Samsung to show off the Galaxy S9 in augmented reality during launch event

Samsung will make interesting use of augmented reality technology to show off the Galaxy S9 during the launch event later this week. A lot has been revealed about the upcoming devices over the past few weeks, the latest leak reiterated that the handsets will feature updated cameras, new software features, significant performance improvements, and more.

There aren’t going to be a lot of changes in the design department as witnessed in previous leaks but Samsung will show off the design regardless of that in virtual reality. It will use the recently updated Unpacked 2018 app for this purpose.

Showing off the Galaxy S9 in augmented reality

The Unpacked 2018 app is primarily meant for those who have been invited by Samsung to the launch event on February 25. Those who just want to view the live stream from the event can use this app as well. The app has an augmented reality feature which lets users scan the Samsung logo or a box of a Samsung device to see the event’s location in AR or get little teasers about the event.

Reddit user thesbros was able to decompile the app and discover 3D models of the Galaxy S9 that Samsung has kept hidden. The AR feature will let attendees scan their lanyard from the event to check out the new flagship in augmented reality. He was able to obtain these 3D models through complex modifications made to the app and we now have plenty of screenshots to see precisely how this augmented reality showcase of the Galaxy S9 will look like.

These 3D models reiterate previous reports that Samsung will offer a new Lilac Purple color option for the Galaxy S9 at launch. We can also see that the speaker grill at the bottom now has a slice down in the middle, apparently, that has something to do with the AKG-tuned stereo speakers on this handset.

Samsung will officially unveil the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ on February 25. Shipments are expected to begin by mid-March.

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Samsung reduces rewards points for Samsung Pay users in the US

Back in 2016, Samsung launched the Samsung Rewards program for Samsung Pay users in the US. The idea behind the program is to incentivize users to keep using the service. The program rewards users with points each time they use Samsung Pay to make a payment. Users can then exchange their rewards points for Samsung products, cash back, gift cards, giveaway entries, etc.

Reduces rewards points by half

Samsung Rewards program follows a tiered system where users get points for each transaction based on how many times they use Samsung Pay in a month. Samsung Rewards program levels include Member, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, and they can be reached by making 0-5, 6-20, 21-30, and 31 or more Samsung Pay transactions respectively in a month.

Before the reduction in the rewards points, users in these levels used to receive 10, 20, 30, and 40 points respectively for each Samsung Pay transaction. Now Samsung has reduced it to 5, 10, 15, and 20 points respectively per transaction without giving a reason.

Samsung Pay users already have to accumulate a substantial number of points to get anything worth the effort. Now with the reduction in rewards points for each level, it becomes even more difficult for users to redeem points unless they use Samsung Pay regularly for a long time.

While it’s understandable that Samsung would like to cut down on promotional expenses for Samsung Pay as the service is now quite popular, it is still a disappointing decision if you use the service regularly.

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Dual-SIM Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ certified in Malaysia

Given that Samsung has launched dual-SIM variants of its flagship smartphones in the past, one would expect the company to do the same for the Galaxy S9 as well. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see that the dual-SIM variants of the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ have been certified in Malaysia. Samsung fans looking forward to picking up the new flagship can now rest assured that they will be able to have two SIM cards activated on the device.

Dual-SIM Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+

The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ bearing model numbers SM-G960F/DS and SM-G965F/DS respectively have been spotted in SIRIM’s database. SIRIM, or the Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia, is a government-owned certification, inspection and testing organization in the country.

It’s also not surprising to see that these are the Exynos 9810-powered models because Samsung uses its own processor for flagship smartphones in all other markets except a select few like North America. If recent benchmark results are any indication, the Exynos 9810-powered models will be in a league of their own as far as performance is concerned.

Pricing and availability for the handset in Malaysia will only be confirmed after Samsung officially unveils its new flagship on February 25. The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are expected to be released in the country by mid-March.

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Samsung completes multi-vendor 5G interoperability tests with KT and Qualcomm

Samsung has been working aggressively to become a dominant player in the 5G market. By being able to offer 5G solutions to carriers on one side and 5G compatible devices to customers on the other, Samsung is in a unique position to offer truly end-to-end solutions to kickstart a 5G revolution. Earlier this month, Samsung announced the first multi-vendor 5G trial in Europe with Cisco and Orange. Around the same time, collaborating with Verizon and KT, Samsung demonstrated a video call over 5G at a sporting event in the United States by using its end-to-end 5G solutions.

Multi-gigabits speeds with latencies as low as one millisecond

Continuing the momentum today, Samsung in collaboration with KT Corporation and Qualcomm has announced the successful completion of a multi-vendor 5G interoperability testing based on the recent 3GPP Release-15 global standard. The live demonstration was held in Samsung’s lab in Suwon, South Korea. The success of this interoperability test represents a significant milestone on the path to anticipated commercial 5G deployments in 2019.

The data connections in the test operated in the 3.5GHz and 28GHz bands employing pre-commercial 5G NR (New Radio) base stations from Samsung and 5G NR UE prototypes from Qualcomm. The test achieved multi-gigabits per second downlink speeds with latencies as low as one millisecond. Once 5G launches commercially, these fiber-like speeds combined with low latencies should address the bandwidth requirements for virtual and augmented reality experiences, autonomous vehicles, industrial applications, etc.

Commenting on the successful demonstration, Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, Executive Vice President and Head of the R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics said “As an active participant in 5G NR development, Samsung is extremely excited to see that our joint efforts have opened up the pathway for business models and use cases yet to be experienced.”

The 5G NR interoperability will be on display at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, Spain, later this month.

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Samsung may supply bezel-less displays to other smartphone OEMs

Samsung’s Infinity Display has been one of the major selling points for the flagship Galaxy smartphones in the last couple of years. Infinity Display is a marketing term used by Samsung to denote what are commonly called “bezel-less” displays. Made by the Samsung Display division, these panels have given Samsung an enviable edge in premium smartphone design.

So far, the Infinity Displays (also referred to as full-screen displays, etc.) have been limited to the flagship Galaxy smartphones. Only at the beginning of this year did Samsung’s bezel-less screens make it to the company’s premium mid-range phones – the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018), albeit not the curved kind seen on the Galaxy S8.

Efforts to retain dominance and improve profitability

According to a report in The Investor, Samsung Display will be bringing its full-screen displays to mid-range smartphones this year. Unlike the curved full-screen displays found in the flagship Galaxy smartphones, Samsung Display will supply flat OLED panels like we’ve seen on the new A8 handsets for mid-range devices. That’s because they’re cheaper to make than their curved counterparts and mid-range devices already have tight margins as it is.

This is reportedly being done as part of Samsung Display’s efforts to retain dominance and improve profitability. Currently, Samsung Display dominates the mobile OLED market with a market share of more than 95%.

As part of the efforts, Samsung is also planning to diversify its client base for OLED smartphone displays. With Chinese display manufacturers expected to challenge Samsung in the OLED market down the line, it would make sense for the company to cater to more companies who want to make the switch to bezel-less OLED panels for their mid-range smartphones.

Apart from the full-screen mobile displays, Samsung will be focusing on large-sized premium TV displays to improve its bottom line. The report also states that Samsung is beefing up its marketing efforts in the curved-screen monitor space.

Samsung Display has been staring at an uncertain quarter with the rumored cutdown in iPhone X production. Being the sole supplier of the full-screen OLED displays to the iPhone X, it was expected to make billions of dollars in revenue. Although Samsung has downplayed the revenue impact of the weak iPhone X demand, it may see a dip in revenue given the scale and the price at which it supplies to Apple if it’s unable to find new buyers for premium OLED panels.

Whether Samsung Display’s efforts to retain the momentum in growth-rate by diversifying client base and offering full-screen displays for mid-range models turns out to be successful remains to be seen.

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Detailed Galaxy S9 hands-on confirms AR emoji, stereo speakers and a lot more

The latest Galaxy S9 leak left little to the imagination as it confirmed details about the specifications and features of the upcoming flagship from Samsung. A few days ago a retail employee based in the US provided more details about the handset on Reddit after playing with the device but that thread has since been deleted. A similar thread has now been posted by another Reddit user who claims to have spent two hours with the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ during a training session.

The retail rep says that he had this Galaxy S9 hands-on experience with the Exynos 9810-powered variant. It appears that the Exynos variants were used for training purposes given that Samsung will only sell the Snapdragon 845 variants officially in the United States.

Galaxy S9 hands-on reveals details about new features

We already know that the new flagship duo looks quite similar to the Galaxy S8 in terms of design and that has been reiterated in this thread. The main design differences include the repositioned fingerprint sensor and slightly smaller bottom bezel. The user interface is also said to be “pretty similar” to the existing flagship.

It’s also claimed that Samsung has made some UI changes to the native camera app. You no longer have to swipe right to choose between the different camera modes. The modes are laid out on the top of the app from where users can tap to select the one they want. The Live Focus feature will be limited to the Galaxy S9+ which features a dual camera system. Those who opt for the Galaxy S9 will have to make do with selective focus.

Samsung has been teasing a 3D emoji feature for the Galaxy S9 duo and this Galaxy S9 hands-on experience thread confirms that this “AR Emoji” feature is present onboard. It was reported that this feature will be more advanced than iPhone X’s Animoji and this user believes that to be the case. Users first have to take a picture of themselves which is then created into an animated character. Once the avatar is created the handset makes stickers and gifs of the AR emoji that can then be used across social media apps and in text messages.

The rumored super slow-motion feature will be present as well with the ability to capture video at 960fps. However, no details have been provided about the resolution. Another interesting feature mentioned in this thread is the live lock screen. It lets users take a short video which they can set as their lock screen. The 7-second clip will autoplay as soon as the display is turned on. One might think that this would do horrible things to the battery life, the rep claims that the Samsung trainer told them this feature barely uses up battery.”

The multiple reports about the Galaxy S9 featuring stereo speakers have been confirmed by this Reddit user as well. The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ feature AKG-tuned stereo speakers that offer surround sound experience with the bottom-firing speaker and the earpiece which also doubles as the front-facing speaker.

Bixby will be onboard as well and it’s going to be more useful than before. It gets a new live translation feature which uses augmented reality to translate font in real-time. This means that users can just point the camera at a sign and Bixby Vision will translate it in real-time and even paste the translation over the actual text. That’s going to be pretty cool.

During this Galaxy S9 hands-on experience, the retail rep didn’t find any evidence to support recent reports that Samsung will launch a new social network called Uhssup. The trainer didn’t say anything about it and no app was present on the handsets. That only leaves the possibility that Samsung will announce it alongside the Galaxy S9 and release the app later if Uhssup really exists.

Performance-wise the handset is said to be better than its predecessors but that doesn’t really come as a surprise. The battery sizes are retained at 3,000mAh and 3,500mAh for the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ respectively.

No word as yet on the pricing for this handset for customers in the United States but Samsung will have a trade-in offer which will give customers up to $350 off for trading in an existing device for the Galaxy S9.

This Galaxy S9 hands-on experience paints a detailed picture of the upcoming flagship and the features that it’s going to offer. It seems that there will be little that Samsung will be able to surprise us with come February 25 when it officially launches the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+.

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February 2018 security patch rolling out for the Galaxy J7 and Galaxy J5 (2017)

It has been over two weeks since Samsung detailed the February 2018 security patch for supported devices. The rollout is yet to pick up speed, though. Samsung first released the latest security patch for the Galaxy Xcover 4 while the Galaxy A5 (2017) received it five days ago. Samsung has now started rolling out the February 2018 security patch for the Galaxy J7 and the Galaxy J5 (2017).

February 2018 patch for Galaxy J7 and Galaxy J5 (2017)

The February 2018 security patch brings fixes for six critical vulnerabilities discovered in the Android operating system alongside fixes for dozens of high-risk and moderate-risk vulnerabilities. Also included in this latest security maintenance release are patches for 16 Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items that were discovered in Samsung’s software.

The company is now rolling out the February 2018 security patch for the Galaxy J7 (SM-J727U) in the United States. This particular variant of the handset is compatible with regional carrier C Spire in the country. The firmware version J727UUEU3ARB1 is now available for download from our firmware section.

The Galaxy J5 (2017) has also received the latest security maintenance release. Samsung has rolled out firmware version J530FXXU2ARB2M for the handset in France today. This firmware file is also available for download from our firmware section.

With the month of February 2018 coming to an end soon, it’s likely that we’ll see Samsung pick up the pace with these rollouts in the coming days.

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Galaxy Note 8 Android Oreo release nears as Wi-Fi certification surfaces

Samsung is yet to confirm when the Galaxy Note 8 Android Oreo release is going to begin. The company didn’t launch an Oreo beta program for this handset so even those who don’t mind testing beta builds haven’t received a taste of Oreo yet. Galaxy Note 8 owners may not have to wait for too long as the handset has now received the requisite Wi-Fi certification with Oreo onboard.

Galaxy Note 8 Android Oreo release

The Galaxy Note 8 model number SM-N950F has been spotted at the Wi-Fi Alliance running Android 8.0 Oreo. It has received the Wi-Fi certification with the next major platform update onboard. New certifications are required whenever a device is receiving a major update of this kind and they’re usually a good indicator of an impending release.

It can’t be said for sure, though, when the Galaxy Note 8 Android Oreo release will begin. Samsung is yet to do that properly for the Galaxy S8. It released Oreo for the Galaxy S8 earlier this month after a thorough beta program only to halt the rollout a week later.

After we exclusively confirmed that Samsung had halted the release, the company confirmed to us that unexpected reboots caused by Oreo on some handsets caused it to temporarily stop the rollout. We hear that a new version is now being developed for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ which should be released soon.

The Galaxy Note 8 Android Oreo release is obviously the next priority for Samsung’s software department. Hopefully, it will have ironed out the issues to ensure a smooth rollout for the phablet.

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