SamMobile Daily Recap: July 17, 2017 — Galaxy A7 (2017), Galaxy Note 8 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. Deals Daily Deal: Save 24% on a Gear VR (2017) with Controller Firmware News Firmware update magazine:...

Galaxy S8 is outselling the Galaxy S7 by 15 percent, says Samsung’s mobile chief

There has been speculation recently that the Galaxy S8’s sales have stalled. The new flagship was off to a great start when it was released a couple of months back. It broke pre-order records for Samsung and it appeared that the handset was going to be a smash hit for the company. It was reported over a week ago that the Galaxy S8 was no longer outselling the Galaxy S7. The report actually claimed that the new flagship was lagging the Galaxy S7 in...

Galaxy S8+ battery life review: Holding up very nicely indeed

When it became evident that the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will feature 3,000mAh and 3,500mAh batteries respectively, many presumed that it would be a repeat of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. Those handsets ticked all the right boxes but the battery life left a lot to be desired. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. The hardware that’s found inside the new flagships from Samsung is far more power efficient...

Samsung Pay adds support for PayPal

Big news for Samsung Pay customers in the United States: you can now use PayPal to pay for goods both online and in brick-and-mortar stores through the mobile payment platform. While accessibility is currently restricted to the aforementioned region, it should make its way to other countries, including India and the United Kingdom, in the not-too-distant future. “Customers will be able to use their Samsung Pay to access and use their PayPal wallet,...

[Poll] Would you prefer a squeezable frame instead of a dedicated button for Bixby

Samsung debuted its AI-powered digital assistant Bixby with the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+, and even dedicated a hardware button for it on the smartphones. However, since the company failed to launch Bixby Voice (the assistant’s most important feature) in time, consumers got annoyed. Hello Bixby isn’t very useful in its current form, and Samsung doesn’t even let users remap the Bixby button to open other apps that they use frequently. On the other...

Firmware update magazine: July 17, 2017

Welcome to the newest edition of our weekly Firmware Magazine. You can think of it as your go-to resource to find out which of your Samsung devices has received a new update or if it’s going to receive a new firmware update in the near future. To keep things interesting, we present the Firmware Magazine in new designs every week. It will always include the important details about firmware updates such as the firmware versions, device model numbers,...

Daily Deal: Save 24% on a Gear VR (2017) with Controller

You can currently pick up a Gear VR (2017) with Controller, which ships with both a microUSB and USB Type-C connector, for just $99.43. That’s an impressive saving of 24 percent off its usual price of $129.99. Read more: Hands-on with Samsung’s Gear VR controller If you like the sound of this promotion and want to take advantage of it, hit the Buy Now button below. You’re probably going to want to act fast though, as inventory...

Indian e-wallet service Mobikwik reportedly partners with Samsung Pay Mini

Indian e-wallet service provider Mobikwik has announced that it has partnered with Samsung. The e-wallet service will soon be integrated into Samsung Pay Mini, a cut-down version of Samsung Pay that works on mid-range phones without NFC or MST. Samsung Pay Mini users can pair their Mobikwik accounts in the near future with the service to pay at 1.4 million locations throughout India. Samsung Pay Mini already supports Paytm as well as UPI for e-payments...

Galaxy A7 (2017) certified running Android 7.0 Nougat

A variant of the Galaxy A7 (2017) has been approved by the Wi-Fi Alliance running Android 7.0, leading us to believe that Samsung is planning on distributing the much-anticipated Nougat update for the handset in the not-too-distant future. Last week, Samsung released the Galaxy A7 (2017) in South Korea and it had a surprising feature on board: Bixby. It’s unclear whether the firm has baked the assistant into the upcoming build of Android 7.0 for...