الخميس، 11 مايو 2017

PSA: Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will not fast charge if the screen is on

It’s common knowledge that smartphones charge faster if they’re left sitting idle. Using a phone while it’s charging won’t get you the fastest charging times possible, and with Samsung devices, this holds even more weight. As Phandroid points out, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will not charge fast when the phone is actively used while charging, or even if the screen is on. The fast charging notification will continue to be shown in the status bar, but the devices will charge at regular speeds.

This has been the case since the Galaxy S6, and since all Samsung devices continue to use the same fast charging technology (Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0, or Adaptive Fast Charging as Samsung calls it) even today, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ suffer from the same limitation. Phandroid tested things out on the Galaxy S8 – the phone took only 1 hours and 37 minutes to go from 0 to 100 when the screen was off, while charging time went up to nearly 3 hours (2 hours 51 minutes, to be precise) when the screen was kept on at all times during charging. That’s only for the S8 with its 3,000 mAh battery, and the S8+ will no doubt be even slower.

It’s rare for someone to use their phone for the entirety of the charging period, especially when they are topping it up from 0 to 100. But it’s still good to keep in mind that you will see your phone charging faster if you just leave it be and refrain from turning the screen on too much. Why Samsung has the limitation in place is unclear. It could be a way of ensuring the device doesn’t overheat (fast charging tends to heat up a phone more than regular charging), but whatever the reason might be, it’s clear that fast charging works best on the company’s flagships when they are left sitting idle.



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T-Mobile Buy One Get One Free deal on Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ goes live tomorrow

T-Mobile may be gearing up to launch a Buy One Get One Free deal for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. A post on Reddit has outed the details of this deal that is likely going to go live tomorrow. Carrier deals normally have several conditions attached so customers will certainly have to be mindful of them, but they will essentially walk away with a free device if they take advantage of this promotion.

The way this works is that the customer buys both smartphones initially and T-Mobile gives them a rebate for one of those devices a couple of weeks later. They can get either the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ on the installment plan and at least one of the new devices has to be on a new line with unlimited data.

T-Mobile will then send the rebate in the form of a prepaid MasterCard which has a maximum value of $750. That’s what the Galaxy S8 costs at full retail before tax. So even if you opt for the Galaxy S8+ in this promotion you’ll only be given back the full cost of a Galaxy S8.

It appears that Galaxy S8 launch customers will not be able to take advantage of this promotion. It’s meant more for new customers who are either thinking about switching to T-Mobile or just want to buy one of the hottest devices on the market right now.

Either way, T-Mobile is expected to formally announce this promotion tomorrow.

t-mobile-bogo-galaxy-s8



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Samsung’s high-end flip phone may be launched in Korea soon

We exclusively reported last year that Samsung was working on a new high-end flip phone for China. Several months later, Samsung launched the W2017 in China. That’s the only country this smartphone is available in right now but it appears that Samsung might be gearing up to launch it in South Korea as well.

A report out of Samsung’s home country cites an official of a local telecom carrier who claims that while the release date can’t be confirmed at this point, Samsung will be launching the high-end flip phone in South Korea soon.

The Samsung W2017 features a 4.2-inch external and internal Full HD Super AMOLED display. It’s powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage with microSD card support. The handset also features a 12-megapixel rear camera with f/1.9 aperture that can record video in 4K. There’s a 5-megapixel camera on the front.

Measuring in at 127.8 x 61.4 x 15.8mm, the dual-SIM Samsung W2017 weighs 208g with its all metal body and packs in a 2,300mAh battery. It even has features like fast wireless charging, a fingerprint sensor, Always On Display and Samsung Pay support.

Samsung W2017 has only been available exclusively in China but if today’s report is to be believed, customers in South Korea will be able to pick one up soon as well.



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SamMobile Daily Recap: May 11, 2017 — Galaxy Note 7R, Galaxy S8 and more!

Daily Deal: Save 50% on Samsung’s Dual-Port Car Fast Charger

If you’re in the market for a new charger that plugs directly into the cigarette lighter in your car, you may want to listen up. While stock lasts, you can bag yourself a brand new Fast Charge Dual-Port Car Charger for just $19.55 (50% off).

Without a doubt, the best thing about this particular in-car charger is that it has support for Samsung’s Fast Charge technology, which means that you can power your device from zero to 50 percent in approximately 30 minutes.

If you like the sound of the Fast Charge Dual-Port Car Charger and want to take advantage of this promotion, hit the Buy Now button below. We strongly advise you to hurry though, as Amazon only has a limited amount of stock.



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Samsung has possibly patented a Bixby speaker

Smart assistant-powered speakers are all the rage these days. Amazon’s Echo speakers have been very successful while Microsoft has thrown its hat in the ring as well. It has teamed up with Harman Kardon, which is now owned by Samsung, on a Cortana-powered speaker called Invoke. The software giant also confirmed yesterday that it’s also working with HP on a similar device.

Samsung introduced its new virtual assistant called Bixby with the Galaxy S8. The company has made no secret of the fact that it’s eventually going to bring Bixby to a whole range of devices including smart home appliances and connected devices. It will not surprise anyone if Samsung decides to come out with a Bixby-powered smart speaker.

The company has been granted a design patent today for an “Audio Device.” It might presumably be the company’s own Amazon Echo rival. There’s not much to go on right now as details about this device are not available. Design patents don’t explain the concept beyond the graphics they’re filed with so all we can gain from the graphics right now is that this is likely going to be a standalone speaker.

If Samsung is going to launch this device at some point in the future then we can expect to hear more about it in the coming months. It’s not like all devices that get patented end up seeing the light of day.

bixby-speaker-1
bixby-speaker-2



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Spreadtrum hopes that Samsung will start making high-end Tizen smartphones

Samsung sources the processors for its Tizen smartphones from a relatively unknown Chinese company called Spreadtrum. The company’s Tizen smartphones are limited to a handful of markets and we’ve not seen it come out with a proper flagship-level Tizen smartphone yet. Spreadtrum is hoping that this is something that Samsung will eventually do at some point in the future.

Spreadtrum has said that it will continue to grow its ongoing partnership with Samsung and that it hopes this partnership will move from the low-end segment to the high-end segment of the smartphone market.

The company did launch a new mid-to-high range chipset a couple of months back. It’s a 64-bit octa-core SoC that’s built on Intel’s 14nm process. It’s coupled with an Imagination PowerVR GT7200 graphics processor, 5 mode full-band LTE Category 7 modem.

There’s support for up to 26 megapixel / dual camera / 3D shooting and Ultra HD 4K2K video recording and playback. It can even drive high-resolution WQXGA 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution displays.

To be absolutely clear, this is just Spreadtrum hoping that Samsung will eventually make a high-end Tizen smartphone. Samsung hasn’t said anything to suggest that it’s working on one or that one will ever be launched. So don’t cross your fingers for a flagship Tizen smartphone just yet.



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AT&T distributes an update to fix the Galaxy S8′s ‘red tint’ display bug

Good news for folk in possession of a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ on AT&T: The carrier has today started rolling out a maintenance update to address a bug that some users have been experiencing, which resulted in a red tint appearing on their handset’s display.

The upgrade itself is identical to the one that carriers began distributing in South Korea a little over two weeks ago and more recently in Canada and the U.S., transporting a couple of new settings for the Adaptive Display screen mode, designed to optimize the appearance of white tones.

To see if the OTA is ready for your Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+, open up Settings, tap Software Update, then press Download Updates Manually. If it doesn’t show up, don’t panic. It just means that it hasn’t reached your device yet, so be sure to repeat the process in around 24-hours.



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Samsung to deliver first multi-vendor 5G trials with Verizon and Cisco

Samsung today announced the deployment of the first multi-vendor end-to-end 5G trial network in the field. The trial took place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in partnership with Verizon and Cisco. This is part of Samsung’s focus on early ecosystem development with IT and telecom partners in order to build alignment and stability around the next-generation platform.

Verizon previously announced plans for 5G customer trials for its home broadband service. The trial is going to begin in five US cities in the second quarter of this year. By Q3, this trial will be expanded to a total of 11 markets in the United States.

Ann Arbor is the first location where a multi-vendor 5G solution has been deployed. It includes a 5G virtualized packet core as part of the Cisco Ultra Services Platform with Cisco Advanced Services and Samsung virtual RAN solutions (vRAN) coupled with Samsung’s 5G Radio base stations and 5G home routers which will deliver 5G broadband services to Verizon’s trial customers.

The three companies performed several comprehensive network vendor interoperability tests which demonstrated the seamless interworking between the core network, radio edge and user devices which showcased a core principle 5G network virtualization through multi-vendor support. The tests were based on Verizon’s 5G Technical Forum specification.



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WhatsApp for Tizen gets two new features

WhatsApp for Tizen received the voice calling feature two years ago. It was first enabled for the Samsung Z1 and later arrived for the Samsung Z3 last year. Tizen users got this feature not too long after WhatsApp enabled it for users on iOS and Android. They’re now receiving a new WhatsApp update which brings two new features.

Tizen had an emulated version of the WhatsApp Android app initially so features that were added to the Android app were immediately made available to Tizen users. However, an official app for Tizen was later released by WhatsApp.

The latest WhatsApp for Tizen update brings two new features. The Voice Message feature enable users to leave short recorded messages for their contacts if they call them and they’re unable to answer. Users will see a Voice Message button that lets them record voice messages in the same manner as they record a voice note in WhatsApp.

The Call Again button has been added to the app as well. It’s pretty self-explanatory. You just need to tap on this button and it will automatically try the same contact that you called last. The feature will certainly come in handy for those who tend to use WhatsApp frequently for calls.



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Galaxy Note 7R to hit the shelves by the end of May or early June

The Galaxy Note 7R could launch in South Korea as early as this month, reveals The Investor. Citing Chosun Ilbo, the publication reported that Samsung plans to apply for safety certification for the refurbished variant of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 in the not-too-distant future, and seeing as the process can take up to one month, we should expect the handset to hit the shelves by the end of May or early June.

A recent hands-on image points towards the Galaxy Note 7R sporting an identical design to its predecessor, but shipping with a smaller 3,200mAh battery and Android 7.0 pre-installed, as opposed to a 3,500mAh cell and running Android 6.0.1 out of the box. It’s also believed to carry a price tag of 700,000 won ($620), which is around 300,000 won ($266) cheaper than the original Galaxy Note 7.

More on the Galaxy Note 7RRefurbished Galaxy Note 7 variants pass through FCC

All other internals will reportedly remain the same, meaning the upcoming Galaxy Note 7R should pack a 5.7-inch display with a resolution of 1,440 x 2,560 pixels, an in-house Exynos 8890 octa-core CPU, a Mali-T880 MP12 GPU, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable internal storage, a 12MP rear-facing camera equipped with OIS, a 5MP front-facing shooter and an iris scanner.



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Tizen overtakes Android Wear in smartwatch market share

The Gear Live was Samsung’s first and only Android Wear-powered smartwatch. It was released back in 2014 and while many thought that Samsung would launch another one, the company confirmed last year that it will no longer make Android Wear smartwatches. Samsung said that it would only make smartwatches that run on its Tizen platform.

Tizen OS is now being used by Samsung in all of its wearable devices. The platform has also been worked into the company’s smart home appliances and other connected devices. So it makes perfect sense for Samsung to stick with Tizen when it comes to smartwatches. What may have appeared as a gamble last year seems to have paid off.

A new report from Strategy Analytics shows that Tizen has overtaken Android Wear in market share this past quarter. It now accounts for 19 percent of the smartwatch market compared to Android Wear’s 18 percent. This is the first time that it has advanced against Google’s wearable platform since Q4 2015.

Android Wear hasn’t been able to make significant gains against the Apple Watch which remains the leader with 57 percent of the market share. Tizen has seen considerable growth over the past two years as its market share has climbed from 6.7 percent to 19 percent.

android-wear-tizen-os



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OLEDs accounted for over 60% of Samsung’s total display sales in Q1 2017

According to a new report, OLEDs accounted for more than 60% of Samsung’s total display sales in Q1 of 2017, and with the amount of manufacturers attempting to produce smartphones with curved screens rapidly increasing, the South Korean company expects the figure to grow even more by the end of the year.

“The employment of OLED panel from set manufacturers in Q2 will be consistently increasing and Samsung Electronics will maintain stable performance with response for external customers and supply flexible products to core customers,” said Chang-hoon Lee, the director of Samsung Display.

While demand for pocket-sized OLEDs increased, Samsung noticed a drop in the amount of people picking up TVs. Last year, the firm also reported that fewer people were purchasing new televisions during the same timeframe, leading us to believe sales will pick back up during the second quarter.



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Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) now receiving Android 7.0 Nougat

Samsung has reportedly started rolling out the much-anticipated Android 7.0 update for the LTE-enabled and Wi-Fi-only variants of the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) in the United States. The upgrade transports all of the new features you’d expect to find baked into Nougat, as well as a slew of additional bug fixes and stability improvements.

The full changelog can be seen below:

  • OS upgrade – Android 7.0 Nougat
  • Provides new UX and various performance modes
  • Improved usability of the Notification feature and Quick settings button
  • Improved usability of the Multi window
  • Addition of the Samsung pass feature
  • Efficient space for installation of downloaded apps, improved speed of system upgrade and app installation

If you’d like to see if the OTA is ready for your device, navigate into Settings » About Device » Download Updates Manually. Alternatively, you can wait until you receive a push notification instructing you to download the firmware, but that could take a little bit longer. Once installed, be sure to check out our tips to find out how to get the most out of Nougat.



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