SamMobile Daily Recap: February 3, 2017

We publish a lot of stories on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the bulk of the news breaks during our European hours of operation, which makes it difficult for our readers in the US (and other regions) to follow every post that goes live on SamMobile. But, we think we’ve come up with an ideal solution — a daily recap. In the list below, you’ll find every story we published today. Chances are, you’re not going...

Watchface Friday: Here are this week’s ten best watchfaces

Welcome back to Watchface Friday! Every Friday, we’re highlighting a selection of our favorite watchfaces for the Gear S3 classic and Gear S3 frontier. All of the offerings are available to download through the Galaxy Apps Store, so you can rest assured that you won’t have to search all over the Internet to find something we’ve listed. Gear S3 classic SamWatch Basic 2 ...

PSA: Galaxy S7 fingerprint sensor needs to be pressed to unlock the device even on Nougat

Samsung changed how the fingerprint sensor works on the Galaxy J5 Prime and the J7 Prime to unlock the device. Unlike other devices from the company, users don’t need to press the fingerprint sensor when the screen is turned off. Just placing a finger on the fingerprint sensor gets the job done. Many were expecting that Samsung would implement the same mechanism in the Galaxy S7 and the S7 edge with the Nougat update and have been asking us about...

Galaxy Tab S3 will come with an S Pen

Samsung is due to launch its next-generation flagship Android tablet – the Galaxy Tab S3 – at the Mobile World Congress 2017 later this month. We’ve heard that the company is going to ship an S Pen with the Galaxy Tab S3. The tablet itself won’t have a place for the stylus like we’ve seen on the Note series. Samsung will ship the S Pen as part of a bundle with the tablet. Additional accessories for the Galaxy Tab S3 include a Keyboard Folio and a...

Daily Deal: Grab a Book Cover for the Galaxy Tab A 8.0 for 50% off

If you’re the proud owner of a Galaxy Tab A 8.0, you may want to listen up as we have some good news.  you can now purchase an official Samsung Book Cover for the device for just $24.99 (50% off). What’s useful about this particular case is that it’s capable of automatically switching off the tablet’s display when the front is flipped closed — so you no longer have to worry about hitting the power button before placing the device in your bag. If...

Charging your Gear S3 with a third-party charger could end badly

By now it’s safe to say that we’re all aware of the dangers associated with charging your smartphone using a third-party charger, but did you know that wearables are also at risk of catching fire when charged with aftermarket components? Lamar Jackson, a Gear S3 frontier owner from the United States, allegedly found this out the hard way. Instead of using the OEM charger that came in the box...

PSA: Always On Display isn’t likely to come to the Galaxy S6 lineup or the Galaxy Note 5

We see a lot of comments here at SamMobile from folks wondering why Samsung doesn’t bring the Always On Display feature to the Galaxy S6 lineup or the Galaxy Note 5. Well, we’ll get straight to the point here: Samsung probably isn’t going to bring Always On Display to those devices because of their puny batteries. Always On Display is a battery-intensive feature (taking around 1 percent battery per hour) as it keeps some part of the screen lit...

American Express will be Samsung Pay’s launch partner in India

We exclusively reported two months ago that Samsung Pay is going to be launched in India in the first half of 2017. A new report published today reiterates what we already told you a couple of months ago so that’s not news to us. However, it does reveal one interesting bit of information related to the launch of Samsung’s mobile payments service in India. Samsung recently started teasing the launch of Samsung Pay in India. The latest Galaxy Note...

Samsung bought $31.6 billion worth of semiconductors last year

Samsung was the top semiconductor chip buyer in 2016, according to a new report released by Gartner. It accounted for 9.3 percent of all semiconductor sales last year. The company spent $31.6 billion on chips and took the top spot on the list. Apple came close in second place as it spent almost $30 billion and accounted for 8.8 percent of all sales. Both companies spent $61.7 billion combined on semiconductors...

Samsung was the top LCD TV vendor in 2016

A division of market research firm TrendForce, WitsView, has released a new report which reveals that LCD TV shipments increased by 1.6 percent annually across the globe to reach 219.2 million units. The shipment growth has been attributed to strong sales in North America and the increasing affordability of large TVs. Samsung remained the top LCD TV vendor last year as it shipped 47.9 million units across the globe. Despite its impressive performance...

Samsung reportedly confused by Trump’s ‘thank you’ tweet

President Trump was quick to take to Twitter to thank Samsung after a report surfaced online claiming that the firm is planning to build a plant in the United States to manufacture home appliances. However, it would appear that company officials are a little confused by the tweet as they’re still yet to reply. Speaking to Korean publication The Investor, an industry official said, “We feel pressured for (President Trump) thanking Samsung because...

Stability update starts making its way to the Nougat-powered Galaxy S7 edge

Samsung has today started rolling out a rather unexpected OTA for the international variant of the Galaxy S7 edge. Unfortunately, the changelog doesn’t provide any indication of what the update — firmware version G935FXXU1DQAS — bundles, but seeing as it weighs in at a little over 15MB, we’re guessing that it’s packed full of bug fixes and stability improvements for the much-anticipated Android...

Mystery Samsung phone with MediaTek Helio P20 processor spotted

We’ve heard for a couple of years now that Samsung is thinking about sourcing processors from MediaTek for its low-end devices, particularly those powered by Tizen. Samsung currently uses its own Exynos processors or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series for Android devices while it relies on the likes of Spreadtrum for Tizen devices. MediaTek is no small player as it’s the largest supplier of processors to...

Samsung launches CFG70 curved quantum dot gaming monitor in India

Six months after showcasing it at the Gamescom 2016 Expo, Samsung has launched the CFG70 curved gaming monitor in India. The Quantum Dot monitor would be available in two screen sizes in the country: 24-inch (LC24FG70) and 27-inch (LC27FG70). The LC24FG70 is priced at INR 35,000, while the LC27FG70 costs at INR 42,000. Both, the LC24FG70 and the LC27FG70, feature curved Quantum Dot displays with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 1ms response time,...

Original Galaxy A5 gets a new update but it’s not what you think it is

Samsung has started rolling out a new firmware update for the original Galaxy A5 in Europe. It has been a while since this handset received a new update, it was last updated to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow back in the summer last year. Samsung is now rolling out a new update for the SM-A500 but it’s not what you think it is. The original Galaxy A5 is going to remain at Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow after this update because Samsung has only sent out a security...

Sprint fires up LTE Advanced for the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge in select cities across the United States will now get significantly faster mobile data speeds on Sprint. The carrier has confirmed that it has fired up three-carrier aggregation and thus brought faster LTE Advanced support to these handsets. There are a total of seven devices on Sprint’s network right now that support three-carrier aggregation, only two are from Samsung, and the carrier says that all seven account for...