Samsung to release ‘See the Unexpected’ video series on extreme sports with Red Bull

Red Bull is the energy drink that requires no introduction. The company has long aligned its brand identity with extreme sports. You would find it difficult to name an extreme sport that doesn’t have a Red Bull-sponsored top athlete.

Samsung has announced today that it has teamed up with Red Bull to release a new series of videos called “See the Unexpected.” The video series is going to feature top extreme sports athletes demonstrating their skills throughout some of the most iconic locations in Morocco. The new video series is going to highlight the talents of Red Bull athletes and Samsung TVs.

Red Bull athletes including motorcyclist Robbie Maddison, wakeboarder Felix Georgii and parkour athlete Jason Paul will be featured in this series. Morocco will serve as the backdrop in this series with the athletes taking their talents to unexpected places.

Each location has been selected to showcase the juxtaposition between the unique and colorful locations of Morocco and the extraordinary talents of the athletes.

The See the Unexpected video series has been launched alongside a 30-minute documentary piece on Samsung’s TV Plus channel as well as Samsung and Red Bull digital channels today. Select Samsung retail locations will play a four-minute video from the series on Samsung’s QLED TVs.

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Samsung TVs with LG display panels might be developed starting next month

Samsung found itself in a bit of a pickle when Sharp notified the company late last year that it would stop supplying it with LCD panels. Sharp decided to end supply to Samsung after being acquired by Foxconn, a decision that was likely meant to promote the company’s own TVs instead of backing Samsung in the lucrative LCD TV market.

Samsung then started to look for other suppliers who could fill the gap and crosstown rival LG Display seemed like the perfect fit.

It was then reported that LG Display might start supplying Samsung with LCD panels as early as June this year. Subsequent reports reiterated that claim and added that LG Display was planning on supplying 700,000 units of LCD panels for TVs.

The latest reports out of South Korea suggest that Samsung will start producing LCD TVs with panels from LG Display next month. LG Display is reportedly going to supply the company with 40-inch and 60-inch panels for its high-end TVs. The production is said to take place at Samsung’s P7 and P8 plants in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

Samsung remains the largest TV manufacturer in the world. It used to source up to five million LCD panels from Sharp. LG Display is said to supply up to 1 million panels which means Samsung still has ground to cover. It may consider sourcing panels from other manufacturers in China and Taiwan to fill the gap.

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Samsung remains top smartphone display manufacturer in Q1 2017

The latest market data from industry tracker IHS Markit shows that Samsung retained its position as the world’s top manufacturer of smartphone displays in the first quarter of this year. One of the reasons why the company was able to retain its position is said to be the robust growth in shipments of flexible OLED products.

IHS Markit’s data shows that combined global sales of LCD and OLED displays that are 9 inches or smaller in size raked in $13 billion in sales during the January-March 2017 period. Compared to last year, this was a 35 percent growth.

Samsung Display remained in the lead in this market as it posted sales of $3.5 billion during this period and thus accounted for 27.2 percent of the global market. The combined sales of flexible OLED products accounted for $1.1 billion, doubling year-over-year on the back of the Galaxy S8′s release.

Japan Display followed in second place with 17.8 percent. LG Display and China-based BOE Technology Group came in third and fourth place respectively.

The overall growth in the global smartphone display market is deemed to be significant by industry analysts as the first quarter of a new year is generally considered to be the “off season.” The numbers are certainly impressive.

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Samsung confirms $380 million appliance plant in South Carolina

It was first reported earlier this year that Samsung was considering setting up a plant in the United States to manufacture appliances. It was the company’s expected response to growing protectionism in the country following Donald Trump’s election to the office of the president.

The president had long claimed on the campaign trail that he would hike tariffs on products manufactured outside the United States for sale in the country in a bid to push manufacturers to set up plants in the country and create new jobs in the United States.

Recent reports had suggested that Samsung had decided to set up a plant in the state of South Carolina and that it would invest $380 million for the purpose. This has now been confirmed by the company.

Samsung is indeed opening a new factory in South Carolina that’s going to cost it $380 million. The plant will be used to manufacture washing machines and other appliances. Samsung will also conduct research and development at the site. It’s going to be established at a former Caterpillar plant in the town of Newberry.

The company later said in an email that it has been thinking about setting up a home appliance manufacturing plant in the United States for almost three years now.

If that’s true, President Trump’s claims of hiking tariffs may just have expedited the decision, not caused it. Nonetheless, it’s going to add almost 1,000 new industrial jobs in the state of South Carolina and that’s going to look good on his resumé.

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MWC Shanghai 2017 awards ‘Best Smartphone’ honor to the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+

Samsung’s new flagship smartphone continues to bring in more awards for the company. Samsung today announced that the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ earned the “Best Smartphone” honors at the 2017 Asia Mobile Awards. The awards are held annually to recognize game-changing innovations in the mobile industry at Asia’s largest mobile event, Mobile World Congress Shanghai.

MWC 2017 Shanghai has been organized in partnership with GSMA and it runs from June 28 through July 1. The 2017 Asia Mobile Awards were held on the evening of June 28 at the DaGuan Theatre in Pudong, Shanghai. The awards are a celebration of companies whole mobile products have shown exceptional innovation.

The Best Smartphone award that the Galaxy S8 brought home was adjudicated by a panel of leading journalists, analysts and market influencers. They considered a variety of factors such as physical design and user experience to the simplicity of use, performance, sheer innovation and value for money.

The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ tick all of the boxes and have thus been honored as the Best Smartphone at the 2017 AMOs. It’s a pretty big honor for the company’s latest and undoubtedly its greatest smartphone. Well deserved, might I add. The handset really is worthy of all the praise being heaped on it.

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Rose Pink Galaxy S8+ will be released tomorrow

Samsung confirmed earlier this week that it was going to offer the Galaxy S8+ in a new color option that it’s calling Rose Pink. The confirmation came from Samsung Taiwan’s official Facebook page which said that the device would be released in the country next month and that it would only be available for a limited time.

Samsung has now sent out a press release confirming that the sixth color option for the Galaxy S8+ is going to be released in select markets including South Korea and Taiwan starting tomorrow, June 30.

The company says that this new hue has been “inspired by nature” and that it envelops the device to create a sense of unity and fluidity between the glass and metal of the handset’s body. The Rose Pink color has been described as “sophisticated and modern” which only adds to the overall aesthetics of the Galaxy S8+.

As Samsung mentioned, this is the sixth color option for its flagship smartphone. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are already available in Midnight Black, Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver, Coral Blue and Maple Gold colors.

The specific availability details will be confirmed by Samsung’s regional arms in the markets where this handset is going to be released.

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Wallpaper Wednesday: Gradients

Welcome to the latest edition of Wallpaper Wednesday. This week, we’re highlighting a total of four backgrounds featuring gradients. All of the images are available in a suitable resolution for the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ and just about any other smartphone on the market.

If any of the following images float your boat and you want to download and set one as your wallpaper, simply tap on the photo to maximise it, then click and hold to save it. Once the picture is stored locally, open up Settings, locate and select Wallpaper, then just press the image to set it as your background.

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Color Splash

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Melted Fuse

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Mini Triangles

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Red Attack

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Download

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SamMobile Daily Recap: June 28, 2017 — Game Launcher, Galaxy S8 and more!

We publish a lot of stories on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the majority of news breaks during our European hours of operation, which makes it difficult for our readers in the US (and other regions) to keep up. However, we think we’ve come up with a fantastic solution — a daily recap.

Here’s what went out today.

APK

Game Launcher update brings support for DeX

Business

Samsung invests $1 billion in its Texas chip foundry, aims to manufacture 4nm chips by 2020

Deals

Daily Deal: Bag yourself a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ for 25% off

Phones

Galaxy Note 7 FE specs show up in GFXBench listing

Samsung introduces new ISOCELL lineup of camera sensors, includes dual-cameras

TouchWiz Home update for Galaxy S8 and S8+ promises to fix the lag

Use these apps to disable system apps on your Samsung phone without root

We now know why Samsung’s having trouble teaching Bixby Voice different languages

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The Galaxy S8′s primary camera has me unimpressed, but that’s not a bad thing

Last year, Samsung knocked it out of the park with the Galaxy S7′s camera. The 12-megapixel rear camera on the S7 didn’t have as many megapixels as its predecessor, but the combination of features like dual-pixel autofocus and larger pixels made the S7′s camera nothing short of amazing. The Galaxy S7 was hailed as having the best camera on a smartphone at the time of its launch, and with the Galaxy S8, Samsung worked on further improving camera performance. The new mult-frame processor that takes multiple shots and combines them into one for increased photo quality is the highlight on the S8, but I have been rather unimpressed with the rear camera on the Samsung’s new flagships.

The thing is, I don’t mean that in a bad way, and the S8 has made me realize how good Samsung’s flagship camera was a year ago. The only benefit I notice on the photos taken by the S8 is the increased detail in low-light shots. Elsewhere, in day-to-day usage, the Galaxy S8 offers nearly the same image quality as the Galaxy S7 in my eyes, and I like the photos that come out of the rear camera. The thing is, since the camera isn’t noticeably better than the S7′s, I don’t find myself firing up the camera as much as I tend to on a new device. That, again, is not a bad thing, as Samsung has been offering a stellar imaging experience on its top devices for more than a year.

Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ review: Samsung brings us the future, but it’s not perfect yet

Is there room for improvement? There certainly is. In bright light, the Galaxy S8 has the same tendency to overexpose the subject as the S7. This is particularly noticeable when you manually focus on a subject that’s lit up (like a lamp, or a lit signboard outside a store), and it’s something that bothered me even on the Galaxy S7. But it’s not often that you take photos of such subjects, so it’s not something that takes away from the otherwise impressive performance of Samsung’s 12-megapixel flagship cameras.

What’s your take on the Galaxy S8′s rear camera?

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Galaxy Note 7 FE specs show up in GFXBench listing

Samsung’s refurbished version of the Galaxy Note 7 is set to launch on July 7 as the Galaxy Note 7 FE (with FE said to stand for ‘fandom edition’), according to recent reports. With just a week to go before the phone hits retail shelves, Note 7 fans are no doubt excited, even though the Galaxy Note 7 FE is expected to be available only in South Korea initially. The refurbished iteration is said to feature the same specs as the discontinued Note 7 apart from the battery (which is said to be smaller), and these specs have now shown up on GFXBench.

The benchmark database has the device listed as the Note 7R (which may be the codename and not the name of the retail unit), and it’s running Android 7.0 Nougat. The screen is listed as a 5.7-inch unit with Full HD resolution – the actual display will probably go up to Quad HD but run at 1080p out of the box, just like the Galaxy S8 and S8+. Other listed specs include 12-megapixel and 5-megapixel rear and front-facing camera, the Exynos 8890 clocked at 2.6GHz (GFXBench also lists the regular Note 7 at 2.6GHz even though the phone ran at 2.3GHz), 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage, all of which remain unchanged from the Note 7.

The battery size isn’t mentioned, but reports suggest the phone will have a 3,200 mAh battery. A recent report also suggested the Note 7 FE/7R will come with Samsung’s Bixby assistant, which means there will be an additional button dedicated to launching Bixby. The presence of Bixby won’t come as a surprise, however, as Samsung is expected to build it into its mid-range devices as well. It would also make sense for the South Korean market, as Bixby is the most functional in Samsung’s home country (it is also expected to go live in the US in the near future).

Of course, the biggest question is whether Samsung will bring the refurbished Galaxy Note 7 to markets outside South Korea. With the Galaxy Note 8 incoming, it’s highly unlikely, but one can always hope.

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Samsung invests $1 billion in its Texas chip foundry, aims to manufacture 4nm chips by 2020

Samsung’s chip manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas is one of the most technologically advanced foundries in the world. It was established back in 1997, and the company manufactures some of the latest and greatest memory, storage, and processing chipsets for itself as well as for big-name brands like Apple. Now, the company has invested $1 billion to improve the production facility even further. The company is also considering to increase the memory chip production at its facility in China.

The company recently spun off its foundry into a different arm and showcased its roadmap for manufacturing chipsets. According to a new report from The Investor, South Korean electronics giant Samsung is preparing itself for the “fourth largest industrial revolution” by producing more powerful and power-efficient chips for smart and connected devices with always-on displays. The company has invested $16 billion in its Austin chip plant since 1997.

Samsung Foundry is currently manufacturing 10nm FinFET chipsets, and is planning to go start a 7nm process in 2018 and a 4nm process in 2020. It is being reported that TSMC beat Samsung in moving to 7nm chipset, so it lost Qualcomm’s and Apple’s contracts for manufacturing SoCs for smartphones. The company recently unveiled its Exynos i T200 processor that’s meant for IoT devices. It is meant to support secure mobile communications among connected devices.

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Daily Deal: Bag yourself a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ for 25% off

Amazon has slashed the price of the international variants of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ by 25%, meaning you can currently pick up the former for $660 and the latter for $749.99. Both handsets ship anodized in the Midnight Black hue with 64GB of expandable internal storage.

If you want to snag yourself a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ for the reduced price, hit the Buy Now button below. A word of caution, though: as these are international models, they’ll only work with GSM carriers in the United States, like AT&T and T-Mobile.

Buy Now – Galaxy S8 Buy Now – Galaxy S8+

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Use these apps to disable system apps on your Samsung phone without root

A few years ago, the only way to disable proprietary and inbuilt apps on an Android phone was by rooting it to gain full access to the system. Samsung devices remain easy to root to this day, but it is no longer recommended to do so as rooting a Samsung device trips its warranty, and not to mention rooting can also be a risky business in general. So how do you go about disabling apps and services that you don’t wish to use, yet are impossible to disable?

Well, thankfully, there are a couple of apps that let you disable any app or service on a Samsung device without the need for root access. There may be more, but the ones we are aware of are Package Disabler and Adhell. Both apps list out all the apps and services installed on the device and let you disable or enable them with a single tap. Adhell is free while Package Disabler costs a little over $1, and while both work equally well, Package Disabler is considerably more advanced (like letting you disable all bloatware at once) and offers detailed information on each app and service.

Many of you probably know about these apps already as they have been available for some time, but we thought it would be a good idea to let our readers know that those unnecessary apps on their Samsung phone or tablet can be disabled without the need for root. So, you know, you can get rid of Bixby so that it doesn’t keep launching with each accidental press of the Bixby button (too bad the button itself can’t be removed, but hey, you can’t get everything in life, right?). Just be sure you don’t get carried away with disabling everything you see, as disabling some apps or services could have adverse effects on the operation of your device.

Grab Adhell or Package Disabler from Google Play here or here.

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We now know why Samsung’s having trouble teaching Bixby Voice different languages

Samsung was originally expected to launch Bixby Voice in Chinese and English on board the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ back in August, but it was forced to postpone the feature because it was having trouble teaching the assistant the languages, and now we know why: it doesn’t have the resources, like foreign language experts.

“Bixby’s linguistic capabilities are still unsatisfactory compared to its bigger rivals such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri,” an industry source told The Investor on condition of anonymity on June 27. “We are still working on improving the linguistic skills in order to provide a more advanced AI assistant that meets user needs.”

The South Korean company recently kicked off an opt-in beta test for Bixby Voice in the United States, though it hasn’t been well-received, with many users claiming that it barely understands English and is inaccurate more often than not, which is disappointing, to say the least.

At this rate, it doesn’t seem likely that an English build will debut before the end of 2017. That said, if Samsung enlists the help of a third-party company (cough, cough, Viv Labs, cough) experienced in multi-language systems, it should be able to release it within the next few months.

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Samsung introduces new ISOCELL lineup of camera sensors, includes dual-cameras

Samsung has introduced its new lineup of ISOCELL camera sensors at the ongoing MWC 2017 expo in Shanghai. The company had been making ISOCELL sensors since 2013, but it has now divided its lineup in four sub-brands: ISOCELL Bright, ISOCELL Dual, ISOCELL Fast, and ISOCELL Slim. ISOCELL sensors have greater separation between individual pixels to reduce color crosstalk for improved color fidelity and good image quality even with smaller pixels.

ISOCELL Bright camera sensors, as the name suggests, offer brighter images with lower noise. ISOCELL Fast sensors provide faster than usual autofocus on still as well as moving objects. ISOCELL Slim sensors with an individual pixel size of 0.9µm or 1.0µm are meant for ultra-slim smartphones. For the first time, Samsung showcased ISOCELL camera sensors meant to be used in dual-camera setups.

The company seems to be going down the RGB+Monochrome route with dual-cameras for smartphones. Samsung’s slideshow showcases a dual-13MP setup with autofocus, f/2.0 lens, and 1.12µm pixel size. The company claims that it will offer superior image quality in low light conditions with better brightness and signal-to-noise ratio. It is possible that the upcoming Galaxy Note 8 will use this dual-13MP camera setup with some sort of zoom capabilities.

“Samsung ISOCELL is a brand that represents the essence of our leading pixel technologies. We expect the ISOCELL brand to help consumers easily acknowledge and confide in camera performance as well as overall quality of the device. With our advanced image sensor technologies, Samsung will continue to bring innovation to cameras used in smartphones and other applications,” said Ben Hur, Vice President of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics.

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Game Launcher update brings support for DeX

Samsung has issued an update for its Game Launcher application, which transports support for DeX, as well as a plethora of bug fixes and stability improvements. Don’t rush to install it though, as the feature is pretty much useless at this precise moment in time.

When you attempt to play a game listed in the “Supported by DeX” section of Game Launcher, it opens but doesn’t recognize that there’s a keyboard and mouse attached, leaving you unable to progress beyond the title screen.

There’s a good chance that Samsung prematurely flicked the switch on the update, so we expect it to roll out a separate upgrade to introduce support for peripherals in the not-too-distant future.

We’ll have to wait and see.

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TouchWiz Home update for Galaxy S8 and S8+ promises to fix the lag

Yesterday we wrote about lag and UI fluidity problems on the Galaxy S8 and S8+, and how Samsung needs to fix those problems on its flagship smartphones. It seems like the company had already been working to fix some of those issues. The company has now released an update to its TouchWiz Home launcher to fix the lag.

As per the company’s official changelog for Samsung TouchWiz Home v6.1.09.2, the update should now fix the lag when swiping up and down between the homescreen and the app screen. It also improves the visibility of app names under icons against a white wallpaper. We can notice that animations have improved and the lag is not as noticeable as earlier.

The update is now available for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ through Galaxy Apps as well as through the Play Store.

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