Galaxy S6 edge+ January 2018 security patch released

Earlier today, Samsung started rolling out an update with the January 2018 security patch to the Galaxy Note 8, but devices like the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 were updated with the latest security fixes ahead of the company’s latest flagship. Now, another old flagship is receiving the January 2018 security patch, and that’s the Galaxy S6 edge+, the 5.7-inch successor to the Galaxy S6 edge.

Galaxy S6 edge+ January 2018 security patch

The update is rolling out to unlocked models in Mexico and should make its way to other regions soon. The build number carried by the update is G928GUBU4CRA1, and you can download the firmware from our database to flash manually using a PC or grab the update over the air from the Settings » Software update menu on your S6 edge+. As with all such security updates, don’t expect any new features or changes to how things work.

If you have received the update in another country, be sure to let us know by leaving a comment.

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Galaxy Note 8 January 2018 security patch update rolling out

The Galaxy Note 8, despite being the latest and greatest Samsung has to offer, doesn’t receive the latest updates as quickly as one would expect. Even the January 2018 security patch has made its way to budget phones and older flagships before the Note 8, but thankfully, Samsung isn’t making Note 8 owners wait too long this time around. An update that bundles the latest security patch is now rolling out to the Note 8 in France.

Galaxy Note 8 January 2018 security patch

At 707 MB, one would expect the update to pack more than just security fixes, but that doesn’t seem to be the case according to the official changelog. As for the January patch, it fixes six critical Android vulnerabilities and 13 exploits in Samsung’s software, along with various other minor exploits, details of which can be found at Samsung’s official website for security patch information. As with previous patches, many vulnerabilities remain undisclosed so that devices are protected in the time the update takes to reach all users.

How soon the Note 8 update will make its way to other regions remains to be seen, but if you have a Galaxy Note 8 in France, you can download the update in the Settings » Software update menu. Or you could just wait for it to pop up as a notification in the coming days, although that can take a while.

Have you received the new update on your Galaxy Note 8?

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Samsung files trademark applications for ‘Super Size TV’ and ‘Giant TV’

Unlike smartphones when it comes to TVs, bigger is always better. After fIling for 8K QLED and Micro QLED trademarks with the Korean Intellectual Property Office recently, Samsung has now filed trademark applications with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for the names ‘Super Size TV’ and ‘Giant TV’ on 17 and 19 January respectively. You can view the trademark applications here and here.

Is Samsung betting on large screen TVs?

Earlier this month at CES 2018 Samsung unveiled ‘The Wall’, it’s first 146-inch modular MicroLED TV. Combined with the filing of the ‘Super Size TV’ and ‘Giant TV’ trademarks, it hints at a possibility of Samsung using large screen TVs as a strategy to improve and cement its position in the high-end TV market.

While Samsung enjoys a dominant position in the smartphone market, the situation is a bit different when it comes to TVs. LG and Sony are still dominant players in the TV market and offer OLED TVs which can compete with Samsung’s high-end TV offerings. So far, Samsung has not changed its decision to shun OLED TVs to compete with its rivals. Instead, Samsung has been pushing their QLED TVs as an alternative and is now placing its bets on MicroLED.

With Samsung focusing on MicroLED TVs and possibly working on Micro QLED and super-sized TVs, the high-end TV market will witness fierce competition in the coming years. Samsung is already expected to lead premium TV shipments in 2018 as its focus on big premium TVs over the past couple of years is going to end up paying dividends.

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Samsung was the most cloned smartphone brand in 2017

The rapid growth of smartphone market around the world has incentivized some manufacturers to make clones of popular smartphones for easy money. It has become common to come across clones of popular smartphones in local markets and shady online marketplaces. New data from Antutu offers some interesting insights about the popularity of smartphone clones. Antutu is a Chinese software benchmarking tool used to rank smartphones.

Chinese manufacturers are often extremely quick in cloning popular Samsung devices. For the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, they have released clones even before the devices are officially announced by the company. According to the Antutu’s report, Samsung was the most cloned smartphone brand in 2017.

Samsung accounted for 36.23% of all cloned smartphones

Antutu’s report states that an estimated 17,424,726 smartphones were inspected in 2017, of which smartphone clones accounted for 2.64%. Of the total cloned smartphones, Samsung was the most cloned brand at 36.23%, followed by Apple at 7.72% and Mi at 4.75%.

The European version of the Galaxy S7 Edge emerged as the most cloned model, followed by the Chinese version of the same model. Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy W2016, Galaxy W2017 were the other popular Samsung smartphones that were cloned.

While the Chinese smartphone market is not very keen on Samsung smartphones, it seems the smaller manufacturers in China are extremely interested in making clones of popular Samsung smartphone to cater to other Samsung-dominated markets.

Apart from the ethical questions involved, smartphone clones also represent security and privacy risks to the users. It is a more sensible decision to buy an original mid-range or budget device rather than a buying a clone of a high-end smartphone. Other than a poor resemblance to a popular smartphone, clones don’t offer any of the advantages associated with the original models. Buying from a reputed sales channel is the easiest and the safest way to avoid being scammed by clones.

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Galaxy S9 camera details possibly confirmed by Samsung

A purported Galaxy S9 retail box surfaced recently and revealed some specifications of the upcoming flagship smartphone. It mentioned a “Super Speed” 12-megapixel Dual Pixel rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization and support for variable aperture and Super Slow-mo. Previous rumors have also suggested that the Galaxy S9 might have support for 1000fps slow motion like the Sony Xperia XZ Premium.

New information that might possibly be about the Galaxy S9 camera has been discovered on Samsung’s own website. It suggests that the handset might have a “3-stack FRS” camera with the ability to record full HD video at 480 frames per second.

Galaxy S9 camera

Samsung has published a new page on its website about a new ISOCELL camera sensor which it’s likely going to use for the Galaxy S9. The page details a 3-stack fast-read-out sensor made up of three layers, it’s this layering of the camera sensor that enables it to be faster and support more accurate focus.

This 3-stack FRS component will enable the Galaxy S9 to record slow-mo video at 480 frames per second in 1080p full HD. It merits mentioning here that if the sensor is capable of recording 1080 Full HD at 480 frames per second then it should ideally be able to record 720p video at 960 frames per second. This will make the Galaxy S9 one of the very few handsets on the market capable of recording super slow-mo video.

It’s similar to the Xperia XZ Premium’s memory-stacked image sensor capable of recording slow-mo video at 960 frames per second in 720p, though Sony’s sensor is only capable of doing that in short bursts, and it remains to be seen whether the Galaxy S9 will allow users to increase the duration.

The new sensor also features “Super PD” autofocus or Super Phase Detection autofocus. Samsung hasn’t gone into a lot of detail but it does mention on the page that the sensor is capable of accurately estimating the distance to fast moving objects even in conditions when the lighting is not ideal. This results in improvements for autofocus speeds.

This is what the Galaxy S9 camera is likely going to bring to the table. We might be on to something here because Samsung was quick to pull all of the information from the source page even though the URL still remains accessible. That page has gone blank rather quickly.

It also remains to be see what additional functionality the Galaxy S9+’s dual camera system will bring to the table as it’s going to be the only handset in the upcoming flagship series to tout two rear cameras.

Recent trademark applications suggest that the camera is likely going to be one of the biggest selling points of the Galaxy S9 and with good reason. That’s because the new flagships are expected to look more or less the same as the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. Samsung is due to unveil the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ next month at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona.

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SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine: January 22, 2018

Welcome to the latest 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, Android OS versions and the country where said update is out already.

SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine

Keep in mind, however, that these firmware details are based on the firmware that are available in our database, and in some cases, the latest updates might not show in the same week as the full firmware files take additional time to make it to our database.

The purpose of this magazine is to bring all of that important information about firmware updates to you, the reader, in a manner that’s easy to comprehend—so even if you’re new to the world of firmware, you’ll have no trouble making sense of it all.

Click on the image below to grab the latest firmware magazine!

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Galaxy On7 Prime doesn’t come with earphones in the box

Samsung recently launched the Galaxy On7 Prime in India as the latest edition to the On series of smartphones. The On7 Prime offers the most value for money yet in Samsung’s budget segment, and it looks like one of the ways the company is achieving this – in addition to exclusively selling the phone online – is by not including earphones in the phone’s box. Samsung India has sent us a review unit for the 4GB+64GB model, but according to the Amazon listing for the phone, earphones aren’t provided in the 3GB+32GB base variant, either.

No earphones in the box may be a fair trade

Now, not supplying earphones in the box may look bad, but we believe it’s a fair trade if it means Samsung can offer better hardware specifications, something it needs to do to take on the strong competition from Chinese OEMs in the country. Furthermore, Samsung’s budget earphones are far from impressive or even above average in terms of sound quality, and it’s possible the company expects most users to already have a pair of earphones at home. You can certainly get quite a few good third-party earphones at a low price, so this should ultimately not be an issue for most folks who decide to purchase the Galaxy On7 Prime.

We have reached out to Samsung India for an official statement on why the earphones may have been omitted and will update this post once we hear back. We will be posting our initial impressions about the device in the coming days, followed (hopefully) by a full review soon after, so make sure to check back at SamMobile if the On7 Prime is on your radar as you shop around for a new smartphone.

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Samsung Cloud will stop backing up third-party app data from February

Samsung is making a key change to the Samsung Cloud service this February, although it’s a change that may not affect anyone in practice. The company has been sending out notices to some users telling them that come February, Samsung Cloud will stop backing up app data for third-party apps. App data already uploaded will be deleted on February 6, 2018 for all users, while other aspects of the service will remain unchanged.

No app data backup and restore isn’t exactly a problem

Now, before you cry foul, it’s worth keeping in mind that Samsung Cloud will still backup installation files for third-party apps and restore them on a new device. That’s pretty much what it does right now – like Google’s backup functionality baked into Android, Samsung Cloud doesn’t restore user data for apps despite claiming to do so. You have to start with a clean slate every time you restore apps and app data on a new device; that’s what we’ve noticed every time we have switched to a new Samsung phone for review, something we do at least once every six months.

Not to mention Samsung Cloud isn’t offering oodles of backup space, either. For example, the 15GB of free storage falls far short of being adequate for backing up your gallery media, so perhaps space freed up by deletion of app data could work in the service’s favor. Again, that’s just in theory, and it’s unlikely anyone will be affected by the removal of third-party app data backup support in Samsung Cloud.

As made clear in the new policy, Samsung Cloud will continue to backup everything other than app data after February 6. This includes system settings (including your home screen setup), contacts, messages, call logs, documents, notes, Samsung Internet data, voice recordings, and all third-party apps installed on a particular device. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to start using other services for backing up your phone data (like Samsung’s Smart Switch software on a PC), because who knows when the company will take away other functionality from Samsung Cloud?

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