SingSpace brings social karaoke to the Gear VR next year

Harmonix, developer of the popular music titles Guitar Hero and Rock Band, has confirmed that it’s working on a new social karaoke experience for the Gear VR. This came as a surprise announcement since the company is already working on Rock Band VR and Harmonix Music VR, it hadn’t given any hints previously that it might be working on another VR experience for Samsung’s headset.

SingSpace is all about belting out your favorite tunes in an immersive digital karaoke parlor in front of a robot audience that reacts to your performance in real time. It uses Harmonix’s line-and-arrow system to judge your vocal performance. If you’re able to nail all the notes the robots will applaud you, if not, they will lose interest in your performance. Social is a big element of this game with up to four friends having the ability to gather in the VR environment to sing a song together. Harmonix hasn’t confirmed the number and nature of songs that will be available in this game’s library, only saying that it will feature “deep robust catalogue that contains all of the songs one would expect to see in any modern karaoke bar.”

SingSpace is going to be released for the Gear VR in Spring 2017.

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Two former US safety officials believe that Samsung could face a second recall of the Galaxy Note 7

Two former US safety officials have revealed that Samsung could face an unusual second recall of the Galaxy Note 7 if the Federal Aviation Administration and Consumer Product Safety Commission conclude that the device that caught fire aboard a Southwest Airlines aircraft on Wednesday is, in fact, a replacement model as its owner claims.

“If it’s the fixed phone and it started to smoke in his pocket, I’m going to guess there’ll be another recall,” says Pamela Gilbert, a former executive director of the consumer agency. “That just doesn’t sound right.” The former CPSC agent then went on to add that the agency could have a decision as early as next week as this is “not something you want to leave hanging.”

Nancy Nord, a former chairwoman of the CPSC, revealed that second recalls are extremely uncommon, but she hasn’t ruled it out. “Certainly [Samsung] could [issue] another recall, if it appears this is something beyond an aberration,” she said. First, however, the agency needs to determine whether a “remediated phone [is to blame], and if so why [the fire happened.]”

Not too long ago, Samsung announced that there have been more than 92 reports of Galaxy Note 7 batteries overheating in the US alone, with 26 of these cases confirmed to have involved burns. It’s currently unclear what the figure is now, but with the flurry of reports that have been flying in recently, it’s expected to be significantly larger.

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Samsung’s Q3 2016 earnings guidance beats estimates despite Galaxy Note 7 recall

Samsung today released its earnings guidance for the third quarter of the year. Analysts and investors had high hopes from Q3 2016 following the company’s stellar performance in the second quarter of this year. However, once the Galaxy Note 7 recall was taken into account, many thought that a huge financial impact would be visible on the company’s balance sheet. Despite the recall Samsung’s Q3 2016 earnings guidance beats estimates.

Samsung Electronics announced today that it expects to post consolidated sales of 49 trillion won and an operating profit of 7.8 trillion won ($7 billion) against an estimate of 7.4 trillion won. There appears to be no major visible financial impact of the Galaxy Note 7 and analysts suggest that improved performance of the chip and display business have helped absorb that shock. Samsung’s Q3 2016 operating profit growth of 5.6 percent is unexpected but will be a welcome development for its investors and shareholders. Samsung is going to release the full results later this month.

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Galaxy S7 edge named as the best phone of the year at the Mobile Choice Awards

Mobile Choice readers have awarded the Galaxy S7 edge a Consumer Award for being the best phone of the year. Despite the recent Galaxy Note 7 debacle — which still appears to be very much at large as a Southwest Airlines flight was evacuated on Wednesday when an alleged replacement unit caught fire — Samsung managed to beat off tough competition from Apple to pick up the manufacturer of the year award.

To be completely honest, we can see why the Galaxy S7 edge was voted by members of the public as the smartphone they were most impressed with by this year. Not only is it a work of fine art, but it also packs some extremely impressive specifications that’ll satisfy even the most power-hungry users. Under its all glass hood, you’ll find a 5.5-inch QHD display, a Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890 Octa CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 12MP rear-facing shooter.

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Sprint will let Galaxy Note 7 owners swap their replacement device for any other phone

US Carrier Sprint has today announced that it will exchange replacement models of the Galaxy Note 7 for any other smartphone in its massive lineup, including the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

This decision comes following an incident on Wednesday that resulted in a Southwest Airlines flight being evacuated when a passenger’s replacement Note 7 allegedly ignited before takeoff.

The CPSC is currently investigating the fire to determine if the ‘safe’ Galaxy Note 7 was the cause.

“ If a Sprint customer with a replacement Note 7 has any concerns regarding their device, we will exchange it for any other device at any Sprint retail store during the [CPSC's] investigation window,” a Sprint representative told Recode.

It’s been noticed that those with a defunct model of the Galaxy Note 7 have been seeking a full refund in order to purchase Apple’s latest offering, but seeing as the refund period has ended, many have been able to do so.

If more carriers follow in Sprint’s footsteps — and it’s likely they will — it’s safe to say Samsung will have a difficult time holding onto the customers it has left as they will likely pick up devices from competitors.

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No heads will roll at Samsung for botched Galaxy Note 7 launch

Samsung had high hopes for the Galaxy Note 7. The flagship was launched as the company reached the end of its record-breaking Q2 and all signs were pointing to continued sales momentum for Samsung because the Galaxy Note 7 had been very well received. Merely two weeks after the flagship was released Samsung had to confirm the battery cell defect, stop sales and issue a recall. Reports of explosions and bans kept pouring in over the past month but it kept its head down and quickly replaced all existing units. Samsung suffered a setback yesterday when it was reported that a replacement Galaxy Note 7 which was supposed to be safe exploded in the exact same manner as those before it. Federal officials in the US are now investigating the latest incident and if any more reports emerge of replacement units facing the same issue Samsung might find itself in trouble.

It won’t be an understatement to say that Samsung botched the Galaxy Note 7 launch, it has been suggested that this came to be as Samsung rushed the Galaxy Note 7 to beat the iPhone 7. Many would have expected heads to roll at Samsung and that too publicly but the company is standing behind top executives in these delicate times. It’s ironic how the head of Samsung’s mobile division Koh Dong-jin told fellow executives prior to the Galaxy Note 7′s launch in August how lucky he was to have been given control of Samsung’s cash cow just as it was turning its fortunes around after two years of stagnation. What followed after was a crisis that his predecessors didn’t have to go through even when the mobile business was under intense pressure in the market.

Samsung insiders say that so far nobody is pointing the finger at Koh for the botched launch internally but they do realize that he needs to get sales moving again to salvage the fourth quarter and defend market share against the iPhone 7. Samsung said in a statement that it’s not thinking about a management or organizational change and that it’s completely focused on the Galaxy Note 7 replacement program. The company has resumed sales of the Galaxy Note 7 in some markets and will continue to relaunch the device in additional markets down the road.

The company is not shying away from throwing its weight behind the Galaxy Note 7 even after the entire debacle. Some have suggested that the company should just discontinue the device and move on but Samsung’s chief marketing officer in Europe David Lowes has said that “We will give Note 7 all the support we were going to give it in the first place,” adding that “There is no backing away from it.”

Samsung is said to have created a dedicated team of public relations staff to enable prompt decision making and work on damage control. The recall is reportedly dominating internal meetings as Samsung seeks to salvage what could have been the best-selling Galaxy Note handset it ever released.

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UK Royal Mail reportedly refusing packages containing the Galaxy Note 7

According to a new report, you might find it impossible to ship a package in the United Kingdom via Royal Mail if it contains the Galaxy Note 7. Granted there are other options such as ParcelForce, DHL and more but if you just tend to drop stuff off at your local post office, you might want to pay attention. Apparently the Royal Mail has a directive in place which mandates that post office employees ask about the contents of every package that comes in. They have been told to refuse parcels that have a Galaxy Note 7.

The report also mentions that some post offices are being extra careful and that they are not accepting parcels that contain any Samsung handset, however, this is not said to be an official directive from the Royal Mail. These precautions are a result of the Galaxy Note 7 recall which Samsung issued after confirming the battery cell issue in its latest flagship. The handset was briefly banned by the FAA and it remains banned by several major cruise lines. Samsung has had to obtain a hazardous materials permit in the United States just to ship back defective units.

There doesn’t appear to be an easy way out for Samsung here. Even though many have praised its handling of the Galaxy Note 7 recall, somehow the debacle doesn’t seem to end, and with the recent explosion of a safe Galaxy Note 7 things might even take a turn for the worse if that’s even possible at this point.

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Samsung creates dedicated news site for fans in India

Samsung today announced that it has created a dedicated news site for fans in India. The Samsung Newsroom India is a separate news hub for all official developments related to the company which will feature news catered to Indian audiences. Samsung fans in the country can access the Newsroom now by heading to news.samsung.com/in.

The Korean giant has a multifaceted presence in India which includes its redesign, R&D and manufacturing operations. The India Newsroom has been created to explore the company’s India-specific offerings as well as to provide insight on its products. The site will also educate readers about the company’s efforts to enrich communities across the country and will feature articles about its vision for the future as well. This is the sixth such dedicated Newsroom that Samsung has launched following the global site, it already has separate sites for the United States, Korea, Brazil, and Vietnam.

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Samsung launches a Gear 360 Experience Studio in Vietnam

Preparing for the Gear 360′s launch in Vietnam on Saturday, October 22, Samsung has today launched a pop-up ‘Experience Studio’ dedicated to its first 360-degree camera in Ho Chi Minh City’s latest luxury shopping mall, Saigon Centre.

Potential customers visiting the Studio will have an opportunity to get up close and personal with the Gear 360 by recording their own shots and editing them on the companion application that’ll be running on a Galaxy S7 edge or Galaxy Note 7.

They will then be able to watch their creation using the latest version of Samsung’s Gear VR headset. Several will also be dotted around the area offering dramatic experiences like kayaking and roller coaster rides in order to keep attendees entertained.

If they enjoy the experience and find themselves wanting to pick up a Gear 360, they’ll be able to pre-order one while at the Experience Studio for free home delivery on Saturday, October 22 for ₫6.99 million ($315).

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There’s finally a fast and reliable way to transfer files on Tizen

It’s no secret that Tizen has been lacking a reliable file transfer application ever since its initial release back in January 2012. Sure, you’ve always had the facility to grab a third-party offering from the Tizen Store, but they rarely work and often restricted. However, that’s all about to change as the offering you’ve been waiting for has finally made its way onto the Store.

Xender File Transfer is available to download starting today for all models of the Samsung Z1, Z2 and Z3 running Tizen 2.4.0.1+. What separates this file sharing option from the flurry of others is that it not only allows you to wirelessly move files between Android, iOS and Tizen smartphones at a rapid pace, but you’ll have the facility to push them to computers too.

Unlike most other file sharing applications, Xender also supports extremely fast group file sharing on up to four devices. All you have to do is create a group, select the file you want to send — documents, photos or videos — then hit the miniature envelope icon and you’ll be good to go. No Internet connection? No worries. Xender packs an offline sharing mode that delivers high transfer speeds via Bluetooth.

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Themes Thursday: Have a look at this week’s only decent theme

Welcome to this week’s Themes Thursday! Out of 86 themes released in Samsung’s Theme Store over the course of past seven days, we found just one theme that’s even worth the attention.

The Pink Blossom _Doubledot theme is paid, and it combines a pastel shade of pink for the background with circular icons to create a theme that’s pleasant to look at. Did you find any other theme, which has been released this week, worth installing?

Pink Blossom _Doubledot | Paid

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Samsung Z2 expected to launch in Kenya later today

Over the course of the past few days, Samsung has been sending out invitations to a press event it’s scheduled to hold in Kenya later today. Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly what the company is planning to announce, but Tizen Experts believes that it will use the conference as an opportunity to launch the 4G-enabled Samsung Z2 in the region.

Kenya is the fifth country that the Samsung Z2 will be available in. It has already hit the shelves in India, Indonesia, Nepal and South Africa. Sadly, there aren’t many details floating around with regards to its pricing in the country. However, it’s believed to carry a price tag of around KSH 6,000 ($59), which seems about right as it retails for a similar price in the other countries it’s available in.

As you’d expect, the Samsung Z2 isn’t going to win any awards for being the most powerful device on the market, but it’s still a solid smartphone for consumers that don’t need mid-range specifications. It sports a 4-inch TFT display, a 1.5GHz quad-core Speadtrum processor, a Mali-400MP2 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, a 5MP rear-facing camera, a VGA selfie shooter and a 1,500mAh battery.

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