Galaxy Note 8 launch date has been confirmed by Samsung

There has been a lot of speculation about the Galaxy Note 8’s launch in recent weeks. Reports have suggested that the handset will be launched earlier than previously expected. This means that Samsung won’t be unveiling it at the IFA 2017 convention in September.

Samsung’s mobile boss recently confirmed that the Galaxy Note 8 is going to be launched towards the end of August. The company has now officially confirmed the Galaxy Note 8 launch date by sending out invites to the press.

It was reported that Samsung would conduct a separate event for the Galaxy Note 8 in New York City. That’s precisely what it’s going to do. The event will take place on August 23, where the Note 8 will go official.

This is going to be a really important moment for Samsung as it essentially marks the rebirth of the Galaxy Note lineup following the disaster that was the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung was quick to confirm last year that the Note lineup won’t be discontinued, so it’s certainly not going to let the Galaxy Note 7 get in the way.

As far as the Galaxy Note 8 is concerned, it’s expected to feature a 6.3-inch Infinity Display with an Exynos 8895/Snapdragon 835 processor possibly coupled with 6GB of RAM. It may also be the first flagship smartphone from Samsung to feature a dual camera.

It remains to be seen, though, how long the wait is going to be from the moment the Galaxy Note 8 is announced on August 23 and when it finally starts shipping to customers.

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Galaxy J7 (2017) for China struts its dual rear cameras in newly leaked images

2017 will be the year when Samsung will finally start offering dual cameras on its smartphones, and it just won’t be with the flagship Galaxy Note 8. Over the last few weeks, we have heard reports of Samsung working on no less than four phones with dual rear cameras. These phones include the upcoming Note 8, the Galaxy C10, the Galaxy C7 (2017), and even the Galaxy J7 (2017). The J7 (2017) has already launched in markets outside China with a single rear camera, and while rumor has it that development on the Chinese variant with dual cameras has come to a halt, it does look like the dual camera variant could still end up launching in China.

SlashLeaks has released two new images of the Chinese variant of the Galaxy J7 (2017); like the last leak that showed us the device in the flesh, this one also shows the phone from both the front and back. Once again, the device seen in the images looks like a finished project, and it would be disappointing if Samsung decided to kill it in the prototype stage. There’s a chance it won’t, however. Phones with dual cameras have come down to impressively low price points these days, and Samsung can’t risk not having an offering of its own with dual cameras across different segments. Well, least not in a market where it has already seen a considerable decline in sales owing to competition from local manufacturers like Oppo and Huawei (Huawei offers a dual camera on a phone priced lower than $200).

But only time will tell whether the Chinese version of the J7 (2017) will have two cameras at the back. Samsung’s implementation of the technology will also be interesting to see, especially when you consider the usually dismissive quality offered by the cameras on the company’s budget smartphones. Check out the images below, and let us know what you think!

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Themes Thursday: Here are this week’s five best themes

Amidst all the exciting news about the most awaited phablet, the Galaxy Note 8, we’re back with this week’s best new theme packs. It’s Themes Thursday, and we have five new themes that caught our eye. If you’re thinking of jazzing up your Galaxy smartphone, check out the themes below.

The [Binod] AlohaUI theme has large leaves as background, circular icons, and a brighter color theme. If purple is your color, check out the [FIET] Minimal Purple theme. The Fall season is about to arrive, and if you want to match your phone’s look to it, check out [THENEW] Fallen Leaves (AOD/Iris)_ Lee Dhan theme. T-Puppy Flowers Outing and Wolf themes look great too.

Which new theme did you like this week for your Galaxy?

[Binod] AlohaUI

[FIET] Minimal Purple

[THENEW] Fallen Leaves (AOD/Iris)_ Lee Dhan

T-Puppy Flowers Outing

Wolf

SaveSaveSaveSave

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SamMobile Daily Recap: July 20, 2017 — Bixby, Gear S3 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.

Bixby

Here’s a full list of Bixby Voice commands for the Galaxy S8 and S8+

Samsung removes sexist descriptor tags for Bixby

Deals

Daily Deal: Take 55% off a first-generation Gear 360

Firmware News

T-Mobile releases July security patch for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+

Phones

Coral Blue Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be released in the US on July 21

Galaxy Note 8’s S Pen (allegedly) appears in hands-on images

New Galaxy Note 8 renders highlight its sleek design

Samsung Pay

Samsung Pay now available on the Gear S3 in the UK

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New Galaxy Note 8 renders highlight its sleek design

There haven’t been a lot of leaks concerning the Galaxy Note 8 so far, at least not as many as we saw earlier this year in the days leading up to the Galaxy S8’s launch. Nevertheless, there has been a constant stream of rumors and reports which have painted a fairly plausible picture of what to expect from Samsung’s next flagship phablet.

The Galaxy Note 8 is essentially going to be a stretched Galaxy S8 and that’s not exactly a bad thing, considering the fact that the Galaxy S8 probably has one of the best industrial designs of any flagship smartphone on the market today.

New purported renders of the Galaxy Note 8 have been leaked online today. They’re not official renders, though. They have been made by a third-party case manufacturer. The cases are said to be based on genuine schematics that leaked from the factory.

We can see in the renders that the Galaxy Note 8 will tout an impressive Infinity Display that’s reportedly going to measure 6.3-inches. It’s likely to have a physical Bixby button as well. The top bezel will feature the front camera and the iris scanner.

In line with recent rumors, the back shows a dual camera system separated from the fingerprint sensor by the heart rate sensor that’s placed in between the two. The edges of the handset appear to be rounded off similar to how they are on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy Note 8 in the coming weeks. It’s yet to confirm when the launch event will take place.

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Galaxy Note 8’s S Pen (allegedly) appears in hands-on images

We may have caught our first glimpse at the S Pen that’ll come bundled with the upcoming Galaxy Note 8. A couple of images surfaced on leak aggregator SlashLeaks on Thursday allegedly showcasing the stylus — and it looks an awful lot like the one found on board the Galaxy Note 7.

Unfortunately, the pictures are blurry, corroborating our theory that all leakers lack basic photography skills, so we can’t pinpoint any differences between this S Pen and the one included with the Galaxy Note 7; it’s possible the stylus in the photographs could even belong to the Galaxy Note 5.

For now, we’re going to reserve judgement and leave it up to you to decide whether we’re looking at Galaxy Note 8‘s stylus. Bear in mind that Samsung’s said to have made significant improvements to the S Pen for this year’s model. But does that warrant a fresh design? Only time will tell.

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Daily Deal: Take 55% off a first-generation Gear 360

Earlier this week, Amazon kicked off a promotion for Prime customers, giving them the opportunity to pick up a first-generation Gear 360 for just $159 (55% off) — and now the deal is available for everyone.

For those unfamiliar with the Gear 360, it’s a 360-degree camera that’s capable of taking photographs and recording videos, and remotely pushing them to your smartphone for instant editing.

If you 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 inventory available.

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Samsung Pay now available on the Gear S3 in the UK

Samsung has extended its mobile payment platform to smartwatches in the United Kingdom. Starting today, customers can use Samsung Pay on their Gear S3 to pay for goods in brick-and-mortar stores, but seeing as the platform doesn’t support MST in the region, it’ll only work with NFC terminals.

At present, Samsung Pay is still missing support for a number of leading financial institutions in the United Kingdom, including Barclays and Lloyds. However, it recently introduced compatibility for HSBC, an international bank used by millions of people in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Related: Samsung Pay gets support for HSBC and M&S Bank cards in the United Kingdom

Earlier this week, Samsung teamed up with PayPal to give customers the facility to use their digital balance as a checkout method. Unfortunately, the feature is currently restricted to the United States, but it should make its way to more regions — including the United Kingdom — in the near future.

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Samsung removes sexist descriptor tags for Bixby

After keeping us waiting for months, Samsung finally released Bixby for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ in the United States. It was previously reported that Samsung had to delay Bixby’s release because it was facing troubles getting it working properly with the English language. It appears that the issues have now been resolved and Samsung is confident that Bixby is ready for the public.

That’s well and good, but while many were happy yesterday that Samsung has finally released Bixby, some weren’t too thrilled about the descriptor tags that the company used to differentiate the male and female versions of Bixby.

Samsung described the female voice in Bixby’s “language and speaking style” menu as “#chipper, #clear, #cheerful” while the male voice was described as “#assertive, #confident, #clear.”

Users were asked to pick a gender for Bixby which would then serve as the default voice for the assistant. Many were quick to point out that the descriptor tags that Samsung was using were borderline sexist.

Samsung is taking care of the situation, though. In a statement, the company has said that it’s “working diligently to remove the hashtag descriptions from the Bixby service.” It also adds that it’s “constantly learning from customer feedback.”

@SamsungMobileUS #bixby Um… Those are hashtags in the actual Bixby menu. Maybe #Samsung should rethink them. #confident #assertive #clear http://pic.twitter.com/BVMwRl4J5D

— Scooba (@wrongsideof21) July 19, 2017

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Here’s a full list of Bixby Voice commands for the Galaxy S8 and S8+

Samsung started rolling out Bixby Voice in the US yesterday, and owners of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ can now use all the capabilities of the AI-powered digital assistant on their smartphones.

Bixby is pretty new to the game, and it competes with pretty mature AI assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri. However, Bixby takes an entirely different approach. It ties in deeply with stock and some third-party apps, and can perform complex and multi-step tasks, something that its competitors can’t.

Here’s a list of voice commands that Bixby Voice can relate to:

Common Commands

Open Facebook
What time is it?
What’s the date today?
Turn the volume up/down
Restart off my phone
Flashlight on/off
Turn on Emergency mode
Play music
Stop the music
What song is this?
What’s the name of this song?
Remind me to buy milk tomorrow at 9 am
Show me my most recent reminder
Delete the shopping reminder
What’s the weather like?
How is the weather going to be tomorrow?
Will it rain today?
What’s the weather in Boston tomorrow?
What’s the UV index in Miami tomorrow?

Screen & Navigation

Take a screenshot
Go back
Show the Home screen
Scroll up/down
Swipe left/right
Scroll to the top/bottom
Zoom in/out
Turn on auto rotate
Set the phone to portrait mode
Turn off the screen

Notifications & System Tasks

Show me my most recent app in split screen view
Close Messages
Close all recent apps
Open Messages in split screen view
Show me my recent apps
Open this app as a pop-up
Minimize this app
Switch windows
Close Messages
Clear notifications from Messages
Show me all notifications
Open the quick panel
Close the notification panel
Expand the notification from Messages
Control the brightness on the notification panel
Read all notifications
Read the latest notification

Questions & Answers

How far is the sun from Earth?
What is the definition of doodle?
How do you spell restaurant?
Who was the 44th president of the USA?
Show me how to make cheesecake
When is Thanksgiving?
Who was the first man on the moon?
How long is a cheetah’s tail?
What is 10×5?
How many calories in a bagel?
When is sunrise in Paris?
What is a fathom?
How many feet in a mile?

Samsung Apps

“Open Gallery and”

Find pictures taken in New York
Show me the most recent picture
Share this picture
Delete this picture
Show me the travel album
Show me the most recent pictures as a slideshow
Auto adjust the picture
Rotate this picture to the right
Play the most recent video
Show me the list of albums
Add the most recent picture from Friends album to Favorites
Remove the auto adjust effects from the most recent picture
Delete the location info from the most recent picture
Delete the travel album
Copy pictures taken at Christmas to a new album
Show the details for the most recent picture

“Open Contacts and”

Create a new contact as David with the number 123-4567
Search for David and call him on speaker phone
Search for David and call his home
Call this number on speaker phone
Call my office number
Call David
Text David
Show David’s contact info
Show profile updates for David
Video call David’s mobile phone
Show my friends group
Make my birthday shared
Change my status message to busy
Link David to Jane
Add David to favorites
Send a message to everyone in Friends
Merge all contacts with the same info
Turn on Google account sync

“Open Phone app and”

Show Recents
Show missed calls
Accept
Decline the call and Send the text as I am in a meeting
Call 123-4567 on speaker phone
Block 1234-5678
Call with speed dial number 2
Open the keypad
Make a call to 123-4567
Call the most recent number
Delete the most recent number
Show recent searches
Block David
Video call the most recent number
Block the last number called
Call this number
Add David to speed dial 2
Turn on vibrate when call ends

“Open Settings and”

Turn on WiFi in Settings
Search for nearby WiFi networks in Settings
Disconnect from WiFi in Settings
Turn on Bluetooth in Settings
Scan for Bluetooth devices in Settings
Go to dual audio in Settings
Show me my Data usage
Turn on Data saver
Turn on Airplane mode
Show me NFC settings
Set the ringtone volume to 50
Increase the system volume
Turn on Do not disturb
Don’t disturb me between 10 pm and 7 am
Set the display brightness to 50
Make the screen brighter
Turn on Blue light filter

” Open Messages and”

Show me the most recent message
Block the most recent conversation
Turn off notifications for the conversation with David
Copy the most recent text
Show me pictures from the conversation with David
Mark all unread messages as read
Delete all conversations
Take a photo and send it to David
Show me settings

“Open Camera and”

Take a picture
Record a video
Turn on the front camera
Turn on HDR
Turn on Flash
Show me pictures
Set the timer for rear camera to 10 seconds
Apply an effect
Turn on Save RAW and JPEG files for rear camera
Turn on video stabilization
Adjust the ISO of Pro mode to 200
Adjust the exposure value of Pro mode to 1
Turn on grid lines

“Open Clock and”

Set an alarm for tomorrow at 6 am
Turn off the 6 am alarm
Show me the time in New York
Dismiss the alarm
Show the timer
Open the stopwatch
Add London to my world clock
Open the time zone converter in the world clock

“Open Calculator and”

Calculate 5 + 10 x 4
Show the unit converter
Convert 25 inches to cm

“Open Calendar and”

Create an event
Shoe me March 23rd
Show me the month of October
Delete my completed tasks
Mark grocery shopping as done
Delete all of my meetings for today
Show me the settings
Change the first day of the week to Sunday
Show week numbers
Turn on notifications
Lock the time zone
Change the time zone to New York

You should try out these voice commands, and let us know your experience with Bixby Voice. Also, if you come across more voice commands for Bixby, let us and other readers know in the comments section.

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T-Mobile releases July security patch for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+

Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ owners in the United States were happy to find out yesterday that Samsung had finally released Bixby in its true shape and form. Those who own the handset on T-Mobile also received a firmware update yesterday which brings the July security patch for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+.

The July security patch brings fixes for 65 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) discovered in the Android operating system as well as 16 exploits found in Samsung’s own software.

Not a lot of detail was provided about the patches that were applied. The idea behind privately disclosing them is to make sure that the exploits are not used by malicious elements during the time that it takes for the patch to make its way to the devices.

Firmware version G950USQU1AQGA and G955USQU1AQGA has now been rolled out by T-Mobile for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ respectively. The update weighs in at around 130MB and primarily features the July security patch.

The usual slew of performance and stability improvements are onboard as well. T-Mobile also says that the latest firmware release also includes a UMTS 911 update.

T-Mobile has rolled out the firmware update for the handsets and it should go live for all users in the United States soon.

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Coral Blue Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be released in the US on July 21

It was reported a couple of weeks ago that Samsung might soon offer the Coral Blue color option for the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+ in the United States. A render was also leaked online which suggested that the handset was headed to the country in the near future.

Samsung has now confirmed that the Coral Blue color option is coming to the United States. The Coral Blue versions of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be available for purchase in the United States starting July 21. Customers will be able to purchase the handset exclusively from Best Buy and Samsung.com.

Only Verizon, AT&T and Sprint carrier versions of the Coral Blue Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be available at Best Buy. T-Mobile is missing from the list. Samsung will also be selling the unlocked version of this color option at Best Buy and Samsung.com.

From July 1 to July 29, Best Buy customers can get up to $400 off the retail price of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ with a qualified purchase or activation. The full terms and conditions for this promotion are available on Best Buy’s website.

Those who would like to purchase this handset in another color option, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are also available in Midnight Black, Arctic Silver and Orchid Gray.

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