Amazon India teases new Galaxy On smartphone, possibly a Galaxy J7 Pro variant

Amazon India has started teasing the launch of a new smartphone in Samsung’s Galaxy On lineup of handsets that the company sells solely through online retailers. Galaxy On smartphones have always been rebadged Galaxy J series phones, and judging from the teasers about “new ways to shop” and “superior performance” on Amazon’s landing page, the new device could be a renamed Galaxy J7 Pro.

New Galaxy On smartphone likely to be renamed Galaxy J7 Pro

The Galaxy J7 Pro is the only handset in Samsung’s budget lineup with support for the complete version of Samsung Pay, so the new Galaxy On being teased isn’t likely to be the Galaxy J7+ as some are speculating. There’s no clear hint about a dual camera setup, either, which is the highlight feature of the J7+. Furthermore, it simply makes more sense to rename an existing device and make it a part of the Galaxy On series instead of launching a new phone, especially one that hasn’t been released for offline sale in the country.

Amazon India isn’t telling us when the device will be launched, only saying that it is “coming soon.” As with previous Galaxy On phones, this one should be slightly cheaper than its regular Galaxy J counterpart, possibly with an upgrade in the RAM or storage departments. We’ll know more when the device goes official; you can sign up to be notified once that happens by visiting the source link.

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Samsung doesn’t slow down phones that have older batteries

After many users noticed that old iPhones with low-capacity batteries were slowing down, Apple officially confirmed that it does indeed slow down older iPhones with naturally degraded batteries. The company has been hit with multiple lawsuits over this and has now even issued an apology.

People are naturally wondering if other smartphone manufacturers do this as well. Samsung has confirmed that it doesn’t slow down smartphones with older batteries.

The curious case of throttled iPhones

It had long been a conspiracy theory that Apple intentionally slows down older iPhones to get customers to buy a new one. In light of recent reports that contained sufficient evidence, Apple confirmed that it does do this but offered a different explanation.

Smartphone batteries output less power as they become older due to natural degradation. This can lead to the device shutting down unexpectedly if the processor comes under heavy load and demands more power to ramp up speed.

Apple decided to throttle the processor speed on older devices in order to prevent unexpected shutdowns resulting from the battery’s inability to keep up. Whether or not that was the intention is another matter but it also ended up limiting how fast an iPhone can get without clarifying it to users. Apple introduced this behavior last year for the iPhone 6, 6S and SE.

Apple’s top rival Samsung has confirmed that it doesn’t do this. The company has categorically said that it doesn’t reduce CPU performance through software updates over the lifecycle of a smartphone. It has sent out the following statement:

Product quality has been and will always be Samsung Mobile’s top priority. We ensure extended battery life of Samsung mobile devices through multi-layer safety measures, which include software algorithms that govern the battery charging current and charging duration. We do not reduce CPU performance through software updates over the lifecycles of the phone.

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Samsung releases December security patch for the Galaxy A7 (2017)

The December security update is gradually making its way to more devices. It was released for the 2016 and 2017 models of the Galaxy A3 just yesterday. Samsung has now rolled it out for the top-of-the-line model of its premium mid-range lineup. The Galaxy A7 (2017) is now receiving its December security patch update.

Galaxy A7 (2017) December security patch

Samsung detailed the December security patch earlier this month. It brings fixes for 11 critical vulnerabilities that were discovered in the Android operating system. Fixes for 10 vulnerabilities discovered in Samsung’s own software are included as well.

There’s not much in the way of new features to be expected from this update. It’s a security maintenance release that’s primarily meant to address security issues and that’s pretty much all that it does.

Samsung is now rolling out firmware version A720FXXU2BQL9 for the Galaxy A7 (2017) in Mexico. Owners can check to see if the update is available for them by heading to the Download updates manually option in the Software update menu of the Settings app. It may take a while for the update to become available in all regions, shouldn’t be more than a few days.

The update is also available for download from our firmware section.

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