Samsung’s official PyeongChang 2018 app brings you closer to the Winter Olympics

Samsung has long been involved with the Olympic Games as a sponsor. It started back in 1988 when it was a local sponsor of the Olympic Games Seoul and the company later extended its commitment as the Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Wireless Communications Equipment category.

The company today launched The Official App of PyeongChang 2018 to bring fans closer to the Winter Olympics. The custom mobile app from Samsung aims to enhance the Olympic Winter Games experience for all.

The Official App of PyeongChang 2018

Samsung developed The Official App of PyeongChang 2018 in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee and the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games. The all-in-one app provides real-time updates, athlete information, Olympic and Paralympic records as well as medal standings.

The Official App of PyeongChang 2018 has evolved from the Wireless Olympic Works service that was launched in 2004. It offers differentiated content based on location, news updates, venue information and tickets. It even offers an online cheering service for fans to support athletes.

The app happens to be customizable as well. It enables users to keep themselves informed on specific events and the results that they care about. They can receive push-notification alerts based on their favorite countries, sports or athletes.

Samsung also has a habit of launching Olympic Edition limited edition variant of its flagship smartphone which is provided for free to all athletes. The company unveiled the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games Limited Edition Galaxy Note 8 just last week.

Users can now download The Official App of PyeongChang 2018 for free. The app is available in English, Korean, French, Japanese and Chinese.

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Samsung continues support of open source network solutions by joining LFN

Samsung has joined the Linux Foundation Networking Fund (LFN) as a Platinum Member. What this means is that Samsung will now be contributing its resources toward the advancement of a new open source networking community. The LFN is an organization that proactively governs projects with hopes to enhance and accelerate the process of commercializing open source virtualized network platforms.

Samsung helps grow the open source community

As we’ve seen recently, Samsung possesses a key role in the advancement of communications technology and this latest move continues to display that effort. Woojune Kim, Samsung’s Senior Vice President of North American Networks Business believes that this project will be crucial in taking the next step toward next-generation networks, including 5G. “As a member of the project, Samsung will work with the open source community to ensure that new carrier-grade solutions based on new technologies such as cloud data centers are available,” he said.

With 4G communications technology having been around for close to ten years, the next generation technology is under development. This is calling for a software-based network platform as opposed to hardware-based. Open source will allow for greater flexibility in terms of network management by optimized resource allocation and network slicing.

Samsung is no stranger to supporting open source advancement, as they have been active participants in a multitude of open source communities, including the Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV), Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP), Open Network Operating System (ONOS) and OpenStack.

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Will Samsung claim this year’s Super Bowl TV crown?

As we approach the all mighty Super Bowl weekend in the United States, one major question looms. Which TV will you be watching the Super Bowl 52 on? This time of year in the United States, electronics stores see a surge in television sales because consumers want to enjoy the largest American sporting event on the best possible television set, with some even returning them afterward. Of course, Samsung being the consistent frontrunner year after year, it seems this year they are in a tight race to claim the Super Bowl TV crown.

Samsung faces solid competition

Samsung is well renowned for its TVs and this is especially apparent come Super Bowl weekend. But, as the years pass, Samsung’s innovative nature has inspired other TV manufacturers to step their game up, and so they have. Both LG and Sony have now become frontrunners for the acclaimed Super Bowl TV crown.

Consumer Reports recently selected the top 10 TVs for watching the Super Bowl, of those ten, four belong to LG, three belong to Samsung, and three to Sony. This will make for an interesting show of advertisement, marketing, and sales to attract the most customers as possible.

Samsung’s high-end 65-inch 4K Curved QLED TV (QN65Q7C) which is currently on sale for $2,299.99 is one of its TVs that’s on the list. LG’s premium 65-inch 4K OLED Wallpaper TV (65W7P) which seems to hover in the $6,000-$7,000 range is on it as well.

Lastly, we find Sony’s 65-inch 4K OLED TV (XBR-65A1E) which is currently priced at $3,499.99. These are very pricey television sets, nonetheless, there will still be quite the surge in sales for these bad boys in the weeks to come.

Let us know in the comments below if you think Samsung’s TVs will be the most preferred models in the days leading up to the Super Bowl.

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Galaxy S9’s thunder won’t be stolen at MWC 2018

Samsung confirmed earlier this month that it’s going to unveil the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. The new flagship is being launched a month before its predecessor. Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 at a special event in March last year.

When the company held a separate event for the Galaxy S8 last year, many thought that this was because it didn’t want its new flagship handset to drown in the MWC 2017 news cycle. Several major manufacturers announce their new flagships at the event so the news cycle tends to get pretty full. However, it looks like nobody will be stealing the Galaxy S9’s thunder at MWC 2018.

Hogging the limelight

Samsung’s Korean rival LG normally unveils a new G-series handset at MWC every year but recent reports have suggested that it’s not going to launch the LG G7 at MWC 2018. Huawei is another major manufacturer that was expected to unveil its new flagship smartphone in Barcelona but according to a new report, it had decided not to unveil its new flagship at MWC 2018.

Some reports suggest that Sony will be unveiling a new flagship device at Mobile World Congress 2018 but even that’s far from confirmed at this point in time. Moreover, it has been a while since Sony flagships held a candle to Samsung’s high-end Galaxy smartphones, at least as far as desirability and popularity are concerned.

There will likely be a smattering of mid-range and premium mid-range handsets from Nokia and Motorola/Lenovo but nothing that will possibly steal the spotlight from Samsung’s new flagship smartphone.

This is obviously something that Samsung won’t mind at all. What company doesn’t like hogging the limelight?

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Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) vs Galaxy A8+ (2018) in pictures

This year, the Infinity display that debuted on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ has made its way to Samsung’s mid-range lineup with the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018). Thanks to the 18:5:9 display, these phones are taller, narrower, and have larger screens than the Galaxy A5 (2017) and the Galaxy A7 (2017) without a not-so-larger footprint. At the back, things are slightly busier this time around, with the rear camera accompanied by a fingerprint sensor (placed more logically compared to Samsung’s 2017 flagships). And did we tell you there are two cameras for selfies up front?

In short, quite a bit has changed on the outside (and inside as well, as this specs comparison will tell you). If you’ve been wondering how the 2017 and 2018 models differ, we have some side-by-side pictures of the Galaxy A7 (2017) and Galaxy A8+ (2018) for you to peruse. As some of the close-up pictures will tell you, the amount of bezel around the display hasn’t exactly gone down by much, especially at the sides, where the difference is almost negligible. We complained about the Infinity display not looking as “infinite” as we expected it to be in our initial impressions, and putting the A7 and A8+ side by side for these pictures has further solidified our stance.

But Samsung isn’t breaking any laws, as enabling “an expanded screen size without necessitating a larger phone” is all the Infinity display is supposed to be about. So don’t mind our disappointment (most of us at SamMobile were using the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 in recent months after all) and check out the images so you can decide for yourself! Don’t forget to let us know your thoughts in the comments, and look out for our full review of the A8 and A8+ later this week.

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) vs Galaxy A8+ (2018) in pictures

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Samsung reportedly decides against investing in new OLED plant

Last June, it was reported that Samsung is planning to build a “super OLED factory” in South Korea. The plan was to build a new production facility named A5 as part of company’s new huge OLED production complex in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, South Korea. The plant was supposed to have 30% more production capacity than its A3 plant in China. Samsung Display planned to invest 1 trillion won (US$925 million) in this new OLED plant.

Now, according to a news report in The Bell, Samsung has reportedly decided to reconsider its decision. The company is now reviewing its investment plan for the A5 plant from scratch. It seems no progress has been made in the plant construction so far with the report quoting an unnamed source saying, “Construction work has not started on the plant site and they just keep digging the land.”

Demand uncertainties influenced the decision

Demand uncertainty in the global smartphone market is predicted as the key reason behind Samsung’s decision to backtrack on investments in the A5 plant. So far, only Samsung and Apple were the key customers for the OLED panels from Samsung’s Display unit. Samsung wanted to expand the production capacity and focus on demand from the Chinese smartphone manufacturers as well. However, Samsung now seems to be unsure about the sustained demand in the smartphone market.

Less than expected demand for Apple iPhone X also seems to have influenced Samsung’s decision. Unlike the previous iPhones with LCD displays, iPhone X uses an OLED panel from Samsung. Samsung is expected to make around $22 billion in revenue from supplying OLED panels to Apple in 2018.

There were also reports about Apple trying to reduce its reliance on Samsung for OLED panels. As part of the strategy, Apple has reportedly invested in LG Display business to make high-quality OLED panels in scale for the upcoming iPhone models. If that turns out to be true, both Samsung and LG will supply OLED panels to Apple this year.

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Despite Samsung’s advice, the US government decides to shoot itself in the foot

Samsung’s response to growing protectionism in the United States after President Donald Trump took office was to set up a new home appliance manufacturing plant in the country. The company committed $380 million to the plant last year and had it up and running in six months. It started commercial production of washing machines at the South Carolina plant earlier this month.

The plant in South Carolina is going to create almost 1,000 new industrial jobs in the state. Samsung had advised the US government not to go ahead with recommendations to slap import tariffs on its washing machines as it would harm job creation at the new factory. The government has gone ahead and done that anyway.

“A tax on every consumer”

President Trump had campaigned on the promise of imposing strict tariffs on products manufactured outside the country for sale in the US. This was meant to force manufacturers to set up plants in the US and create new industrial jobs.

A safeguard petition was recently filed with the US International Trade Commission by Whirlpool recommending a 50 percent tariff rate on large industrial washing machines built by Samsung. President Trump has approved the recommendations to impose the safeguard tariffs on imported large residential washing machines.

Samsung employees started manufacturing ship-ready washing machines at the new plant last week. They’re manufacturing washer cabinets, inner tubs and bases from blank steel. Samsung still need to import some parts for the machines and these new tariffs will hinder its supply in the US market. That’s going to have a negative impact on Samsung’s earnings and will subsequently impact its new factory.

The government has imposed a 20 percent tariff on the first 1.2 million imported large residential washers in the first year. Machines imported above that number will be slapped with a 50 percent tariff. The tariffs will then decline to 16 percent and 40 percent respectively in the third year.

Samsung had said earlier this month that it hoped “the Administration will recognize Samsung’s commitment to U.S. manufacturing and help us protect the nearly 1,000 additional jobs we are bringing to the U.S.” That was a polite way of telling the government that it would jeopardize the new jobs by making this decision.

It’s unclear what the company is planning to do next but as you can imagine, it’s not too happy about this. “This tariff is a tax on every consumer who wants to buy a washing machine. Everyone will pay more, with fewer choices,” said a spokesperson for Samsung.

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Galaxy Note 5 January 2018 update rolling out now

Quite a few Samsung handsets have received the January 2018 security update over the past couple of weeks. Even flagships like the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy Note 8 have received it in some markets. Samsung is gradually rolling out the update to more devices and now it’s the Galaxy Note 5’s turn. The Galaxy Note 5 January 2018 security update has been released in several markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Galaxy Note 5 January 2018 update

Samsung’s latest security maintenance release brings fixes for five critical vulnerabilities in the Android operating system as well as patches for many low, moderate and high-risk vulnerabilities.

It also includes patches for 13 Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items that the company discovered in its own software. Users shouldn’t expect much in the way of new features with this update as its main purpose is to apply these patches.

Samsung is now rolling out firmware version N920CXXS4CRA1 for the Galaxy Note 5 (SM-N920C) in more than a dozen markets in the aforementioned regions. The update is now rolling out in markets like the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Turkey, Nigeria, Morocco, Pakistan, Kenya and Saudi Arabia.

Galaxy Note 5 owners will receive an over-the-air update notification on their handsets when the firmware becomes available for their market. The firmware files are also available for download from our firmware section.

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Galaxy S9 Chinese certification reveals fast charging isn’t getting an upgrade

The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ went through the FCC’s certification process much earlier than expected, but it looks like it’s business as usual for 3C, one of China’s certification authorities. The dual SIM S9 and S9+ have been spotted on the 3C database with model numbers SM-G9600/DS, SM-G9608/DS, and SM-G9605/DS. The first two are the Galaxy S9 variants for China and Taiwan respectively, while the last one is the S9+ for China.

Galaxy S9 will have same fast charging support as current Samsung phones

Unlike the FCC, 3C has revealed one minor yet notable spec: The Galaxy S9 and S9+ will have support for standard 5V/2A charging and 9V/1.67A (15W) fast charging. If those values look similar, it’s because they are the same as those supported by all of Samsung’s current devices with fast charging support. Not a bad thing per se, as Quick Charge 2.0 (or Fast Charge, as Samsung calls its own implementation) is quick, dependable, and widely supported. But it might disappoint those who have been waiting for the company to implement faster charging on its devices, as some Android manufacturers have in recent years.

If recent rumors and leaks are to be believed, the battery capacities on the S9 and S9+ may be the same as their predecessors: 3,000 mAh and 3,500 mAh respectively. Whether battery life gets a boost thanks to the more efficient Snapdragon 845 and Exynos 9810 remains to be seen. If it does, the gains over the S8 and S8+ are likely to be minimal, especially once the 2017 flagships are updated to Android 8.0 Oreo.

The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will be launched at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, and sales are rumored to commence in slightly over two weeks after the phones go official.

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