Vimeo Samsung Smart TV app set to land in a few weeks

Earlier this year, Samsung introduced its Made For Samsung Program that would bring the best and most popular app brands to its mobile devices (including its Tizen-powered Smart TVs). Now at year’s end, the Korean giant is still doing that, with a new HTML5-based Vimeo Smart TV app for its Tizen-powered TVs in the works.

“We’ve built brand new native experiences for Apple TV and Android TV, and are introducing our first-ever HTML5-based TV app to provide the best possible viewing experience and promote greater content discovery,” said Vimeo TV Apps Senior Product Manager Will True. The Vimeo Samsung Smart TV app was built from the ground up and is more than simply a “scaled up” version of the Vimeo app on current mobile devices. Upon activating the Vimeo app, a list of pre-set curated content starts playing, and, if you already have a Vimeo account, your saved and uploaded video content should still be accessible.

Vimeo is a video service that allows you to upload, share, and view video content. While Vimeo’s new Apple TV app is available now, and Android TV’s app is also available (though with limited features for now, until the gradual rollout of remaining features), the HTML5-based Samsung Smart TV app won’t launch until in the coming weeks (no definite time has been specified). You can see just how Vimeo’s Smart TV app for Samsung’s Tizen-powered TVs will work by viewing the YouTube video below. In the meantime, you can always download the new Spotify app that has now landed for your Smart TV.

Samsung Smart TV users, glad to see Vimeo come to your TV? Been a long time Vimeo user? Do you see it as a competitor to YouTube?

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Oukitel U15S draws inspiration from Samsung’s Scroll Capture

With the arrival of the Galaxy Note 5, Samsung introduced a feature called Scroll Capture that lets you take a screenshot of what’s on your page and then scroll to capture the rest of the page. It’s a feature that finally eliminated taking multiple screenshots of the same page. Well, a new mid-range smartphone announced back in October draws inspiration from Samsung’s Scroll Capture feature that now also lives on the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge (my Verizon S7 edge has converted Scroll Capture into “Capture More”).

The phone in question? The Oukitel U15S.

The Oukitel U15S brings features such as a 5.5-inch Full HD panel made by Sharp, a 1.5Ghz octa-core MediaTek MT6750T SoC, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 5MP front-facing camera and 13MP back camera (Oukitel says these can be “interpolated” to 8MP and 16MP, respectively), and a SCUD 2,700mAh battery. The specs provided above don’t quite tell the whole story, since the 4GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage are both provided by Samsung. RAM and NAND flash from Samsung aren’t surprising though, considering that Samsung is a giant in its offerings in both these areas.

What is surprising about this handset though, is that Oukitel, known for its durable build quality (yes, the K series can be used to hammer nails), draws inspiration from Samsung’s most prestigious high-end S and Note series. The Oukitel U15S showcases an advanced feature known as Super Screenshot that lets you get up to 10 pages of any article, regardless of what page you’re actually reading on-screen. If you’re on page 3, you can still use the Super Screenshot feature to grab pages 4-10, for example. The label “Super Screenshot” testifies to the goal of this feature: to go beyond the basic idea of a screenshot to now allow you to screenshot multiple pages in one screenshot instead of requiring 10 screenshots for 10 pages.

Oukitel’s Super Screenshot feature is rare for a mid-range handset, but it shows Oukitel’s desire to stand out by revolutionizing screenshots. And yet, Samsung has started a revolution with its Scroll Capture, which was unheard of until the Korean giant unveiled the Galaxy Note 5 in August 2015. Prior to this, though, Samsung had started revolutionizing screenshots with its “Palm Swipe to Capture” feature that lets you use the side of your palm and swipe it across the screen (from left to right) to capture on-screen content, eliminating the need to hit the home button accidentally and watch an app exit to the home page.

Oukitel’s inspiration from Samsung regarding screenshots is one that we applaud. Samsung has always said its goal has been to make the industry better, and we can see that here, even in screenshots.

Currently, most Android smartphones still mandate the use of multiple screenshots to capture an entire page, and we hope that Oukitel’s move with Super Screenshot will spur other well-known Android OEMs such as Motorola, LG, and HTC to revamp their own screenshots so that you need not continue the old “piece-by-piece-per-page” screenshot process. Samsung is the trendsetter in screenshots, and Oukitel has taken the idea and run with it. Let’s hope that so many other Android OEMs sit up and take notice.

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Daily Deal: Save $29 on SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit from Amazon

Samsung offers a wide range of smart home products under its SmartThings brand. If you want to get started with equipping your home with some smart home products, you can have a look at the Home Monitoring Kit from SmartThings. It is currently being sold for $219.99 through Amazon, which is a discount of $29 over its regular price.

The Home Monitoring Kit consists of one SmartThings Hub, two multipurpose sensors, one motion sensor, and one outlet. The hub is used to connect all the products that are compatible with SmartThings. You can control a variety of things right from your smartphone or tablet. You can secure off limit areas of your home, keep an eye on valuable things using a compatible camera, or trigger lights as and when you wish using the SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit.

There’s limited stock, so click the source link to grab the deal before stock runs out.

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Exclusive: Samsung Pay could be launched in India in the first half of 2017

Samsung is trying to launch its mobile payments solution in as many markets as possible. Samsung Pay is currently available in Australia, Brazil, Canada (currently limited to CIBC customers), China, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, and the US. Now, the company is working on its way to launch Samsung Pay in India.

We’ve received information that Samsung is testing its mobile payment service for the Indian market, and that it could be launched in the first half of 2017. Since India does not have many NFC-equipped Point of Sale devices, Samsung Pay’s MST functionality would be a boon to the users. It is being expected that the South Korean smartphone giant would bring Samsung Pay functionality to its mid-range smartphones, which would further help increase its adoption in the country.

After the recent demonetization of INR 500 and INR 1,000 currency denominations in India, people have increasingly started using credit and debit cards as well as mobile payment solutions like Paytm and Freecharge, so it is the right time for Samsung to launch Samsung Pay in India. Samsung recently tied up with most major Indian banks for its My Money Transfer app for Tizen-based Z1 and Z3 smartphones.

Samsung had promised that it would launch Samsung Pay in the UK by the end of 2016, but the launch has been delayed to 2017 as it is taking longer than expected to tie up with the banks. This could happen with the service’s launch in India as well, so we have to understand that there is a possibility of some delay in Samsung Pay’s launch in India. However, we feel that the Galaxy S8‘s launch would be a great time for Samsung to launch its mobile payments service in the country.

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Samsung explains all the features of its Level series headsets in a new infographic

Samsung has launched quite a few headphones in its Level series, and there is something for everyone. Whether you want a wired headphone or wireless, with active noise cancellation or without one, in-ear or over-the-ear, you can get Level headphones that suit your needs. Now, Samsung has released an infographic which showcases the features of all the headphones in its Level series.

The Level U Pro and the Level U Pro ANC are neckband style wireless headphones with splash resistance. However, only the ANC model features active noise cancellation. The Level Active wireless earphones are mostly targeted towards sports and fitness enthusiasts as they feature splash resistance and an ActiveKey button. For those who want a wired in-ear model with active noise cancellation, Samsung offers the Level In ANC earphones. The Level On Wireless Pro are on-ear headphones with noise cancellation, high-resolution audio compatibility, and touch controls.

Have a look at the infographic which shows the features and differences between Samsung’s Level series headphones below.

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Samsung Display’s flexible OLED sales top $1 billion

Samsung Display saw its flexible OLED panel sales cross $1 billion for the first time in its history in the third quarter of this year. The conglomerate’s display-making affiliate supplied panels not only to Samsung Electronics which accounts for a big chunk of its business but also to top Chinese manufacturers like Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo. Sales to Chinese companies helped Samsung Display cross this major milestone.

Data from market research institute IHS Market shows Samsung Display retains its number one position in the small and mid-sized display market as it accounted for 31.8 percent of the entire market. It maintains a gap double that the market share of its closest rival, Japan Display, which accounts for 15.4 percent of the market while LG Display comes third with 13.1 percent.

Samsung Display maintains its virtual monopoly in the small and medium-sized OLED market with a 96.2 percent market share in the third quarter of this year. Even though LG Display and even Chinese manufacturers have entered this market they still have a long way to go before they can effectively compete with Samsung Display in the mobile OLED arena.

Samsung is actually the only panel maker in the world that’s operating the A3 line, a sixth-generation flexible OLED line at its Tangjeong plant in Chungcheong-nam-do. Flexible OLED panels manufactured here are supplied to Samsung Electronics for its mobile devices as well as a handful of Chinese manufacturers.

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WSJ: Samsung’s $8 billion bid to acquire Harman may not be enough

Samsung’s $8 billion all-cash bid to acquire car tech manufacturer Harman may be approaching its first hurdle. The Wall Street Journal‘s reported that Atlantic Investment Managment, which has a 2.3% stake in the firm, plans to vote against the deal, saying that it’s worth a lot more than the $112 per share the South Korean company is offering.

Granted, Atlantic Investment Management doesn’t have a large enough stake in Harman to sway the votes and veto the deal, but it’s possible that other — sizeable — shareholders will follow suit with the hope of squeezing a little bit more cash from the acquisition. Although, the probability of that happening is pretty low.

However, the possibility of another party placing a bid is now being thrown around. The Journal notes that Google’s parent Alphabet and Apple are both eager to design the next generation of cars and with deep pockets, it would be foolish to rule out a potential bid from either of these companies in the not-too-distant future.

Atlantic Investment Management’s estimation of Harman’s worth likely comes from an acquisition that fell through in December 2015 when an unnamed company was offering to purchase the firm in an all-stock deal tworth $115 per share, but seeing as the offer was in stocks, it’s unlikely that they could have beat Samsung’s all-cash bid.

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Samsung’s mobile chief calls for tightened security ahead of the Galaxy S8′s release

Samsung’s mobile business chief Koh Dong-jin has urged employees to “tighten security” ahead the release of its next flagship smartphone, reveals The Korea Herald. It’s believed that the call for improvement comes as speculation about the upcoming Galaxy S8‘s design is becoming increasingly accurate.

“I feel deeply regretful to hear news of the recent attempts at data breach and prototype leak,” said Koh in an email sent to employees on December 15. “Samsung had a bitter experience due to the leak of important data — on product design and business strategies — to China and consequently suffered damages in the past.”

After the Galaxy Note 7′s unfortunate demise, Samsung’s preparing to make a solid comeback with the Galaxy S8 in H1 of 2017 — so understandably the last thing it wants is competitors catching wind of the handset’s internal and external specifications before it’s ready to be unveiled to be public.

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Android 7.0 for Galaxy devices could bring fingerprint gesture functionality

Samsung has been promising a lot of features for the final version of Android 7.0 Nougat based on customer feedback and requests that it has been receiving during the beta program, and it looks like the company could be making the fingerprint sensor on its devices more useful by adding gesture functionality with Nougat.

A beta tester asked Samsung if it would be implementing fingerprint gestures as seen on devices like Google’s new Pixel phones, and while Samsung hasn’t directly confirmed any particular feature, it does say that it is “trying to improve the features of the Fingerprint Scanner.” For those unaware, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL allow users to access the notification shade when they swipe down on the fingerprint sensor. It works well as you always have a finger at the back of the phone when you’re using it, and it would make even more sense for the front-facing fingerprint sensors on Samsung devices.

Given Samsung’s version of Nougat is currently in beta, there is no guarantee of whether fingerprint gestures will be present in the final version, although we could see some form of implementation on one of the beta updates for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. With the rumor from earlier today suggesting the Galaxy S8 could have the fingerprint sensor at the back, these gestures could certainly become a part of Samsung’s software for every Galaxy device that features a fingerprint sensor.

Would you be interested in seeing gesture functionality on the fingerprint sensor on your Samsung device? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks, Viraj!

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Galaxy S8 fingerprint scanner might be placed on the back

There have been countless rumors so far suggesting that the Galaxy S8 is going to be the first smartphone to feature optical fingerprint recognition. This means that the display would incorporate fingerprint scanning technology. One of Samsung’s suppliers recently launched a component that makes that happen and it’s believed that Samsung might source it for the Galaxy S8. However, if a new report is to be believed, Samsung might actually place the Galaxy S8 fingerprint scanner on the back of the device.

The report also mentions that the Galaxy S8 is going to have an iris recognition sensor which Samsung introduced earlier this year with the Galaxy Note 7. It’s claimed that the Galaxy S8′s iris recognition sensor is going to be faster than the one Samsung used for the ill-fated phablet. Once the Galaxy S8 is launched with iris recognition technology, Samsung is said to re-engage with banks and financial institutions to launch the Samsung Pass service once again.

The report reiterates that the Galaxy S8 isn’t going to have a home button but also claims that it’s not going to feature optical fingerprint recognition. It claims that Samsung is going to put the fingerprint scanner on the back of the Galaxy S8, it would look quite similar to the Google Pixel’s fingerprint scanner that’s also placed on the back.

Samsung has obviously not commented on this report so it’s too soon to be certain where the Galaxy S8′s fingerprint scanner is going to be placed. Hopefully there will be more clarity about this in the weeks to come. The Galaxy S8 is due to be unveiled at MWC 2017 in February.

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Samsung reveals details about two new virtual reality headsets

Samsung’s Gear VR is a relatively affordable way to experience virtual reality and the company has improved the headset over the past couple of years to provide an even better experience. Speaking at the Virtual Reality Summit in San Diego on Thursday, Samsung Electronics vice president Dr. Sung-Hoon Hong revealed that the company is working on two new virtual reality headsets. He mentioned that the Samsung Gear VR 2 is going to be “presented in a short time.”

“Samsung is building two VR engines,” Sung-Hoon mentioned during his talk, adding that the company has enhanced the rendering engine. He also said that the Gear VR 3 would be ready next year. It would improve upon the augmented reality technology we’ve seen with the Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap. “AR has much better business development for Samsung. That’s what we are aiming for,” Sung-Hoon said.

He further explained that there are four levels of augmented reality and that Samsung is aiming for level three which enables users to interact with virtual experiences in the real world. This would be like playing Pokemon Go and discovering Pikachu in a tree, only that players are able to move the leaves of the tree to reach Pikachu. “Samsung’s hologram technology is really, really realistic. It looks really touchable,” he added.

More details about the new headsets will be provided in 2017.

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