership that’s being led by the White House to speed up development of 5G wireless networks in the United States.

The AWRI comprises of member companies as well as over 400 university researchers, Samsung will lend them its expertise in wireless network architecture and mmWave radio access technology to held push research and testing of next-generation wireless networks forward. As a board member, Samsung is also going to provide direction on how the AWRI should focus on future research initiatives. “The White House initiative provides an ideal platform for Samsung to help create a blueprint for the future of communications network development through collaboration with a diverse range of experts,” says Charlie Zhang who is the vice president of Samsung Research America, adding that “Supporting U.S. wireless leadership and next generation networks continues to be a priority for Samsung.”

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Samsung ‘stands behind’ the Galaxy S7 Active’s water resistance certification

Last week Consumer Reports tested the Galaxy S7 Active’s water resistant claims and found that they were not what Samsung made them out to be. It ran similar tests on two Galaxy S7 Active units to ascertain whether or not they could survive in five feet of water for up to 30 minutes. They didn’t. At that time Samsung said that it had received very few complaints from customers who might have faced similar issues and that there may be an off-chance that a defective device might not be as watertight as it should be, the company also said that it was investigating the matter.

Samsung has now issued an official statement on the matter. It says that the Galaxy S7 Active has passed “rigorous tests” to achieve its IP68 certification for water resistance. The company also says that it “stands behind” this water resistance certification and that it’s going to replace any Galaxy S7 Active units under its standard limited warranty should water damage occur to those devices. The Galaxy S7 Active is supposed to be good in up to five feet of water for up to 30 minutes. If these conditions were met and your Galaxy S7 Active still got damaged by water your best bet now is to get in touch with Samsung and ask for a replacement. Samsung clearly believes that is not going to be a major issue for the Galaxy S7 Active.

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The latest Gear S2 software update brings compatibility for sleep tracking

Two days ago, Samsung started pushing out a major software update for the Gear S2 in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The upgrade weighs in at approximately 60MB and bundles a plethora of exciting new features, as noted in our preview, including social sharing for activities and a revamped Contacts application. However, one fantastic piece of functionality that the South Korean company failed to mention in the changelog is that the wearable now supports sleep tracking.

Arguably, a fully-fledged sleep tracker should have been bundled on the Gear S2 from the word go, but it’s nice to see Samsung respond to customer feedback and implement it in a somewhat timely manner. The service utilizes the device’s integrated heart rate sensor to detect three different stages of sleep — restless, light and motionless. It then analyses this data and puts it through a complex algorithm to calculate the total time slept and the amount of calories burnt doing so.

After having a little time to play around with it, I’ve found the sleep tracker to be very accurate. I’m especially fond of having the facility to see the total time slept on my wrist, but being able to open the S Health application on my smartphone to view a comprehensive database consisting of my sleep history since I started using the feature. There’s even a Trends option that shows me any similarities between my recorded sleeps.

If you own a Gear S2 running the latest firmware (R730XXU2DPFB), be sure to give sleep tracking a try today and let us know what you think of it in the comments section below.

 

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AT&T releases Android 6.0.1 for Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

Verizon was the first carrier in the US to release Android Marshmallow to the Galaxy Tab S2. Unlocked variant of the Galaxy Tab S2 was updated to Android 6.0.1 a few weeks after that. Now, AT&T has started seeding the Android 6.0.1 update for the Galaxy Tab S2 on its network.

The Galaxy Tab S2 (SM-817A) has started receiving Android Marshmallow update (with firmware number T817AUCU2BPF20), which also brings updated UI design, multi-user support, Google Now on Tap, granular App Permissions management, Doze mode, and various other little features.

The update, which has a file size of 1074MB, also brings AT&T’s Number Sync feature that gives users an option to use the tablet to make and receive voice and video calls using your existing number. It works even when your smartphone isn’t present with you. The update is rolling out over the air in the US.

If your device hasn’t received the update, head to Settings » About device » Software update » Check for updates.

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