Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ getting the October security patch in South Korea

Samsung’s focus on the Oreo beta may have delayed the rollout of the October security patch for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, so much so that it had us thinking Samsung will skip the update in many regions, especially those where the Oreo beta will go live. That doesn’t seem to be the case, however, and it looks like it was just a simple delay, as the update is now rolling out for the three major carriers in South Korea.

Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ October security patch now available in South Korea

These carriers include SK Telecom, Korea Telecom (KT), and LG Uplus, and we could see the October security patch hitting these flagships in other regions soon. Hopefully, the slow rollout of the October patch will not result in the November security update falling behind schedule, as it does fix a critical vulnerability that affects millions of Wi-Fi-enabled devices, both phones and otherwise. As for the October patch, it brings fixes for 215 exploits in Android and six found in Samsung’s software.

Have you gotten an update with the October security patch on your Galaxy S8 or S8+?

Firmware Details:

Model	SM-G950N
Model name	Galaxy S8
Country	Select country Korea (KT Corporation)  (KTC) Korea (LG Uplus)  (LUC) Korea (SK Telecom)  (SKC)
Version	Android 7.0
Changelist	12429748
Build date	Thu, 26 Oct 2017 06:28:57 +0000
Security Patch Level	2017-10-01
Product code	KTC
PDA	G950NKSU1AQJ5
CSC	G950NOKR1AQJ5

 

Model	SM-G955N
Model name	Galaxy S8+
Country	Select country Korea (KT Corporation)  (KTC) Korea (LG Uplus)  (LUC) Korea (SK Telecom)  (SKC)
Version	Android 7.0
Changelist	12429748
Build date	Thu, 26 Oct 2017 06:31:34 +0000
Security Patch Level	2017-10-01
Product code	SKC
PDA	G955NKSU1AQJ5
CSC	G955NOKR1AQJ5

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Samsung Pay In India Adds 1 Million Users In A Month

Samsung’s mobile payments service has really taken off in India. The company has confirmed that Samsung Pay in India has added over 1 million new users in just over a month. India is one of the top three markets globally for Samsung Pay, the service has been rolled out in 20 markets so far. South Korea and Russia are the top two markets for Samsung Pay.

Samsung Pay was launched in India earlier this year. It was initially supported on 10 models and has since been expanded to 26 Samsung handsets. The mobile payments service is supported on devices like the Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S7, Galaxy J7 Max, Galaxy J7 Pro and others.

Samsung Pay In India

Samsung is already the undisputed leader in the Indian smartphone market. The company announced on September 12 that it had 1.5 million users of Samsung Pay in India. In just over a month, the company has added an additional 1 million Samsung Pay users in the country.

“The user growth has been significant,” said Sanjay Razdan, the Director Commercialization Group (Product Planning) at Samsung India.

Razdan mentioned that Samsung has 17 partners on board, including 10 banks, for its mobile payments service. It’s in talks with additional banks that might end up supporting Samsung Pay in the future.

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Samsung no longer the top smartphone vendor in the US

Samsung established itself as the leader in the US smartphone market in the second quarter of this year. Its smartphone shipments accounted for 33.7 percent of the market compared to Apple’s 25.4 percent. It hasn’t been able to hold on to this position in the previous quarter, though.

The latest data from Strategy Analytics shows that Samsung was not the top smartphone vendor in the United States in Q3 2017. Apple overtook the company to become the leader. That doesn’t change the fact that Samsung remained the top smartphone vendor globally this past quarter.

Samsung’s US Market Share

According to the report Samsung shipped 9.9 million smartphones in Q3 2017, accounting for 25 percent of the market. It saw a slight increase as Samsung accounted for 24 percent of the market in Q3 2016. The Galaxy S8 reportedly performed well in the high-end segment with the Galaxy A5 and other mid-range handsets shining in the budget segment.

Apple is estimated to have shipped 12 million iPhones in the country this past quarter, accounting for 30 percent of the market. It shipped 13 million units for a 32 percent market share in Q2 2016 so this is a noticeable decline. The demand for its iPhone 8 was mixed as many customers preferred to delay their purchase for the iPhone X.

Apple customers generally stay on the sidelines in the second quarter as the company launches its new products in the third quarter. That’s why Samsung led the US market in Q2 2016 as well before handing the baton back to Apple in the third quarter. That’s precisely what has happened this year as well.

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Galaxy S8 Active officially launched on T-Mobile and Sprint

It has been rumored for a few weeks now that the Galaxy S8 Active is headed to T-Mobile. If that were to happen, it would have been the first time that an “Active” variant was launched on a carrier other than AT&T. When Samsung launched the Galaxy S8 Active earlier this year, it did say that the handset was exclusive to AT&T for a limited time. This left the door wide open for the handset to land on other carriers.

We also reported yesterday that the Galaxy S8 Active might be launched on Sprint as well. Samsung has killed two birds with one stone today and confirmed in a single press release that the Galaxy S8 Active will soon be available from T-Mobile and Sprint.

Galaxy S8 Active On T-Mobile And Sprint

Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy S8 Active will be available in Meteor Gray from T-Mobile and Sprint starting this month. What is hasn’t confirmed is the precise release date for each carrier.

The company hasn’t confirmed pricing information as yet but we can expect that both T-Mobile and Sprint will follow through with that information soon. The Galaxy S8 Active costs around $850 on AT&T so that’s likely how much it’s going to cost on these carriers.

T-Mobile and Sprint will release the Galaxy S8 Active on their networks by the end of this month. We can expect to get the official release dates in the near future.

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SamMobile Daily Recap: November 7, 2017 — Galaxy Note 5, 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 we covered today.

Firmware News

Firmware Update Magazine: November 7, 2017

Galaxy Note 5 October patch released in India and China

One Samsung device did get the September security patch, but not officially

Samsung November 2017 security patch fixes major Wi-Fi security flaw

Phones

Galaxy Note 8 becomes unresponsive when Contacts is opened, customers say

Tips & Tricks

How to change Home button long-press behavior on the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8

Virtual Reality

Samsung Odyssey Windows Mixed Reality headset now available for purchase

The post SamMobile Daily Recap: November 7, 2017 — Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy Note 8 and more! appeared first on SamMobile.

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One Samsung device did get the September security patch, but not officially

In September, we saw tons of complaints from our readers about Samsung not bringing the September security patch to any of its devices. We still don’t know if the security fixes for September were incorporated into the October patch (they most likely were), but Samsung decided to put the September patch on the back burner and instead focused on plugging the BlueBorne vulnerability on all its devices. But it seems the September security patch did make it to one device: The Galaxy S8 has it on the Android 8.0 Oreo beta.

The September patch does exist, but it’s not exactly official

The Oreo beta doesn’t just have the September patch – its security level is dated September 5, which means it incorporates the second set of exploit fixes that Google releases every month. These never make it to Samsung’s version of the monthly updates, or they do but the company chooses to keep the first date of the month for the Android security level. Why does the Oreo beta have the September patch but not Nougat? We guess this is because Samsung compiled Oreo from the latest Android source code available at the time from Google, which is why the Oreo beta mentions the Android security patch date as September 5.

What does this mean? Well, it means nothing, really, but we thought it would be an interesting thing to tell our readers while they wait for Samsung to roll out the October patch to its 2017 flagships in most markets. It’s been a slow rollout for the October security update, and for the Galaxy S8, we might see the Korean giant directly pushing out the November patch (which plugs a very serious exploit in the Wi-Fi standard). It could even wait until the official Oreo release is ready before it offers the latest security fixes to everyone; we will just have to wait and see.

The post One Samsung device did get the September security patch, but not officially appeared first on SamMobile.

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How to change the Home button long-press behavior on the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8

If you’re the owner of a Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+, you’ve probably noticed that long-pressing the Home button toggles Google Assistant. But did you know that you can actually remap the key to launch a different service? Don’t get too excited, though: the only other options are Internet and S Voice.

It’s unlikely that Samsung will add support for more platforms in the future—or enable you to choose your own application. To help you, should you for whatever reason (don’t worry, we won’t judge you) want to, reassign the button, we’ve put together a short step-by-step guide showing you how to do just that.

How to remap the Home button convenience key on your Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8

Step 1: Open up Settings.

Step 2: Select Advanced Features.

Step 3: Hit Device Assistance App, followed by Device Assistant App.

Step 4: Choose your new Device Assistance App—Google Assistant, Internet or S Voice.

Stuck?

That’s all there is to it. If you happen to encounter any issues while following our instructions, feel free to reach out to us in the comments section below—or over on Twitter—and we’ll do our best to get you back on track. Otherwise, be sure to check out our other Galaxy Note 8 tips.

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Galaxy Note 5 October patch released in India and China

Samsung has released the Galaxy Note 5 October security patch in India and China today. The handset has already received this Security Maintenance Release update in many markets across the globe. It’s rolling out today in the aforementioned countries.

The company has rolled out this firmware update today for the Galaxy Note 5 bearing model numbers SM-N9208 and SM-N920G in China and India respectively. The SM-N920C model has already received the October security patch.

Galaxy Note 5 October Patch

The Security Maintenance Release for the month of October 2017 brings fixes for 215 vulnerabilities discovered in the core Android operating system. It includes fixes for six vulnerabilities discovered in Samsung’s software as well.

The October 2017 security patch has bumped up most devices from the August patch as Samsung essentially skipped the release for September. It was busy patching the Blueborne vulnerability so it put the monthly security patches on the back burner.

Samsung has rolled out this update for the single-SIM variant of the Galaxy Note 5 in India. The country did get a dual-SIM variant but the update hasn’t been rolled out for it as yet.

This firmware update for the Galaxy Note 5 is now rolling out over-the-air. It’s only going to be a matter of time before users in China and India get it on their handsets. The update is also available for download from our firmware section.

The post Galaxy Note 5 October patch released in India and China appeared first on SamMobile.

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Galaxy Note 8 becomes unresponsive when Contacts is opened, customers say

It’s been reported that the Galaxy Note 8 has a nasty bug, which renders it unresponsive when the default Contacts application is opened, with some claiming that the Messages client has the same effect. We, however, have been unable to replicate the issue—but there could be a simple explanation for that.

We’ve done some digging and it would appear that most, if not all, of the reports originate from North America, where the Snapdragon variant of the Galaxy Note 8 is sold. Those in possession of the handset on our team have the (European) Exynos model, leading us to believe that it could be an issue with Qualcomm’s chip.

Galaxy Note 8 review: More than a Galaxy S8 with an S Pen

Be warned: that’s nothing but speculation on our part. But as we’re sure you’d agree, it certainly makes sense. Why else would a small subset of users in the same region report the same glitch, while folks elsewhere are getting on just fine? Sure, it could be a coincidence, though it doesn’t seem likely.

We need your help!

We’re trying to get to the bottom of the bug, as we’re confident Samsung is, so if you reside in Asia or Europe and have experienced the issue, please let us know. Also, if you’re based in the United States and have more details about any applications that could have triggered the glitch (Google Contacts?), send it over.

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Samsung November 2017 security patch fixes major Wi-Fi security flaw

The Samsung November 2017 Security Maintenance Release has been detailed today and it brings the fix for a major Wi-Fi security flaw. The Krack Wi-Fi vulnerability was recently discovered and it’s not due to a weakness in Samsung’s software or hardware. It’s a vulnerability in the WPA2 Wi-Fi security protocol.

The researchers who discovered it say that if a device supports Wi-Fi, it’s most likely affected by this vulnerability. It leaves connections between computers and wireless access points exposed, enabling attackers to eavesdrop on traffic between the devices.

Samsung November 2017 Security Patch Thwarts Krack Attack

Since the Krack attack vulnerability leaves Wi-Fi connections exposed, users with affected devices run the risk of remote ransomware code injection and even data theft. However, there haven’t been any reports of widespread exploitation of this vulnerability by bad actors.

Samsung detailed this month’s security patch later than usual because it presumably waited to include the Krack attack fix in this release. The November 2017 security patch also brings fixes for 61 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures discovered in the Android operating system.

The company has also bundled patches for six vulnerabilities found in its own software in this month’s security patch.

Samsung will start rolling out the November 2017 security patch for its major flagship smartphones in the coming days. We reported yesterday that the international unlocked Galaxy Note 8 might be the first handset to get this patch next week.

The post Samsung November 2017 security patch fixes major Wi-Fi security flaw appeared first on SamMobile.

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