Galaxy S9+ dual camera’s 2x zoom function doesn’t get due attention

When it comes to the Galaxy S9 camera, Samsung’s advertising and marketing efforts focus on the features that are common to both the regular Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+, like the Dual Aperture lens, Super Slow-mo recording, and AR Emoji. That’s not surprising, as the company has adopted the “keep major features limited to the bigger flagship” mantra – followed by arch-rival Apple – for the first time, and it probably would have done so last year if it had managed to have a dual camera ready in time for the launch of the Galaxy S8. Focusing on the primary rear camera from a marketing point of view makes sense, but it also means one important dual camera feature of the Galaxy S9+ gets ignored and doesn’t get due attention.

2x zoom > Live Focus

The feature I’m talking about, as you already know from the title, is the ability to zoom in on a scene using the secondary rear camera sensor. Housing a telephoto lens, the secondary sensor allows you to zoom in on a subject without losing out on quality, as it’s not digital zoom that you have on the primary camera on a smartphone. The telephone lens has a smaller aperture (f/2.4, while the primary sensor can go down to f/1.5 when the need arises), so the phone does sometimes use the primary camera for 2x zoom in low-light conditions, but when there’s enough light for the smaller aperture to not be a problem, the 2x zoom functionality is extremely handy to have at your beck and call.

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I can’t say the same about Live Focus. I used Live Focus a fair bit when I started using the Galaxy Note 8 last year, but it soon became a feature I would rarely call upon. Now, I’m not saying that is going to be the case with everyone — far from it! Indeed, you may love taking pictures – especially of other people – with background blur, and that’s great. Live Focus does provide opportunities for some wonderful photos, but my beef is with the fact that the 2x zoom functionality made possible by the dual camera setup gets swept under the rug when it comes to listing out reasons for how a pair of cameras is beneficial over a single camera.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t a major talking point back when the Galaxy Note 8 launched, either. Again, Samsung probably is going to continue downplaying the dual camera setup of the Galaxy S9+ as the standard S9 has only one rear camera, but I wish people would start to recognize how useful the 2x zoom can be and give it the due attention it deserves. Well, unless it has become so intrinsic to the dual camera experience on the S9+ and Note 8 that everyone considers it to be an everyday function that doesn’t need any praise; I’m perfectly fine with that!

What’s the dual camera feature you use the most on your Galaxy S9+ or Galaxy Note 8? Sound off in the comments!

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Apple is reportedly demanding better OLED prices from Samsung for the next iPhone

Samsung is the sole supplier of OLED panels for Apple’s iPhone X. The Korean giant was expected to make around $22 billion in revenue from supplying OLED panels to Apple in 2018. Since Samsung was the only supplier who could meet Apple’s demands in terms of quantity and quality, the company was able to command a premium price from Apple for its OLED panels. However, Samsung may not be able to repeat the same for OLED panels for the next iPhone.

Weak demand for iPhone X, after the initial euphoria driven by Apple fans, has reportedly forced the Cupertino giant to lower sales projections and cut down on component orders from suppliers, including Samsung. Making things worse, Chinese OEMs defied Samsung’s expectations and didn’t make the shift to OLED panels after the launch of the iPhone X, resulting in excess production capacity for Samsung.

Samsung lost some of the bargaining power

Samsung reportedly plans to produce 200 million OLED panels this year, of which 100 million panels are for Apple. It is twice the number of panels Samsung supplied to Apple last year for its iPhone X. Samsung plans to produce about 25 million OLED panels for the iPhone X and the rest for the iPhone X’s successor due to arrive later this year. Production of OLED panels for the next iPhone will begin next month, starting with 2-3 million panels before doubling the output in June. Samsung has apparently resumed operations at the A3 line which  was earlier shut down due to overcapacity.

According to local reports, Samsung and Apple are in negotiations over the price of the OLED panels, with the latter reportedly asking for price cuts for those panels. The scale at which Apple buys OLED displays gives it the bargaining power to demand better prices from Samsung, which is already reeling from underutilized production capacity. Last month, the CEO of Samsung Display apparently met with Apple executives to negotiate prices but failed to reach an agreement.

Though never officially announced, Apple apparently paid $110 (some reports peg this between $120 to $130) per OLED panel supplied by Samsung, which was almost 1/3 of the total cost of making an iPhone X. Apple obviously wants to bring the cost down and is expected to pay around $100 per panel this year as per industry sources. Reports state that Samsung is considering price cuts for OLED panels to some extent to address the problem of production overcapacity.

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Samsung SM-G8850 shows up on TENAA, another Galaxy S9 mini?

Just how many new smartphones is Samsung working on? Even if we were to ignore the multitude of devices discovered in the company’s Oreo firmware for the Galaxy Note 8, the repeated instances of many previously unseen devices showing up in various benchmarks and certifications suggests Samsung is going back to its old ways of flooding the market with options (not that the company ever stopped doing that). Even a mini version of Samsung’s latest flagship has been rumored to be in the works, but it looks like the device previously expected to be the Galaxy S9 mini might have been something else.

Two Galaxy S9 minis in the works?

A few days ago, we heard that Samsung was working on a device with model number SM-G8750, which was alleged to be the Galaxy S9 mini. Well, now a Samsung SM-G8850 has been spotted at the Chinese certification authority TENAA’s website, and since its model number stands above the SM-G8750, could this be the Galaxy S9 mini instead? Or maybe Samsung is working on releasing two variants of even the mini Galaxy S9 with different screen sizes, or perhaps launching one as the Galaxy S8 mini and another as the Galaxy S9 mini?

The SM-G8850 has a display that measures 5.6 inches when you count the rounded corners and 5.8 inches when considered as a full rectangle. That’s exactly how Samsung describes its Infinity displays when it comes to the specs on the product box, and the standard Galaxy S9 has the same screen size. The battery capacity on the SM-G8850 is the same as the regular S9 as well (3,000 mAh).

Of course, an Infinity display isn’t exclusive to the company’s flagships anymore, so the SM-G8850 and SM-G8750 might just be regular mid-rangers that aren’t related to the Galaxy S line. With Samsung saying it plans to get back into action in the Chinese market to make up for its ever-declining market share in the country, we wouldn’t be surprised if these yet-unnamed devices turn out to be new exclusive phones for the Chinese market, supported by the SM-G8850’s appearance at TENAA before other certification websites. Maybe these are slightly modified Galaxy A8 and A8+ for China? Only time will tell.

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Some Galaxy S9 displays suffer from black crush and color banding issues

Samsung makes some of the best mobile displays in the world. The AMOLED panels on Samsung smartphones is one of the reasons why many users buy their products. However, Samsung mobile displays are not without their share of problems and complaints. Overly saturated colors are one of the most common complaints associated with Samsung’s AMOLED displays.

Old problems on new displays

Samsung has been continuously improving its AMOLED panels to stay ahead of the competition. In fact, the Infinity Display on the recently released Galaxy S9 and S9+ is rated as the best mobile display in the market. Unfortunately, even the best mobile display in the market seems to have some issues according to the complaints online from some Galaxy S9 users.

On various forums online, some Galaxy S9 owners are reporting color banding issues on their brand-new smartphones with dark/black images. Also termed as the black crush, the issue refers to a phenomenon where the screen has issues displaying shades of dark accurately, resulting in a grainy or a pixelated picture with blocks of black.

This is not exactly a new problem as many users have complained about this on the previous generation devices as well. So, either it’s a difficult problem to solve for Samsung or the issue is limited to only a small section of faulty devices. Currently, it is not clear how widespread this issue is. Samsung has not commented on the issue so far, though we’ve asked for a statement from the company and will update this story as soon as we get one.

Have you faced a similar issue on your Galaxy S9 or S9+?

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Galaxy J4 and Galaxy J6 with Android Oreo get Wi-Fi certification

The Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 – and the Galaxy J3 in some markets – have had a pretty good run, so Samsung is naturally looking to further expand its budget lineup with new devices. The company’s plans of releasing multiple devices with new model numbers were revealed earlier this year, and the Galaxy J4 and Galaxy J6 were among the list. Both phones are now one step closer to launch, as they have received certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Galaxy J4 and Galaxy J6 get their Wi-Fi certification

As one would expect, both devices were certified running Android 8.0 Oreo, though these won’t be the first budget phones from the company to launch with the latest version of the OS. The only other specs that are currently known for these phones are the processor and amount of RAM. The J4 was spotted with the Exynos 7570 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz, while the Galaxy J6 was benchmarked with the Exynos 7870, the chip we’ve seen on both the Galaxy J and Galaxy A series phones before. Both phones have 2GB of RAM, which seems a tad too low but is probably a result of Samsung looking to put the Galaxy J4 and J6 in a segment that doesn’t clash with those occupied by the Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7.

In fact, the Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7, like the Galaxy A5 and Galaxy A7, are no longer going to be called by those names. Samsung is going to launch the 2018 iterations as the Galaxy J8 and Galaxy J8+, similar to the Galaxy A8 (2018) and Galaxy A8+ (2018). There’s no word on when any of these new Galaxy J series phones will be launched, but we’d wager they aren’t going to be unveiled anytime before mid-2018.

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Galaxy J7 Duo with dual rear cameras, Android Oreo launched in India

Well, the Galaxy J series phone that has been the subject of countless leaks in recent days has finally been officially announced by Samsung. As expected, the Galaxy J7 Duo has been unveiled for the Indian market first, and the company isn’t wasting any time in bringing it to retail stores. The J7 Duo will go on sale across stores in the country starting tomorrow, April 12th. The Galaxy J7 Duo price is set at Rs. 16,990, and it will be available in black and gold.

First Galaxy J series phone in India with dual cameras

According to Samsung, the Galaxy J series accounts for every third smartphone sold in India, so the introduction of dual rear cameras to the lineup with the Galaxy J7 Duo should help the company attract even more consumers. The Galaxy J7 Duo should also be the most powerful J series phone yet. Samsung isn’t saying which Exynos 7 series chip is inside the J7 Duo, but benchmarks tell us it is an Exynos 7885, which packs two high-performance cores and made the Galaxy A8 (2018) feel faster and smoother than any previous A series device. The phone also has 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, naturally with the option for expansion with a microSD card.

The Galaxy J7 Duo comes with a 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel camera pair at the back, with the Live Focus feature that we’ve seen on the company’s flagship and a new feature that it is calling Background Blur Shape. Samsung says this feature lets you “make the pictures talk by adding soft light effect in different shapes,” and we’re guessing it will allow users to add various effects to the blurred background, though we’ll need to test the device out to be sure.

The Galaxy J7 Duo also marks the return of an AMOLED display to Samsung’s J series lineup in India, though the 5.5-inch display only has 720p (1280×720) resolution. Other specs include a 3,000 mAh battery, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera with f/1.9 aperture, and Android 8.0 Oreo. Samsung says the phone comes with the App Pair feature that debuted on the Galaxy Note 8, but being a budget device, the Galaxy J7 Duo probably doesn’t pack all of the features that we see on Oreo on the company’s flagship devices.

You can sign up to be notified once the J7 Duo goes on sale at Samsung’s retail website.

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Galaxy J7 Duo listed on Samsung India’s website

The first budget phone from Samsung to run Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box will soon be official. The Galaxy J7 Duo, following a slew of leaks and rumors, has now been listed on Samsung India’s website. The listing gives us all the details we need, including a look at the phone’s design. Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy J7 Duo looks like any other budget Galaxy, and the specs are mostly budget-grade as well, with the primary highlight being the two cameras at the back.

Galaxy J7 Duo listed on Samsung India’s website

The Galaxy J7 Duo also has an AMOLED display according to the listing, which would be another attractive feature. The rear cameras include a 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensor pair, the same as the Galaxy J7+ that was given a limited launch last year. In fact, the Galaxy J7 Duo won’t be released in most markets, either. Samsung is focusing on countries where its entry-level Android phones tend to do well, and India is probably going to be the first country to put the Galaxy J7 Duo up for sale, although that’s not confirmed at this point.

Complementing those dual rear cameras is an 8-megapixel camera at the front. Not all specs are listed by Samsung India yet, but if we add the specs from yesterday’s leak, the J7 Duo will have a 5.5-inch 720p display, a 1.6GHz octa-core processor (most likely the Exynos 7884/7885, as suggested by benchmarks and the presence of Bluetooth 5.0 on the device), 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, a (removable) 3,000 mAh battery, dual SIM slots, and 4G LTE connectivity. Nothing too exciting, but the dual rear cameras, Super AMOLED display, and Android 8.0 Oreo should be huge draws for consumers looking for a budget phone, at least if Samsung manages to price it right.

Don’t Miss: Official Galaxy J7 Duo wallpapers available for download

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New Galaxy Note 9 rumors point to 6.4-inch display, 4,000 mAh battery

Galaxy Note 9 rumors are likely to pick up steam in the coming weeks, as we move further from the Galaxy S9’s worldwide release and closer to the launch of Samsung’s next flagship. Two such rumors have surfaced online today, and they suggest the Galaxy Note 9 will come with a 6.4-inch display and possibly a 4,000 mAh battery. Sound too good to be true? Well, if Samsung has decided to implement an in-display fingerprint sensor on the Note 9, it would technically have the space it requires to fit in a large battery and also be able to increase the display size ever so slightly.

In-display fingerprint sensor to make upgrades in other areas possible?

It’s not the first time we’re hearing about the Note 9 having a larger display. A recent report had said that Samsung was marching ahead with production on the Note 9’s 6.38-inch display, and the report did come from a trustworthy source. The increased screen estate could be a result of Samsung further slimming down the bezels around the Infinity display, or perhaps made possible by the increased space Samsung would require for the in-display fingerprint sensor. It’s too early to tell, and all we can do is speculate. In fact, Ice universe, the popular leakster who has been right about a great deal of things in the past, says the battery could have either 3,850 or 4,000 mAh capacity, suggesting Samsung may not have reached a final decision about many aspects of its upcoming flagships.

And that’s normal, too, since the company tends to test a few prototypes and then release the one that works best. If history is any guide, rumors that point toward significant upgrades – especially in battery capacity – often turn out to be a bit more smoke than fire, so it would be best to keep a lid on our anticipation until something concrete shows up, which could take a while.

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