The Galaxy Note 7 is now available to pre-order from Carphone Warehouse in the UK

Samsung’s latest smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, is now available to pre-order from independent retailer Carphone Warehouse in the UK. All customers who place an order before August 30 will receive a complimentary New Gear VR headset and will be guaranteed delivery of the handset on its official launch day (September 2).

As you’d expect, the Galaxy Note 7 is up for grabs on a whole host of different tariffs. The best one we’ve found comes courtesy of Vodafone and is priced at £42 per month for two years. For this, you’ll receive 6GB of 4G data every 30-days. If you do happen to find a better deal elsewhere from either EE, O2 or Vodafone, Carphone Warehouse has the facility to match it as per its Price Promise incentive.

Just in case you need a refresher on its specifications, the Galaxy Note 7 is an absolute beast of a device, packing a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels, an Exynos 8890 Octa-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable internal storage, a 12MP rear-facing camera, a 5MP front-facing shooter, an iris scanner, an S Pen, IP68 waterproofing and a 3,500mAh battery.

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Samsung confirms Galaxy Tab S3 launch for September

We reported about a month ago that it was likely for Samsung to launch the Galaxy Tab S3 on September 1. That was followed up by another report which mentioned that the company’s new high-end tablet will be unveiled at IFA 2016 in Berlin alongside the Gear S3 smartwatch. Samsung just confirmed that it’s going to launch the Gear S3 smartwatch on August 31 and it’s most likely going to show off its new tablet at one of the biggest consumer electronics conferences in Europe.

A post on Samsung Colombia’s official website reveals that the Galaxy Tab S3 is going to be unveiled in September and that it will arrive in the country next month along with the Galaxy Note 7. It doesn’t specifically mention if the tablet will be unveiled at IFA 2016 but given that Samsung has used this stage to launch tablets in the past it’s very likely that we will see it at IFA this year. The post doesn’t offer much in the way of specifications but a machine-translation reveals that it “apparently has similar qualities to its predecessor, the Galaxy Tab S2,” and that it will feature “some innovations so far not known.”

Samsung has already launched a refreshed version of the Galaxy Tab S2 earlier this year and there aren’t a lot of details available right now about the Galaxy Tab S3′s features and functionality.

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Samsung confirms Gear S3 launch event taking place later this month

It was only three days ago that Samsung posted a teaser hinting that it’s going to talk about the Gear S3 at IFA 2016 in Berlin. Previous rumors have suggested that the company is going to use this stage to unveil its next-generation smartwatch that’s round and has a rotary bezel like its predecessor, the Gear S2. Samsung has confirmed today that it’s going to conduct the Gear S3 launch event later this month.

Samsung is expected to launch three variants of its new smartwatch this year – called the Gear S3 Classic, the Gear S3 Frontier and the Gear S3 Explorer. They will have several great new features geared towards people who live an active lifestyle and will provide an integrated GPS, a speedometer, barometer, altimeter and more.

Samsung has this new thing going in which it confirms the new device that it’s going to talk about at the event thus ending the guesswork involved. We saw this when it confirmed that its next phablet will be called Galaxy Note 7 two weeks before the actual event and today’s announcement clearly states that the company is going to talk about a new Gear smartwatch at the event later this month. The Gear S3 will be launched on August 31st with the event starting on 18:00 CET in the Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany.

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Samsung creates an impressive 32TB SSD in a 2.5-inch drive

Samsung’s commercially available SSDs have already hit the 1TB mark but the company is demonstrating that it can scale up storage to impressive levels. It recently showed off its fourth-generation V-NAND technology that has enabled Samsung to produce a 2.5-inch solid state drive with a whopping 32TB of storage. Already a leader in the global enterprise SSD market, Samsung believes it can reach 100TB capacity within four years.

The company showed off its 32TB Serial Attached SCSI SSD which basically offers double the capacity of its PM1633a drive that was touted by Samsung as the world’s largest SSD last year. It has created this SSD by using 32 1TB packages all of which have 512 V-NAND chips stacked in 16 layers. Samsung expects to produce this SSD in 2017 and is aiming for a three-fold increase in store within the next four years. This goes to show that Samsung means business when it comes to its lead in the SSD market and even though vendors like Seagate are pushing the envelope with 60TB SSds in 3.5-inch form factor, Samsung wants them to know that it won’t be an easy task for them to overtake the leader.

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BPM Tap is a must-have Gear S2 application for DJs and musicians

If you’re a DJ or musician and own a Gear S2, you may want to listen up as we’ve stumbled upon a fantastic application that has been designed to make your life a little bit easier. It’s called BPM Tap and is available to download for free through the Galaxy Apps store. As its name suggests, the app enables you to calculate the Beats Per Minute (BPM) of any track by simply tapping the screen in time to the beat.

Once you’ve established the BPM of a song, the application will provide real-time vibration feedback on your wrist, enabling you to keep in time with the music while recording vocals and syncing tracks. While it’s highly unlikely that you’d use this software during a live performance, it’s still pretty neat to have the functionality on your watch should you wish to practice while on the go.

Check it out in action below:

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Samsung uses IBM’s TrueNorth chip to recognize hand gestures

Apart from releasing hundreds of products every year, Samsung does a lot of research and development on the upcoming technologies to use them in its future products. The South Korean electronics giant is now working on improving hand gesture recognition.

Eric Ryu, vice president of research at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, showcased how the company has used “neuromorphic computing” with the help of IBM’s TrueNorth chip to create Dynamic Vision Sensor. This sensor helps a computer in improving hand gesture recognition. All of this has been done at one-tenth the power used by typical smartphones.

The Dynamic Vision Sensor uses IBM’s TrueNorth chip to recognize images at 2,000 frames per second. This kind of speed is really great for generating 3D maps, autonomous driving cars, and gesture recognition. Have a look at the short video embedded below, which demonstrates how hand gestures could be used to control a TV.

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Samsung goes hands-on with the Galaxy Note 7′s S Pen in its new video

After publishing the official unboxing video of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung has posted a hands-on video of the Galaxy Note 7‘s S Pen on its official YouTube channel.

The video showcases all the new S Pen-related features that Samsung introduced with the Galaxy Note 7. The new S Pen is now water-resistant so that it can be used under water or when the Galaxy Note 7 is wet. Moreover, you can also pin notes or drawings on the Always On Display.

The nib of the new S Pen is just 0.7mm thin, so it feels closer to a real pen. Other new features include instant language translation using the S Pen and ability to create GIFs from a video. Samsung has also officially confirmed in the video that it is now impossible to stick the S Pen backwards on the Galaxy Note 7.

Have a look at the video below to know more about the new features of the Galaxy Note 7′s S Pen.

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Samsung has relocated the brightness bar on the Galaxy Note 7

You’ve probably already heard that the Galaxy Note 7 ships with an updated version of Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, which has been internally codenamed Grace UX. We first caught wind of the UI when it surfaced in a relatively lengthy video last month showing it off from all angles, and, to be completely honest, we were pretty impressed with the minor cosmetic adjustments that the firm had made.

Grace UX kept the same general shape and form as previous versions of TouchWiz, but has taken a more Material Design approach to the appearance of icons. However, after playing around with the Galaxy Note 7 for the past couple of days, we’ve discovered one significant alteration that Samsung has made to Grace UX that’s a significant step down from the last build of the UI.

On the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge (and any other Samsung device), changing the brightness is an extremely easy task. All you have to do is pull down from the notification panel with one finger and the slider presents itself just below the row of quick toggles at the very top of the display. However, for some strange reason, Samsung has decided to relocate the option on the Galaxy Note 7.

Instead of swiping down with one finger, you’ll need to do so with two or pull down twice on the notification shade to trigger the brightness bar, which will reveal itself at the very bottom of the expanded quick toggles menu. This is the same procedure that needs to be followed on stock Android devices to adjust brightness levels, but we can’t seem to figure out why Samsung has taken a step back and removed its streamlined process. Maybe the company thinks its auto brightness algorithm is too good (which it certainly is, thanks to the addition of a second ambient light sensor at the back of the phone) for people to need to change brightness manually, but it’s still a significant move that makes things less convenient.

Brightness bar on the Galaxy S7

Brightness bar on the Galaxy Note 7.  

What do you think of Samsung’s decision to relocate the brightness bar on the Galaxy Note 7? Is it something that’ll frustrate you? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Here are all the new Always On Display clock and calendar widgets on the Galaxy Note 7

Samsung introduced Always On Display mode with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, and the company has improved it even further with the Galaxy Note 7. There are some new widgets for clock and calendar in the Always On Display settings menu.

There is a total of twelve clock widgets and two calendar widgets out of which five widgets are brand new. Moreover, you can also customize them with using pre-installed set of colors and backgrounds.

Also read: Always On Display on the Galaxy Note 7 supports third-party app notifications

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Get two cables that charge both iOS/Android devices for the price of one from the SamMobile Shop

SamMobile Shop is bringing you another great offer today. You can get two extra-long charging cables that work with both iOS/Android devices for the price of one. Each cable has a microUSB and Lightning connector for compatibility with iOS and Android-powered smartphones and tablets. The cables normally cost $80 but they are available for $16.99, that’s 78 percent off the usual price.

This 1.8-meter MFi-certified cable is compatible with any iOS device that has a Lightning port while the microUSB connector makes it compatible with just about every other smartphone and tablet out there. It features a connected tip for easy use and accessibility no matter what device you’re charging. You’re getting two of these cables for the price of one in this limited time deal, and yes, international shipping is available so go ahead and purchase this extra-long iOS/Android cable from the SamMobile Shop.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to receive Android 7.0 update in two to three months

The Galaxy Note 7 was released with Android 6.0.1 onboard, but the company has plans to update the device to Android 7.0 as soon as possible. According to a new report, DJ Koh said that the Galaxy Note 7 will start receiving Android Nougat update as soon as “two to three months“.

Samsung Mobile chief Koh Dong-jin also added “It is very important for us to offer up-to-date information with the new OS, but what’s more crucial is to build a stable and seamless platform for users. That’s why we are planning to do enough beta testing before any OS updates.“

This means that Galaxy Note 7 owners should be able to taste the latest version of Android before the end of this year. However, it’s worth mentioning that we haven’t found any development on Android 7.0 firmware from Samsung yet. Google is yet to launch Nexus smartphone(s) with the final version of Android Nougat.

It is being reported that the LG V10 successor, which is expected to be announced in a matter of weeks, will run Android Nougat out of the box. Is Samsung late with software updates yet again?

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[Download] If all you do is play games on your phone, you’ll love Samsung’s Gamebox Launcher

Most of us are familiar with the concept of launchers on Android. They all carry out the same primary function – give you access to all the apps installed on your device – while differentiating on other fronts. Some launchers put the focus on widgets, some put the focus on better organizing what you need, and some try to make your life easier by contextually adapting to your daily routine. But we’re not sure there has ever been a launcher that puts all the focus on your games, and Samsung has apparently stepped up to fill the void.

XDA forum member kcodya recently discovered Gamebox Launcher on Samsung’s Galaxy Apps store, and it looks like this is another experiment the company is working on, similar to Good Lock. Gamebox Launcher assumes that gaming is your primary smartphone use case and puts all the installed games on your device on the home screen as large tiles, which you can rearrange at your leisure. If you don’t have enough games installed to fill up the home screen, the launcher will put in a few suggestions. The EA Hub is integrated as well, and so are Samsung’s Game Tools and Game Tuner apps. You can even subscribe to YouTube channels and add them as a shortcut on the home screen, and quickly access the games section on Google Play to find new titles to download.

Gamebox Launcher doesn’t just stop there. The launcher is also designed to collect all your gaming notifications in one place (no, it doesn’t replace Android’s regular notification area) and tell you just how many hours you have been busy whiling away your time killing monsters and collecting Pokemons. There’s also a section called “Dr.Cho’s Game Lab” that tells you which games are hot, which games are topping the chart, and your play style. Game Lab takes data like the number of users and popularity on Google Play to decide how the charting works, and it’s no wonder Pokemon Go is listed right at the top.

Gamebox Launcher also provides the device’s RAM, battery and storage status, which makes us think it might be that huge upgrade we said Samsung is working on for its Game Launcher service. It probably won’t be going mainstream any time soon and will remain an experiment like Good Lock, but it’s an excellent example of how Samsung is trying out new things on the software front. Too bad not many folks out there use their smartphones as just a gaming device; well, maybe they do, and we just didn’t know about them.

To use Gamebox Launcher, you have to set it as your default launcher. Grab the APK from the link below (the launcher isn’t listed on Galaxy Apps or the Play Store anymore) and manually install it on your phone; pressing the home button after the installation is complete should give you the option to set Gamebox Launcher as the default launcher (to switch to another launcher later on, go into Settings » Applications » Default applications and make the necessary change). All devices since (and including) the Galaxy S6 are supported, although the home screen and installed games detection works properly only on the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

Tried out Gamebox Launcher? Tell us what you think of Samsung’s latest attempt to take over your smartphone’s home screen!

Download Gamebox Launcher

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Here are last week’s ten best Galaxy themes

Samsung released 101 themes in its Theme Store over the past one week, and as always, we’ve shortlisted the best ones to make it easier for you. There are a couple of black themes on the list for those who want to save battery life.

Cobalt UI, OxygenUI, OrangeUI, and [Kendi] Flex are the most beautiful themes from last week. [Aire] Save Pink is a great black theme. [Aire] ZigZag (Live), [Fiet] Stardust, Along The Water World, and [Fiet] Travel Over The World themes look good too, thanks to circular icons.

Samsung has also added support to mix and match icon packs and wallpapers with the Galaxy Note 7. We hope that Samsung brings the feature to older Galaxy devices as well. Which themes did you like?

[Aire] Save Pink

[Aire] ZigZag (Live)

[FIET] Stardust

[FIET] Travel Over The World

[Kendi] Flex

Along The Water World

Astral

CobaltUI

OrangeUI

Oxygen UI

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