The Bixby button drives me nuts

Hardware buttons have gone out of fashion now. That’s one of the reasons why Samsung’s decision to drop the home button on the Galaxy S8 was well received. The handset should ideally have had three buttons: power and volume up/down. That’s not the case, though. Samsung introduced a dedicated button for its Bixby voice assistant with the Galaxy S8. It’s present on the Galaxy S8 Active as well, replacing the multifunctional Active key of previous Galaxy...

SamMobile Daily Recap: August 15, 2017 — Cynora, Galaxy S5 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 we covered today. Deals Daily Deal: Save 69% on a first-generation Gear 360 Firmware News [Update: Galaxy S8 too] Galaxy S8+ August security...

PSA: Samsung is maintaining a record of firmware update changelogs on its website

Samsung has started recording details about its latest updates, including their respective changelogs, in a new section of its website; however, there’s a caveat. Due to its size, the firm has a subsidiary in each country it’s operational in—and only a few of them appear to be participating, including India and the United Kingdom, for flagship smartphones. The way it works is simple: Copy http://ift.tt/2vGQwiw...

Daily Deal: Save 69% on a first-generation Gear 360

Amazon has temporarily slashed the price of the first-generation Gear 360, which is Samsung’s award-winning camera that’s capable of taking 360-degree photographs and videos, down to just $108.75 (59% off). 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 — and once it’s gone, it’s gone. The post Daily Deal: Save 69% on...

[Update: Galaxy S8 too] Galaxy S8+ August security patch rolling out in India

Samsung detailed the August Security Maintenance Release last week. It’s now rolling out firmware updates to distribute the latest security patch. We reported yesterday that Samsung had released the August security patch for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in Germany, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. It was only a matter of time before Samsung rolled out said update in other markets across the globe....

Galaxy Note 8’s dual-camera setup could be better than we expected

The Galaxy Note 8 may not feature the dual-camera setup we’ve been expecting. Recent leaks and rumors pointing towards the configuration comprising of two 12MP sensors, but a new report fresh out of South Korea claims that it will have both a 12MP and a 13MP sensor; the former a regular lens equipped with OIS and the latter a telephoto one. One thing the report does corroborate, however, is that the setup on board the Galaxy Note 8 has a two-times...

Galaxy Note 8 specs revealed in benchmark results

It’s only a matter of time before Samsung officially confirms the Galaxy Note 8 specs. There’s already plenty of information floating online about the new handset. The Galaxy Note 8 has now surfaced on the GFXBench benchmarking website where it has revealed its specifications. As expected, the Galaxy Note 8 is powered by an Exynos 8895 processor with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. This will be Samsung’s...

Samsung Display pours $117 million into Cynora

Samsung Display has reportedly invested $117.59 million in Cynora, a German display material developer, in an attempt to enhance the efficiency and performance of its OLED displays. Cynora is widely-recognized for its development of Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescent (TADF) blue emitters, which many analysts believe will lengthen the lifespan of traditional OLED panels. A typical OLED screen consists of three emitters: blue, green and red. The...

Samsung patents a Note smartphone with stylus that doubles as a breathalyzer

Samsung’s Galaxy Note handsets of the future may allow you to measure the amount of alcohol in your breath. The company has patented a Galaxy Note handset with a built-in breathalyzer. The handset’s stylus will be capable of bending within its housing to act as both a microphone and a breathalyzer as it will have a built-in gas sensor. The sensor module will analyze the exhalation and a short-range...

Galaxy S5 can survive a fall from 1,000 feet [Video]

If someone asked you to throw your phone off of the roof to see whether it survives the fall, you’d probably not listen to them because you would reasonably expect your phone to shatter upon impact. You’d also reasonably expect it to meet a similar fate after being sucked out of a plane at 1,000 feet. That’s not what happened with this Galaxy S5, though. A video has been posted on YouTube which allegedly shows the Galaxy S5 being sucked out of an...